Unit 9 Final Project

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually, and physically because we must practice what we preach.  We are more effective with our clients when we are able to speak from experience because it gives us more credibility and also better understanding.  We learn how we can live a more fulfilled, expansive life.  “We come to know that the alleviation of suffering and the ascent to human flourishing are more than ideas.” (Dacher, 2006).  This allows us to help others in the best way possible.  My spirituality is an area that I need to develop to achieve the goals I have for myself.

Spiritually I score my wellness at a 4.  I have lots of room for improvement in this area and this is definitely my weakness.  Physically I give myself a score of 9 because I exercise 6 days a week and eat healthy.  This is the easiest area for me by far.  Psychologically I rate myself at a 7-8 depending on the day.  I have made great improvements in this area but there is still some work that needs to be done.  “The path to integral health requires that we at least become aware of the sources of needless suffering, distress, and dissatisfaction and the possible sources of future development and flourishing.” (Dacher, 2006).

My current physical goal is to train for a half marathon at the end of September.  I have written my training miles on my calendar for my ten week training plan so that I know how many miles I need to run each day.  My psychological goal is to be able to handle stress better and calm my scattered brain.  My spiritual goal consists of devoting time each day to spiritual development.

In order to foster growth in my physical health I will complete all of my training runs and also do cross training several times a week.  To foster my psychological goals I will meditate for at least 15 minutes each morning and longer if I am able.  I will also practice yoga.  My spiritual goals will consist of listening to or reading Joel Osteen’s ministries at least 10 minutes a day and also keeping a gratitude journal.  I will keep track of my goals in my daily planner to hold myself accountable.  I will evaluate my success on a weekly basis so I know how I have done.  I like to evaluate my progress often so that if I need to modify any of my goals I can do it as needed. 

Unit 8

I found the Loving Kindness, Subtle Mind, Visualization, and Meditation to all be very useful in my life.  The two that will be most beneficial to me are the loving kindness and meditation.  The loving kindness exercise is very important because it not only focuses on me, but on others too.  It is important to feel kindness to all people especially if you are working with the public and all the different personality types.  Meditation is incredibly beneficial because my life is so busy and my mind is constantly racing and spinning with everything I need to do.  Meditation helps to calm my crazy mind and focus on what needs to be done by clearing my head.

 

 

Meeting Aesclepius

I enjoyed this exercise.  It starts off by saying how in the beginning your mind is like a waterfall with loud, rushing water and then becomes a stream, then a lazy river, and finally a river that leads to the ocean.  Visualization is used to access our inner healer (our subtle mind).  During this exercise we were to picture a person of influence in our lives and visualize a beam of light connecting their head, throat, and heart with ours.  The exercise left me feeling calm, confident, and kind.  Meditation has helped my psychological wellness because it has helped me to become more calm and focused.  I will continue to meditate on a daily basis.

 "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” This means that as a health and wellness professional it is important that we practice what we preach.  We need to have experience with all of the techniques that we are recommending to our clients.  I implement psychological and spiritual growth in my personal life through visualization, meditation, and yoga.

Unit 6

The loving kindness exercise left me feeling more kind and caring about others.  Performing the assessment showed me that the area I need to focus on for growth and development is worldly flourishing. I feel that I do well with my relationships and health and nutrition, but do not have a lot of focus on worldly flourishing.  I would like to get more involved in my community and volunteering to help foster greater wellness in this area.

Unit 5 The Subtle Mind

The loving kindness practice focused on feelings not only related to ourselves, but to other people. The focus of the subtle mind practice was on our own minds and creating a still breath and mind.  I relaxed so much that I fell asleep while listening to this one.

Spiritual wellness is an important part of mental and physical wellness because without all these pieces in place we will not be in balance.  People often forget about the spiritual side of wellness and in my opinion it is just as important as the mental and physical aspects.

Unit 4 Loving Kindness

The loving kindness practice was both beneficial and difficult.  I had a difficult time when asked to focus on strangers and their suffering.  It was a lot easier for me when I could visualize people from my life.  The part that I was most affected by was the suffering of a loved one.  When breathing in their suffering and breathing out health and joy it was almost calming to me.  I would recommend that others try this exercise because it may be beneficial for them.

Unit 3: The Crime of the Century

I would rate my physical wellbeing as a 9. I try to make good choices with my eating and have very little processed food. I also exercise 6 days a week. I did not give myself a 10 because I feel there is always room for improvement. My spiritual wellbeing is an 8. This has increased drastically over the past few months as I have been meditating much more frequently. My psychological well being is a 7 because I have been under a great deal of stress the past few months.

I would like to continue with my exercise routine but add running back into my schedule which also will help me psychologically. I will continue to meditate and make it a goal to do this everyday. In order to decrease my stress I will continue to do the best I can and not focus so much on what is not getting done.

The relaxation exercise was somewhat frustrating for me. Although it did clear my head, I did not get any other feeling from it. As I was imaging the colored beams of light I really did not experience the feeling associated with it.