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