The Pheri culture of the Phree community in eastern Nepal is an indigenous spiritual healing system used for both prevention and cure, grounded in animistic, shamanistic, and tantric cosmology. It addresses illness from spiritual affliction, cosmological imbalance, and social disruption. Households combine biomedicine with Pheri healing based on culturally specific explanations of illness, creating a pattern of ritualized medical pluralism. The study argues that Pheri is a complementary and essential therapeutic domain, and its marginalization threatens cultural continuity and community health resilience.
Ānāpāna, a meditation technique using natural breath as an object, is taught to schoolchildren through a course created by S.N. Goenka. A survey of 240 students from two secondary schools in Kathmandu Valley who had taken and continued the practice assessed its effects across nine clusters. The study indicates that the technique improves study habits, academic performance, physical and mental health, reduces anger, and enhances relationships with friends, family, and relatives. Chi-square tests at a 5% significance level showed a significant association with regular practice for all nine variables.
A review of literature on meditation and suicide finds that meditation reduces stress and helps control suicidal thoughts. Suicide rates in the study's context rose from 5,124 in fiscal year 2016/17 to 5,785 in 2018/19. The authors argue that various social and biological factors contribute to suicidal ideation in depressed individuals. They conclude that meditation significantly improves psychological well-being by lowering stress and managing suicidal feelings, noting that experimental studies show pre- and post-intervention differences in suicidal indicators. The authors recommend that people, especially in productive age groups, practice regular meditation to improve mental health.