After careful review of my unit three assessment and my final project assessment I can see that I have improved in some areas, while other areas remain the same.  During my assessment I determined that for my spiritual self I am a four, I don’t ever really think about religion or spirituality, but after this class I realize that believing in something more can be very beneficial to your health and wellness.  Physically I rate myself at about a seven I feel that I do my best to get the proper amount of exercise every day.  Last but not least psychologically I rate myself at about three, after careful consideration I know that I have a lot of random endless chatter going on constantly in my brain, the only time it shuts down is when I sleep, and like a computer I need to reset myself daily and not just through sleep (Dacher, 2006).   This was my final evaluation comparatively you can see that from my unit three assessment some things are the same but some have actually go down. 

This is my unit three assessment. 

My physical wellbeing would be about a 7, I say this because I do try to eat healthy and exercise daily, but there are those days that I just don’t.  For my spiritual well being I would have to say a 5, I really don’t try and stay in touch with the spiritual aspect of myself, but I do feel that I am connected to all that is greater than me and you.  As for my psychological well being I would have to rate this a 5 as well, I rate it this way because I, like everyone I am sure, has a day where everything that can cause me anxiety does, and there are often times where I just worry, worry, worry. 

I have made progress towards my goals.  I feel that I can now relax much easier it does not seem to take me as long to get into the grove of quieting my mind.  I also feel that this has helped me better delegate my duties throughout the day. 

I am most certainly implementing yoga into my daily routine as well as the subtle mind and loving kindness practices.  I have also been experimenting with a meditation called body consciousness.  I am also able to get in at least thirty minutes to an hour or exercise daily.    

This course has altered my health and wellness in several ways.  The first being that I have become more self aware and at peace with the person that I am.  I have also found a place to go within myself that is safe and clam, it is a place that I can retreat to whenever I feel overwhelmed or stressed out.  This class has also shown me how to practice loving kindness for everything around; this has lessened my frustrations and helped open my eyes to the good in all people (even the most difficult person).  I can say that I have been given the tools to successfully help my clients learn to find inner peace and outward joy in all things that may come in this hectic and crazy dance we call life.  Thank you all for sharing on our very own health and wellness journey. 

Final Blog

Introduction

As a health and wellness professional it is important to develop your psychological, spiritual and physical being.  This is because “one can not lead another where he has not gone himself.”  There is not much truth in what you are preaching if you too are not living it and owning it.  For myself during this nine-week course I feel that I need to work on my spiritual, physical and mental aspects.   All of these aspects of being human can effect how “well” you actually are.  Stress, being out of shape and having mental instability can affect your immune function, your heart and many other aspects of well being (Dacher, 2006).      

Assessment

In order to get a better understanding of where my spiritual wellness, physical wellness and psychological wellness I utilized the integral assessment from chapter eleven in our text; this assessment helped me really take a long hard look at myself and let me determine where I really stand health and wellness wise (Dacher, 2006). 

During my assessment I determined that for my spiritual self I am a four, I don’t ever really think about religion or spirituality, but after this class I realize that believing in something more can be very beneficial to your health and wellness.  Physically I rate myself at about a seven I feel that I do my best to get the proper amount of exercise every day.  Last but not least psychologically I rate myself at about three, after careful consideration I know that I have a lot of random endless chatter going on constantly in my brain, the only time it shuts down is when I sleep, and like a computer I need to reset myself daily and not just through sleep (Dacher, 2006).

Goal development

            My goals for my physical well being is to schedule myself for one hour to thirty minutes of exercise every day, I would also benefit from keeping a food diary to help me track my food intake, this will help me lose some weight.  As for my spiritual well being I think that just taking a few minutes to do one of the relaxation exercises that have presented to us in this class can help me become more aware of how I feel spiritually, I would also like to further look at my belief system and find a fitting religious group to attend.  Lastly my psychological well being I would like to find ways to become less worried about things that I have no control over and also find better ways to cope with things that make me anxious.   For this last goal I can use meditation practices like the loving kindness or even a body scan exercise to help me relax and rejuvenate this will help me focus on what is really important in life and this will cause less worry. 

            As I mentioned in the above performing one hour to thirty minutes of exercise daily will help me reach my weight loss goal as well as keeping a food diary.  For the spiritual aspect I will perform thirty minutes of deep relaxation sequences to bring me closer to my spiritual self.  And last but not least I will practice deep breathing and meditation to help me stop worrying so much and help me with my stress and anxiety. 

Practices for personal health

            Some strategies that I can use to foster the growth in each of the above-mentioned areas are to practice the subtle mind and loving kindness exercises everyday, this will ensure that I am getting better at focusing and emptying my mind.  I will use the loving kindness exercise every morning before I begin my day; I have it written in on my list of things to do.  I have also scheduled myself in for one hour of exercise everyday doing cardio, weight training and flexibility.  Three days a week I participate in yoga, which helps me learn to move fluidly through the day and helps me learn to breathe through my stressors.  I have been ending my day with the subtle mind exercise it helps me unwind after a long day.   All of these practices can help me grow psychologically, spiritually and physically (Dacher, 2006).  

            I have implemented all of these strategies by setting aside time in my hectic life for myself.  I have it all scheduled out from day to day and I do not vary from the schedule.  I have also teamed up with some girlfriends from work who have common weight-loss goals and general health and wellness goals.  This gives me a sounding board to go to whenever I have an off day or am feeling discouraged, someone to turn to who may be experiencing the same things as myself. 

   

Commitment

            The most obvious thing that I will be able to track with simple weight and measurements and specific fitness tests is my physical well-being.  Simply by tracking my weight loss and shrinking waistline I can see how well my strategy is working.   As for the other two areas that I need work in I can always come back to the integral assessment tool, this tool will allow me to see how far I have come and where I need to focus more attention. 

            As I mentioned before having a support team, people to lean on who are in the same boat as myself can encourage me to stay on track for the long term.  I also plan on using certain reward systems, like getting a massage when I have mastered each level of consciousness or just patting myself on the back for staying calm under pressure.  Just the benefit of knowing that I am doing all that I can to be a better, healthier person is enough to inspire me to continue on for the long term.   

Exercise Review

Of the practices that we learned about in this course, I am going to continue to use the subtle mind and loving kindness practices.  I have found that starting my day off with the subtle mind exercise helps me prepare for what I know will be a stressful and hectic day.  I feel calm and rejuvenated, ready to take on anything with a clear mind.  I have also found that ending my day with the loving kindness exercise helps me settle down and recuperate emotionally from a long and hard day.  I have also found that starting my day with ninety minutes of yoga helps me begin and end my day.    

" 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.