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.