Unit 10

In unit three my assessment was physical 9, psychological 5, and the spiritual a 3. I however didn’t understand at that point what Dasher was trying to get at by integral health and was blogging a rebuttal to idea that we had to journal our thoughts onto a blog that I was not familiar or comfortable doing.

Now I would score myself about the same, the reason is because over the last 8 weeks I have had little time to come up with a new plan that will include psychological and the spiritual portion of integral health into my health plan.

The goals I have set for myself have been to work less on the physical and take some of that time and do yoga to increase my psychological and spiritual aspects and still get the physical benefits. I also plan to incorporate the exercises we learned and listened to this unit into my weekly workout plan.

This course has been a ride, I was not open to the idea at the beginning but as I started to understand the benefits that Dasher was trying to explain I have made a 180 degree change and have really found that the three aspects of integral health are a must in everyone’s life.

Corban

Unit 9 Project

I. Introduction:

Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?

It is important as a professional to be able to not only understand the needs that are relevant for each patient but to be able to have a level of completion that we can truly connect with each individual and what their needs are.

I need to focus my attention on my spiritual and psychological needs to obtain he goals that I have set I have currently set for myself. The exercises that we have posted in previous weeks will be my platform to continue to engage the mind and open more doors for integral health and wellness.

II. Assessment:

How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

I have assessed my health in each category by how I feel.  For example when I struggle to stay focused doing a task I realize that my psychological health is not where it should be and that many times it is my mind that is to “noisy” for me to focus and learn.

Scoring my wellness (1-10 ten being very good):

1.       Spiritually- My spirituality I would give a 6. I know that it needs improvement but I also feel that I have a good understanding of how to improve and what my spiritual lifestyle should look like.

2.       Physical- My physical health I would give a 9 because this was my main and only focus pertaining to health. I am very in tuned with my physical body and know what to eat, how to work out, as well as if something is not right for example if I haven’t had enough water I will know simply by listening to my body.

3.       Psychologically- My psychological health I give a 4. This area of my integral health gives me the opportunity to grow the most. I have knowledge from this course know that has allowed me to refocus my attention away from my physical health and place that time on my mental health and not lose but benefit from an integral health perspective.

III. Goal development:

List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.

Goals:

Physical- I am in the Army and would like to score a 300+ on my APFT.

Psychological- I want to be able to calm my mind and be able to focus.

Spiritual- Have inner peace and a stress free life

IV. Practices for personal health:

What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example.

Physical- To accomplish my goal I need to do 40 pushups and 40 sit ups twice a day every day, as well as continue to run.

Psychological- I need to incorporate the exercises that we have learned from this course in my weekly workout program. Also I would like to start a mediation exercises like yoga, the response from the class about this was amazing.

Spiritual- I would like to find a church that I could be able to grow. Also I need to read my bible and have some devotional time each day for this.

V. Commitment:

How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?

Assessing my progress is about keeping track, I will continue to use a journal that I can reference and see in the next 6 months how much progress I have made. A strategy the I can use would be find others that are looking for the same thing or family and friends and have them keep you accountable.

Corban

Unit 8

This week we are discuss two of the exercises that we have practiced this semester. I have chosen the Subtle mind exercise and the Witnessing mind exercise.

The subtle mind exercise works very well for me each day to stay in control and be grounded using my breath as focus point. Coaching track and loving to run we have exercises that are similar when trying to breathe when our body is under stress from running. Learning how to stay grounded and maintain control of the body to perform not only in a race but in life shows direct correlation between the exercises immediate usefulness as well as the long term benefits of being grounded and having control of my thought and life. Control your breathing keeps you grounded, control your mind which then you can control your body.

The witnessing mind exercise was my first real step into understanding and wanting integral health. I was able to witness my restless, noisy mind ease and relax while I could allow the thoughts to float in and drift away without engaging them. This allowed me to become deeper involved into an almost calm-abiding when I could just move with the visions and not engage, this really allow me to focus on school, work, well everything. I have used this before doing schoolwork or accomplishing a task that needs focus and attention. This exercise allows me to have more room to input more information be less distracted when trying to focus.

Corban

Unit 7

This week we listened to an exercise Meeting Aesclepius. I visualized my Grandfather for he was a kind, loving, warm hearted, humorous, intelligent and wonderful person. He was a very inspirational part of my life and still is although he has passed years ago. This exercise was difficult, it was hard to imagine the qualities that Grandpa had being radiated into me, that I have the same qualities that he possessed.

Each week these exercises have increased my understanding of what my psychological and spiritual wellness is capable of even though I have struggled almost every week I do understand and see the depth of the mind.

Applying these practices throughout my life has already made an impact. I use the subtle mind and the witnessing mind techniques to calm my mind so that I can focus so that I can achieve the task at hand. Using calm abiding allows me to control my breathing and my pulse to regain control of my body at times when I am upset or angered. These techniques have opened a large door into a vast of control of the mind and in turn the body.

“One cannot lead where one has not gone himself” This saying wants you to think that you can only lead someone spiritually if your own spiritual evolution has achieved it as well. I do not agree. In life we make comparisons to everything, so I will use what I know. I coach track more specifically the 800 meter is my focus. I can lead my athletes to run this race at time much faster than I could achieve. Their goal is the State meet, I never went as an athlete but I am able to lead as a coach and give these kids the tools. So why can this not be the same in the spiritual world. We all have our strengths, so we might be not be talented enough to achieve it but strong enough to lead it.

Corban

 

                                                                                                                                                                               January 19

Unit 6 Integral Health                    

This week I am continuing my journey to integral, at least learning some steps on how if nothing else, I find that I need more mental training. As we move on I find that universal loving kindness mediation exercise is a challenging awareness of how you truly feel about a larger spectrum of humanity. I was asked to expand my love connection from me, to my family which was ok but I could feel some of the safety wall come up but when I was asked to expand to all races, religions, and cultures I mentally gave up it was so overwhelming at this point.

The second exercises are the integral assessment which shifts the focus from healing to reflection or assessment. I was able to focus on myself and assess the different way that I can handle situations, attitudes, or/and experiences that I have had. This activity was a chance for me to be aware of the situation that happen around me daily that I am so busy not to notice. I think this shows me that I need to slow down and take more time focusing and less time being in a big hurry.

Corban

Unit 5

So again I find myself listening to an audio the subtle mind for class this week. However this time I really enjoyed this session, I was able to relax and meditate actively unlike the loving kindness audio. I really connected with the breathing idea of the mind will follow your breathing and an inner calm is created by a stable mind, you still your breath you still your mind.

The idea of the subtle mind exercise is to become a witness to the images that come up as you meditate and relax, and I really was able to do this and not engage. This was a huge refreshing calm that I noticed when the session was over this noise comes back that I never had noticed before.

The frustration of the loving kindness audio was I could not connect; staying awake and interested was hard. My mind would wonder and I didn’t grasp the concept that I quickly got form the subtle mind session of witnessing the images.

Corban

Unit 3

Understanding and reflecting is a holistic approach to understanding personal centered wellness. There are three levels of wellness, physically, psychologically, and spiritually each having their own value and level of reflection in my life. Reflecting on the physical aspect in my life I would give this an 8 I do workout. I love running and keeping physically fit, I find that when I run I have more energy and sleep better than when I don’t. I would have given myself a 9 however I feel as though I can work on my diet more that would benefit my health and wellness. My spiritual aspect of wellness I would have given an 8 but after understanding more of overall wellness I believe my actual number is closer to 6. After listening to the loving kindness audio I realized that I have some background noise that interferes with my wellness and my optimal spirituality. Last is the psychological as this I would give myself an 8 as well.

            Areas to work on and goals to set to achieve wellness through physical would be to focus on my diet. Eating healthy and how my physical aspect of wellness is directly connected because of what eat. Second goal is for spiritual would be to find a center of calmness, being able to relax and meditate actively would benefit my wellness. Last would be psychological, to be open and honest with myself and talk to someone when anxiety, stress, or depression is present in my life.

            The Crime of the Century is audio clip that we listened to for class was something that I never done before. I felt uncomfortable as I was going through the exercise. After the second time I listened to it I would say it… It’s hard to say I really didn’t connect with this guy about the colors and how the light was supposed to comes shooting out of our body. However new experiences can take time to process and real understand the benefits they have.

Corban

Unit 4

So we had to listen to this loving kindness audio clip for class this week. I find this mostly boring, I can understand what the idea they hope to benefit but truly it just makes me tired. That was the most difficult part of this staying awake while listening to this recording drone on about how you should open your heart and have more feelings of love and kindness. Isn’t that what humanity is all about anyway having compassion and love for each other regardless of what they have done or who they are. So why do I need an audio recording telling me this? I really couldn’t recommend this to someone else but maybe that’s because I am not far enough along the 4 steps of Psychospiritual flourishing.

“Mental Workout” is addressed by Dr. Dacher through a metaphor that we must train our minds like an Olympian trains their body. To achieve more than simply resting and relaxation we must focus on a more contemplative ideology of mental workouts. Dr. Dacher talks of two different approaches in this chapter, one loving kindness and two the subtle minds, he states “contemplative practice is not rest and relaxation but rather the progressive development of an expanded consciousness and its healing capacities (pg65). I understand know why I was bored and overwhelmed my first time though these exercises it takes time and practice much like that of an Olympian working out every day. Implementing these mental workouts three times a week for an hour each day and journaling to see the progression can make a huge impact on my life.

Corban

EVERYTHING MEANINGFUL IN LIFE IS ACHIEVED THROUGH EFFORT, DISCIPLINE, AND PERSEVERANCE.

                                                                                                                             - Dr. Dacher

Reference:

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