Unit 7

1.  Complete the "Meeting Asciepius" exercise on track #4 of the Dacher CD. Describe your meditative practice(s) 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 have not been able to meditate like I would normally do, with everything that is going on and traveling across country. I’ve had to make sure that things get accomplished so I am able to even stay in these classes and have a home in which to live and a job to support myself. When I was doing the meeting asciepius exercise I did not get that much out of it. I was unable to free my mind of anything but what things need to be done. No matter how much I tried my thoughts were always racing. I think if I were to have taken the time on my journey even while in the car to just be at ease with myself, this practice would have come a lot easier. Sometimes it is easier said than done. I need to make sure that I practice meditation daily, When I was doing it daily I felt more at ease and was less stressed and now that I haven’t been doing it I can totally see the difference. Even thought life can get crazy and hectic I owe it to myself and others to take the time.

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 that comes to mind is ‘practice what you preach’. We cannot try and explain a practice that we ourselves have not done. As a wellness professional it is important to comprehend and understand what it is you are teaching to your clients. As a professional we have a duty to ourselves and to others to expand ourselves and be the best we can. This means that developing psychologically, physically and spiritually; these are things that are interconnected and affect not only our lives but what we have to offer to others. I think that psychological and spiritual growth is important and continuing meditating and practicing daily and continuing towards integral health will not only help me but those around me. I need to continue with my daily meditations and practice daily with all the interactions I come across. I could never ask someone to do something that I have not done myself.

Unit 6

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

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

3. 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?

I did these exercises and then I had a turn of unfortunate events occur and was faced with some trying times. I then re-did the exercises and it’s amazing how things can change from day to day. It’s as if one day I felt hopeless and then the next day it was the complete opposite. I found that there are two areas in my life in which I need to focus on; interpersonal and biological. I have been having relationships problems with myself, my father and my fiancé. For the last two weeks, I have been living on coffee, monsters and sunflower seeds. That is by far a healthy diet, and my physical appearance has shown the effects. To put it bluntly, I’ve been a hot mess. I have not been able to sleep within that time frame and as of last night slept for 12 hours. I woke up and I felt different, I’m not sure how else to explain it. I started to do these exercises again and it was like a light bulb went off and I knew what things I needed to start to change. I need to start taking care of myself, I need to eat healthy, cut some unhealthy habits out of my life. I need to become more in tune with my body, mind and spirit. For me, I think that meditation is what will help with these. It will also help in my interpersonal relationships as well. I have been recently reconnecting with my estranged father while also dealing with issues with my fiancé. I’ve come to realize that how I respond and react to situations doesn’t just affect the immediate people, but all people I come in contact with. I want to be able to have healthy relationships with all the people in my life and l need to learn how to deal and cope with situations that present themselves.

Unit 5 Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

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

The subtle mind exercise was a bit more difficult for me than the Loving Kindness exercise. I found it to be very hard to concentrate and not give in the constant thoughts and images that kept running through my mind. I’m not sure if it is because I went into this exercise thinking of the distress I am going through with a relationship. There were times during this exercise in which I would free my mind and it seemed that my breaths would deepen and then I would get a thought my relationship trouble and my breaths shortened and I was almost anxious. In the last few days I have not done the loving kindness exercise or any meditation. I think this is partially due to the problems I am currently facing. I think that not taking the time to do them has in a way hindered my ability to concentrate.

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

Spiritual, mental and physical wellness is all connected and we cannot have one without the other. I believe that my physical wellness is better than my mental and my mental is better than my spiritual. While I had a hard time with the subtle mind exercise, I feel that when I do the loving kindness exercise I feel more at peace. I am able to be calm and relaxed and just at peace. I do need to continue to work on the spiritual aspect of my life and it is the most underdeveloped. By continuing the loving kindness and the subtle mind exercise I think that I will be better equipped in all areas of my life.

Unit 4 Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

      1. When I was doing this exercise and was taking in the distress and suffering from that specific loved one, I could feel it all through my body. I had to slow my breathing and stay in the moment. It was as if there was so much suffering and I kept drawing it out. The loving-kindness I gave out, the less suffering I drew in. This is nothing like I’ve experienced before. I know this person has great suffering, but it brought it to a whole new level and I could feel it. It was definitely a weird experience in which I had to open my eyes just to keep grounded. When we were asked to take a whole group of people, I would take in the suffering and then return health, happiness and wholeness. There came a point where when I would get to specific people and tears came flowing out. I’m not one for crying and I rarely do it, but it seems these exercises are showing me that it’s ok and that sometimes we need it even if we think we don’t.

I found this experience to be quite beneficial for me; it’s like its opened things up for me and made me open where I was once tightly closed off. I found it to be kind of difficult just because it makes you realize a lot about things and how you treat things and people. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who has a willingness to try and be open. I say this because if it wasn’t for this class I probably wouldn’t have done the exercises on my own or even tried. While we are required to do them, I would still do them on my own now. It’s a new experience that I never thought would be for me, but I was all too wrong. I believe that for me, continuing to do them can only bring great things.

2. A mental workout is putting effort and practice into evolving our psychospiritual life. If we don’t condition our mental abilities we do not gain or further enhance our abilities. Mental work outs that are done with a clear understanding a couple times a day enhance our psychological health. We gain a feeling of gratefulness and feeling blessed; most importantly we grow and become aware that we have the ability to change our life. It gives us the ability to cope with the disturbing thoughts and emotions and enhance the positive ones. We can put these practices in our schedules and make time to do them just like any other agenda item. They can become a part of our daily routine and can only foster our psychological health. By continuing to do the work, we gain peach, calm, ease, delight, creativity and wisdom. In essence it promotes our overall health. I would say to those who are skeptical, what can it hurt to try and free your mind?

Unit 3 Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

Every time I go to the doctor they gage my physical health; ask about the foods I eat, the amount of exercise I complete during any given week, check my weight and blood pressure. I don’t believe that I’ve ever been asked to gage my physical, spiritual, and psychological well-being. In order to state all three on a scale from 1-10, I had to take a step back and really think about the spiritual and psychological aspects. At first glance it would seem to be straight forward and quite easy to answer, however this was not the case with me. Physically I would rate myself a 6; I say this because while I make sure I get the proper nutrition in a day, there is more I could do. My exercise consists of taking my dog for walks and doing all the running around I do in a day. I used to work out multiple times a week and while I always say that I need to get back into it, I never do. My goal is to walk/run on the treadmill a couple times a week. My fiancé works late 4 out of 5 times a week and I think taking the opportunity to use the treadmill when he’s working late would be a great way to stay on track.

Back to the psychological and spiritual aspects; looking at the psychological stand point, I would rate myself a 5. I rate myself a 5 for many reasons, one being I have lost touch with myself and being in tune with my emotional needs. I say this because I tend to put off all of my needs besides the obvious of eating. I put more emphasis on how others are feelings, rather than how things make me feel. I tend to let things build up over time and then voice my concerns all at once. One goal I have in the psychological stand point is to voice my concerns when I feel them or soon after, so they will not build up and come out all at once. I think making it a point to sit down and talk once a day or a couple times a week with my fiancé will really help in making sure that my concerns are addressed and done so in an environment that contains no distractions.

My spiritual well-being I would say has taken a backseat in my life; I would rate myself a 3. I tend to focus on the all the little things that happen throughout any given day. I don’t necessarily take the time and look at the bigger picture. My mind is constantly running and never really gets a break because I even fall asleep with a ton of things on my mind. This is the biggest area in which I need to work on and I think I need to work on it daily. My goal is to take 15-30minutes out of any given day and meditate or perform relaxation techniques. I will use this time to clear my mind of clutter and the worries that I carry with me each and every day. I think this will best be carried out if it is done right before I go to bed, because for me this is the time in the day when I can feel overwhelmed the most. It will make it sort of like a nightly ritual so there is no skipping it just becomes part of something I do. I think once I’ve done this and become accustomed to actually doing it, I will try and do it earlier in the day before things start to get hectic.

I found this relaxation exercise to be quite interesting. While I was completely relaxed and free of any distractions during part of it I couldn’t help but cry. I realized a lot about what things I lack and what I think strongly about. I found that I am grounded and fully believe that, but I also found that there is a difference in the love we give and the love we think we receive can be completely different. The parts that affected me most were being centered and feeling loved (tears started flowing). I also started crying when we were asked to feel connected, while it was easier than being centered and feeling loved it was still difficult and I got choked up. It was not what I had expected to get out of relaxation exercise, but it was definitely an eye opener. I feel as though my perception has changed regarding a lot of things and it also validates feelings that I have had.