Reflection

Looking back through this term into Unit 3 where we assesssed ourselves on three levels:  spiritual, psychological, and physical; I believe improvement was made in the area of psychological and physical well being.  Incorporating exercise into my daily routine and training my mind to be still are two of the main changes I have made since beginning this class.  If I had to rate myself on all three, I would have to say that my spiritual self would hold the highest score of an 8 out of 1-10 with 10 being the highest.  Psychological and physical are rated a little less at about a 6.5.  Improvement needed here, however, it is better than when I started this class.  The score has changed somewhat because I have been more consistent and arrived at a more consistent place as far as practicing these techniques.

Personally, this course has helped me to train my mind into being still and removing mental chatter so that I can truly be in touch with my inner self.  It's really not so bad in there!  And believe that I will continue to grow on my life's journey.  The ability to be at peace with my self will allow me to offer loving kindness in everything I do, say and think.  Extending loving kindness to strangers is not as much of a challenge now that I am more relaxed.  Some days I have to remind myself of this technique and find that when I do practice loving kindness, I don't sweat the small stuff as much.  I believe I feel better when I exercise, eat right, make quiet time for myself, and get enough sleep. 

Peace to everyone inside and out!

Unit 9 Project

Introduction:

It is important for health and wellness professionals develop psychologically, spiritually, and physically to be able to teach their clients the concept of integral health and wellness.  When we develop all areas of our mind, body and spirit, we allow for growth of our being.  Opening our hearts and minds to changes and to really listen with our whole selves to what others are trying to communicate.

One area that I need to develop is loving kindness toward people I do not know and to expand to this philosophy to the world.  Another area that I need to develop is my physical self and to exercise daily.  

Assessment:

For each domain I assessed my health by being in touch with how I am feeling at any given time.  If I am feeling stressed out and practice my breathing which in turn relieves my stress then it is working.  I base my score on the effects of a given domain and how I am feeling.  For example, today, my spiritual wellness is very high as I have been allowing my mind to be free from mental chatter and used prayer when I need a little extra help.  I have been able to turn the worry over to God and ask for help.

Goal Development:

Physical--increase my exercise to four times a week and practice Pilates and/or Yoga daily either in the morning or before bed. 

Psychological--in this area, my goal is to practice witnessing mind to help me be still and to open myself up to really listening to who I am.

Spiritual—my goal in this area is to continue to grow and practice loving-kindness, especially working on loving kindness of strangers and the world.

Practices for Personal Growth:

Physical—in this domain, I will continue practicing Pilates and Yoga. 

Psychological—in this domain, I will continue practicing breathing exercises and meditation.

Spiritual—in this domain, I will practice mind witnessing and become better at loving kindness. 

 Commitment:

In all of these domains, I will continue to learn to train my mind, learn to accept change and open my heart and mind so that I can grow in all three areas.  For the physical domain; continue with health exercise habits on a daily basis.  For the psychological domain, continue practicing breathing exercises and meditation on a daily basis, and for spiritual domain; use prayer and also meditation so that I can be open to hear messages that may otherwise be clogged up by mental chatter in my mind.

I will assess my progress within the next six months by continually evaluating and changing any areas where I feel no growth.  Continuing with all the practices I have mentioned, I will get feedback physically, psychologically and spiritually by checking in with myself through meditation and mind witnessing. 

In assisting me with long term practices, I will continue these practices and visit the web sites mentioned in Unit 9’s exercise as valuable resources.  These resources will be a useful tool to me and to my profession by keeping me updated on new research and techniques as they become available.

I wish everyone well. 

Unit 8- Two exercises

Hello All.  I chose The Subtle Mind as one of the techniques that I have been experimenting with.  It remains a challenge, however, it is getting easier.  Witnessing rather than being dragged in when images come into my mind, especially those that are worriesome to me.  Because my mind stays busy sometimes long after my body goes to sleep or tries to rest, I have to really work at this. It has helped me practice this at work or whenever I find myself being dragged around by thoughts. 

The exercise I chose to post is the one where we visualize a "wise person" whose light flows from their head, heart and mouth.  Positive thoughts, words and feelings eminating from within--warmth radiating from inside.  Thinking of how they might handle a given situaition allowed me to take a step back and look inside myself a little deeper. 

I would incorporate the use of both of these exercises to help clients in trying to still their minds so that they can be open to looking at things differently and to assist them with their stress management, or to teach them to get the most from their mind and body connection.

Meeting Aesclepius unit 7

Hello Everyone.  Wow, that was cool.  I was actually able to bring to mind a pastor from my church who has long since moved away (over 20 years ago), and he came to mind when guided to seek a "wise" person.  He was there for me when I was going through a tough point in my life, but always remained calm and focused.  He never said an unkind word to anyone that I know of either.  I have not been very regimented on my meditation practices this week as I would like to have been.  I did, however, each day, take time out in the middle of the day to be quiet and try to use the witnessing mind technique which did help me to relax and feel calmer about where I was at that moment.

The saying, "one cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" is true of meditation and taking the journeys that we have taken through this class.  I believe in Ghandi's philosophy that we must be the change we wish to see in the world by setting examples and actually experiencing what we will be teaching.  We need to nuture our spiritual and biological selves so that we can have the ability to nuture others.

I will continue to practice these techniques, continue the ongoing growth process in reaching my full potential, and  learn to demonstrate loving kindness to as many people as I come in contact with.  Those that I do not come in contact with, I will still wish them health and happiness through daily prayer.

Exercise and Assessment

The loving kindness meditation exercise was a little challenging to close my eyes and remember what I was supposed to repeat for 10 minutes.  Then I decided to put the first two sentences together and the second set of sentences together which helped me to remember what I was supposed to repeat.  I got caught up in what I was trying to remember instead of the real reason for this exercise which is to practice loving-kindness to others in opening my heart.  

The assessment which I gathered was from the reading on pages 114-116 from “Notes from a Fellow Traveler” (Dacher, 2006).  During the process of interpreting the assessment, I found that I need healing in a couple of areas:  biological and worldly.  In the biological area, I need healing in the area of stress management and get back into an exercise routine—eating healthier foods would not hurt either.  In the worldly area, I am finding it a challenge to be open in my approach to wishing stranger’s health and well being especially with rude people that I might have to interact with. Perhaps that is what my task should be in order to help me make strides in this area.  I can make a conscious choice to practice loving kindness no matter who it is.  Rude people probably would benefit from it even more so.  Improvement in these areas will take some time, but I know it is possible because I have faith that it will and my tenacious nature will see to that.  Practicing loving-kindness is where I need the most patience and will incorporate the meditation in the morning and again whenever I feel the need throughout the day.

Mental Fitness Power Point

Hello Everyone.  As requested by our professor, I am uploading the power point on Mental Fitness.  If I just could figure out how to do it.

Loving-kindness and Subtle Mind

The loving-kindness exercise was easier for me to do when it came to people who were close to me and a challenge for strangers.  The subtle mind exercise was a challenge for me at first, but I began practicing it at work after a long arduous day previously being subjected to the ranting of an incompetent manager.  Using the vision of her contorted angry face and dissolving it away every time it appeared helped me to open my mind up to more pleasant surroundings.  I also use the spot-focus technique with allowed me to concentrate on my breathing as well. 

The connection between spiritual and mental wellness is strong.  When I experienced the mind-witnessing, I was calmer and my mind opened up to being in touch with my ability to enhance my physical activity.  Brisk walking helped me to feel better physically, but all that mental chatter was still going on.  When I incorporated the witnessing mind, I was able to focus on the exercise and how I felt rather than focusing on all the negative self-talk that was coming in.  Before I knew it I walked further than I had previously and felt empowered to continue.