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SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES IN ÁDVENTURE THERAPY of Self (DOS), (2) Development of Community (DOC), and (3) Spiritual Development (SD). Ihey tested these categories on participants in three adventure programs (N-44) and found that self-reported benefits matched one of these categories. Some evidence was offered indicating that wilderness itself contributed to these experiences. A review article by Heintzman" summarized in an interesting model how spirituality is experienced in the wilderness, more specifically in parks. The author suggests that there are “antecedent conditions,” namely the personal characteristics of participants, including “history and current circumstances,” motivation, socio-demographic characteristics, and spiritual tradition. Socalled “requisite features” may trigger spirituality: naturalness, the feeling of being “away,” and place attachment or “sacred” places. Furthermore, recreational activities, solitude, and free-time and group experiences may contribute to spiritual experiences. Possible outcomes of antecedents, setting, and recreational attributes include spiritual experiences, enhanced spiritual well-being, and spiritual coping. Heintzman, like other researchers, suggested that solitude is a key feature in reaching spiritual experiences in nature. Long’s study’? surveyed 206 students, asking them to describe some positive and negative experiences of solitude. According to the results, both types of experiences occurred mostly at home or in a local environment, but positive experiences were more likely to take place outdoors, in local natural settings. Lemieux et al.'° investigated the motives of people who visited provincial parks in Canada and how they benefited from the experience. 166 subjects reported that spiritual well-being (connectedness to nature and the inspiration of nature and search for the meaning/purpose in life”) was among the primary motives. About 42% of the participants perceived an improvement in their spiritual well-being as a direct result of the park visit. In a study by Hegarty”® based on individual narratives of “natureconnectedness and disconnectedness,” it was found that connectedness to nature was associated with positive emotions, whilst disconnectedness to nature was linked to negative emotions like tension, isolation, bleakness, emptiness, stress, meaninglessness, and fear. Hegarty thought that there was Paul Heintzman, Spiritual Outcomes of Park Experience: A Synthesis of Recent Social Science Research, The George Wright Forum 30 (3) (2013), 273-279. Christopher Long, The subjective experience of solitude, In: Proceedings of the 2006 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium (2006), 67-76. Christopher J. Lemieux, Paul F.J. Eagles, D. Scott Slocombe, Sean T. Doherty, Susan J. Elliott, and Steven E. Mock, Human health and well-being motivations and benefits associated with protected area experiences: and opportunity for transforming policy and management in Canada, Parks 18 (1) (2012), 71-85. John R. Hegarty, Out of the consulting room and into the woods? Experiences of natureconnectedness and self-healing, European Journal of Ecopsychology 1 (2010), 64-84. 20 + 161 ¢ Daréczi-Sepsi-Vassänyi_Initiation_155x240.indb 161 6 2020.06.15. 11:04:18
