Unit 9 Project

It is very important that health and wellness professionals develop as psychological, spiritual, and physical beings.  In order to have total and complete confidence in the practice, one must be confident and satisfied with their own state of health and wellbeing.  The experience gained from thriving as an individual can be utilized to direct patients into the right direction, so that they can experience results for themselves. 
            The area that is most underdeveloped for me is the psyche.  I am definitely not where I want to be psychologically, nor do I feel that I am improving at a significant rate compared to other aspects of my health.  I have the vision, and the drive is there, but I cannot seem to get over this hump.  I feel that being a smoker really diminishes my health and quality of life in a number of ways.  Physically, I am causing damage to my lungs.  Psychologically, I must deal with the fact that I am deliberately causing damage to my lungs, and watching those who care about me watch me do it.  Quitting is difficult, and I have failed over and over again.  I am not confident that I can quit on my own, and I am scared that I will not thrive like I want to, and that I will die an early death.
            This addiction hinders me from reaching the main goal of achieving an integral state of health.  I know that smoking is a physical addiction, but I believe that it is more of a psychological habit.  But this class has taught me that the mind is a very powerful tool, if trained correctly.  If I can pull this aspect of my life up to par, I know that I will finally kick the habit and thrive at a much more significant rate than I am right now. 
            Physically I feel that I am average with the potential to be way above average.  I am at a healthy weight with no health conditions at the moment.  Although I do not feel that I am in complete control of my physical health like I want to be right now, I do think that this aspect of my health is stronger than the others. 
            Psychologically I feel crippled because of the lack of control that I have over my decision-making.  I feel that this aspect of my health is the weakest compared to the others.  An unhealthy psyche is a major issue to me because I know that an unhealthy psyche also affects the other aspects of health, such as my physical health in regard to smoking. 

            The spiritual aspect of my life was always the weakest aspect for me, but has improved a lot for me in the past few years.  I feel that I have a positive outlook on life and that I have good morals and values.  I believe that everyone was put on Earth for a reason, and I am comfortable in my role.  I have tons of compassion for people, and have a strong desire to help others thrive.  My religious beliefs have gotten stronger as well, which has provided me with a lot of confidence in my marriage and my career. 
            A physical health goal for me is to stick to a workout routine that works for me, eat healthy, and maintain a healthy weight for the remainder of my life.  Psychologically, I want to gain control over my negative mental behavior.  This includes suppressing the useless chatter when it is time to focus, beating the nicotine addiction, and learning to thrive in this area of my life.  A spiritual goal for me is to utilize my strengths (attitude toward others, perspective on world, and relationship with God) and to incorporate them into my medical practice someday.
            To foster growth in each aspect of health, I need to create and implement a strategy that is well-rounded and tailored to my specific health needs.  The physical aspect has plenty of room for improvement.  Running on the treadmill and participating in Yoga classes will help to improve my stamina and flexibility.  Psychologically, I need to practice my meditation techniques.  If I continue to practice, I can only get better. I need to train the mind to accomplish the goals that I have set for myself.  Practicing the loving-kindness exercise regularly will ensure that my feelings of love and kindness are fresh.  Visualization techniques are helpful as well, as they show us that our goals are obtainable.  Spiritually, I would like to give more of my time to helping others.  I think that volunteering yourself for the benefit of others is very healthy and satisfying to the inner self and spirit.  I also want to attend church on a regular basis. These activities will foster growth in the spiritual aspect of my health.
            Assessing progress may be a little difficult due to changes in attitude, perception, and standards that are associated with a health transformation.  Therefore rating yourself on a scale of one to ten would not be as accurate.  I feel that a more accurate way to assess improvement would be to list the aspects of health in order from strongest to weakest (both before and after assessment time period) and compare the results.  This way, you can see if the weaker lengths have bypassed former stronger links, and you can identify the aspect that is lagging behind the most.  Constant improvement is the key, but maintaining a healthy balance between all aspects is important too.
            There are several things that I can do to assist myself in maintaining my long-term practices for health and wellness.  I think that developing a routine is essential so that the balance between aspects is maintained.  Turning the practices into a habit is the key to maintaining the practice for a long time. It is hard to remember everything that needs to be done in order to maintain this balance.  It would be helpful to designate a specific time period every week for working out, meditation, church, volunteering, etc, and keeping track of the events with a planner of some sort.  I like using the calendar on my phone.  I can set a calendar event for a specific time each week with an alarm so that I do not forget.  When the events are planned out, there is a much higher possibility that it will get done. 

Unit 8 Exercise

Loving Kindness

The loving kindness exercise is still my favorite because of the effects that I feel afterwards.  I feel that I am a better person because I am now able to forgive people a lot quicker.  I instantly feel better about myself and my perception on the world in general.  As a health care professional, it is important that I am able to look inside and understand the state of health the patient is in.  Now that I am educated a little in how the mind functions and that it is possible to train the mind, II will be able to treat my patients the same way.  In a physical therapist setting, it is important to understand that mental state has a lot to do with physical healing.  Having a good attitude starts with developing a clear mind state, and the loving kindness exercise is a good one to clear up any issues that have to do with current and past relationships.  Once you have made peace with the world and then yourself, you are able to tap into the deeper layers and focus on healing you body. 

Meditation and Visualization

Meditation is a favorite of mine because of the freedom that I get from it.  When I meditate, I feel that I am really getting the most of my time at the moment.  I feel that I am finally getting a hold on the mental chatter and moving on with my practice.  Once I was able to overcome this challenge, all other practices became easier, including the visualization practices.  Being able to sit there and have a conversation with my Grandpa just by closing my eyes was very beneficial to me because I was able to get valuable information from him.  The realization that it is in fact myself (in my mind) that is making Grandpa sat these things to me makes me think that the visualization of me becoming Grandpa is possible.  I have it in me, which is what the visualization exercise is meant to do I think, but it will still take some time and practice.   

Meeting Asclepius

The meeting Asciepius exercise was difficult at first as I could not get a clear picture of my grandfather.  I haven’t seen him in a long while so I decided to go get a picture of him to look at.  I started the exercise over and had much more success with the visualization.  I felt his presence, and felt the connection when he transferred me his wisdom.  I always wanted to be just like him because he has had so much success in his life.  Everything from his marriage to his career in the air force has been absolutely successful…dang near perfect if you ask me.  I feel that this person has more wisdom to pass to me than anyone I know.

I still practice the loving kindness and the subtle mind exercise on a weekly basis.  I still get chatter from time to time, but focusing on the breathing helps a lot.  I am finding that it is getting easier and easier the more that I practice. 

Having a mentor that has experienced the unity consciousness on a regular basis must makes things a lot easier.  Having someone guide you that have not experienced this mind state cannot guide another.  As a healthcare professional, it would not be morally or ethically right for me to guide an individual toward a level that I have not reached yet.  I do feel obligated to reach that level so that I can show them with confidence. 

Integral Assessment

The universal loving kindness exercise definitely made me think about who I want to be in regard to my health career.  Everyone deserves to be happy and healthy, and it is my duty to ensure that I assist all individuals in their journey.  Repeating the phrases over and over get them to stick in the mind.  Once they are memorized, I then began to dissect the phrases to make more sense of them.  After a while of this, it becomes clear that finding health, happiness, and wholeness is the ultimate goal here, and that everyone has it inside of them to get to this point. 

The integral assessment really helps you to identify which aspect of your life is in need of improvement.  I discovered about myself that I am not able to focus as well as I thought I could.  I have chosen to focus on this aspect by continuing to practice the exercises in the text, as well as increasing my meditation time.  I want to be able to reach that state of relaxation in areas other than my home or vehicle…areas that are very quiet and peaceful to me. I want to be able to reach that state of relaxation in normally stressful situations, such as at work or engaging in a disagreement with my wife or other family and friends.  I think that this goal is very obtainable if I continue to engage in these mental workouts.     

Balance is Key

The subtle mind exercise was a little more relaxing than the loving kindness exercise.  During the loving kind exercise, I found myself constantly utilizing the conscious to think about who I loved, who I don’t love, and who is suffering. I However, the subtle mind exercise reinforces the utilization of the witnessing mind.  I have always had the strong witnessing mind, but I wasn’t able to control it as much as I can now.  I think that this is the next step in developing a unity consciousness. 

Physical, mental, and spiritual wellness are intimately intertwined when it comes to achieving your desired level of health.  The object is to be balanced, giving the appropriate attention to each and every aspect of your life in order to maintain this balance. 

When one aspect is under par, the mind-body does not thrive at its full potential.  An example in my own life can reinforce this statement.

II run approximately two miles, three times a week.  I usually run it in about 14:30.  On days in which I meditate prior to running, I can run it in under 13:45.  That is a pretty significant difference for me.  When I mentally prepare for the physical task, my body performs at a higher level.  Likewise, when I am working out regularly and eating right, my mind is tuned up for schoolwork.  Thoughts are solid and clear, and completing mental tasks such as homework or playing baseball seem a lot easier. 

Loving Kindness

My experience with the loving-kindness exercise was a good one.  I can really feel relaxed when I listen to the CD, no matter which exercise it is.  I don’t know if it is the narrator’s voice or the ocean track or what, but it gets me where I need to be.  I was thinking about my grandmother for the duration of the exercise.  She is battling the late stages of emphysema at this time, and is not doing too well.  I really tried hard to take her pain away, and give her wellness in return.  After the exercise I called her and talked to her.  It was a really good conversation.  Maybe I wouldn’t have called her if I didn’t participate in the exercise…either way, the exercise made me feel better about her and myself.  And I’m sure that she felt better after our talk too. 

I didn’t think that the exercise was difficult…all you have to do is listen.  The most difficult part for me was to believe that I am actually accomplishing something here.  The main thing for me is that I feel like I am making progress here, and that’s how I know that I am accomplishing something.  I have opened up my heart to the world, my friends and enemies, and those who are very close to me.  I am not filled with hate anymore, but instead I look at my former enemies in a different manner.  I have not made a move to mend the relationship yet, but I feel that I am making progress here too. 

A mental workout is any exercise that attempts to train the mind.  For instance, during the living-kindness exercise, we are training the mind to open up and feel for others.  Mental workouts are shown to increase brain activity and improve concepts such as memory and critical thinking skills.  It can reduce negative thoughts and disturbing emotions that cause anger, hatred, fear, worry, confusion, and doubt (Dacher, 2006).  On the other hand it can increase positive emotions such as loving-kindness, openness, acceptance, and happiness (Dacher, 2006).   

 Reference

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

Unit 3 exercise

1.        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?

Physical well-being:  6.  I am involved in an adult baseball league, I run on the treadmill a few times a week, and I am on my feet all day at work during the week.  However, my diet is under par.  I do not watch what I eat and I have gained a few pounds this year.  I have a lot of work to do to get where I want to be.

Spiritual well-being: 4. I go to church and I have 100% faith in god, but on a personal note, I do not feel that I am living the life that I need to be living in order to be completely fulfilled. 

Psychological well-being:  2.  This number is so low because I am not confident in myself.  I feel that past experiences have haunted me all of my life and I have had a lot of trouble getting over them.  My mind rambles most of the time, and I find myself constantly regretting decisions that I make.

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

Physical goal:  Begin a work-out routine and stable diet that works for me…and stick to it.

Spiritual goal:  Get more in touch with my spiritual self.

Psychological goal: Use this course as a starting point to a new and improved mind-set about myself and others.

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

Physical action:  Use the final project for my Capstone class (develop a health plan for an organization) to develop my own work-out routine and diet plan.

Spiritual goal:  Keep performing the techniques and exercises in the textbook, especially the loving-kindness exercise.

Psychological goal:  Keep performing the techniques and exercises in the textbook to control my thoughts and emotions

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

I enjoyed this exercise.  Although I have had a stress free day so far, I feel that I have let my stress from the week go.  I do have trouble with the rambling thoughts, but once I tuned in I was able to really relax.  I was so relaxed that I almost fell asleep!  I enjoy the sensations in my body while relaxing like that…I’ve never noticed them before.  Overall, I give it an A+, and I will continue to practice this exercise.

Changes to my blog

I had to make a few changes to my blog because I misunderstood what we are going to be focusing on in this course.  Anyway, this blog is a site for discussion about health, namely, integral health.  Being healthy does not just involve having a healthy body, but being healthy mentally, socially, and spiritually are all important concepts that need to be recognized.  I hope that all of my classmates find this experience to be as helpful and fulfilling as I anticipate it being for me. 

My experience with the unit 2 Relaxation technique

I fet the warmth and heaviness of my arms and hands.  The natural sensations of the body that came from the redirection of blood flow was very stimulating.  I have never concentrated on the natural sensations like that.  I feel that the relaxed state that I was in allowed me to focus on the feelings that were being created inside of my body.  I feel more relaxed now, and I am ready to tackle the activities that this day has to offer