Unit 7: Meeting Aesclepius

Unit 7 Blog Assignment:

1. 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?

Each morning I meditate to allow myself an opportunity to feel an inner peace and calmness throughout my day.   In addition, meditation encourages better coping strategies to stressors in my life and the many jumbled thoughts that consume my mind throughout the day, especially being the OCD person I am! I enjoyed this practice and felt very relaxed and peaceful. When asked to visualize a loving man/woman that I respect, love, who taught me wise things and to become one with this person I instantly thought of Jesus Christ.  I felt His spirit in me, as the sound of the waves crashed in the background.  I pictured us sitting on the beach together as He held my hands.  The beam of white light shined down all around us and transformed my inner peace and tranquility.  At that very moment I felt comfort and security knowing I would never be alone.  He is always with me, guiding me, and shining His white light on me as I walk my journey on earth.  Mindfulness or meditation has fostered an increase in my psychological or spiritual wellness since I find I am overall less angry in stressful situations and handle myself differently towards my personal and social interactions.  I find through daily meditation, even the few minutes practiced, I am a MUCH calmer and all-around better person.  In addition, meditation has made it so the little things that used to bother me don't seem like such a big deal anymore.  Trivial things I once thought were catastrophic now seem rather insignificant. Furthermore, maintaining meditation in my life personally adds peace, happiness, and serenity to my life developing greater health and wellness.

 

2.      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 “One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" simply means in my opinion to “practice what you preach.”  If you are going to show someone how to get somewhere or do something, you need to have done it and experienced it yourself.  This most certainly applies to the health and wellness professional.  In order to teach and instruct health and wellness to clients, we need to achieve it ourselves.  On a personal note, I can recall my first day of personal training school our instructor saying if anyone in the room smoked.  One person raised his hand and our instructor told him to either quit or leave the room because he was in the wrong profession.  How can you smoke when you are teaching people how to better improve their health and wellness?  It would certainly be hypocritical.  As a trainer and future health and wellness professional I most certainly have an obligation to my clients to develop my health physically, psychologically, and spiritually.  These three concepts make me a complete and well-rounded person.  It is critical I look and feel the job I am about to embark into.  Currently, I implement prayer and meditation into my life each morning.  Additionally, I am physically active on a regular basis and incorporate many hobbies into my life to foster creativity, stress release, and happiness.  All of these contributions benefit my mental and spiritual growth. 

Angela

 

Monday Motivational Quote

7 Lovely Logics

Unit 6: Angela's Focus for Growth and Development

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?

After completing the Integral Assessment I realized there a couple areas of my life that need fine-tuning.  There are two specific areas I need to focus for growth and development to include Psychospiritual Flourishing and Interpersonal Flourishing.  I am a perfectionist in many facets of my life, to the point where it causes unneeded stress and at times can cause strain to my personal and social relationships.  I like everything in my life to be neat, clean, organized and in perfect order or I feel “out of sorts”, if you will.  My father taught me at a young age to live your life by the Golden Rule “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”  Though I am spiritual and overall kind-hearted to everyone I know, meet and love, there are times when I will place my selfish wants and feelings ahead of others.  This is not something I am proud of or is ego-driven, but more because of certain phobias I tend to carry with me.  For example, I may not go to a certain restaurant my husband may want to go because I feel it is dirty.  I may not stay at a hotel because in my mind I feel there are certain hotels that I am only comfortable staying out of fear of a dirty room (when in reality they are all dirty).  If there is a chore that needs to be done around the house, I would rather do it myself because I feel I can do it better or the way I prefer it.  Additionally, I may get upset with my mom if she spills something or makes a mess cooking.  Though the people who love and care for me most know my idiosyncrasies, there are times it can aggravate them and add stress to my life.  These are areas I have struggled with most of my life and through my studies and health and wellness background I am finally recognizing and realizing how detrimental they can be. 

As an aside, my poor husband and mother are left to do nothing around the house because I will end up doing it over!  My mom wanted me to include this in my blog. 

Some specific exercises I have incorporated in my life to foster greater wellness is meditation and prayer.  Through daily prayer I ask the Lord to take this struggle away from me.  Honestly, I sometimes feel my phobia and OCD behavior tends to wear on me and takes away from my overall health and wellness.  Over the past few months I have also incorporated meditation into my daily prescription and it has worked wonders.  Though, I must admit, I have far more room for improvement in this area.  Moreover, I feel reframing and looking at things through a different perspective can help ease me and make me realize the importance of these feelings in my life. 

I just happened to find the perfect picture for me!! :)

-Angela

 

 

Forgive Yourself and Move On..

Thoughts become Words

 

Words become Actions

 

Actions become Habits

 

Habits become Character

Unit 5 and The Subtle Mind

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

Loving Kindness:  The focus is shifted from focusing on ourselves and our needs, but rather we build a concern and compassion for the well-being of others.  At first, we must practice a mental attitude and later it will reveal itself as a natural and effortless aspect of higher consciousness.  I have practiced this exercise a few times the past week and it has made an overwhelming difference in my overall attitude and my overall compassion for others. 

Subtle Mind:  This practice is related to the breath for two main reasons.  First, there is a direct relationship between the breath and your mind.  As your breathing becomes more and more easy and rhythmic, so will your mind.  Still the breath and you still the mind.  Second, the breath is always with us, so we can practice it any time of the day no matter where we are.  By using the breath, we learn how to tame and stabilize the mind.  With progression of this exercise we experience calm-abiding, which in turn leads to unity consciousness. 

Comparison: The loving kindness exercise focused on forgiveness, healing, and taking away suffering from another; in return sending love, forgiveness, and expansion of the heart.  The subtle mind exercise focused on the calm abiding mind, slowing the mental chatter causing the mind to experience pure stillness and relaxation. 

My Experience: In the subtle mind exercise I concentrated my breathing on the rising and falling of my chest, rather than through my nostrils.  I used love as my focal point, since I had my little Dachshund in my lap.  I enjoyed both exercises appreciating each one for their ability to ease my mind and in essence bringing me to a state of comfort and relaxation.  The subtle mind practice can be frustrating to a beginner, since it is incredibly difficult to remain focused; avoiding all the mental chatter in your mind.  It took several times to settle my mind, remain focused on my breathing and my focal word (love), and explore my mind since I decided to sit down and do this exercise in the middle of the day. 

 

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

Wellness is much more than physical health, exercise or proper nutrition.  It is the full scope of physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. It is important for one to discover what they believe is their own sense of meaning and purpose in life.  The mind, body, and spirit are all connected.  Each aspect of wellness directly and synergistically affects the other to create fulfillment, happiness, and satisfaction.  Personally, when I am in touch with a higher purpose it allows me to think clearly and make wise decisions in my life.  Furthermore, it gives me the energy to be physically active.  When I am having a stressful day or things in my life are hectic, my mind is in chaos and as a result, I have no ambition to be physically active.  We all must try to live our life to be the best we can be and both of these valuable exercises enable us to reach this plateau in life. 

-Angela

Reference

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

 

 

 

Beautiful things...

Unit 4:  Loving Kindness Exercise

 

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

My experience during this exercise was very moving.  Initially, I found it difficult to get in the zone, but as my thoughts became restful and at ease, so did my mind and inner being.  This was a very beneficial exercise for me because I was truly able to let go and felt a calmness come over me.  In addition, I felt my inner burdens subside and a feeling of comfort and peace filled me.  My mind clearly became more positive and my mood heightened.  I would recommend this exercise to others.  I think we can all use loving kindness in our lives to make us not only love ourselves, but be an overall better person.  My religious beliefs teach me “love others as ourselves.” 

 

2.      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?

Just as the body needs physical activity for optimal health and well-being, so does our brain.  The most significant purpose of reflective practice is the continuous growth of an enlarged awareness and its healing ability (Dacher, 2006). 

Research has shown that when people stop worrying so much about themselves and their lives and actually spend that energy on helping, accepting and loving others, they are happier and more fulfilled.  Dacher stated, “We give back what we give” (2006) and when we give and receive loving kindness our minds are calmer and it puts on a path of human flourishing. 

Proven benefits of a mental workout are the ability to train the mind.  Once you find peace within, harmony and oneness will find you.  Dacher states “an hour a day of mental practice will execute good health, promote enjoyment, and completeness” (2006).  The proper mental workouts can notably cultivate one's intellectual behavior.  There are many methods a person can implement to foster psychological health to include: regular physical activity, crossword puzzles, Suduko, board games, memory games, or simply reading a book. 

-Angela

Rid Yourself of Negativity!

Loving Kindness: When your present state of mind becomes more positive, it opens your heart to feel compassion for other people. 

 

Unit 3 Blog Assignment and Relaxation Exercise

1. Based on your reflections, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal well-being), where do you rate your:

A. Physical well-being: Though I am a personal training and am extremely passionate about my physical well-being, I would rate my optimal well-being at a 9.  I feel there are so many areas I can still polish, especially endurance and core strength.  Overall, I am very physically fit, incorporate regular physical activity into my daily life, and maintain a proper and well-nourished diet.  And I eat breakfast EVERY morning!  A must for your physical well-being!

B- Spiritual well-being:   I would rate my spiritual well-being a 7.  I live my life through my faith in God.  He is my driving force and I choose to live my life through His will and not my worldly, selfish wants and desires.   This is very difficult as worldly circumstances seem to always get in the way and try to sway you off the right track in life. 

C- Psychological well-being:  After taking Critical Issues in Stress and currently Creating Wellness, I would rate my psychological well-being an 8.  I have found my meditation techniques have had a tremendous boost to my overall frame of mind throughout the day.   Meditation allows me to clear my mind, rejuvenate my thoughts, and gives me a sense of inner peace.  Additionally, meditation allows me some “me” time every morning when the entire house is fast asleep snoring! 

 

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

A, Physical Goal:  Running in a marathon would be a physical goal I can set my sights on in the future.  Additionally, I would like to incorporate walking every morning, since I feel it is not only a great way to start your day, but would allow me to get in touch with nature and clear my mind. 

B. Spiritual Goal: To be able to understand and interpret the Bible in a way I can fully live my life abiding by.  The Bible can be very confusing, yet I still receive so much comfort and peace reading through it; as I know God is a dominant presence in my life.  In addition, I would enjoy joining a Bible study class.  I keep using the excuse of how busy my life is, but there should be more time in my schedule to devote to my spiritual faith.

 

 

 

 

C. Psychological Goal:  My goal would be to try and not take on so many things in my life and learn the art of balance and patience.  Also, I would like to be able to relax more when things become overwhelming in my life.  Also, I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve, so I have found people tend to take advantage of this weakness (or strength if you look at it through a different lens).  

 

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

I believe time is the biggest culprit in my life and interferes with my moving toward each goal.  To be honest, if something is important in your life you will make the time.  This is true with social relationships and it must be true with your physical, spiritual, and psychological well-being. 

 

4.      Complete the relaxation exercise The Crime of the Century.  Describe your experience. (What it beneficial? Frustrating? etc.)

The Crime of the Century relaxation exercise was very beneficial.  It allowed me to stop, sit still (from an otherwise hectic, fast-paced day), and relax for a few minutes.  I also found it refreshing and felt energized afterward.  I became fully aware of my body regions and focused on the colors of the rainbow to allow peace and tranquility permeate through me.  Great exercise and I recommend it to anyone who needs a quick breather in their day!

 

Hi Everyone...Welcome to Unit 3!

I felt this was a great quote to start our week on the importance of a mind-body-spirit focus for Health and Wellness professionals.  Spiritual wellness and the profound impact on healing and well-being starts by releasing the many negative thoughts that interfere with our happiness and well-being.  So, consume your mind with happiness, peace, and positive thoughts, so you can become a better YOU! 
Have a great week! :) 
Angela