Unit 10 Reflection

Back in unit 3, I personally assessed my psychological, physical, and spiritual well being and rated them a 7, 7, and 6, respectively, with my spiritual well being suffering because I’ve have little time to devote to my spiritualistic practices. Currently, I would score myself a bit higher in each area: 8, 8, and 7. The score has improved because I’ve managed to instill patience, compassion, and loving-kindness within all of my actions and thoughts, also promoting it within the lives of those around me, to stay physically active and emotionally stable, and to spend more time with nature that the beauty she provides. I feel as though I’ve managed to find time to develop each goal that I set for myself: I go on bicycle rides as often as I can, practice patience and loving-kindness in all that I do, and maintain positive affirmations and promote intentional thought. I do feel as though I’ve completed this course with an improved sense of well being, mostly by promoting patience, observing my own thought process, and manifesting loving-kindness within myself and others. It has been deeply rewarding, though at times difficult, though only when beginning a few of the exercises. With some practice and dedication, the exercises seemed to flow easier. This experience will improve my ability to assist others with their personal development of integral health by allowing me to relate to the individual and their unique situation, assist them with developing balance, health, and wellbeing within each aspect of the human experience, and help me to receive information with an open mind and an open heart.

Unit 9 Final Project

            Even though conventional medicine stresses the importance of physical health, integral health is concerned with the balance between the body, as well as the mind and the spirit. Integral health is described as balance within all four aspects of the human experience: biological, interpersonal, psychospiritual, and worldly. It is critical that a healthcare professional, especially a health and wellness professional, flourishes within all aspects of existence, as each is vitally important to the being and their holistic health. If one aspect suffers, every aspect suffers. Each aspect is interconnected; therefore if we do not experience balance within every aspect, it would be impossible to teach a holistic and integral path to health and wellness to another person (Dacher, 2006). The area I am concerned with most is my psychospiritual aspect of being. Managing school along with work is often times challenging, especially when some personal time is in extreme need. Setting aside personal time may be difficult at times, but this is crucial in developing health within my mind and body, along with my spirit. School and work equal to an average of 75 hours per week; not finding time to relax from the stresses of both jobs is something that cannot be considered in the least.

            I’ve assessed my spiritual health, my mental health, and my physical health by observing the thoughts, feelings, and eventual stillness of my mind during contemplative exercises, as well my nutritional and exercise needs. In regards to my physical health, I’ve determined that my diet is bit malnourished, which could most definitely affect all three aspects: physically, I could suffer from conditions associated with nutrient deficiencies; psychologically, I’d suffer from cognitive disorders such as memory loss; and spiritually, I’d be liable to suffer from an inability to encourage contemplative practices. Be that as it may, I do strive to include nutrient-dense food choices into my diet, so I don’t believe it to be a hazardous threat to my health, though I should still aim to incorporate more calories on a daily basis. As far as my psychological health is concerned, at the moment I do feel some anxiety over finals and my current situation with work and over-scheduling; however, I feel as though I’ve managed this stress well: I’ve rested when I needed to and have communicated my feelings appropriately to the people in question. I believe this has helped me to maintain a relative balance within my own mental aspect. When concerning my spiritual health, I’ve neglected to practice in seasonal rites of devotion, procurement, banishment, protection, and celebration that I find to be so soothing, grounding, and inspirational. This is the aspect I find that needs the most restorative balance, the most attention in order to promote flourishing within myself.

            One goal I believe will promote health within my physical domain would be to acknowledge the fact that biological life is intertwined with the mental experience, to understand and look upon our bodies as wholly unified beings rather than the different physiological systems of the human body, and develop the ability to explore much higher levels of our biological self, which gradually progresses towards psychospiritual flourishing. A goal that will promote health within my psychological domain would be to encourage the use of contemplative practices that help with determining and eliminating negative and potentially damaging behaviors, thoughts, and feelings, and developing, establishing, and maintaining positive and productive thought patterns. A goal that will help me to encourage health within my spiritual domain is further developing my practice with contemplative techniques. By doing so, I can develop a still, calm, and ever-observant mind which can help me to sense what it is that I need within certain aspects of my experience and how I should go about promoting health and balance.

            Exercises or practices that would help to foster growth within the physical aspects of my experience are approaches such as yoga and qigong. Yoga can help to promote strength, flexibility, and relaxation, mental benefits such as clarity and focus, as well as reduce stress and promote a calm mind through meditative and contemplative practices (Seibert, 2012). Qigong incorporates gentle and rhythmic movements that promotes relaxation, reduces stress, builds stamina, and enhances the immune system, as well as encourages the integration of and balance between the mind, body, and soul (The National Qigong Association, 2014). Exercises that will help with fostering greater development within my psychological health are contemplative exercises and visualization techniques. Contemplative practices often help practitioners to focus on certain aspects of their body, such as breathing, heart rate, or sensations in extremities, while visualization techniques can help with imagining people, places, or objects in great detail, as if from memory. Practices that could help to encourage health and development within my spiritual domain would be exercises like the subtle mind practice, as well as participating in my own spiritual practices. Sustaining a subtle mind can help to reveal our inner self, our true needs, and what should be done to promote balance to our conscious mind. Participating in my own belief structure can help to promote a sense oneness with nature, the universe, and all the beings that inhabit our existence. I plan to implement each exercise by managing my time, incorporating these exercises into my daily routine, and changing them as often as needed. I tend to rise early in the morning and find that incorporating these practices into my morning routine would be the best way to successfully integrate them into my daily life. Also, during the afternoons I often rest for about an hour; instead of lying down to recharge, I can practice meditative exercises to increase energy for the remainder of the day, or participate in my personal spiritual beliefs, which often has the same affect.

            In order to assess my progress, I plan to keep a journal that includes information about daily meditative practices, which techniques were used, the duration and quantity of exercises, and if there were days were there was no practice, the reason for not doing so. Also, I believe that mental attitudes, thoughts, and observations should be recorded in order to determine whether there is a correlation between my mental wellness and the desire to participate in contemplative exercises. In order to maintain these practices for health and wellness I aim the stay devoted and determined to the reason for developing my contemplative techniques, as well as persevere when the progress seems gradual and unchanging.

 

References

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

The National Qigong Association. (2014). What is Qigong? Retrieved from http://nqa.org/resources/what-is-qigong/ on May 25, 2014.

Seibert, A. (2012). The health benefits of yoga. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/the-health-benefits-of-yoga/ on May 26, 2014.

Unit 8 Reflection

Upon my reflection about the previous mediations and guided exercises I practiced throughout this course, I found the Loving-kindness exercise and the Subtle Mind exercise to be personally beneficial. The Loving-kindness exercise helped me to experience loving-kindness for my family and friends, for acquaintances, for those I shall never lay eyes upon, and for myself, most importantly. The Subtle Mind practice is helping me to gradually cultivate my witnessing consciousness, achieve a calm-abiding mind and progress into pure awareness. Both exercises have helped me to focus my intention on promoting health within all aspects of the human experience. In order to implement the first exercise, I plan to promote loving-kindness within myself and for myself, and by doing so, I am able to progress and develop these behaviors within all aspects, most importantly, worldly. I can express my gratitude, compassion, and forgiveness, show empathy, and promote positive thought processes with myself and others. In regards to the second exercise, I plan to observe and witness my natural thought processes and gain access to the calm-abiding and still and subtle mind. Instead of reacting to normally distressing situations, I have the ability to observe how, what, and why that particular situation is making me feel certain emotions. I have the ability to choose, so why not choose to eliminate needless suffering and promote human flourishing?

Unit 7 Exercise

Upon my first attempt of the unit 7 exercise, I found that it was a bit difficult to perform. Though I did have a challenging time imagining the healer, I managed to experience feelings of loving-kindness, compassion, wisdom, and healing. I imagined the color white, as it relates to purification and healing; the white beam of light emanating from my crown, my throat, and my heart. By doing this, I managed to progress through the exercise much easier than instructed. Exercises such as these have helped me to calm and still my mind so that I am able to better observe my own thought processes. By observing my thoughts, feelings and actions, I am able to promote intentional thought, and along with it positive thinking, compassion, and loving-kindness.
I believe that the saying, “One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself,” means that one cannot teach another individual the importance of integral health and how to incorporate it into their daily life unless they themselves has experienced the path firsthand. In other words, experience can be the only teacher when it comes to spiritual development. This saying applies to anyone in the healthcare setting, especially health and wellness professionals, because there is no way this particular concept could be taught to others without first experiencing it through personal practice. I believe that there is an obligation to flourishing within all aspects of the human experience because there is an aspect of the patient-practitioner relationship that is relatable. In other words, it would be easier for the client to relate to the health and wellness professional because they were also challenged by obstacles and experienced how challenging the road could be,  just as the client is experiencing.

Unit 6 Exercise

After some thought, I decided to play some calming meditation music along with repeating the phrases given. With each passing moment I felt my mind and body relax to the calming sounds of the background music, but most importantly to peaceful words continuing on through my thought process; I felt balanced, and as though my mind and heart were open, receptive and accepting of needless suffering, all while projecting loving-kindness and compassion outward toward those that need it most. After practicing the exercise and completing the integral assessment, I can see that my worldly aspect is a source of difficulty, particularly my work environment. I’ve chosen to focus on creating a positive, more encouraging environment by displaying compassion and kindness to everyone, especially those who are resentful of their job; this includes myself, mostly because I’ve become bitter about the lack of respect, the lack of accountability, and the increase of unreliability among coworkers, especially the management team. I’ve chosen to focus on this particular area because it causes a small amount of stress in my life, as well as the fact that this aspect of my life is impacted by many outside influences, and by doing so I can increase my intentional thought process and shift it into the right direction. One particular exercise I could use is the subtle mind practice which could help me with promoting a calm and peaceful mind, even in times of distress or frustration.

Unit 5: The Subtle Mind

After taking a few deep breaths and focusing in on the rising and falling of my chest and stomach, I felt myself relax into a peaceful state of calmness. For a brief second, I felt as though I myself were still there, but that everything else was slipping away, like I was elevated to higher level of consciousness. I don’t know how else to explain it. I found this exercise a bit more challenging than the previous one, because my mind does tend to wander at times, whether it be to work, school assignments, or family and friends; when this occurred, I focused in on my breath a bit more, but I tried to observe how my mind would wander to different thoughts, feelings, and images. Instead of feeling stressed or anxious about a certain thought, I tried to analyze them with objective peace and calmness. Without spiritual wellness, which cultivates loving-kindness, compassion, peace, and calmness, we are unable to flourish with wellness of the mind and body, and the same can be said for the others as well.

Unit 4 Exercise: Loving-kindness

After listening to the guided exercise, I found it to be beneficial. Afterwards, I was relaxed, though also energized. As I imagined love and compassion pouring from my heart, I felt my chest warm up, which spread throughout my core. Directing health, happiness and wholeness towards others seemed a bit more challenging, though I felt comfortable doing so, especially after I had focused these towards someone whom I love and care for. I would recommend this to others, though I feel that for this exercise to take full effect, it must be performed on a frequent and routine basis. The reason I say this is because I found it a bit challenging to show the thoughts and feelings I was experiencing with the same loving-kindness, only because I was unsure of how to go about the process.

Shifting gears, the term mental workout means to stimulate and train the mind in order to progress its ability to further the health of the body, mind, and spirit. Training the mind to feel loving-kindness and compassion for oneself, for loved ones, and for strangers can help the mind to expand on its abilities, leading to the path of human flourishing. In order to implement this exercise and others like it, I must set a specific time during the day and be diligent and persistent. It may seem challenging to find the time to incorporate these activities, but I must keep in mind that with practice, mastering these exercises will become easier over time, which will prepare me for implementing these practices into everyday life.

Unit 3 Exercise Response

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate my physical well-being at a 7; my spiritual well-being at a 6, and my psychological well-being at a 7. I consider myself to be relatively physically healthy. I get exercise while working and while participating in outdoor activities such as walking my dogs, hiking and bicycling. Though it has been a couple years since I’ve had a physical, my results were always normal; even considering that I was born premature, my growth and development maintained at a healthy rate, and once I caught up to the normal height and weight, I managed to maintain a healthy weight. Even my blood pressure is spot on: 120/80. I’ve recently became fascinated with nutrition and how it can affect one’s overall health, so I’ve been encouraging myself to incorporate healthier, nutrient-dense food options. During the day, I often feel energized, as though I am able to tackle any challenge handed to me and persevere after a long and tiring day. Because of the fact that I rarely exercise regularly during my free time, I aim to increase my activity level to the equivalent of 30 minutes of moderate physical activity a day. I’ve become increasingly interested at participating in yoga and I like to ride my bicycle (in the words of Queen), so I could strive to participate in those activities more often. As far as my spiritual well-being, this is slightly lower only because of the fact that ever since I’ve began school, I have found it somewhat more difficult to find time for my own spiritual practices. My religion is nature-based and flows with the ever-changing seasons and the lunar and solar cycles. Considering that many of my sacred practices are timed with the turning of the wheel, there are times when they must be neglected in order for me to balance school and work. Even so, my practices are suited to my own personal needs which I believe helps me to express myself openly in order to evolve and embrace change. As far as a goal in this aspect of my health, I aim to meditate more often – even if it’s only for ten minutes at a time. I feel that this could help to bring my consciousness into awareness with my subconscious, as well as the collective consciousness. I consider my psychological well-being to be healthy. I don’t suffer from any severe mental disorders, such as depression, bipolar disorder, or anxiety disorder and I always manage to use proper judgment when making decisions and managing thoughts, actions, and perceptions. When concerned with my psychological health, I hope to develop a more positive way of thinking, which can help to promote patience, awareness, and compassion within myself so that I can in turn promote these within others.
After listening to the relaxation exercise, I found that my experience was very relaxing, calming, and also energizing. As I worked up each chakra, I envisioned each color and felt each twist and spiral with vital energy. Even though I felt a sense of relaxation as I envisioned the color of each chakra, I did not feel tired or sleepy; on the contrary, I felt revitalized, full of cosmic energy, as well as grounded. Even now, after the meditation, I can still sense each color and speak each mantra. I rather enjoyed this exercise and I feel compelled to incorporate this into my daily life.

Unit Two Response: Journey On Exercise #1

As I listened to the Journey On exercise, I felt a sense of calmness and relaxation wash over me; as I visualized my blood flow from my core to the outer extremities of my arms and hands, I felt a sense of tranquility wash over me, making my arms and hands tingle and feel warm to the touch. Though they felt heavier than normal, I did not feel as though I were uncomfortable; on the contrary, I experienced relief from stress within the muscles of my hands and arms, and felt as it spread throughout the rest of my body. Not only did I feel relaxed and at peace, I also felt rejuvenated and refreshed. I rather enjoyed setting some time aside for promoting healthy relaxation and meditative techniques and believe that this is something that I can easily incorporate into my daily life to promote overall health and wellness.

Greetings from within!

Warm greetings, and welcome to my blog, where you will witness a journey of self-discovery and transformation! :)
I'm 26, soon to be 27 years old, and would consider my own spiritual path to be different than most: I practice a polytheistic, nature-based religion where the changing of the seasons, days, and hours, as well as the moon and sun cycles are important to my own personal spiritual practices. My deities are Silver and Gold; the Moon and the Sun; the Lady and Lord. Nature and the natural world are respected and revered, and are used as a way to get in touch with deity, and can help to enhance spiritual workings and everyday life. I enjoy the fact that for my spiritual self to develop and evolve, it is up to me to put in the effort, and it's my decision on where my spiritual path takes me.
This blog will help me to reflect upon my progression in spiritual development, my studies in my health and wellness class, and to understand that integral health is concerned with not only the physical aspects of the human experience, but the mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects, as well.