Unit 10 Reflections-Professional Application of the Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

1.        Review your unit 3 personal assessment of your psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being. Reflect on these areas . How did you score yourself on a scale from 1 to 10 in unit 3? How do you score yourself now? Has the score changed? Why or why not?

2.        Review the goals and activities you set for yourself in each area. Have you made progress toward the goals? Explain.

3.        Have you implemented the activities you chose for your well-being in each of the three areas? Explain.

On a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal well being), my ratings and explanations are listed below:

A-Physical well being: In my Unit 3 blog post, I rated myself at a 6 in this area and will keep that rating. As I stated, I am not where I used to be but I am better than I was a few years ago. I have cleaned up my diet considerably by eating only local and organic foods, no sodas, fast food or anything that I can't pronounce. My mother’s sudden death in 2011 due to heart attack and my father’s recent battle with stomach cancer has definitely been motivation to help me to continue with my improved eating habits. I believe this has attributed to my overall health considerably. I would like to work on toning my body and losing a few pounds since I am not as physically active as I was before my son was born 3 years ago. I would like to get a bike and ride with my son to work towards attaining this goal. Implementing yoga would also help with improving my physical, spiritual and psychological well being and help alleviate some the stress that I have been experiencing relating to searching for a less stressful job and dealing with my father’s illness.

B-Spiritual well-being: In Unit 3 I rated this as a 5. I would still rate it at a 5 or a 6. As I mentioned, I was raised in a Southern Baptist church and often felt it was very restrictive. As I have gotten older, I realize that you do not have to attend church every Sunday to have a relationship with God. I have also become more spiritual and less religious. I want to allow my son and any future child that I have to choose what religion, if any, they wish to practice. I do want to implement some form of meditation into my life to also help with my spiritual focus.

C-Psychological well-being: With everything that is still going on relating to my father's illness and my job uncertainty I would still rate this area a 5. Supportive family and friends have made these things easier to cope with, but I still feel down and stressed like nothing is going to change. My goal is to continue to utilize my family, friends and any other resources that I can to stay calm and sane during this stressful time. I also need to learn to take a little time out for myself. There are days like today where my 3 year old decided to take a nap mid day and I have had nearly 2 hours of peace and quiet! That is a mental vacation within itself and gives me to time to regroup my thoughts.

4.    Summarize your personal experience throughout this course. Have you developed improved well-being? What has been rewarding? What has been difficult? How will this experience improve your ability to assist others?

This course has challenged me at times. I am still going to seek spiritual, physical and mental development through meditation and other methods discussed in class, but it has been difficult to find the time and peace and quiet to do so. There are still some obstacles that I must overcome. One positive aspect was focusing on forgiveness and gratitude.  I am determined to stay on the path to integral healing.   I will feel fulfilled once I can share this joy, peace and calm with those around me.

I am enthusiastic about being able to use these practices on my future clients once I have strengthened the areas that I need improvement on so that I can be a great example to my clients as an alternative health and wellness coach. I have also been inspired to create my own personal blog at http://naturalmochamama.wordpress.com relating to alternative health and wellness topics. I am also on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Naturalmochamama. Come visit me!

Best wishes to you all in your journey to integral health and your future endeavors!

Unit 9 Final Blog Project

HW 420 Unit 9: Personal Application of the Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing – Blog Project

 

                  I.     Introduction:
Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?

I believe it is very important for health and wellness professionals to incorporate integral health practices into their own lives before offering treatment to others. Having this experience helps health and wellness professions to offer more holistic care to their clients.

When health and wellness professionals implement integral health in to their own lives, they will come to know that the alleviation of suffering and the ascent to human flourishing are more than ideas. These professionals will then want to end needless suffering to the best of their ability and therefore, the soul of medicine returns (Dacher, 2006).

The two areas that I need to develop in order to achieve optimal psychological, spiritual and physical wellness are the implementation of regular exercise and daily meditation. I strongly believe that if I develop these two strategies then my overall psychological, spiritual and physical health will improve drastically because these three factors will become balanced.

                II.     Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

There are several exercises and/or processes which will successfully assess an individual’s need for psychological, spiritual and physical improvement. According to (Elliot S. Dacher, 2006), a mini meditation exercise “can be quite powerful in expanding your mind and heart. It can serve as an antidote to anger and hatred. It can help to shift your focus from personal love to universal loving-kindness.” (Dacher, 2006) An assessment process can also be completed by asking a series of questions. Five questions which may focus on healing and promoting integral development are:

 1. “What aspect of my life-psychospiritual, biological, interpersonal, or worldly- is the source of difficulty and suffering?” (Healing)

2. “What line of development is most essential for me at this time?” (Healing)

3. “What is my current level of development and what can I aim for?” (Healing)

4. “What area of my life is ready for growth and development?” (Promoting)

5. “What would the next level of development look like?” (Promoting)

Currently, my physical, spiritual and psychological well being is scored mid range. Although I am adamant about clean eating such as purchasing local and organic and avoiding fast foods, restaurant foods and sodas for example, I do not get enough physical exercise. My spirituality is currently being tested with having to deal with my father’s illness and job hunting for the past 2 months. I do experience moments of anxiety and depression so my psychological state is in turmoil at times.  

I would score my psychological and spiritual areas of wellness mid to low. I have a very restless mind and have a tendency to lose focus. My mind tends to race, especially at bedtime and I have difficulty clearing my thoughts. Growing up I was taught to be religious, but since growing up I have been becoming more spiritual. What I have learned from the class activities is that some form of daily meditation could be the key to achieving integral health.

               III.    Goal development:
List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.

My goal for my physical wellness is to start going back to the gym and I would love to purchase a bicycle so that I can begin riding with my 3 ½ year old. I would like to lose a few pounds and tone up and I believe that this would be a fun way to do so. I also plan to stick with eating clean and avoiding processed foods as I have done for the past few years. My goal for psychological wellness is to start meditating every day, which will take a considerable amount of practice. As I have stated it is not easy to take time away for myself to meditate being with a pre-school aged boy all day! Lastly, my goal for my spiritual health is to begin some type of prayer regimen and start to get back into attending church services.

              IV.    Practices for personal health:
What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example.

Physical – Exercise: I consider myself a relatively healthy person when it comes to diet, especially compared to those I know. As I mentioned, I avoid fast foods, sodas, artificial colors and additives by trying to eat local and organic. I have noticed that recent stress has caused me to gain weigh therefore I would like to get back into yoga and doing some sort of physical activity regularly.  Since I am not a fan of cooler weather and with fall and winter approaching, this is going to be challenging for me but I am going to look for a way to implement this so by spring I will be ready for swimsuit season and will feel better about myself.

Psychological – Subtle Mind and Transforming Work Exercises: As I mentioned, I tend to have an unfocused mind. By using the three steps of the Subtle Mind exercise, Witnessing Mind, Calm Abiding Mind, and Unity Consciousness, I can learn to not hold onto thoughts, especially negative ones, but let them pass. When I am able to successfully accomplish this at will, I can learn to replace reactivity with intention and gain enlightenment. As I have talked about in class before, one of the biggest stressors in my life is my current job. Although I am currently on leave, if I decide to return I should learn to own my job by transforming it into an act of service, artistry, and sacredness. “What was previously seen as imposed is now reshaped as chosen.” (Dacher, 2006). This will be very difficult, but I would hope it would come with patience and continued practice.

 Spiritual – Prayer and Volunteer Work: Recently, I haven’t been very religious after being raised attending a Southern Baptist church. I feel as though I would like to work on becoming more spiritual. I would like to cultivate some sort of connection with the universe. I would like to start by mediating for a few minutes a night before bed. I used to volunteer often when I didn’t have other obligations such as being a mother. I would also like to begin doing some volunteer work. I loved the feeling of knowing that I was contributing to the greater good.

               V.    Commitment:
How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?

Physically, I will assess my progress by monitoring my weight and how my clothing fits. I would also like to document my progress with pictures as motivation and incentive.

Psychologically, I will assess my progress by my ability to meditate, clear my thoughts, let thoughts pass without grasping, and maintaining a positive attitude when things are tough. I will maintain this long term by setting aside time everyday to practice these exercises.

Spiritually, I will assess my progress by my feeling of oneness with the universe and my ability to maintain loving-kindness towards all. I will also assess my progress by the amount of volunteer work and the service I can offer in six months. I can maintain these long term by joining a meditation group and by signing up for volunteer work. That way I am accountable to others and will feel less compelled to not participate.

Reference

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

 

 

Unit 8 Reflections: Subtle Mind & Visualization

I have determined that the two practices that have been most beneficial for me were the Subtle Mind practice and the Visualization practice.  These are the only two that happen to have a positive outcome each time I’ve tried them, and when done, I’ve felt better. 

The reason the Subtle Mind practice was chosen, and will continue to be used in my personal life, is because as most other mothers with a young child (children), I lead a busy life that also includes a busy mind.  My thoughts are constantly racing, even when I try to lie down at night to sleep.  I admit that this has subsided a bit since I have been on leave from the high stress night job that I had. With the Subtle Mind practice, it has allowed me to calm my mind, slow down the racing thoughts, ease my stress, and brings me calm and peace.  When I am done with the practice, I feel like I can concentrate, think more clearly, move and talk slower and feel less rushed.  My body even feels less tense.  Being able to slow myself down like that is very beneficial not only for my mind, but for my physical and spiritual well-being.  It is truly a great feeling.

When doing the visualization practice, it brought me to a place of happiness and joy despite what I have going on in my life right now.  Again, I live a busy, high stressed life, as I am sure many people do.  If I can take time each day to sit and bring myself to a place where happiness and joy surrounds me, and when I am finished, I feel so amazingly vibrant and full of positivity, I will definitely incorporate this into my life.  Things like this take some practice, but I never realized how much just imagining positive, happy things could bring such relief and pleasure to your day.  My mood unfortunately affects those around me, so if I can bring happiness and positivity to others rather than stress and negativity, I definitely want to do that.  I truly enjoyed this exercise.  I loved where it brought me and how it made me feel physically, mentally and spiritually.

Unit 7 Reflections-Meeting Aesclepius

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?

For this week’s meditation I listened to the Meeting Aesclepius, it was an interesting yet difficult thing to focus my mind on. The person I picked to be my wise teacher was my mother. She passed away two years ago and was such a caring and compassionate person. She was funny and friendly to everyone she met.

I found it a bit difficult to concentrate on; however, I will continue to work on practicing this. This mediation helped me focus and center myself a bit. However, I kept finding myself going back to other meditations like the loving-kindness meditation.  These meditations are getting a bit easier to focus on each week and its becoming something I look forward to participating in. I always have to find a quiet time to do them, such as after my 3 year old has gone to bed.

The past few months have been very trying for me as I have mentioned with my father’s illness and trying to keep up with class. I am also now looking for another job since I have been on leave from the one that I despise. I am looking forward to the day that I can turn in my notice in hopes of moving on to something less stressful. Taking some quiet moments for myself at times has helped me cope.

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?

 

I believe that this saying is self explanatory. How can a client believe what I tell them they should do if I don’t do it myself? Will a client believe the benefits of meditation if I don’t practice it myself? Will the client believe what I tell them about eating right and exercising if I don’t do that myself? Clients are more likely to believe us as health and wellness professionals if we are practicing what we preach.  A personal experience will engage the client more and make them feel that we truly understand their concerns. It makes the client feel that we are acknowledging their feelings and do care about their successful outcome. When I visit a doctor, I want them to listen to my concerns and not disregard them and I would do this for my clients as an alternative health and wellness professional. I believe that if we show our clients that these techniques work, then we will be able to help them achieve human flourishing as well.

Unit 6 Mind-Body-Spirit Wellness & Healing- Reflections

 

 

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 found the universal Loving Kindness exercise to be a soothing and invigorating experience. The practice helped me cultivate positive emotional states towards myself and those around me so that I can become more tolerant, caring, compassionate, and empathetic towards others. From my experience, I can say it definitely works both consciously and subconsciously. It was easy to follow because it was calming, comforting, and peaceful. The exercise brought awareness as well as healing. It also enlightened energy of deep consciousness.

 For the Integral Assessment, I attempted to follow the directions per the reading but it was difficult to concentrate because the exercise required you to close your eyes but you would have to reopen them to read the directions. Practices such as this are best done via audio, not visual.

Although I currently make good nutrition a priority, I would like to become more physically active and take time alone to exercise and meditate; it is difficult to do with a young child at home during the day.  I'm still experiencing high levels of stress and doing too many things at once. In order to achieve greater wellness in this area, I would like to practice relaxation techniques as often as necessary and try to attain a true sense of balance. I will also develop and maintain a strong network of positive, exciting friends and family members that would brighten my spirit and bring joy to my life during this trying time in my life while dealing with my father’s illness. In the past simply relaxing my body and mind, practicing breathing exercises, listening to soothing music, getting a massage and a hot bath, aromatherapy, and yoga have helped significantly whenever I was trying to manage difficult and stressful situations in my life.

My ultimate goal is to have a balanced life and enough time to meet personal and academic demands, enjoy healthy relationships, relaxation, recreational activities in addition to the ability to face challenges in a constructive and positive way. I have found that it is possible to reduce stress by nurturing myself and prioritizing what is really important, so I am ready to handle life’s stresses when they appear.

 

 

Unit 5 Reflections-Loving Kindness vs. Subtle Mind

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

The loving-kindness experience was a much easier exercise than the subtle mind exercise.  I found that the loving kindness practice #1 exercise was more intriguing than the subtle mind practice #2 exercises. In the practice #1 exercise, we were asked to visualize a loved one who was suffering while we breathe in our in-breath. We were asked to allow the “dark cloud of suffering to ride the in-breath into our body” and then allowing them to completely dissolve in our heart (Dacher, 2006). The idea was to welcome all the loving-kindness into our heart thereby diminishing our self-centeredness and being able to share loving-kindness with others as we breathe out health, love and happiness. This exercise was very beneficial as it allowed me to “rest in my natural state of peace and ease,” thus eliminating the stresses of life and leading me into the path of integral health and human flourishing (Dacher, 2006).

The subtle mind practice #2 exercise reflected on three levels of the psychospiritual flourishing, namely the witnessing mind, calm-abiding and unity consciousness (Dacher, 2006). The aim was to train the mind from the ceaseless mental activity of thoughts, feelings and images. In comparing both exercises I found that the subtle mind was a little more challenging than loving-kindness.  It took more effort to maintain my focus; this could possibly due to the prolonged period of time before the narrator returns to give more instructions. For whatever reason the rushing water seemed to become my focal point during this process, which I would consider a little distracting, even though it soothes the thought, but it prevented me from taming and controlling the mind. Instead of the mind becoming still I was more absorbed by the sound of the waves and the soft playing of the background music. However, I must say the soothing voice of the narrator did allow my mental activity to enter into a relaxing mood and I almost wanted to fall asleep but had too much to do. The narrator made a very accurate statement about being pulled away involuntarily. I found that I had to bring my thought back into awareness in order to maintain my focus.  The benefits derived from this practice were not very rewarding because of the difficulty I had keeping my mind focused and due to the length of pause between instructions. I would like to repeat this process so I can gain better control of my mind as I bring it into consciousness.

 

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

The connection of spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness is vital for an individual if he or she is to experience human flourishing. It is important for one to maintain a spiritual connection to a higher power through meditation and prayer.  By doing this it not only helps the individual spiritual connection that gives the person a deeper sense of their spiritual awareness, it also helps the mental and physical aspect of a person’s life. Since I am passionate about nutrition and whole foods, I believe that proper nutrition along with exercise are vital if one is to experience both physical and mental wellness. However, without a spiritual connection, proper nutrition and exercise alone would not create the spiritual wholeness that is needed for an individual to sustain a spiritual connection. There are few things that are observed when individuals are connected with a higher power. Body, mind and soul are affected by this connection thus spiritual connection prevents one from illnesses such as heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes.

The connection manifests itself in my personal life by allowing me to experience peace, joy, calmness, love, forgiveness, and being tolerable and patient with others even if they make it difficult.  It also helps me be more appreciative of others.

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

Unit 4 Reflections-Loving Kindness & Mental Workout

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

After completing the Loving Kindness exercise and reading Dacher's book, I found the exercise rather relaxing, although it was difficult to remain focused.  I have been extremely busy lately as I have mentioned with caring for my sick father as well as household duties and school work so knew that I couldn't put a lot of time into this. Despite this, I did notice a reduction in my stress level after the exercise. 

If  someone is having issues with showing and feeling compassion towards others, this is a great exercise for them. I am human and have days where I do not feel love and compassion but this exercise made me realize that it is something that I need to continue to work on. 

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?

The concept of a “mental workout” is exercising the mind daily just as one would exercise their body daily or dedicate daily time to studying.  It is not possible to evolve your psychospiritual life and access its capacities and resources without daily practice.  Research shows that consistent daily practice will show proven results (Dacher, 2006).

Implementing mental workouts to foster my psychological health is something that I really need to incorporate into my daily life.  I do believe that a healthy mind is just as important as having a healthy body.  I strongly believe that if you take care of your mind, a healthy body will follow.  I have attempted making small changes in trying to implement mental workouts in the past but have not done so recently.  I have had entirely too much going on lately with caring for my sick father, caring for my son and husband and taking classes.

I know that I will continue to increase my focus on my mental health and soon will be dedicating more time daily to this important aspect of my life once things slow down.

 

Reference:

Dacher, E. (2005). Integral Health The Path to Human Flourishing Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications