" My meditation practices have their ups and downs it just varies by the day.  I enjoyed the practice this week.  These practices have helped me grow physically, mentally and spiritually by helping me keep calm, I am able to see things more clearly and avoid emotional out burst when things don’t go the way I had planned.  I will continue to participate in all of the meditation practices utilized in this class as well as my daily yoga practices.    

One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” this means that I as your health care provider can not teach you something that I have not done myself.  For instance as a massage therapist I frequently assign my clients “homework” this usually consists of regular stretching or some light yoga poses.  The only reason that I assign this is because I have seen the benefits for myself.  So as my clients health care practitioner I have and do “walk the walk” so my clients trust what I say.   I do have an obligation to my clients to further my personal, psychological and spiritual growth, it makes me a better practitioner and helps me lead my clients on their journey to health and wellness.  I can continue to grow and better my personal, psychological and spiritual wellbeing by doing yoga daily and participating in the meditation techniques utilized in this class.   

Unit 6

The loving kindness exercise left me feeling light and at ease, what a relief after a non stop busy day.  While completing the assessment I came to realize that my personal growth and development is stuck on diet and exercise as well as my inner consciousness.  I have chosen this aspect because I know that focusing on this can help the later two issues fall into place.  I plan on focusing on my inner consciousness, I will use things like the mindfulness exercise, yoga, Tia Chi and the loving kindness exercise.  All of these exercises can help me foster a greater inner consciousness. 

Unit 5

Hello All,

This units exercise was surprisingly easier for me to get through, I am not sure if this is due to the fact that I have been practicing or if I was just having a good day.  The subtle mind exercise left me feeling very relaxed and at ease, like all the tension of the day had melted away and didn't really matter anymore, I was able to put it all in the past. 

Mental, physical and spiritual wellness are all connected, they are all aspects to what makes us human.  When you are mentally unstable you are usually less active and vice verse.  When we are more spiritually in tune with ourselves our mentality is healthy and our physical body is thus more in shape.  This is like the subtle mind practice the witnessing mind leads into the calm abiding mind which leads us to the greatest accomplishment unity consciousness.

Thanks Guys:) 

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

I would have to say that this was a good experience, however I had to do it over four times before I finally got through it.  It was difficult because I have so much going on and so much going on around me that I finally had to go and lock myself in the bedroom so that I wasn't disturbed.  I would recommend this loving kindness exercise to others, it really does help you to focus your love and kindness on all that is around you.  

1. What is the concept of “Mental Workout? What does the research indicate are the proven benefits of a Mental Work Out? How can you implement mental workouts to foster your psychological health?

The concept of a "Mental Workout" is to practice things like loving kindness and the subtle mind daily and eventually learn how to make the world our practice.  This would also pertain to things like meditation and prayer.  This can help to ease mental tensions, stress and anxiety.  We can implement these mental workouts into our daily schedule by setting aside the fifteen to twenty minutes to practice our loving kindness exercise, subtle mind or even just to meditate.  For myself it helps if I actually write it in my daily planner.