Unit 10 Blog Discussion

Unit 10 Blog Discussion

For blog;

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?

My scores were quite low in unit 4 I was just in hospital and therefore everything seemed in chaos. I would say everything but physical was 3 TO 5 respectively. Now everything seem to be at an 8 may be mental (lol) needs more work in calming the mind more. However with the “loving-kindness tapes subtle mind practices and listening to the “I am becoming more” from our seminar has helped tremendously. This will take practice so that I may incorporate this in with “routines” making it a daily life choice and positive one. Since I am doing quite well with physical wellness if I can also incorporate the mental and spiritual practices daily along with my physical activities I should be able to be committed to this every day.

The areas I need to develop to achieve the   goals that I have are mental and spiritual. I believe with daily meditations as indicated in Dacher's “Integral healing”, such as the Loving-kindness and “subtle mind” I can practice “loving myself so I can love others” more, in addition to meditation to calm the mind and learn to “witness first” and not react so much. Spiritually I need to  learn to “stop and smell the roses” enjoy  what nature has to offer and take some of that vibrant energy  and store it for when stress comes I can capture that image and spiritual connection I had  and let it empower me to be positive.

Goals I have;

·        To be more forgiving, to myself, accept myself for whom I am so I can be more open and loving to others.

·        Practice yoga and meditation more so that I may be less stressed. Use meditation tapes as well as breathing techniques while exercising. Spiritual, to be more in touch with myself, and nature, to enjoy life; not have life run me.

·        To have work as it is a goal toward something meaningful, not as a “must do” therefore can cause stress when not going in a positive way; take that negative and make it into a positive feeling.

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

Yes I have, I have been incorporating breathing techniques with my walking/running and I do this is an areas where I “feel” more spiritual. It has become quite calming and relaxing to do these practices before I go headlong into work or doing school work. Furthermore I take the “meditation” exercises with me at work and listen at lunch. This has further helped in stabilizing my mind and can focus better. I have also incorporated Yoga weekly  in my physical activities. However this has just started so I may be taking ‘baby steps”  for awhile to get everything going. I have found that doing something different every day has helped in keeping it as a commitment and therefore won’t be temporary thing.

pLEASE GO TO THE "DOC SHARING" TO SEE MY PPT. kATHY

UNIT 9 FINAL PROJECT

Hello everyone! it is hard to believe we have come this far and achieved so much knowledge and wisdom to pass on to others about integral healing. Not only have I benefited from this class personally, but professionally; making both lives enjoyable and wholesome. I have attached my Unit 9 Final Project to the docsharing in our class. Please have a look and "enjoy the show" for it is a powerpoint. Thank you all for making this class an enjoyable and enlightening one. Kathy

UNIT 8 BLOG DISCUSSION

Blog Exercise

Review the exercises and practice sessions you have completed in this course. (Loving Kindness, Subtle mind, Visualization, meditation etc.) Choose two practices that you have determined to be most beneficial. How can you implement these practices in your personal life to foster “mental fitness”? Provide specific examples.

The practices I think what is most beneficial to me are the visualization and meditation practice. I can do this just about anywhere as needed for “a pick me up” and it only takes a few minutes. I do this at work especially when I am feeling stress coming on; I would meditate and “visualize” the “I am becoming more” meditation we had in seminar at one time. I enclosed the link as well for those who wish to hear it again. This one is my favorite. I do this when I also get home, it helps me to calm my mind and when the day is over reflect on how I can be better for myself as well as to others. I find that this has been most beneficial in keeping my blood pressure at a good level and has lowered my stress significantly. I do however need to incorporate the “Loving-Kindness” practices into my weekly regimen, this will help me in forgiveness and also learn to accept things at work I cannot change and turn it into a positive force that will benefit me instead of stressing me out so much. I will have to say since being out of the hospital, these meditations and the visualizations practices have helped me tremendously in finding my inner-self and in more control instead of my mind constantly “busy” all the time. I have become more relaxed and sure of myself which I have not seen in a long time.

 Kathy

My URL;http://blue-eyesserenity.blogspot.com

Unit & Blog Discussion

1. Complete the "Meeting Asciepius" exercise on track #4 of the Dacher CD. Describe your meditative practice(s) 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?

Once again, I believe th1s tape is fabulous. Not only have I been able to properly hear these sessions without too much problems. The mindful meditations have really been helping me in calming my mind and actually help at work as well. I have found that I can just for a moment even at work can find positive and loving thoughts rather than distress and negativity that usually brings me a whole lot of stress. I have not been doing the exercises several times a day but do however take the mornings to do these minduful meditations and feel my inner-self becoming more energized and calming. With the “Meeting Aesclepius” session I was able to start visualizing someone I hold in my heart that always has a calming, spiritual, mental, and loving-kindness feeling that helps me focus, put all negative, unwanted and stressfull issues out of my mind. However I did notice that my “ visualization” of this person kept changing depending on the days. For example MY brother who was killed over 20 years ago ALWAYS seem to be the one I see when I am really distressed, the other special person in my life is there when I feel I need courage and strength and warmth, I wonder if anyone else has had this? It is only different sessions, it may be one day this one.. or in the evening my brother. I guess it all goes accordingly on how your spiritual inner self needs to “sse” at that time. Any thoughts? Kathy

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?

 The saying "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” (P.477) in my opinion, if you don’t know where you’re going or how to get there, then how would you expect someone to understand or follow your lead? If you do not have a deep understanding or connection to what you are conveying to your clients, then how would you expect them to incorporate integral health, happiness and wholeness in their life if you do not understand or relate to it as well? In order for me to give my clients the full benefits of integral healing, I must be able to have this myself, If I cannot, then how will I help my clients? If I practice this professionally  as well as  practicing integral healing personally, not only will it benefit me, but the client will see how it helps me and be more reassured. Meditations such as visualization , yoga even Tai-chi all help in manifesting spirituality, loving kindness and mind/body connection as a whole; to be able to respectfully and honestly show my clients how it can enrich their lives, I first must find it enriching my life, otherwise it will have no meaning.

Unit 6 Blog Discussion

Unit 6 Blog Discussion

1)     Practice the universal Loving-Kindness (meditation) exercise p. 93

2)     Complete the Integral Assessment discussed in chapter 11 ( p115)

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?

As I completed the Loving-Kindness meditation, I found that chanting the “May all individuals gain freedom from suffering.

May all individuals find sustained health, happiness and wholeness.

May I assist in all individuals in gaining freedom from suffering.

May I assist all individuals in finding health, happiness and wholeness” (Dacher, 2006). This soothes me and calmed me into a relaxed state of mind. I wish I had this to practice with when (or before) I was in hospital. However, this now has helped me focus more clearly and calmly on my inner self in learning that meditation can be beneficial to my happiness and wellbeing and help me along my path to a fully integral health. The “tools of assessments helped with focusing on what area that has distressed my life and instead of reacting negatively I can according to Dacher (2006) observe “which aspects in my life that causes me distress and where is my greatest possibility in development and growth’ (Dacher, 2006), thereby recognizing the areas I need to focus on( which I think ‘worldly” area) and change what I can rather than let is take over me and distress me. By utilizing all six principles in your life can help you on your way to a more wholesomeness, happiness and healthier you. I am already feeling and seeing the positive effects this has taken on me and will be further enriched because if it.  In addition all this, I find that if I took my hearing-aids out ( I do this often when I need to shut out noise and distractions, does well for me when I have to do speeches...lol) that I can focus on meditation and my assessments more clearly because I can feel my breathing,, be relaxed and have a much calmer mind to observe my areas that need attention. Kathy

My URL;   http://blue-eyesserenity.blogspot.com/

Reference;

Dacher, Elliott S.  M.D. (2006) “Integral Health; the Path to Human Flourishing”. Basic Health Publications. Laguna Beach, Ca.

Loving-kindness and subtle mind

I did enjoy the loving kindness exercise, however I had a bit confusion this time with the subtle mind. With the loving kindness I could hear quite well and become relaxed; and as I breath in, can feel pure, happy relaxing thoughts and release the negivity. with subtle mind, I was working on the breathing techniques when I had disturbance whether it was supposed to be like this or not, I do not know, therefore when I went to track 4 it was clear. so I am assuming that I may have had a bad Cd. Did anyone else have this problem? kathy

Unit 5 blog discussion;

Discuss the connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. Explain how the connection is manifested in your personal life.
 Spiritual wellness is many things to many people. Each to his/her own in finding beliefs,meanings, or higher purpose in their lives. For me, My spiritual wellness is being out in the open such as mountains, forest, ocean, and finding a higher purpose for my life. When I am out in this vicinity such as the mountains for example not only do I feel my mind in a more relaxed state of mind but my body as well. breathing is more concentrated, outlook becomes a different perspective when you see what the world is taking on in it's natural state verses the busy hectic stressful life you left behind. when I have been able to connect spiritual, mind, and body as a whole and have inner peace I am able to look at thing in a much clear state of mind. I need to do this more often so that it is continuance of my life and not just a random thing because your mind/body AND spirit will revert back to it's 'disturbing chatter" so to speak. any thoughts anyone??? Kathy  

Reading from Dacher...take a look....

Dacher “When we use meditation solely as a relaxation technique we distract ourselves from the real task ahead. However, when meditation is used as a tool to awaken consciousness we place ourselves directly on the path to realizing the precious qualities of human flourishing” (2010), in my perspective if we can utilize this frequently in our daily lives, then it will become ‘second nature” to us and be much more beneficial to or integral healing. I enclosed a few links that are really helpful; http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/tai-chi/SA00087     and;    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/yoga/CM00004 Any thoughts? Kathy

Dacher, E.S. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Laguna

Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications.

Dacher, Elliott S.  M.D. (2010)“Notes From a Fellow Traveller author of Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing” retrieved October 20, 2010 from;

http://elliottdacher.typepad.com/

LOVING-KINDNESS

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

As I listened to the CD about loving-kindness... all I could think of afterwards was…WOW…As I listened to the meditation on loving kindness I was pleased and surprised that not only could I hear just about everything the woman said I could feel myself breathing in my niece’s suffering (she was having a baby that day, so I pictured taking in her suffering and releasing my breath with positive feeling and thoughts for her) and releasing love and pure thoughts to her. As I hear the ocean in the background, and can actually feel my body being at peace…. Feel my heart expand with joy, love…breathing in… and releasing the negativity…..as I breathe out…I would recommend anyone to listen to the “loving-kindness” meditation. I wish I had heard this when I was in the hospital, it would have been calming and relaxing. I have to admit I was skeptical about hearing this because it was like “ok here I go again trying to hear this and not get anything out of it.” Boy I was wrong. Every time she said to do something with your next inbreathe, I could picture myself on that beach just taking in the scenery... breathing in health happiness and joy and releasing all tension…breathing in someone’s suffering and releasing hope, health, and happiness out to those in needs. The breathing techniques were helpful explaining how to breathe in and release. So that when you do these exercises it helps clear your mind. Release any stress, fears, and doubts with each breath.

KATHY....

1.      Based on your reflections, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal wellbeing), where do you rate your A-physical wellbeing, B-spiritual well-being, C-psychological well-being? Why?

I rate my physical wellbeing as a 5 at the moment. Although I am “physically” healthy as far as weight and exercise. My other parts such as diabetes and heart need a bit work to get everything in balance. I need to work more on this because stress is being a factor in not having “overall” health. Spiritual wellbeing is 5; if I can improve on my spirituality more, then this may also help in calming the mind and body so that I can focus better. Psychological wellbeing, is 4 I need a lot of work with this. An example would be is that I worry too much about things I cannot control, and the things I think I can control are not doing as well as I like them to be.

2.  Develop a goal for yourself in each area (physical, spiritual, psychological).

Goals; on my physical part-to physically improve on my exercise and health so that along with spiritual and psychological I can find inner peace, but first must learn how to better “Silence and stillness” so that mentally I can find calmness and serenity of the mind. Spirituality is to get more in touch with nature and myself. I find that this calms me and puts whatever chaos I had into perspective.  

3. What activities or exercise can you implement in your life to assist in moving toward each goal?

Walking, jogging and taking up exercise like yoga or Tia-chi can all help with implementing my goals to relax, find my inner-self and once I can find a balance integral healing will be more in my reach.

4. Complete the relaxation exercise The Crime of the Century.  To hear this exercise, click here. Describe your experience. (What it beneficial? Frustrating? ).

 Once again it is frustrating for me not being able to hear the voice over the music.However, if I just let this exercise take over me and not worry so much about voice, I can relax.

Journeyon

The meditation exercise " Journey on" was calming and relaxing sensation for me. I did like the music but had trouble hearing the voice over music. Since I wear hearing aids, doing "tape meditations" is a bit difficult without special ear phones.( in which I do not have yet). I did find the voice relaxing enough that it almost put me to sleep on what I did hear.(then again that could be just from being up at 4:30am for work.lol).
Taking time to "relax the mind" is just like learning a new exercise for the body. it takes time.