Science demands an explanation from anything and everything for it to be accepted as a fact. Inexplicable wonders are thus often relegated into nebulous categories such as 'metaphysical' or 'supernatural' or simply 'illogical'. It is a fundamental fact that mental health is essential for maintaining physical health and that will power is as essential as medicines for a body’s cure. Yet, the contemporary methods of treating physically challenged, or mentally retarded children, or even patients suffering from cancer focuschiefly on the physical aspects, with the human mind left entirely out of the picture.

Dr. Beela G K is a faculty member of the Kerala Agricultural University and the Director in Charge of the Centre for Disability Studies and she has been successfully using 'Horticulture Therapy' among disabled children for the last nine years.

“Horticulture Therapy essentially means using any part of the live form of a plant to cure, or to help cure, a person,” explains Beela. “Interaction with the plants help with both the mental and physical condition of a child.”

The children are involved in nurturing the plants as part of this therapy. By making them water the plants and caring for them, a natural bond develops between the plants and the child. In many cases, one particular plant is given exclusively to one child for him/her to nurture. For the physically disabled children, the small but significant movements they make in helping with any part of the growth process - like watering it - help improve the overall ability for movement in them. But improving the physical movements of children by giving them an exercise is not the intent of 'Horticulture Therapy'.

“The basic aim of this therapy is 'relaxation of the mind '. Physically disabled children often have an inferiority complex and by making them work hard to gain a little might not always do the best for their psyche. With Horticulture Therapy, we aim to remove that feeling of being inferior from the minds of the children. Nurturing a plant, seeing it grow and form fruits or flowers is a productive thing to do. You are being rewarded for your work. Instead of feeling disabled and limited, the children will start seeing that they too are capable of doing something that's meaningful, productive and useful. It is this confidence in themselves that we are looking to develop, because the quality of one’s life is eventually decided by one's state of mind.”

With the mentally challenged children, the concept remains the same, but the aim varies slightly as Beela explains: “A mentally challenged person – and I am not talking about the mentally disturbed or the insane, which is more like a defect in the state of mind than a disability – actually lives in a world that's way better than ours. They live in a completely stress free world where there are no negativities involved. Yet they remain a burden to their families, especially so in today's busy world. So, through Horticulture Therapy they can be trained to indulge in productive activities associated with plants, like making decorative objects using branches and roots and such things. They would still need a middleman to sell their products and bring in the money, but in this way, they would be contributing financially to their families, making themselves less of a burden. Also Horticulture Therapy in such children has led to marked rise in their IQ levels and functioning skills.”