Unit 10: Reflection/Rap-up

Looking back at my unit 3 personal assessment of my psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being, there has been some slight changes.  I rated my physical well-being at 7, my spiritual well-being at 5, and my psychological well-being at 5.  Since then I have made some improvements to my physical well-being which I now rate at 8 and my psychological well-being which I now rate at 7.  My spiritual well-being stayed the same which I rated at 5. 

My goals for my physical well-being changed slightly in the fact that I stepped up my exercise program as I continue to work on my physical self by working out three to six days a week.  However, I now find more time to meditate for relaxation and recovery.  My spiritual goals have not changed, I still believe in a higher power and I’m at peace with myself.  My psychological goals have changed due to doing more reading to exercise my mind and I am doing more to associate with like minded individuals and keeping disturbing thoughts to a minimum.

This has truly been an exciting course and I have learned so much about taking care of the whole me and not just part of me.  I never would have thought I would see myself using meditation as a form of relaxation.  I now find the time to use it whenever I can as a way to break up all of the craziness that goes on throughout the day.  I love the calmness and thoughts of love-kindness I feel when meditating, my mind-body and spirit feels so much better after a session of total relaxation.  I am sure I will find ways to implement meditation at the end of my weekly workout sessions with the local First Nations members so they too can experience this truly calming sensation.      

Unit 9: Final Project: My Integral Plan

Introduction

Health and wellness professionals should be well rounded in all areas of integral health in order to have a legit practice because we have all heard or read stories about those faith healers that in the end only sell you snake oil.  A true health and wellness practitioner strongly believes in the holistic approach and he or she incorporates the five guiding principles of integral health into their practice, bringing the mind-body-spirit together as one working unit on the path to wholeness and human flourishing (Dacher, 2006).  It is important for the practitioner to understand that as medicine changes they have to adapt to new findings.  The practitioner must be integrative in breaking down the components of integral development while working on the psycho-spiritual, biological, interpersonal and worldly aspects of healing with their patients.  The practitioner must be intentional in guiding and supporting his/her patients on the path to human flouring and comprehend that his/her patients has the right to choose their path to healing themselves in their own unique ways.  Lastly, the practitioner must be dynamic in listening long and hard to his/her patients because it is the patient who will ultimately tell the practitioner what the problems really are and how to solve them (Dacher, 2006).   

It is reasonable to say that I need to develop in all aspects of healing to reach my goal of achieving human flourish.  My mind, body and spirit are in the right place and I am at peace with myself.  My psycho-spiritual growth is the most under developed part of my well being.  I believe in a higher spirit, but I don’t always practice my religion and I do not care to have others push their religion on me.  I would like to develop a stronger spiritual nature and feel the inner peace that comes with meeting my religious needs.  I practice loving-kindness in my heart by giving and not taking, but there is always room to give a little more.  Biologically, I need to continue to work on my mind/body connectivity in order to achieve a healthy balance.  Interpersonally, I often go out of my way to help others in a time of need by showing compassion in whatever way necessary.  This is something that has been etched in my DNA since I was a child and I have no plans of changing that.  Worldly, I would like to reach that place in my life where I can become a source of wisdom for my family, friends, community, and myself.

Assessment

My spiritual growth is my weakest link; I rarely practice my religious beliefs.  This is not because I don’t believe in a higher power because I do believe in a supreme being,  I just have my own way of expressing my faith.  I aim to regain that higher state of consciousness and experience a more direct spiritual side of life.  I feel that if I can bridge the gap from lower to higher consciousness I can show even more loving-kindness in my heart and be at peace within myself.  On a 1-10 rating scale, I would rate my spiritual health at an even five (5).  

Psychologically, my mind is in a really good place and I have very high self-esteem.  I have enjoyed accomplishing things I never thought I would achieve.  My education at Kaplan University has not been without its challenges, but I take learning seriously and do the best I can to achieve as much knowledge as possible.  I have a good support group around me that I can express my feelings with when times get rough and I’m thankful to have them by my side.  I also know when times get rough I can go for a run or engage in some type of exercise or meditation as an outlet to ease my mind.  I would rate my psychological health at an eight (7). 

Physically, I am in pretty good shape.  I often engage in some form of exercise five to six days a week and I participate in a training program with the local First Nations members twice a week.  I have a family history of high blood pressure and heart disease, so there is extra incentive to be in the best physical condition I can achieve.  However, I still need to work on the whole mind/body connectivity to achieve total health and well-being.  I would rate my physical health as an eight (8) because there is always room for improvement.

Goal Development

Spiritually - my goal is to practice my religious beliefs more to reach a higher stat of consciousness.

Psychologically – my goal is to continue to increase my meditation practices from four times a week to a daily practice. 

Physically – my goal is to continue to strive for better connectivity to cultivate better health and well-being. 

Practices for personal health

Having strategies is important for one to move forward with growth in your integral health.  It’s also good to have a backup plan if things start to go sideways on the path to health, happiness and wholeness. 

Psychologically, I have to become more aware and pay close attention to my inner voice and move forward with the things that make me happy mind, body and spirit.  I will achieve this by:  1. Listening to the subtle mind exercise is a good way for me to relieve some stress and stop letting things get the best of my inner consciousness (Dacher, 2006).   2. Eliminate negative thoughts and think more positive about the things and actions around me. 

Spiritually, I can begin by showing more love for others and myself by making it a daily practice to love unconditionally and I can also listening to the loving-kindness exercise to make me feel a better sense of connection to others (Dacher, 2006).  I will achieve this by:  1. Practice my religious beliefs to become more at peace with who I am.  2. Set time aside in my busy schedule for prayer and meditation. 

Physically, I need to develop a higher consciousness through contemplative practices that ease the mind-body-spirit.  I will achieve this by:  1. Deep breathing techniques are great for calming the mind and developing inner peace.  2. Tai Chi is a great technique for meditation and stress reduction. 

Commitment

Over the next six months I will revisit my goals I have set.  If I have accomplished all of my goals by this time, I will set new goals.  If I have fallen off the path of health, happiness and wholeness, I will start fresh.   I may begin taking a yoga classes since this is something I’ve been interested in and yoga is known to promote balance, relieve stress, and build strength.  I will also continue to use meditation as a form of stress relief, calmness and unity consciousness to promote harmony and balance in my life (Dacher, 2006).  I am not sure where I will be or what I’ll be doing in the future, but if it is related to health and wellness I will write it all down in my blog to keep track of the things I’ve attempted and accomplished.     

 

  

References

Dacher, E. (2006). Integral health. The path of human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, Inc.

Unit 8: My Meditation Practice

            Meditation can be a powerful tool for changing your outlook on life, as well as improving your overall health and wellness (Dacher, 2006).  The techniques are not hard to follow, but they can create changes in your life if used correctly.  Meditating as little as 30 minutes/three days a week, I have experienced benefits that have significantly reduced my stress levels and given me a few moments of joy and relaxation.   

The Contemplative meditation practices by Elliott Dacher have benefited me by reducing my stress level and granting me inner peace.  I continued to use at least two of them at least three days a week.  My favorites are the Subtle Mind and Meeting Asclepius.  Since implementing these two exercises into my life, they have become a common practice of allowing time for me to clear my head and reflect on the day.  Sinking gently into a relaxed state of mind, I allow the chattering thoughts to escape my mind as I replace them with thoughts off loving-kindness and a witnessing mind.  This feeling leaves me with a strong sense of peace, joy, love and total relaxation. 

The steps I have developed to implement these practices into my daily life.  1. To continue using the contemplative meditations practices and add more days in the future.  2. Learn to practice and focus on positive emotion, I have tendency to focus on too many negative thoughts and emotions since I began meditating.  I also need to put more faith into my psycho-spiritual beliefs and get back in touch with my religious beliefs.  3. Incorporate relaxing music on my desk top computer, so I can be in a comfortable/less stressful state of mind while completing my homework.  4. Continue to exercise on a regular basis with the local First Nation members and find ways to incorporate some of the relaxation techniques I have learned into my exercise program. 

References

Dacher, E. (2006). Integral health. The path of human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, Inc.  

          
 

Unit 7: Meeting Aesclepius

This week we completed the Meeting Asclepius exercise. This meditation session was based on learning how to quite the mind by concentrating on one specific wise and guiding person in my life.  Overall, my experience was very pleasant.  I especially enjoyed the sound of gentle waves and soft music, along with relaxing vocals.  After experiencing this exercise I believe that meditation has increased my psychological and spiritual wellness in the following way: “I have been given a life changing tool that is needed to quite my life-robbing noisy-mind, so I can gradually improve the quality of life as I have known it”.  To ensure this continued mental improvement, I am going to implement these valuable meditation exercises as part of a regular weekly routine.  I’m confident that over time, this type of positive psychological training will further enhance my psychological and spiritual wellness.    

            According to (Schlitz, Amorok & Micozzi, pp. 477), the quote “One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” means that I can’t expect another to acquire psychological, physical and spiritual growth if I haven’t developed it within myself.  According to (Dacher, 2006, p. 59), the four reasons that I should explore psychological and/or spiritual growth and development are because “it is the most undeveloped aspect of our life, it is a principal source of modern-day epidemics of mental suffering and premature disease, it is the one area of development that will most directly catalyze the full development of our life, and the development of our inner life is the most unique and precious opportunity given to us as humans.”  This means that if I acquire psychological and spiritual wellness then my physical health may naturally improve.

            I also believe that in order to be a true professional, I should only advise clients after fully treating my own psychological, physical, and spiritual growth and development via integral medicine.  This is because the benefit of practicing integral medicine will allow me “the opportunity to end needless suffering and to gain health, happiness, and wholeness” (Dacher, 2006, p. 59) for both myself and the patient/client.

I can also implement positive psychological, physical, and spiritual growth and development within my personal life.  I currently feel that my personal life needs work because there are times when my psychological state is in complete turmoil due to moments of anxiety and depression, my spirituality is constantly tested with useless drama, and I have periodic fatigue due to lack of physical exercise.  A couple of ways I could combat these negative factors while improving my personal health is to implement daily mental, continue my weekly physical exercise program with the local First Nations members and  exercises such as meditation, yoga, Tia Chi and running.   

References

Dacher, E. (2006). Integral health. The path of human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, Inc. (Chap. 6, pp. 59).

Schlitz, M., Amorok, T., & Micozzi, M.S. (2005). Consciousness & Healing: Integral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine. St. Louis, Missouri: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone. (pp. 477).

 

Unit 6: Exercises for Mind-Body-Spirit Wellness and Healing

My experience for this week’s exercise on universal Loving Kindness and the Integral Assessment was very interesting.  It took me a few times to remember the mantra because I kept forgetting the words, but once memorized them I really started to feel relaxed.  It felt similar to a prayer in asking that all individuals be helped with suffering, health, happiness and wholeness.  I was really able to find the awareness of humankind in my meditation.  In addition, when I was asking myself about the different aspect of my life being either difficult or suffering I was able to see how the worldly part is more suffering and the biological part is more difficult. 

Upon doing this exercise I discovered I still need more help on taking on the suffering of others, I tend not to want to take on other people pain.  I feel for them, I just refuse to let their pain affect me.  The areas that I have chosen to focus on for growth and development are my spiritual side.  Over the last several years I’ve been so busy travelling and attending school that I have neglected my spiritual side.  I truly believe in a higher spirit, but I have noticed how my faith tends to waiver and this is something I need to seriously work on.  Taking this class has been very different for me because I never thought I would ever see myself meditating and now I find myself meditating about two or three times a week.  Ever sense I started doing the loving-kindness exercises I’ve seen a change in myself, so I plan to continue doing this type of exercise to help my spiritual side flourish.  I will continue my weekly exercise program with the locals in my community, I use exercise as a way for me to relax and help others get fit.  I’m thinking of taking a few yoga classes now that I’m learning more about the calming effects of this form of exercise. 

Unit 5: The Subtle Mind

     I must start by saying "I don't know what is up with these exercises; they are getting better and better".  Talk about relaxation, this subtle mind exercise was way better than the Loving-kindness exercise.   I felt I didn't have to worry about showing any loving-kindness to others or take in anyone’s pain a suffering.  This was all about focusing on my breathing and pure relaxation.  I love the deep breathing exercise, it is the easiest way to relax, I learned this technique a long time ago and used it several times during volatile situations to slow my mind and see things clearly.  I'm glad it worked because I know I would be in worse condition than I am in now if I hadn't. 

     During this exercise, I could feel my thoughts melt away as I concentrated on my breathing.  I could feel my heart slowing with every breath I took, my body felt heavier and heavier as I became unaware of time and the room I was laying in.  The more I listened to the waves on the exercise, the more I felt like I was back in Hawaii sitting on the white sands of Bellows beach with no one around.  The more the wave crashed the more I felt like I was becoming one with the sand, I felt like a 170 rock wedged deep below the surface.  There was no distraction, just the waves crashing and the feeling of pure calmness and oneness with the ocean.  

     I know at some point during the exercise the voice asked me to listen and see how my mind works.  Watch its mental movements.  Observe how my mind pulls me toward random thoughts.  When I heard the voice on the exercise asking me this, I simply resisted because the feeling of relaxation felt much too good to let go.  I didn't care where the mental movements went as long as they didn't disturb me from the feeling of calmness/oneness with the sand.  

      I truly felt at peace laying there and at that moment, I thought this is what taming the mind, feeling witnessing and calm-abiding really feels like.  This is what it’s like to have the mind-body-spirit all connected in one time and space.  I now understand why people take Yoga or Tai Chi lessons; it brings them to a place of clarity and vividness making them happy, healthy and whole.  If this is the feeling I get every time I listen to these exercises, I can't wait to listen to the next one.    

Unit 4: Loving-kindness

     I found this week’s exercise to be a little bit long and I had a hard time concentrating on the speaker.  I understand that in order to have gain loving-kindness, I must show loving-kindness to others.  However, I must be able to love myself first; this will allow you to show others that same loving-kindness I would expect to receive from others.  Using deep breathing exercises, I found it pretty easy to get relaxed and shift my thoughts and attention to a place of inner peace.  It's was as if I could hear waves crashing on the beach as I sat in my hotel room in Waikiki.
     When I read the practice, I thought this is crazy because I don't need anymore pain and suffering in my life.  I have enough of my own.  Feeling calm and relaxed, I began to visualize the suffering of a friend or love one with every breath in and the thoughts of that pain turned to something deeper causing me to want to help in some way or another.  The more I breathed in and out I could feel the pain and suffering slowly slip away as I breathed out.  I wasn't sure if this was because I was thinking that with every breath out I was offering some type of emotional support that caused their pain to ease or what?  I just know I could visualize the pain slowly going away and I could imagine the smiles on their faces and the warmth in their hearts. 
     I found this to be a great workout for mental fitness because it makes you think of ways to use loving-kindness.  This exercise proves if you can show compassion for others, you can ease your mind and find inner peace with yourself.  I have seen firsthand what happens when I open my heart and show loving-kindness to others, it makes me happy to know that if only for a moment I was able to bring happiness to someone else in the form of a smile, gesture or emotional support.  After listening to this exercise, I feel at ease and more focused, I think I really like feeling this way.  It's much better than starting off my day feeling grumpy.  I'm really looking forward to doing more of these types of practices; I think I'm beginning to like this feeling of relaxation.                

Unit 3: Mind/Body Connection

     For this week’s blog entry I would like to start by saying I had the worst time getting through the reading for this week.  I find this book "Integral Health like reading the King James version of the Holy Bible.  This book is a tough read and very difficult to understand what the author is really saying.  I have to read the chapters several times to understand how to put this stuff in my own words.  I just hope it gets better as this course continues. 
     This unit is asking me to rate my physical, spiritual and psychological well-being on a scale of 1-10.  Develop goals for each and list some activities I can implement to assist my goals.  Fist, I would rate my physical well-being at 7 of 10 due the inherited high blood pressure and low back problems from serving 23 years in the United States Army.  I usually work out about 3 to 6 days a week and try to keep a pretty strict diet to keep my body looking a feeling good.  Second, I would rate my spiritual well-being at 5 of 10.  Although, I am a believer in a higher power I haven't attended church services in a long while.  Lastly, I would rate my psychological well-being at 5 of 10 due to the fact that I am dealing with recurring issues of PTSD which affect my family and myself as a result of combat related incidents in Iraq.  This is an ongoing fight every day and I am doing all I can to handle this situation to ease the pain and suffering on my family and myself. 
     The goals I have developed for my physical, spiritual and psychological well-being are on going and I plan to follow them as much as possible.  My goal for my physical well-being is to keep exercising 3 to 6 days a week to keep my mind and body feeling and look good.  I find that running help ease the stressors in my life and it helps me to relax afterwards which allows me to handle tough situations with a fresh mind.  My goal for my spiritual well-being is to continue to believe there is truly a higher power and continue to pray for good health and forgiveness for myself and others.  My goals for my psychological well-being is to keep my mind fresh, treat my family with the up most respect they deserve, keep associating with like minded individuals to improve my social status and keep studying in school to keep my mind off of disturbing events.  These are just a few goals I am currently using at this time, I'm sure I can list many more but I think this is enough for now. 
     What activities or exercises I can implement to assist my goals and keep moving forward.  As I mentioned already, running and working out is very good for my physical well-being.  I also attend an exercise class twice a week with local First Nations Aboriginals members.  This is another great way to engage socially with others in my community.  When it comes to my spiritual well-being, I treat this as a personal issue and I do not push my religion on others and I would hope others would have the same respect for me.  Exercises or activities I can use to implement my psychological well-being, I plan to doing as much as possible to stay active with my family, continue to attend meetings with my PTSD counselors, keep associating with like minded individuals and keep the disturbing events to a minimum. 
     This week’s relaxation exercise on Rainbow Meditation once again took me to a place of total relaxation, concentrating on all the different body parts with corresponding colors made the relaxation technique all the better.  I could actually feel the body parts relax as my breathing became deeper and deeper.  The most important area of relaxation for me was my forehead and the corresponding color indigo blue.  I had a bit of a headache and soon as I felt relaxed, I could feel the headache disappear and I indeed feel like my whole body was in balance with everything in the universe.  I'm starting to like this relaxation stuff, I didn't give it much thought before this class.  I think I'll continue, can't wait to see what comes next.    

    

Unit 2 Relaxation

    Hello everyone, I'd like to start by saying this whole blogging thing is new to me and I have no clue as to what I'm doing, so bare with me please.  I hope everyone is enjoying the class, thus far I'm a bit confused as to what this class is all about, but I'm trying to maintain some hope of figuring it all out from week to week even though we are only in week two.
     I don't know if anyone else is having a hard time reading theses books, but reading the text is like trying to break some code of enlightenment, freedom and wholeness.  All I know is that I have to push myself to get an understanding of what Integral Health is all about and try not to over think it as I tend to do.  Thus far, I've come to realize that my eyes are taking a beating from all the reading and I had to get some reading glasses to read the text.  I’m finding that learning about healing the whole body and flourishing to be pretty interesting.  I like the part about training the brain and consciousness & health.  This makes sense to me because in order to move forward, I have to push my limits to be the best I can be, even though I may dislike all this reading.  I'm learning my mind can be transformed from ordinary to exceptional if I keep training my brain.
     I'll be the first to say that I'm not a big fan of this whole relaxation, yoga, meditation journey that a lot of people are talking about.  I was brought up with the old school thought of if you want something you have to make it happen, no pain no gain, if you want to relax, sit down and take a break.  I guess I just have not bought into it.  I know there is some truth in deep breathing techniques because I've used them to calm myself down and focus on the task at hand.  When I was younger, I took up running as the sport of choice.  It was free and I will admit it hurt at times, even though I was in pain it was easier for me to sit in a cold bath to alleviate the pain.  To this day I still take cold showers after a long run to relax my body.  I've never really enjoyed a massage that made me feel good.  I've had about three in my life time and just do not get the feeling everyone talks about.  Getting back to the relaxation, and listing to the exercise.  I thought I would give it a serious go; I lay down on the floor and started my deep breathing techniques to relax.  At first I thought this was some kind of joke because all I could feel was the coldness of the floor radiating through my back side.  After a few minutes, I began to relax and the more I listened to the slow music and the calming voice I began to feel myself sinking into the floor.  I could feel the warmth of the sun shining through my window on my body and all of the thoughts of homework and stresses of the day stated to melt away.  I didn't really feel the heaviness he was talking about, but I was truly relaxed.  It just felt really good to just lie there and do absolutely nothing, when it came time to open my eyes I felt a real sense of calmness.  I took a big stretch and came to the realization it was time to sit back in this chair and continue my homework.  I think I'll find a quiet room and some nice relaxing music after the next time I go for a long run and see if this technique works for muscle relaxation.