Final class blog

Giving myself a rating in the three wellness areas now is not a lot different from my unit 3 blog. Physically I would still rate myself at a 7 because I have not made any real progress toward change in that area.  Spiritually I would still rate myself at a 9. However, I have started giving more time to prayer and devotional reading and occasional meditation or visualization exercises. Psychologically I would increase my rating from an 8 to a 9 because I have reduced my overall stress level and tendency to worry due to the spiritual exercises I have been doing.

I have really enjoyed this course. I think I have developed some improved well being. The only difficult part of the things I have learned in class is still quieting a busy mind sometimes, but I will continue to practice. Know what difficulties I have had with some of the mental exercises and learning how to overcome them will help me to help others better in the future.

Final Project

L Bear HW 420-03 Final Project

I. Introduction

We have an obligation as health and wellness professionals to practice what we preach. It is easier to understand our clients difficulties if we have traveled the same road. Just as I feel that I show my religious convictions by living by example we must also live by example in every area of wellness.

Physically I need to lose 20 lbs and start exercising. Any physical exercise I could incorporate into my day would be an improvement. I need to get moving!

II. Assessment

I would rate my physical wellbeing at a 7. I do have some minor issues and need to lose about 20 lbs, but overall I am pretty healthy. My spiritual well-being I would say is a 9. My spiritual life has grown over my lifetime to a point where it is an integral part of me. My psychological well-being I would rate an 8. I do have some things that I would like to work on such as my stress level and why I let certain things cause me more stress than they should.

III. Goal development

My physical goal is definitely to exercise. I have a problem with motivation to exercise because I never really enjoyed sports or exercise. However I have learned that exercise is so important to my overall health that now I have more of a desire to exercise. I am hoping to find more time to exercise when I finish my schooling this fall. I have also started looking into local gyms trying to find the best place for me to go.

My psychological goal would be to worry less, especially about things which I have no control over. I also need to remember that avoiding conflict at all costs is not necessarily good. Sometime we have to confront a problem but doing it in a healthy way will be less stressful.

My spiritual life is pretty good right now although I want to spend more time in prayer and meditative practices. Again, I think this will be easier once I am finished with school.

IV. Practices for personal health

In the physical domain since exercise is my main problem I need to focus on finding an exercise that I would enjoy and thereby be more likely to stick with it. I have found one fitness facility that is near where I work that has a pool that I think I would enjoy using during the months when my home pool cannot be used due to weather. I also need to swim laps more and not just float and meditate. I need to incorporate both. I also need to get serious about losing the weight that I need to. It will help me physically by lowering my risk for diabetes and heart disease.

Psychological practices would be to learn more about why I let certain things bother me and worry me so much. I once again need to put into practice some of the things I have read about like realizing that I cannot change some situations or people and learn to accept them as they are.

If necessary I may talk to the counselor that I saw several years ago that helped me through a difficult time. I’m sure she could shed some light on this problem also.

Spiritually I intend to practice some of the exercises we have learned in this class. I especially like the “Meeting Asclepius” exercise and the visualization exercise for relaxation. I have also renewed by daily devotional reading time.

V. Commitment

The integral assessment and its six principles from our text will help me to measure my progress in each area (Dacher, 2006). The best way to insure my success is to find exercises and activities that I can enjoy and possibly share with others in order to stay interested in those activities. I also need to consider convenience when choosing an exercise facility and time management so that I have time to meditate and exercise.

Reference

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

more ice storm pics

The first picture was on Tuesday morning after freezing rain/sleet all night. The second picture was Wednesday morning after more freezing rain and 30+ mph winds. You can see the icicles sticking straight out! We ended up with about 1.5" of ice and now today (Saturday) it is snowing with at least 3" expected on top of all the ice. (If you click on the picture it will enlarge it.)

My Favorite Mental Exercises

I think my two favorite exercises have been the “meeting Asclepius” exercise and the visualization exercise on pages 144-145 of our text that we did this week.

As I stated last week the “meeting Asclepius” exercise helped me to feel connected to my father and his wisdom. It also helped me to be still and quiet and listen for God’s wisdom. It helped me to feel much better about my father’s Alzheimer’s disease and current mental condition also. I know that his declining health is not going to be easy to witness, but I think that this exercise may help me to better face that challenge.

I like the visualization exercise this week because as you can see from my last post we have been experiencing an ice storm here in Indiana. I have always thought that I showed some symptoms of seasonal affective disorder during the winter months and I think that this exercise will help me to combat those winter doldrums. The happy time I chose to picture was floating in my pool on a hot summer day. We have talked about the benefits of water for relaxation and I have always found this to be the most relaxing place on earth for me. I love to be outside with only the sounds of nature, in the cool water on a hot day. It makes me feel very centered, content and happy and gives me the outlook and energy to accomplish my tasks. Just a few minutes in the pool can make a huge difference on my mental state. So now, I know how I can tap into that feeling even when I can’t actually be in the pool which is a great thing to know since pool season is all too brief here in Indiana.

Ice storm

We have been having an ice storm in west central Indiana since Monday evening. We lost power Tuesday evening and just got it back this afternoon (Wed) about 1pm, in time for seminar tonight! Several counties across central Indiana have been virtually shut down due to all the ice. These pictures are of my driveway, front yard and the county road in front of our house.

Meeting Asiepius

1. Wow, this exercise was really good for me! Of course, the first time you try one of these exercises it is hard, but gets easier each time. The first time I tried it I had the usual problems, I had trouble picturing the person without my mind wandering to memories of times spent with them etc. I also at one point realized that I was concentration on the exercise so much that I wasn’t breathing deeply and normally as I should. I have found with all of these exercises that I actually do better without the guidance from the CD. For me it is more distracting than silence so I do the exercise the first time with the CD and then write down the steps to memorize for the next time. When I can do it in silence and at my own pace I do better. So the second time I tried this exercise I made sure to relax and focus on my breathing for as long as it took me to feel calm and stilled before I proceeded with the visualizations.

I used my Dad for the visualization. He has taught me more in my life than any other person. He not only taught me how to do the most things but about life itself and spirituality and being a good person. My Dad is still living, but he has moderate Alzheimer’s. He still knows us, but is not the same knowledgeable and interactive person he once was. I really miss the deeply meaningful heartfelt conversations we used to have. I enjoyed this exercise because it did help me feel still connected to the well of knowledge he has always shared with me. The last step of allowing the image to dissolve into white light and be absorbed into me was both unsettling and comforting. It reminded me of death and “going toward the light” so it made me think about Dad eventually being gone. However, the light being absorbed into me helps me realize that he will never actually be gone because I will always have the knowledge and love that he passed on to me.

2. The saying “One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself.” from our text does make sense to me (Schlitz, Amorok & Micozzi, 2005). It is sort of like the “walk a mile in my shoes”. You can’t tell someone about a journey that you haven’t taken. I think we do have an obligation to “practice what we preach” and to try to strive toward integral health ourselves. I have been cultivating my psychological and spiritual growth for many years now and will continue thanks to things I have learned in this course. Of course you all know from my previous blogs the area I most need to work on is exercise, but I will get there eventually.

Reference

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

Integral Assessment

I really enjoyed the universal loving-kindness exercise. It made me feel like I was putting positive energy and love into the world. It also made me feel more connected with all life and nature.

In doing the integral assessment I found two areas where I need improvement. First, the area that causes me the most difficulty or unease is interpersonal, specifically family. I have many good relationships but other members of my extended family have a lot of strife and severed relationships etc. I don’t like to have any conflict around me so this causes me a lot of distress. Even though I have tried to convince myself that it is their problem and I can’t be responsible for other people’s behavior it troubles me to see problems between others that from my “outside” perspective could be healed if there were proper communication, tolerance and forgiveness between the parties involved. I tend to feel like I am responsible for fixing these problems. So far, for years I have stayed neutral and let both parties know that I won’t choose sides. However I still feel like I should speak up and try to mediate the problems.

The second area does not cause me as much unease but it is the area where I feel I am ready for growth. That would be the biological and specifically fitness. I am truly at a point where I want to take better care of myself. I am eating better, now I need to be fit.

As far as the first issue I am up for any and all suggestions from my classmates as to how to handle this area of my life. Like I said so far I have tried to just “stay out of it”, but that only works on the surface. In my own mind the problems still rage and make me very tense.

My husband and I have started discussing options for how we could integrate fitness into our lives. I think that we would both do better if we did it together. When I have someone to partner with, to motivate me and keep me accountable I am more successful.

Unit 5 project

I had some trouble getting my power point to work correctly here, so I have posted it in doc sharing on the class site.

The Subtle Mind

As I blogged last week, I liked the loving kindness exercise except for breathing in another person’s suffering. So, this week I tried it by breathing in love and blowing away the other person’s suffering. This felt to me more like a benefit to both of us. I was turning the love I sent out inward and then sending it out again to alleviate my loved one’s suffering. The subtle mind exercise is a little harder for me. I can do the first part and concentrate on breathing etc. and clear my mind momentarily, but when thoughts start to come back in it is harder to witness them without becoming immersed in them. I think this will be a great exercise with a LOT more practice.

The connection between spiritual, mental, and physical wellness is very evident in my own life. When I am stuck worrying about a problem or something I feel is beyond my control but that I want to change I don’t sleep well, I eat poorly and generally feel unsettled. We all know how stress can lead to physical symptoms and problems like headaches and even more serious problems if allowed to continue. I had such a problem recently. I awoke at 5am one morning (well before the alarm was to go off) after not sleeping well and couldn’t go back to sleep. I decided to get up and use my extra time for prayer. I made a concerted effort to give this problem to God and release it. This particular problem is actually between two other family members, but I feel stuck in the middle and want so badly to “fix it”. I asked Him to take it from me and for Him to fix what I cannot. I prayed for all of the parties involved and asked God to show me what to do if I was to be used in rectifying the problem, but otherwise to take my worry away and help me to trust the He was handling it. Since then I have still had moments where it comes to mind and I start to worry, but it is much easier to stop myself and give it back to God.

Loving Kindness

I have done the loving kindness exercise a few times now. I enjoyed the first part with envisioning someone you feel loving about and then turning the love back into yourself. I kind of pictured this as radiating light from me to the other person and then reabsorbing that light and love. The next couple of things were a little harder. Once I started allowing any acknowledgement of the thoughts and feelings that flitted in and out of my mind I felt like I was losing concentration. The last part about visualizing a loved one who is now suffering and breathing in their suffering, allowing it to dissolve in your heart and breathing out loving kindness I not only had trouble with, but didn’t like. This may sound crazy but I couldn’t get past the feeling that I was breathing in something harmful to myself and that even though it was supposed to dissolve with my love I didn’t like the feeling.

The mental workout concept discussed by Dacher has to do with expanding our minds and our thinking. We all have heard about “thinking outside the box”. These types of mental exercises involve “thinking inside the box” of our selves both mentally and spiritually. Hopefully these exercises will help us toward a healthier, happier life.