Unit 10 - A Reflecting Conclusion

In Unit 3 I gave myself the following scores: Physical – 5, Spiritual -6, and Psychological -6. 

          Now I would say I am still a 5 for physical as I am still a work in progress.  I have not completed much towards this goal of getting back on target for a fitness routine.  I still want to be more consistent and gain better physical health.  I also struggle some days to keep up with my healthier lifestyle and I need to look at why this is so hard for me and see if I can somehow make it easier to keep up with.  I have set goals for getting to the gym but life seems to get in the way all too often.  So my new goal is to set a schedule for the day, including all aspects of working out, meditation, meal planning etc. and sticking with it.  It will become habit and I feel that it will get easier through doing this.

          I feel like I am still a 6 in spiritual as well.  I am still growing and finding what brings me fulfillment.  I am learning to pray more and to lean on God in times of stress to help get through it better.  The finding a church that really “fits” is still a work in progress as well mainly because I have not gotten my husband on board to trying out a new one.  I may just have to try one out on my own.  My goal is to attend a new church in the next month and then revisit the talk with my husband.

          Lastly I feel like a 6 is a fair score psychologically as well.  I need to be more consistent in my practices of meditation or the loving kindness exercises or whatever it may be.  I still feel high strung and there is constant chaos in my brain that is hard to silence.  Although I have been more patient in dealing with my kids and not just unloading on my husband when he comes home.  So while I am improving I don’t feel that I have gotten to the next level yet.  Same as with the physical aspect I feel that putting everything into a structured schedule will help greatly with meeting my goals.

          In conclusion, I think this class has really helped open my eyes to everything involved in integral health.  I think personally it has helped me implement better exercises to help calm my chaotic mind and bring about more calmness into my life.  From a professional standpoint I can see the benefits of looking at the whole picture of a person I am working with to help them succeed in meeting their goals.  The most rewarding points of this class have been the Loving Kindness exercises added into my day because I have not been able to find anything that give me more patience than adding this into my day.  The difficulty I have in any of the exercises are quieting my mind and not feeling guilty or like I should be doing something else.  Honestly sometimes I fear that I have been over-programed to be in constant multitasking mode.  I find myself making lists in my head when trying to meditate so that is constantly a challenge for me but it is getting easier to re-focus and stay on track for longer periods of time.  I really feel my experiences in this class have made me a better professional because I will be looking at the whole person and not just the reason for their visit.  It also has helped me understand why a one-size-fits-all treatment plan is not going to make the most successful clients. 

Thanks

Melissa

Unit 9 Project - Integral Health

Unit 9 Project – Integral Health

Introduction:
It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically so they can provide in-depth guidance to their clients.  I believe you have to practice what you preach to the clients or you lose credibility.  I need to work on all areas in my personal life before starting my career as a health and wellness professional.  I am working towards being more consistent in my stress management plan so I am not under so much stress daily.  Spiritually I always thought I was fine but have recently decide “fine” isn’t where I want to be. I want more fulfillment from that side of my life, I want to study more and gain more from the church we attend.  It’s been an on-going process since I began this term.  Finally physically I have been working on the longest.  I need to be more consistent in my fitness plan to reach my fitness goals along with my weight loss goals.  My nutrition goals are mostly being met so just a bit more discipline and they will be on target.

Assessment:
When assessing my health in each domain I feel like I still have improvements to be made.  I give myself a 6 in spirituality as I am really finding more about what is important to me and what is giving me the most fulfillment.  Physically I have giving myself a 6 as well since I have fallen off the fitness track.  I am on track with nutrition for the most part so I need to get moving again to improvement my assessment of myself in that area. Psychologically I give myself a 7 as I have a pretty good feel for what works for me and I have been implementing and trying new meditation practices.  I do need to work on my consistency for stress management which is what needs to happen to move my score up and meet my goals.

Goal development:
My goal for spirituality is to continue searching for fulfillment, to seek out knowledgeable people and seek their consult in areas that I question.  I also plan to find a church that is more than just a family tradition to me.  Psychologically my goal is to be more consistent with my stress management plan.  I am going to sit down and get a schedule hammered out and follow it allowing myself the time needed for this important aspect of my life.  Physically my goals are to get back on track with my fitness routine, become more disciplined in my nutrition and finally be rid of pop once and for all.

Practices for personal health:
Physically I can learn new routines to keep the fitness routine new and fun to promote more motivation.  I can also take measurements along with weighing in to allow for seeing progress that’s not necessarily weight.  Lastly for physical growth I want to in-cooperate weight lifting and yoga into my normal cardio routines.  Staying motivated with goals and end dates will help keep me going until habits are made.

Psychologically I want to in-cooperate the loving kindness exercise and the subtle mind exercises into my stress management plan. (Dacher, 2006) These practices are amazing to my mental health.  I also want to not only do my guided meditation at night but find a guided one for the morning routine.  When I have tried this I was more patient and better able to handle the daily stressors.  Keeping a schedule and sticking to it will keep me on track with these goals.

Spiritually I can start to visit area churches that I am interested in to see if they might be a good fit and future church home for my family.  I also want to join a bible study to gain a greater knowledge of how the scripture relates to my life. I have a plan to purchase a study bible that will help me better understand the language.   I also feel making a schedule and praying about the challenges in my life will help make this happen.

Commitment:
Having a monthly goal written down is a good place to start with the assessment of my progress.  I feel checking in even weekly in the beginning is best to help make changes where needed and to address any set-backs that may have happened.  Once activities have become a habit it’s easier to stick with the plan and make new goals for growth.  I honestly feel just getting started and making it consistent practices is the key.  I’m also going to have an accountability buddy in place to check in and just be accountable to someone other than myself.  Once you see progress the motivation seems easier to come by.  To keep up with long term goals its best to allow for new growth and implement new goals.  It’s also good for client relations as you cannot teach what you cannot practice yourself and I plan to be able to practice what I preach.

References

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

Schlitz, M., Amorok, T., & Micozzi. M. (2005). Consciousness and healing: Integral approaches to mind body medicine. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone.

Unit 8 - Review (What is best for me)

          The practices I feel were the most beneficial to myself were the loving kindness and the subtle mind practices.  I also practice visualizations on a regular basis.  When going to the doctor’s office or going through tests that are less that desirable I call upon my visualization practice to help keep me calm and get through that situation.  I also used this practice while in child birth to help control the pain and my reaction to it.  The loving kindness exercise has become more part of my daily exercises since we looked at it in class.  It has helped me be more aware of my husband and kids and practice more patience with them than I had been before this practice.  The subtle mind has been helping me to calm the clutter in my mind when I am trying to distress and meditate.  These practice together are part of my stress management plan and all contribute to my mental fitness routine.

Thanks

Melissa

Unit 7 - Meeting Aesclepius & Meditation Practices

After completing the Meeting Aesclepius  exercise I found myself not overly excited about it.  It was weird for me and I struggled with visualizing this wise person in my head.   I tried several approaches from visualizing Jesus to my grandpa and even just creating one in my head and still struggled with the exercise overall.  

So far this week I have been very consistent in using guided meditation before bed and did try it a few times in the morning.  The morning sessions I need to allow more time for then I would not feel rused afterwards.  However, I did feel calmer for the morning routine.

Mindfulness has really helped me in several aspects of my life.  I have been more mindful in my meditation and making sure I allow time for it, I also have been practicing mindful eating approaches to help with a healthier lifestyle.  I think once you begin mindful practices it spills over into all areas as I have also noticed a more mindful approach to my spiritual practices too.  

I plan to continue with the morning and bedtime meditation practices and continue being more mindful in all areas.  Once a behavior becomes a habit such as setting a schedule that includes the meditation you reach a greater wellness as you are practicing as you should be and excuses are not being made as to why it wasn't done that day.

 "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" 

This famous quote can be applied to my future career as a health and wellness provider by keeping me accountable in myself.  You cannot teach someone how to do anything or make changes in their behaviors if you yourself have not or will not make the change or keep up with it.  I feel we do have an obligation to ourselves and our clients to achieve overall health psychologically, physically, and spiritually.  It's a continued growth so we must continue the behaviors even once we feel we can gain no more.  It's at that point we need to re-analyze our practices and see what changes need to be made to continue growth in all aspects of life.  

Unit 6 - Loving Kindness and Integral Assessment

I was happy to back to the loving kindness exercises but was not super excited by this task once started.  I know I am making it harder than it is honestly as I read through the lines over and over again.  I think it's because even though loving kindness is centered on helping others and reaching out to others I feel like I am still searching for a better loving kindness from within myself.  I am very easily distracted and to have to read lines over and over I felt like my mind would wander beyond what I was supposed to do and not focused on the task.  I much prefer listening and being able to focus that way.

During the assessment I really tried to be honest with myself.  I found that I have been questioning my spiritual development lately and wanting to grow more in that area.  I also have a great desire to improve my health which has not been great over the past few years.  I did start that process and found through some therapy that I wasn't doing all I could do or at least not in the right direction.  So I would say I have many things that are started or a work in progress.  One thing I want to incorporate is more fitness including yoga.  Before this last pregnancy that really gave me some lating health issues I was working out 6 days a week with Yoga on one day a week minimum and I loved the place I was at from a fitness standpoint.  I have made huge strides in combating my insomnia so that is one great improvement because a lack of sleep will mess with every aspect of your life.  I have been doing some meditations (mostly guided) that help me relax my crazy mind and give me the ability to shut it off so I can go to sleep.  During a discussion board someone suggested to me that adding a morning meditation routine may help with stress relief throughout the day so I am going to try that as well and see if I notice a difference.

Unit 5 - The Subtle Mind

                       The loving kindness exercise was a great exercise on getting me to be more conscious of those around me.  It helped me to focus not just on my own wellbeing but to be more aware of my family’s needs and to help me deal with my friend’s cancer.  It was not just about my inner self but beyond that.  The subtle mind exercise I felt was more about calming my mind and learning to turn the focus back into myself.  I had an easier time calming my mind for this exercise but I also think while doing this exercise I was very exhausted from a trying week of sickness from my kids, husband and myself.  We tend to always be running somewhere and my mind is in a constant state of “what’s next or what am I forgetting” so to calm my mind is soothing but can sometimes make me feel almost guilty.  Guilty for taking that time out of my schedule when I “should” be doing something else.  I think the loving-kindness exercise made me more aware of my feelings involved with my friend’s cancer diagnosis so I am struggling with that a bit, but it’s good to deal with it vs. push it back and have no emotion.  I felt so much more relaxed with the subtle mind exercise and think I may add this to the end of my day routine.

            Total wellness is when all things are balanced in the spiritual, physical and mental sides.  When I am not feeling well physically I notice that I am mentally more dragged down but I do tend to pray more to try and find a higher power to help me get through the situations.  I argue with myself on where I stand spiritually as I want it to be fulfilling and not just what my husband says or what my church says I should be doing for spiritual wellness.  I also notice that when I fall into the mental despair that comes with physical sickness it’s hard to pull myself back and get everything realigned.  I know personally that turmoil within the balance of mental, physical, and spiritual well-being can wreak havoc on your system until you are able to right the problem.  It seems the physical pains are worse, the mental function slows or forgets easily and I feel like I am lost spiritually sometimes.  It’s been a hard couple of weeks for me personally so I am starting my track back on getting everything balanced. 

Unit 4 - Loving Kindness

     I love the water sounds in the background as I tend to gravitate towards those sounds when relaxing and doing meditation exercises.  I do feel this exercise was beneficial and I did feel more loving and patient when done.  I did find the exercise challenging as I have not done it enough so my thoughts tend to wander when there was pauses between the lady speaking.  I would recommend this to others as I did work and I would like to listen to this more and see how I do with it over time.  

     A mental workout is working out the brain or mental side of yourself.  It's not so much different from a physical workout in the sense that it takes motivation to complete and implement as part of your routine. The newer concepts your are working on must be practiced just as lifting weights, if you don't do it often you lose the muscle tone.  The benefits point toward a greater inner well being and greater mental focus.  I feel that beginning the loving kindness exercises on a consistent basis will help me gain a greater peace within and its a great start to a mental fitness routine.