Unit 10

 

Review your unit 3 personal assessment of your psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being. Reflect on these areas . How did you score yourself on a scale from 1 to 10 in unit 3? How do you score yourself now? Has the score changed? Why or why not?

 

In unit 3 I scored my physical health at a 7, my spiritual health at a 6 and my psychological health at a 7-8. My scores have changed somewhat; my physical health can be scored at a 6-7, somewhat lower that my initial score mainly because I have learned to better assess myself. Between moving, working and school I have let my physical activity become a bit hit or miss so while I have now gotten back on track I need some time to increase my score. My spiritual score has stayed the same but I know it will improve. I have learned so much about how to really define spirituality and to improve it and my overall well-being. My psychological health is at a solid 8 now because I have really begun to learn to manage my stress and to calm my anxiety.

Review the goals and activities you set for yourself in each area. Have you made progress toward the goals? Explain.

 

I set goals to improve my overall health and wellness. Working out more often and trying new types of exercise and physical activity along with utilizing the contemplative practices and meditations that we have learned.

 

Have you implemented the activities you chose for your well-being in each of the three areas? Explain.

 

I have done a lot toward my goal, setting the stage for more physical activity like walking, hiking and strength training as well as having gotten back on a routine for my martial arts training. I have been setting my reminders to make sure that I meditate around the middle of the day. This has really helped me the most as my anxiety can really get the best of me some days. I have also used the contemplative practices to manage my stress and to keep myself from getting angry or overly frustrated.

Summarize your personal experience throughout this course. Have you developed improved well-being? What has been rewarding? What has been difficult? How will this experience improve your ability to assist others?

 

I have really enjoyed this course and have learned so much, not only academically but personally as well. I started a journey 2 years ago and this course has really enhance that journey. My well-being has been improving as I have learned to ease some of my stress, to assess myself and know where I stand. Stress has been my biggest difficulty but I will persevere. The knowledge I have gained will help me to guide others in a more peaceful, balanced lifestyle.

Unit 9 Final Paper

The following is my final paper for this course. I have enjoyed it even though I feel like I need another 10 weeks to fully grasp all of the concepts. I have likewise enjoyed meeting all of my classmates and while I know that there will be yet one more post to this blog it kind of feels like the end already. Until next unit...

I.            Introduction:
Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?

Developing ourselves psychologically, spiritually and physically is important not only for ourselves but to allow us to better guide and teach others to do the same. This process is ongoing and ever-changing so there is always room for improvement and goals are just nearly or temporarily met as our lives take on new directions and meanings as we grow into ourselves, becoming who we want to be. I personally need vast improvements in all three areas in my life but firmly believe that as I make improvements in each area it will directly improve the other two.

                II.            Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

Having assessed my health in each domain by looking at how I feel overall and my general state of mind I feel like I can score myself as follows. On a scale of one to ten I would score my spiritual wellness at about a 5.5 now, my physical wellness at a 6.5 and my psychological wellness at about a 6.

 

               III.            Goal development:
List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.

Self-improvement is probably the hardest to attain, it’s much easier to see what other’s need to change and how they can achieve said change. This project will serve as my written reminder of my goals. Physically my goals are fairly simple but not easy by any means. I would love to lose weight or should I say, drop 2 pants sizes and to increase my strength and flexibility. Psychologically I would like to be able to manage my anxiety and stress better and spiritually I would like to become a more enlightened individual and find a deeper sense of myself although I am still working to try and clarify my own definition of sprituality.

              IV.            Practices for personal health:
What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example.

The best way for me to start fostering growth in the physical domain is to increase exercise and decrease calorie intakes but it’s not really that simple because each domain is connected to the other. Therefore, not only do I need to exercise and eat right but I need to decrease my stress level through meditation and create within my mind a healthy outlook (Dacher, 2006). Meditation and contemplative practices are integral for healthy psychological growth and a healthy mind means a healthy body (Dacher, 2006). Contemplative practices can be used to foster growth in the spiritual domain as well. Utilizing the Subtle Mind practice as well as the Loving Kindness practice and by following these, again physical and psychological health are affected as well (Dacher, 2006).

So, by getting up an hour earlier in the morning I can implement some additional physical conditioning and flexibility training, adding meditation to it as well. I can also carve out some time for a walk mid-day which will not only benefit me physically but psychologically as well because taking time out for oneself creates a better state of mind. Exercise clears the mind and reduces stress and anxiety which in turn increases physical and psychological health. Using meditation and visualization techniques learned during this course I can foster better growth psychologically and calm the mind, even using the subtle mind in order to calm my mind and create a healthy outlook on life in general (Dacher, 2006). Finally, developing my spirituality can be done by opening my mind to the betterment of self and others. I know that allowing myself to connect both physically and mentally my overall health and wellness will improve daily even if it’s just a tiny bit at a time. I will set a reminder to make sure that I do what is necessary to be happy, healthy and wise.

               V.            Commitment:
How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?

It’s easy to talk about what you want to do and make it sound great but it’s another thing entirely when push really comes to shove to actually act on it. By telling others of my goals and setting reminders on the computer and phone I think that I can maintain these practices long term and keep working toward my goals. I think another way to stay on track is to find a friend to help me to be accountable and to remind me that while I may not want to get up and exercise, I will feel better when I have done it and while I may feel like meditation sometime is difficult to do with a busy schedule, my mental well-being will be much improved and therefore so will my physical well-being. I will continue to post on my blog, if nothing else using it as a journal to remind myself of what I need to do. I will get rid of all excuses and push forward I know I want to improve all aspects of myself not only for me but for my family as well. This is my motivation and six months from now, I will post on my blog another assessment and will update my goals. Do I think it will be easy? Do I think I will always succeed at each goal? No, I know that it will be difficult and that I will often fail to remember my goals and will lose motivation but I will always move forward, regaining momentum and focus until I am successful.

 

References:

Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral Health; The Path to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach: Basic Health Publications, INC.

Unit 8 My favorite practices

Sitting here on the verge of unit 9 I am struck by how fascinating this course has been. I have learned so much and yet feel as if I have not been able to dedicate myself to this course the way I would have liked, however, I can continue to work on my meditations, vizualizations and other practices and improve upon all that I have learned. This week for Unit 8 we are to do the following...

Review the exercises and practice sessions you have completed in this course. (Loving Kindness, Subtle mind, Visualization, meditation etc.) Choose two practices that you have determined to be most beneficial. How can you implement these practices in your personal life to foster “mental fitness”? Provide specific examples.

All of the practices that we encountered during this term were quite beneficial but I think the ones that I found gave me the biggest benefit were the subtle mind exercise and meditation. The question is always worded as "how can you implement these practices in your personal life" but I really think that for the purpose of this course it should be stated "how have you implemented these practices in your personal life". I personally want to become more mentally fit and haved begun the process of implementing these practices, especially meditation into my daily routines. By spending just a little of each day meditating and just shutting down the mind and body, it can foster an improvement n my mental as well as my physical wellness. My mornings are crazy so a quick meditation is helpful in gearing up for the day then when things get quiet, the subtle mind exercise is what I find useful to revamp my day. I meditate again as I am working to wind down for the night, becoming relaxed and calm so that sleep may find me. I am not great at it but I am improving.

Marlyn D

Week 7 Meeting Aesclepius

Boy, I can't believe that it's week 7 already!  Time is just flying by. This week we were to do another stage of contemplative practice...this one was interesting.

Complete the Meeting Aesclepius mp3 (located in the Doc Sharing area). Describe your meditative practices for the week and discuss the experience. Explain how mindfulness or meditation has fostered an increase in your psychological or spiritual wellness. How can you continue to apply these practices in your life to foster greater health and wellness?

I was fascinated with this weeks exercise.  I like the image of the "wise one" and how we were to allow this person's wisdom, calm and intelligence into ourselves. I felt very calm and relaxed during the exercise and felt very connected to my "wise one".  I personally feel like these exercises or ones like it are very beneficial and have opened my mind and heart to a "better" way. I have a clear mind and a calmer demeanor. That's not to say I no longer am stressed, I just seem to be handling things better, I've been utilizing my "teflon mind" and don't allow things to make me angry. I was always interested in mind body practices but have not had a lot of success implementing them in the past.  I will be continuing with the practices, finding a few moments through the day to calm my mind and heart. I also have been looking into other guided meditations like the ones we have been using as I have better luck with guidance.

Describe the saying: "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" (p.477). How does this apply to the health and wellness professional? Do you have an obligation to your clients to be developing your health psychologically, physically, and spiritually? Why or why not? How can you implement psychological and spiritual growth in your personal life?

The saying means that you cannot expect others to follow you into an endeavor unless you actually have experience in it.  As health and wellness professionals it is our job to lead by example not by the old adage "do as I say not as I do".  I personally don't believe that we can help others become healthy psychologically, spiritually or physically if we ourselves are not healthy in those areas because our clients couldn't take us seriously. We also would be unable to truly guide them because we would be lacking in our own experience. Book knowledge is fine but it's experience that creates true knowledge. My personal future is slated for a healthier diet, plenty of physical exercise as well as mental exercise. Meditation is becoming an integral part of my life and will surely allow me to continue to grow in this area.

Marlyn D

Unit 6

Week 6...sorry that my blog post was so very late. We moved over the weekend and I had to train my replacement at work so I barely even had time to do the practice let alone find an internet connection I could use.  This weeks blog assignment was as follows...

Practice the universal Loving Kindness (meditation) exercise on p. 93.

Complete the Integral Assessment discussed in chapter 11 (p.115).

1. There are a couple of areas in my life that are significant sources of stress; first is the fact that we lost our oldest son nearly a year ago, it's a constant sourse of pain and stress, second is trying to keep up with work (two jobs), TKD and school and to manage enough time to spend with my boys so they feel like I'm there for them when needed.

My greatest possibility for growth and development would be to learn to better deal with the stress that is inevitable in my life as well as to have enough peace of mind to not become angry or frustrated when things go awry.

2.

1. Describe the exercise and assessment process. What did you discover about yourself? What area have you chosen to be a focus of growth and development? Why? What are some specific exercises or activities that you can implement to foster greater wellness in this area?

The exercise was okay. I was so crazy busy this week that it was hard to sit and do it on my own, a guided practice is easier I think.

The assessment, well that was easy enough other than digging deep and determining what it is I need to change or achieve to become more intuned to my inner self.  Understanding where I need to make changes and determining what it will take to do so was a large part of the assesment process. I know that I allow my stress to escalate and control my life and I am determined to end that process. My husband calls it spiraling and that's sometimes how it feels. I would like to learn to better deal with the loss of our oldest son and not let it  be such a source of stress in my life although it will always be a part of me I don't have to let it define who I am or how I live my life.  I also need to learn to handle lifes difficult moments with more grace. Stress is a part of life but I need to learn to accept it and not get upset by it.

Exercise is my first and foremost need in life, it's my stress reliever, my outlet but since learning the contemplative practices I want to work those into my daily life and keep them there. Even if it's just a few minutes here and there. I will find peace in my heart and discover my inner self, I just need time to work at it.

Power Point Presentation Unit 5

https://drive.google.com/?tab=wo&authuser=0#my-drive

Here is the link to my Power Point Presentation...enjoy

Marlyn D

Subtle Mind Practice

I can't believe that we've made it to week 5 already!  Halfway through the term and I think I just may finally be getting the idea of what we are doing.  I really wish that I could have taken this course during a less stressful time in my life because I don't feel like I get to devote enough time to understanding and experiencing the exercises. This week we are learning about the subtle mind and our exercise is how to achieve this...

Compare and contrast the Loving Kindness exercise and the Subtle mind exercise. Explain your experience including the benefits, frustrations etc.

Both exercises to me are beneficial and an excellent way to open up the mind to what I feel is a truly relaxed state.  I do have to agree with a fellow student that it's a bit startling when the narrator starts speaking after a long pause, you get so relaxed and deeply focused and suddenly there is this voice out of nowhere.  I jumped a couple of times.  Otherwise, I was able to achieve a very relaxed state and even keep from grasping the random thoughts that were popping into my head. Both exercises, if done it the right atmosphere and approached with a positive attitude are easily done as long as I listen to the narrator guide the meditation. This weeks exercise, the subtle mind is more directed at oneself, at achieving a calm mind whereas the loving kindness is more about directing positive energies to others as well as oneself.

Discuss the connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. Explain how the connection is manifested in your personal life.

The more I understand about spiritual, mental and physical wellness, the more connection I can see.  I already, prior to this course, believed in the power of the mind over matter in many ways.  I knew that if I kept a positive outlook on life in general, life in general would be positive more often than not. The problem was learning how to come beyond the negative around me in order to maintain the positive that I desired.  How we percieve our lives has an impact, directly, on the way we live our lives.  Once we start working toward a healthy spiritual well-being it carries over to the other aspects of our lives both mental and physical.

Personally, since really learning about the mind-body connection, I have been working extremely hard at being positive.  I am becoming a calmer, more open person.  I am learning that I can manage stressful situations if I just give myself a few moments to calm my mind and spirit.  I have made decisions that will directly, postively impact my total well-being and in doing so have improved my positive outlook on my life.  A dear friend once told me that if you present the attitude of having the money for the things you need, that money will find you.  I think I understand what he was saying now and am becoming a better, happier and more relaxed person for that understanding.

Thanks for reading! Have a happy week!

Marlyn

Contemplative Practices

So I decided to start this weeks blog activities a little early because me and my family are going to the Lake of the Ozarks for the weekend for some rest and relaxation and I don't know if there will be internet connection there or not.  I figured I would do the exercise a couple of days and post about it and then do the exercises over the weekend (if I can) and then post again when I get home.  We will see how it goes. I actually started this Monday night instead of Wednesday and while the exercise speaks of doing it twice daily, this is impractical because I work 2 jobs so I'll have to do what I can.

Describe your experience. Did you find it beneficial? Difficult? Why or why not? Would you recommend this to others? Why or why not?

The first night, Monday, I found getting into this exercise to be kind of difficult, I think that the stress that I have been under was not really letting me relax and focus on it enough.  I like the thought process behind this exercise though and intend on really working on it because I think it will be extremely beneficial for me.

Night number two, which because of a crazy schedule ended up being on Wednesday, went slightly better.  It's hard to get into a good meditative state when your kids keep walking in to talk to you, waiting until they go to bed means it's bedtime for me so once again I had a hard time staying focused though I am finding that I can get into the exercise a little better.

Night number three, Thursday, success! I was able to get into a meditative state and stay there.  I am really starting to enjoy this one a lot more.  I like how it guides you to focus on others and not just yourself.  I will hold my recommendations for later in the week so that I can give a fully informed answer.  Until then... 

What is the concept of "mental workout"? What does the research indicate are the proven benefits of a mental workout? How can you implement mental workouts to foster your psychological health?

The concept of mental workout is best explained as working the mind on a daily basis so as to "evolve our psychospiritual life and access it's capacities". Our text even states that a mental workout can structurally change areas of the brain! Some of the benefits of  a mental workout include; an influence on our physiology, hormonal system and immune system. We can also gain the ability to change our brains circuitry to enhance our well-being.  Memory, attention, perception, imagery and other menal functions are positively impacted as well.  Another benefit is a reduction of disturbing emotions; ager, hatred, fear, worry, confusion, and doubt while enhancing emotions that are postitive such as patience, loving-kindness, openness, acceptance, and happiness. All of these benefits are well worth the workout for sure.  It's stated in our reading that contemplative practices are a good way to improve our psychological health.

More to come...this week is getting interesting.

Crime of the Century

Oh boy where do I begin. 

Based on your reflections, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal wellbeing), where do you rate your A-physical wellbeing, B-spiritual well-being, C-psychological well-being? Why?

A) I would have to rank my physical well-being at about a 7 mostly due to the fact that while I am physically active in martial arts my weight is still more than it should be and I have a terrible sweet tooth that I sometimes find hard to control. My physical health isn't too bad but I do have issues with stress headaches.
B) My spriritual well-being would have to be around a 6 because I really have a hard time even understanding what spiritual well-being is so if I don't understand it well then how can I develop it adequately. I do use meditation but I'm not even sure if that applies.
C) Psychological well-being, this I would rank at about a 7-8.  I have never suffered from any psychological problems but I will say that I do have plenty of stress in my life that really can take me down on occasion.

Develop a goal for yourself in each area (physical, spiritual, psychological).

Physical- my goal to improve my physical well-being would have to start with increasing my physical activity by being more consistent with my martial arts training and taking walks.

Spiritual- I'm not sure how to improve this...I have a very hard time with this aspect of life.

Psychological- reduce stress!!! That's first and foremost! I need to find better ways to unwind and calm my mind so I can deal with all of lifes craziness. I think that my physical goal will do a lot to help with this as well as finding some time for myself.

What activities or exercise can you implement in your life to assist in moving toward each goal?

Some things I can do to achieve my goals would be to maybe find a moment to incorporate yoga into my day. This would increase my physical fitness as well as to help me to clear my mind and increase my sense of peacefulness.  I think that increasing my martial arts training will help too, it works my body as well as my mind. 

1. Complete the relaxation exercise The Crime of the Century. To hear this exercise, click here. Describe your experience. (What it beneficial? Frustrating? etc.)

I did not even make it through this exercise.  I would start really relaxing and getting into the exercise and then would start to doze off, then startling awake only to have to try to relax again. Kind of frustrating

Journey on Relaxation Exercise

Professor and class,
I feel amazingly relaxed after that exercise.  I have done relaxation techniques since I was a kid although as I've gotten older I haven't done them as often.  This was a different technique than what I am used to though. I like the imagery and found it very effective, even with my kids interrupting to tell me goodnight.  One of the reasons I use relaxation is when I am having trouble falling asleep and it seems to help me every time.  I'm looking forward to further exercises!
Marlyn

Welcome all!!

Just a quick note to welcome those of you who wish to read my reflections and observations concerning what I'm learning at the present.  I will try my hardest to not ramble and bore those who take the time to check in.  I hope that I am able to effectively portray my thoughts and ideas and welcome any and all feedback.

For those who are unaware, this blog is intended to be used for a course that has to deal with, among other things, meditation and how it can aid in achieving a not only a better state of mind but an increased sense of wellness as well in other words, the mind-body connection. To my classmates, let's get this party started and good luck in the term!