Unit 10 Final Post

          

My psychological assessment was at an 8 but I would say I am at a 7 or 8 now. I think the change is more from growth and frustration combined. I have realized that my psychological thought process is not as well connected to my physical well being as much as I would like it to be. Hence the slight drop. But that also tells me that I am learning more about myself which means growth despite a slightly lower number.

My physical well being was a 5 and still is simply because I have not yet begun to motivate my self to loose weight which I really need and want to do. But, I will because I am ready and willing. In six months my goal is to be at an 8. My husband and I are going to start exercising together.

My spiritual assessment was 8 and is still an 8. I have a strong belief system and I will always have a strong belief system. Some days are not as good as others and this is why I rate it at an 8 although I do not see it getting any higher. I am no saint, nor do I believe I could be any stronger than I am. I believe it is about your own belief and continuing to grow in your belief and there is no ceiling on that growth.

My goals in each area are very similar to each other which make sense considering they all have direct effects on each other. My psychological, physical, and spiritual goals are all based on meditation, yoga, and prayer which are all based on mind/body/soul connections. I am and will continue to grow in these areas. I pray more, I have set up exercise programs for myself and my husband and I have made arrangements to start yoga. Go me.

I think I have both improved and struggled all at the same time in this course. I also think that is a part of growth and the human experience. I have learned that all of surroundings affect my life and not just my own personal surroundings. I have learned to embrace life and all that it has to offer so that I may learn to grow with life and without all that I can gain from it. I think the knowledge of learning about yourself and of life can help me to assist others in learning to be more open to their own growth and their own mind/body connection.

Mary

A journey in human flourishing

The most important point in learning and understanding integral health is that it can only

be accomplished through personal inner experience and practice. One can not teach or heal others without personally learning integral health. One must develop their most inner connections physically, psychologically, and spiritually through contemplative practices such as medication, prayer, visualization, and yoga. These are practices that will create the integral map (Dacher, 2006). One can not teach what one does not learn.  

            Personally, I am a beginner and need to practice more mind/body connection practices such as yoga and meditation. I struggle with visualization practices and feel I will benefit more from yoga and meditation which in turn will help to cultivate a more controlled mind/body connection so that I may be more open to visualization practices. I have found that I have become stronger in some areas of my personal life through precise prayer. Therefore, my spirituality has flourished which I am thankful for.

            I have to admit that my assessment of my own health has changed from time to time throughout this journey. In the beginning of this I assessed my psychological domain at a 7 but have since moved both up and down the scale in the past few weeks since we started. I now would say I am at an 8 but still need to create a better mind/body connection simply because I do not feel I have as much control over stress as much as I would like. I am learning to do this through more meditation and prayer though.

            My assessment on my physical domain is still low, 5, but I now know that it will require me to commit to myself and my health instead of worrying about appearance and such. My physical health directly relates to my psychological health which I now know I can control better through contemplative practices (Dacher, 2006); which by the way will also help my stress level.

            My spiritual beliefs have helped me to be more calm within which in turn has helped me to be more conscious of my behavior towards others. I would say my spirituality score would be at an 8. I make decisions in a more rational manner. I am more conscious of my thought process and try to practice kindness and patience with others around me. This also requires understanding that not all others have this same understanding of themselves and through patience and kindness I can guide them to find inner peace and wholeness as well.

            My first goal is psychological. I have made a schedule to include meditation and yoga, which I start next week. I have intentionally scheduled these practices to gain a better perspective on my inner thought process as well as my life experiences in hopes of gaining a better mind/body connection. Dacher explains that one must practice integral health to experience human flourishing through cultivated practices such as meditation and loving kindness (2006).

            My next goal is physical which I believe is directly related to my first goal. I will be practicing yoga to focus more on my physical health. I believe you must practice what you preach and to truly preach integral health you must practice and exude the results of what you believe. I will be intentionally setting goals for myself to eat better, exercise, and meditate to create a balance between my inner self and my outer self.

            My final goal is spirituality. I pray every day and will continue as long as I live. I think my faith has become a large part of my life as I get older. My goal is to learn to practice loving kindness. I believe this is not just something that one does mentally but something that one must develop within their belief system to truly practice loving kindness (Schlitz, Amorok, and Micozzi, 2005). I will do this by practicing loving kindness meditation exercises and through prayer and the grace of God.

            For me assessing my progress will take both physical and mental work. I will need to actually write it down and plan it out. I have found keeping a journal helps me mentally keep track of my success. I also found that I have to schedule things to remain clear and focused. But I believe my actions will speak for themselves. I am committed to creating a better me. Therefore intentional cultivating must continue meditation in the morning, yoga in the evening, and prayer throughout every day. I will continue to grow and experience human flourishing through meditation, yoga, and prayer. I will continue to work towards a more open minded and open hearted sense of being simply because this is the person I wish to be. My long term goals will become realities because I believe in them and I believe in myself. My mind/body practices can only help me to grow and flourish.

      The four focus areas of integral healing are psychological: the interpersonal connection between the mind and body, spiritual; the connection between the individual and their belief system. Social; the connection between the individual and social contributions to an individuals well being. And, wholeness: the interconnectedness of life and the life experience. The multiple dimensions to healing are about all the aspects of the life experience and all that are involved in life (Schlitz, Amorok, and Micozzi, 2005). All of these attributes affect the health and healing of the individual.

Mary

For me the Journey on Relaxation and the Loving Kindness were my favorite activities and most beneficial. While I often struggled with not falling asleep I did find myself very relaxed yet rejuvenated at the same time. The Journey on Relaxation I repeated several times so that I could learn to just relax my mind, which after a couple weeks did in fact help. I loved the Loving Kindness exercise. I have learned to use mediation through the loving kindness practice more often than anything else. I have learned to implement these practices on a regular basis but only because I had to actually schedule them in my daily planner. I actually look forward to the time to myself and what I now call 'my cleansing the mind time'. The benefits for me have been a more positive outlook on others around me as well as my own personal being. I have learned to use an inner focus that I was not aware I had. I generate positive thoughts and attitude from it and exude those feelings around others. I love the way it makes we feel inside. I try to treat others with loving kindness. I wish and pray for good things for others instead of dwelling on those who do me wrong. It has certainly changed my perspective on people and life. I wish all of the best and a very peaceful and enlightening journey.

Mary

Meeting Aesclepius

This weeks meditative practice was a lot like all the others. It still takes me a little while to find that still calmness within myself to fully feel like I am benefitting from the practices. However, after practicing this exercise again for the third time I actually felt overcome by warmth and open heartedness. I think the more you practice these exercises the more your mind and body become calm and alert at the same time. I have found that I am much stronger in my spirituality than I thought. I had a particularly bad experience this week (which I can not go into) but found that these practices have helped me to think and react in a much calmer and compassionate manner. In the past I would have become angry but now I am able to think and react in a more spiritual, forgiving, and understanding way. I am very thankful for that. I will continue to practice daily contemplative methods such as meditation and prayer and I believe I am learning to experience human flourishing.

"One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" (Schlitz, Amorok, and Micozzi, 2005, pg. 477).
I believe this means one cannot teach/preach what one has not experienced. How can I teach another to act out of loving kindness if I myself have not learned to practice loving kindness. A health and wellness professional must be experienced and practice itegrative health and wellness. It is important that they understand that all aspects of the human life, mind/body/spirit/wordly, effect how the individual experiences health and wellness themselves. I think we as health and wellness professionals must practice what we preach. We need to be integrative and 'whole' in order to help others learn to practice integral health. I think if we choose to practice contemplative practices such as prayer and meditation to help our spirituality and mental growth it will exude strength within us.

I personally have experienced meditation and prayer these past few weeks and have grown tremendously in my spirituality and in my own psychological personal growth. And I am very thankful for that.

Mary

Unit 6- Loving Kindness - Integral Assessment

The universal loving-kindness exercise was not as relaxing as I thought it was going to be. Instead it made me feel very small and weak.  After a few minutes I did start to open my mind to others but felt this helplessness, like I couldn't help anyone, but felt a need to anyway. The integral assessment was a little different. I felt like I was taking a little deeper look within myself. Perhaps looking with in and trying to see yet not judge takes a little practice. We are our own worst enemy. But, I discovered in my assessment that I sometimes expect too much of others. I push myself therefore I expect others to do the same. This is not entirely fair and quite judgemental on my part. Now I need to learn forgiveness. I think I discovered that I need to focus on being more open minded. I always thought I was open minded but now maybe I am not so open to others as I once thought. Until I learn to let go of being judgemental I will not truly learn to heal. I think this builds like anger and creates an ugliness within that I would like to let go of. I think I would like to practice the universal loving kindness exercise to gain more focus and intentional thought. I think continually practicing any meditaiton practices will help me to learn to become more and more focused. Becoming more focused will help me to accomplish my goal of becoming less judgemental and more of a loving kindness type of person. True healing starts from within.

Mary

I am so glad to be here this week. I tried the Subtle Mind exercise this week and again found it relaxing. If anything, I have at least found 15 minutes of relaxation throughtout these weeks of practicing these different exercise. I felt the Subtle Mind exercise was more focused or controlled. Or maybe I am finding I am learning to focus better. Last weeks Loving Kindness exercise was also relaxing but I found I was more focused on following directions in a sense whereas this weeks Subtle Mind exercise felt more about control and focus. I think this particular exercise is more beneficial in the long term aspect. I really enjoyed this weeks exercise and plan to use it offten. I felt much more absorbed and in control.

I have found (specifically this week) that my spiritual wellness has grown tremendously. Our spiritual wellness, mental wellness, and physical wellness are all very connected. Each are an extention of the other. When one is weak the others are as well. And, when one is strong the others follow in strength as well. I may not have believed that had I not started practicing these exercises and learning to focus on the mind, breathing techniques, and spirituality. Believing in my spiritual growth has given strength to my physical and mental growth. This week I needed spiritual, physical, and mental strength and by the grace of GOD (spiritual wellness) I was able be strong in my mental and physical well being. I will without a doubt continue to practice growing in my spiritual, mental, and physical wellness. It is like breathing in new life and new focus ever day.

Loving Kindness Exercise

Loving Kindness

Well I must say I did relax a little and rest. The background sounds were perfect and actually helped me to relax which is difficult for me to do. Unfortunately I did not benefit as much from this exercise as I would like to have but I can see how repeating it daily would be very beneficial. The phrase 'mental workout' fits here. I actually found myself falling asleep throughout the exercise and at one point the narrator startled me awake. This is certainly one that will take practice. However, I do understand now the connection between meditating and training your brain. I can see how you can learn to practice loving kindness and actually feel it within yourself.
I would recommend this to anyone. I think we have all learned to join the rat race of life and we need to learn to slow down again. I think learning to take and make the time to go through these exercises on a daily basis is better mentally and physically then any workout program.

The mental workout is to learn to focus. It is about learning to open your mind and acknowledge your thoughts but at the same time allow those thoughts to pass and focus on particular feelings such as loving kindness. Learning to act or behave in such a way that you can make decisions on a higher level without reacting to them. The proven benefits are that we can learn to function on a higher level of integration and organization. This is a process I need in my life. One I would love to learn to live by. It requires setting a time to practice these exercises everyday just like setting time to go the gym or to the tanning salon or nail salon. It is about beutifying the mind and soul. Simply make the time and practice it daily and whole heartedly.