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.