Final Post

1.      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?

Back in unit 3 when assessing my over-all well-being I reflected sometime on all the things that would encompass each of the domains that would determine my well-being. I had ranked my physical well-being as a 7, my spiritual well-being as a 6, and my psychological well-being as a 4.

Here we are 7 weeks later and after giving it some thought, I do feel as though I have grown in each of these domains.  My physical well-being is my strongest of domains and although scored high at a 7, I have continued to maintain all aspects that determined this higher score.  My diet and exercise have stayed consistent and pretty much without flaw.  I have decreased my body fat percentage from 19% to 15.67%.  My weight has only decreased my 3 pounds, which still is within healthy range.  My medical conditions are unchanged and the issue I was having with my hair falling out has seemed to correct itself.  Because my score was so high to begin with these small gains only have increased my score by ½ a point giving me a score of 7 ½.

My spiritual wellbeing is beginning to grow stronger as I incorporate psychological practices into my daily routine.  Although I am practicing daily, there are areas that still need more time and practice before I consider my score to change.

My psychological wellbeing was ranked the lowest 7 weeks ago, although still being ranked as the most under developed of my domains it is the domain the has had the most growth.  I would now rank it a 5. I still need much practice in this area to develop it to a level that I feel would bring balance into my life.

2.     Review the goals and activities you set for yourself in each area. Have you made progress toward the goals? Explain.

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

My goal for my physical wellbeing was to determine why my hair was falling out.  I had planned on seeing a naturopath to have my blood analyzed to help determine what was happening.  I did not make this appointment, but my hair has seemed to stabilize.  I contribute it to my thyroid levels may have been off, and now they seem to be stabilized. 

My goal for my spiritual wellbeing was to spend more time in prayer and devotions. I have been accomplishing this goal by waking a few minutes early each day to spend in quite prayer and devotions.  I have come to the conclusion that to grow spiritually I must eliminate selfishness and spend time in prayer of thanksgiving and prayers for others.

My goal for my psychological wellbeing was to decrease my negative thoughts and emotions.  As I stated in my unit 3 blog this was going to be a goal that would need continual work.  I feel though I am making progress here by not only trying to have a positive outlook on things but also to not speak negatively.  Although this has not been completely eliminated, I have been able to catch myself when I have made a negative comment and I will say “let me rephrase that” and I will attempt to turn it around to something positive.

4.     

     Summarize your personal experience throughout this course. Have you developed improved well-being? What has been rewarding? What has been difficult? How will this experience improve your ability to assist others?

I have truly enjoyed this course.  It has been extremely rewarding and has opened up a whole world of understanding for me.  I believe with the skills and understanding of the meditation practices I have improved my over-all wellbeing.  I believe the most difficult part of this experience has been understanding the importance of incorporating the meditation practices into your life and not being able to find the time to do so.  I believe this course and the practices taught within will greatly improve my ability to assist others. Implementing these practices and developing within my own domains, will help me to guide others.    As one develops their psychological mind and begins to find balance and inner peace, they then can help others to progress towards the same level.

It has been an amazing 10 weeks, I know my journey is in the early stages and I look forward to what is ahead. I will continue to be dedicated, patient, and true to myself, implementing the practices necessary to continue my growth and guide me along the path towards integral health.

Laurie

Integral Health; My Personal Journey

A few years ago if someone asked me if I could give the definition of health, my answer would have been much different than it is today.  When I thought of what it means to me healthy I was thinking only in terms of physical health, your basic physiological health; weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.. I now understand that to truly be healthy it goes much deeper than just the physical body. This is something that has taken me awhile to really grasp.  Although I have taken other courses throughout my studies that taught the importance of treating the body as a whole (body/mind/spirit), it was not until this term that I really understood the concept.  I contribute this epiphany to Elliot Dacher’s book, Integral Health the Path to Human Flourishing. The guidelines and practices that are put forth in the book have opened up a whole new world of understanding for me.  For some time I have felt like something was missing.  I knew that I was allowing myself to be overwhelmed with stress, and was wasting too much time with negative emotions but was unable (or maybe unwilling) to get out of this rut.  This term really has given me the skills that I was so desperately seeking to help guide me towards a more balanced life.  I now believe that I am on the path towards integral health.  I know that it will not always be easy, and it will be one that takes much work and dedication.  This is a path that there is no end it is a lifetime commitment, one that will continue to develop and grow stronger over time.

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?

As a health and wellness professional I have chosen a career that is built on the concept of treating the person as a whole.  Treating a patient must go beyond just treating the symptoms or the physical body, balance must be sought by incorporating also the psychological, and the spiritual. For one to be able to help another find balance, he first needs to have balance.  I believe that as a health and wellness professional we need also look at ourselves as teachers.  Patients will be looking towards us to help teach and guide them, to be able to do this we must have the knowledge and experience.  To be able to obtain this knowledge and experience we must continually use the skills we have been taught and seek out ways to further develop ourselves psychologically, spiritually and physically.  I believe that there is no end to this development. By pursuing new ways and mastering the old skills we already possess this is how we continue to develop and find balance. 

I personally believe that there is always room for improvements, no matter how developed I may feel I am in certain areas.  I grew up in a Christian home; I have attended church all my life and consider myself a very spiritual person.  With this being said, I do not feel as though I have even begun to reach my full spiritual potential. I find that as I teach the importance of spirituality to my children my faith and spirituality grows stronger. It is important to remember that all growth needs nurturing, and I must constantly seek ways to feed my spirit so that it will blossom and with this peace and balance will be found. 

Physical development is an area that again there is always room for improvements.  Overall I would say this is an area that is best developed for me.  I am a true believer that you are what you eat.  I not only preach this, I live it.  I eat a very healthy natural and mostly organic diet. I exercise 6 days a week incorporating cardiovascular, weight-training, and alternative exercise (cross-fit, Zumba, kick-boxing, yoga) into my workout regimen.  I strive to maintain my weight within a healthy range.  I have a healthy heart, my blood pressure, cholesterol levels are all within normal limits.  For the most part I am very rarely ill. For some they may say that I am a picture of health, but what I have discovered is this is not what constitutes true health.

Psychological development is where I fall short.  This is an area that requires the most work to be able to develop and is probably the hardest.  The ironic part is it probably offers the most rewards.  I believe that as you develop your mind this will help you grow stronger both physically and spiritually.

Assessment

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

I believe to be able to get a full assessment of your health one must look at all areas.  Determine which of the areas you have the most knowledge, spend the most time developing, and where you need the most work.  Once you have made this assessment you will know the steps you need to pursue to enrich the areas that are in most need.

Physically as stated in a previous blog I would rank this domain as a 7 on a scale of 1-10.  This is an area that I feel I have the most knowledge in, and I spend the most time at developing.  I am constantly reading about nutrition and how food affects our bodies.  I am one that will read about the benefits of certain foods or herbs and find ways to introduce them into my diet.  At the same time I spend 2 hours a day doing strenuous physical exercise.  I work with a personal trainer to help guide me in this area.  I am willing to try new exercises and if I do not succeed at first, I will push until I do.  To be honest I believe I sometimes push my body physically to the limits, whether it be running a race, or during weight lifting training. 

Spiritually I ranked this domain as a 6.  This is an area that I too spend much time developing.  I spend time in prayer daily, I go to church regularly, I teach Sunday school, and I live my life in a way that I put everything in the hands of faith.  But it is an area of continual growth, every aspect of my life strengthens my spirituality.  I believe that as a human we all fall short of optimal spirituality.  To be optimal one would not ever judge, or have negative emotions, would love all, and live a life that is pure and always at peace. 

Psychologically I ranked this domain the lowest.  I would give it a 4.  Until recently this is an area that I knew the least about and spent the least amount of time developing.  Although I have attempted to incorporate meditation into my life, I was not very successful.  My mind is one that never turns off, it wanders and I was unable to focus to achieve the full benefits.  I contribute this to not understanding my reasons for meditation.  I wanted it to work, and work immediately.  I was hoping that it would help reduce my stress levels, but I was unwilling to give it the time and attention that was needed to see results.  The guidance that I received through Dacher’s writings have helped me to better understand the process of developing a mindful mind, a loving heart, and guided me towards developing inner peace.  

Goal Development

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

Physical goal:

I have been training with a trainer for the past 10 months in the hopes of competing in a figure competition.  What I have found is that most women (men too) that want to compete sacrifice nutritional integrity to achieve the image they are looking for.  Through this whole process of training my coach has been saying that I will most likely need to drop to an unhealthy weight in order to get the abdominal definition needed for competition.  I have made it my goal to continue working, putting nutrition first, and I will compete without resorting to unhealthy measures.  It may take me longer, it may be harder, and I may never actually win a contest; but I will continue to strive to reach this goal and be physically healthy the whole way.

Spiritual goal:

I believe that it is human nature to exhibit some form of selfishness.  I have come to the realization that in order for me to grow spiritually I must work at ridding myself of selfish acts.  Although I spend time daily in prayer, I do so more often for my own personal gains, and not often enough in praise and thanksgiving and prayer for others outside my immediate family.  My spiritual goal is to dedicate more time for thankful prayer and prayers for others.

Psychological goal:

Because this is my most under-developed domain, it will be the area that I need to devote the most time.  I must focus the drive that I have in my physical and spiritual development and put that same amount of energy into my psychological development.  To accomplish this, it will take daily practice and dedication.  Just as physical exercise, healthy eating and prayer have become a daily ritual for me, so will mindful practice.  My goal for psychological development will be to have meditation become a daily routine, one in which is not forced one of habit.  I believe that once this is accomplished I will find balance and inner peace.

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 Growth:

To continue fostering growth in this area I must not allow myself to let’s say “slack off”.  I must continue with my current daily regimen, always setting new goals for myself.  This can be accomplished by always stepping outside of my comfort zone.  I now run 5k races, I will make it a goal to work towards running a 10K once that is accomplished I will work towards running a ½ marathon, If I accomplish that I work towards a full marathon. The same is true with my weight training; I will continue working hard to develop muscle definition by not becoming stagnated with my workouts.  Muscles love confusion, you cannot go into the gym and constantly do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result.  You must keep your workouts fresh and mix it up.  Every 4-6 weeks I change my workouts. Each week I work my muscles in a different order and change how I lift, I change how fast I do the repetitions, and how long I rest in between sets, etc..  Along with weight-training and running, I have one day a week that I do something different, whether it be a Zumba class, yoga, Boot Camp. By having a workout set up this way I never get bored and it keeps me motivated.  Visualization meditation is another way I can foster further growth physically.  This is a practice that is an excellent exercise to help reach your athletic goals.  Visualizing yourself doing the activity, and really believing you can do it will help you to actually accomplish it.

Spiritual Growth:

To continue fostering growth in this area I feel that the best practices for me at this time are Loving Kindness meditation and the visualization meeting Asclepius. I chose Loving kindness because my spiritual goal is to rid myself of selfish acts and I believe the best way to do that is by the practice of offering loving kindness to others.  Unfortunately I am still struggling with this because of personal negative emotions towards certain people that have wronged me.  It is easy to show loving kindness to someone you love, and not even that difficult to offer it to someone that has no connection to you, where it is really hard is offering it to your enemy.  I feel that is where my second strategy comes into play.  The visualization practice of meeting Asclepius, my inner healer, will help guide me towards letting go of my negative emotions towards others and help me to take the necessary steps towards forgiveness, which will eventually allow me to heal and find peace. I will implement these practices by continuing to allot time each day that is designated for these practices.  Over the past 9 weeks I have been able to find time each day to do these practices, sometimes it may only be for 5-10 minutes, but it is a good start.  As these mini practices become habit, I will increase my practice time.  Just as one does not put on their first pair of running shoes and goes out and runs the Boston Marathon, the same applies to meditation practices.  It is unrealistic for me to begin trying to sit for an hour at a time, I am taking consistent baby steps this is what will help me to eventually meet my goal.   

Psychological Growth:

To continue fostering growth in this area I feel that I must find time to unplug from the world.  After reading Dacher’s thoughts on how our minds become so over-stimulated by the constant chatter of the world, I made a commitment that I would spend time each day in peace and quiet.  I have implemented this by using my early morning running time for this practice.  I now leave my IPod at home and run in silence.  I am really enjoying this and I believe that it is fostering growth in my other domains as well.  Physically I am able to run further and faster because I am more aware of my breathing and can control it much better.  Spiritually I spend time on my run in conversation with God, whereas before I would be singing along with a song. Another strategy that I would like to implement to help me develop psychologically is witnessing mind and calm-abiding meditation.  I attempt these practice but as of yet I am not very good at it.  I still struggle with my mind wandering.  I believe I need to continue using practices like guided meditation and as I learn to quiet and calm my mind a witnessing mind will be seen and then will evolve into a calm-abiding mind.  I know this is not something that will happen over-night for me, and I will need to devote practice and patience towards it.

Commitment:

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

I meticulously journal many aspects of my life, which is an excellent way of assessing progress.  I have my exercise journal that goes to the gym with me every day, I keep track of the weight used, the reps completed, calories burned, distance run, and how I felt during my workout.  I have kept this journal for years.  I have a cardboard box that these journals go in when they are full.  I can literally go back and see where I began and where I am at now.  I do the same with my food log, I carry this with me and write down everything I eat, I started this several years ago when I was attempting to lose weight and it kind of stuck with me. Although I do not have a psychospiritual journal I feel this would be a great idea.  For me when I write my goals and intentions down on paper it helps me become more accountable for my behaviors.  What I have noticed is that the goals that I take the time to write down and create a plan on how I will accomplish them are the goals that I eventually achieve. 

I am only at the beginning of my integral health journey, and I am committed to taking the necessary steps that will guide me in the direction that is needed to reach my goals.   I look forward to not only the educational aspect of this journey but more importantly the personal growth and inner peace that will unfold along the way. 

Thanks for a great term!

Laurie Peterson

Guided Visualization: The Falling Snow

My favorite meditation practice is visualization exercises.  These practices put me in a very calm and relaxed state.  I have downloaded several guided visualization exercises on my IPod and I will listen to them at night before I go to sleep. This has helped me to sleep much better.  What I like the most about visualization exercises these I have started sharing them with my son, as I have mentioned he is autistic and struggles with calming his self when he is upset.  Our favorite visualization (which we do this one pretty much every night before he goes to bed) is called the falling snow, the script was one from one of my other classes.  The exercise takes place in a cabin in the woods on a cold winter night.  The snow begins to fall and you sit in a window seat inside the cabin and watch the snow fall. There is a fire burning in the fireplace you visualize the smells, sounds and sights.  This is such a great exercise, each time we do it my son will add different things that occur while we are on the journey.  Some times we walk out into the snow and listen to the sound of it crunching under our feet, sometimes we may build a snowman. What is nice is that it is relaxing and he can really picture our make believe cabin in the woods. He even ask if we can really go there sometime. We usually will put some calming music on and lie on his bed with our eyes closed as I recite the script of the exercise.  Sometimes he gets upset and says "I can't see the cabin mommy" we then take a few extra minutes and lay there and breath for a few extra minutes until he can get the vision in his head.  This is such a wonderful time for us, and I am so thankful that I have started this practice with him.  It has made such a difference in both of our lives.

The second exercise that I enjoy is the Loving Kindness exercise.  This is one that I have been trying to practice everyday (some days are harder then others to get the full benefit) This practice is one that has helped me to let go of some of my negative emotions that I struggle with and is really helping me move to a new chapter in my life, a much more positive one at that.  There are days that I have more time to really sit and focus on this exercise with no other distractions going on around me, this is when I get the most out of the exercise.  When my day is busy and I will attempt to do the exercise while I am driving or taking my shower in the morning.  What I do know is that by incorporating these exercises into my daily routine, I feel like I am beginning to heal from the inside out. The amazing part is that prior to this I was unaware that I even needed to heal I just new something was missing and now I am beginning to feel more complete.  My stress level seems to be evening out, I have a much more positive outlook, and I find myself in a good mood much more often than I am in a bad one.  If this is the results after 8 weeks I am looking forward to seeing the results after several years of using these practices!

Laurie

Meeting Asclepius

This weeks meditation exercise, was probably my favorite so far.  It is called "Meeting Asclepius".  Asclepius is the Greek God of Medicine. This meditation process is one that helps bring out your inner healer, or your guide on the journey to integral health.

Meeting Asclepius is a guided visualization meditation.  You begin by sitting in a comfortable position, close your eyes and begin by visualizing a person who is wise and has a kind heart, it can be someone you know or you can make someone up.  For me I had spent some time looking at pictures of Asclepius the Greek God, and this was the face that kept appearing when I did the exercise.  An older man with white hair and a beard wearing a long white robe, I had thought that I would visualize my grandmother, but the face of this older man would not leave my mind, so I went with it.This was my inner healer.  Once I was able to keep this individual in my mind and focus on him, the exercise became much easier. 

Now that my mind was focused on this figure, I then visualized a white beam of light shining from the crown of his head, this lite was bright and I could visualize it shining from his head to my forehead.  Think of the light shining as one that enters into your mind, the light will bathe and purify your thoughts and transforming your mind to a still mind.  This was easily visualized by me and I could feel myself becoming more relaxed and my mind stayed focused without wandering and thinking of other things.  From here I began to visualize this same white light now it has moved and is shining from the healers throat towards my throat. The light is purifying my speech, making it loving, wise and sensitive, one that does not speak harsh words towards others.  The final visualization is the light shining from the healers heart penetrating my heart purifying it to be filled with love and kindness.

When the process was finished I felt a sense of peace and my heart felt light and very loving.  Throughout the week, when ever I would want to speak a negative word or began thinking negative thoughts, I would immediately bring the face of this healer to mind. I can't say that it always made me stop, but it has brought more awareness to my words and thoughts and it is lessening the frequency of negativity. I believe if I continue to practice these types of meditation exercises it will eventually become easier to always speak kind words and to eliminate the negative emotions that can clutter my mind.  

The statement "One can not lead another where one has not gone himself" (Dacher, 2006) Is a statement that I completely agree with.  This is why I take everything that I am learning within these classes so serious.  I can not teach others the importance finding balance without taking the appropriate steps to find balance within myself.   It is a journey that although will not be complete as I work with clients, it will be one that I will continually pursue and as I learn I will be able to teach others.  

Laurie

Universal Loving Kindness

This week’s exercise has taking the Loving-Kindness meditation to the next level, which is the practice of Universal Loving Kindness. It is somewhat easy to practice Loving-Kindness for ones that are close to us, but now we must take this feeling and extended it out past our love ones and open our hearts to strangers, enemies, and all of humankind.  Accomplishing this is a “true gift to oneself and the world”. The development of universal loving-kindness is the final leap in our interpersonal development. (Dacher, 2006)

To practice Universal Loving Kindness you will do the following: close your eyes and for a minute or two resting into a relaxed state. Repeat the following phrases for 10 minutes.

               May all individuals gain freedom from suffering.

               May all individuals find sustained health, happiness, and wholeness.

               May I assist all individuals in gaining freedom from suffering.

               May I assist all individuals in finding health, happiness, and wholeness.

When I first began to repeat the above phrases, It was just words I was repeating, but then as I really put my heart into the words and their meaning, the meditation practice became quite fulfilling.

After taking a close look at my personal circumstance, and assessing the four aspects of integral health (psychospiritual, biological, interpersonal, and wordly) I have determined that the interpersonal aspect is what requires the most attention. I have a 13 year old autistic son who struggles with behavior issues.  This causes our relationship to be in turmoil often.  I think one of the most important exercises that I can implement is continuing to practice meditation.  This practice helps to reduce my stress which in turn gives me more patience and understanding. Which once I am able to filter out the stressful situations, I know that my interpersonal relationship will begin to flourish.

Laurie 

The Subtle Mind

This weeks exercise took our conscious mind to the next level.  At this level is where the witnessing mind, the calm-abiding mind, and eventually the unity consciousness is developed.  The Subtle Mind practice is one that assists you in progressing toward psychospiritual flourishing. When practicing this exercise the focus is now on your breathing.  Focusing on each breath as you breath in and out, focusing on the rise and fall of your chest.  There is a connection between the breath and the mind.  Peaceful breathing patterns stills the mind.  If we still our breath we can still our mind. The breath will become the focal point. Focusing on the breath will help to clear the mind of chatter, if thoughts or distractions begin to enter the mind let them come and then turn your focus back to your breathing.  Eventually, during you time of meditation your mind will spend more time in stillness and less time being distracted.  During this time of stillness is when the mind has achieved calm-abiding, when one is able to sustained this calm the mind has then evolved into unity consciousness.

Unlike the Loving-Kindness practice which focus is on opening our hearts and attempt to take us from our own self-centeredness to feeling the love and kindness for others.  The Subtle Mind practices focuses on clearing your mind of all thoughts only the thought of your focal point, your breath.  This exercise reminds me of Lamaze Breathing for childbirth.  I delivered 3 children all natural without the use of any epidural.  I used Lamaze Breathing.  I was able to find a focal point and concentrate on the breathing, which allowed me to divert my attention on the pain to that of my breathing.  Because I was able to do this during a time of excruciating pain I was surprised I had so much difficulty with this exercise this week. I have had a very stressful week and have been a little behind on my school work.  I found it very difficult to relax myself enough to ever achieve stillness.  There were constantly thoughts racing through my head. So for me this week I never was able to achieve the witnessing mind.  Although I know that I have been able to achieve this before.  What is important is practicing these exercises so that during weeks like this one when I need it the most I am able to quite my mind even for 15 minutes would be beneficial for my well-being.

The mind, body, and spirit are so interconnected that an imbalance in one will cause the other to be out of balance.  To achieve integral flourishing a balance of all three must be found.  If I were to be 100% truthful I still need work in all areas.  I struggle the most with the mind.  But I will continue to implement these practices until I am able to find the balance that I am missing. I know for me the road to integral health will not be a short or easy one, but the end benefits are well worth the journey.  

Laurie

Loving Kindness

The Prayer of Loving Kindness

May you be happy, as I wish to be happy

May you know peace, as I wish to know peace

May you be safe from inner and outer harm, as I wish to be safe

May you be free from suffering as I wish to be free.

Everyone is troubled by difficult emotional pressures.  Although most do not develop skills to help deal with these pressures. This weeks meditation exercise was on loving-kindness. By practicing such meditation one can eliminate negative and destructive emotions and begin to reduce these emotional pressures.

The meditation begins with you thinking of someone close to you, some one you love very much, think of this feeling of love and now turn this love towards yourself.  This practice is so one can develop a loving acceptance of oneself.  Moving onward into the meditation you then visualize a loved on who is suffering you focus on this person as you breath in taking in their suffering into your heart, as you breath out you breath out happiness and wholeness to this loved one.  Next you will expand your focus to people around you, those that are neutral, breath in their suffering and breath out peace and wellness. Finally embrace your enemies, taking in their suffering and breathing out peace for them.

I have been practicing this exercise two times a day for the past week.  I start and end my day with this meditation.  In the beginning of the week I struggled with staying focused, the sound of the ocean waves relaxed me too much and I would drift off to sleep, but the more I do it the more I am getting from it.  Each time I feel I gain something new.  I have found that the same meditation can be done by reciting the above prayer.  The same concept is put into play by first reciting the prayer towards yourself, and  then to a love one and then to a neutral person, and then towards a difficult person.  I seem to stay focused better with this prayer than the guided meditation that is listen too.  I still have many negative and destructive feelings towards certain people but with the help of these exercise, I am learning how to let them go and developing a more balanced and healthy life.  

I certainly would recommend and encourage this meditation, because it is important to attempt to let go of the negative emotions...they really are not good for anything.  The more I do this exercise the more I understand how unproductive these negative feeling are. It is important to understand that this is a exercise that will take time, patience, and dedication before you are able to master it.  But the person that puts an effort into this practice will succeed and will gradually free their minds of negative emotions and anger towards others.  

Understanding that the mind needs to be exercised as often and as intensively as the physical body.  Just as you will not immediately begin a physical exercise regimen with running a marathon, most people will not be able to begin their mental workouts with an hour session. You can start with 5 or 10 minutes and grow from there. What is important and has been proven through research studies is that by continual practice you are on a road to a healthier and happier life.  Those that persevere will be rewarded.

I have found that you may need to try different guided meditations, until you find the one that works best for you.  Youtube had many good loving-kindness meditations videos.  I encourage you to try different ones to help you find the one that will be most beneficial for you. Below are links to a couple that I really enjoyed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz7cpV7ERsM&noredirect=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRDsbXr9CY8

Laurie

Rainbow Meditation

                                    

I really enjoy relaxation exercises, because god knows I need to learn to relax!! This exercise was once again very soothing, although I was unable to get the full benefit of the exercise due to the fact that I have been away from home for the past 10 days, and the only area in which I had internet access was in the middle of a very busy dining hall with lots of other people and noise.  I attempted to focus and block out everything around me, this was not an easy task.  I wish that these relaxation exercises were available for downloads because I would enjoy listening to them and because I am sharing this blog with others outside of my school classmates.  I am going to attempt to research these techniques to find if they are available for download and I will share it here on my blog. 

For those that are unaware of what Rainbow Meditation is I will attempt to give a brief summary of how to do this exercise. You begin by thinking of a prism and the many colors of a rainbow focus on your breathing as you breath in and out.

Begin with visualizing a red beam of light coming from your feet.  This represents your ability of feeling grounded, safe and secure in your environment. Repeat: “I feel grounded”

Now visualize a beam of orange light coming from just below your bellybutton. This represents a feeling of centeredness and self- worth. Repeat: “I feel centered”

Now visualize a bright yellow light coming from your upper stomach.  This represents a feeling of love.  Repeat: “I feel loved”

Now visualize a beam of emerald green light coming from right above your heart.  This represents the ability to show love.  Think of someone and mentally send them a positive message. Repeat: “I choose to love”

Now visualize a beam of aqua blue light shining from your throat area.  This light represents the ability to feel a since of meaningful purpose in life, willpower, or creativity. At this time think of a goal see the aqua blue light and begin to see that you can accomplish that goal. Repeat: “My life has a meaningful purpose”

Now visualize a beam of indigo blue light shining from the spot right above your nose between your eyes.  This light represents finding balance within yourself, finding balance, and the ability to tap into your conscious and unconscious mind.  The right and left brain working together. Repeat: “I feel balanced”

Now visualize a violet light coming from the crown of your head.  This light represents a feeling of being connected to a bigger part of the universe, your connection to friends, family, nature, and the universe as a whole, understanding you are not alone.  When you feel connected you feel very much at peace.  Repeat: “I feel connected”

Finally, you will bring all the lights back in, and now your body is surrounded by a soft white light. Repeat: “my body is calm and relaxed”

What is important with this exercise is continuing to practice it so that you can lock this calm feeling into your memory bank so when you are feeling stressed you can bring this relaxed feeling back to diminish your stress levels.  I personally, struggled with the visualization and being able to relax my mind enough to really see the lights, although just the sound of the man’s voice talking you through the exercise helped put me into a relaxed state.

Laurie

Ranking my Wellbeing

                        

As part of this week’s lesson plan I must reflect on where I feel my overall level of wellbeing is at this time in my life.  This means I will rate my physical, spiritual, and psychological well-being on a scale of 1-10 (ten being optimal wellbeing).  I will then develop a goal for each of these areas and an activity that I can implement into my life to assist in moving towards each of these goals.  After spending some time taking inventory of my strengths and needs in each of these areas this is what I came up with:

My physical well-being:  7

When contemplating this number I looked at many different areas that would make up my physical wellbeing.

 

 My weight: 150 pounds (not exactly where I want to be, but within the normal/healthy range for my height)

My BMI:  24 within a healthy range

My Body Fat %: 19% within a fitness level

My Blood pressure: within a healthy range

My Cholesterol level: within a healthy range

My Diet: a very healthy natural diet, consisting of a variety of all food groups

Sleep habits: poor

Exercise: 5-6 days a week (consist of cardio, weight-training, cross-fit training)

Medical Conditions:

 I have hypothyroidism in which I still take medication for.  My goal is to eventually come completely off any pharmaceutical for treatment of this.

Recent bone scan reveals that I have osteoporosis in my spine and osteopenia in my hip, although this is being controlled by my lifestyle choices (diet, exercise, and vitamin supplements) there has been very little change for the past several years. (This is good, because it has not gotten any worse)

I recently have been experiencing some hair thinning and loss, which tells me there is something out of balance within my system.

Although my fitness wellbeing would be rated very high, I have several medical areas that are not optimal but yet are not on the lower end of the scale either.  So I deducted a few points for these issues and gave myself a 7 for physical well-being.

Spiritual Wellbeing: 6

I feel I am a very spiritual person and have much faith.  I spend time daily in prayer.  I teach Sunday school at my church. I am just returning from a mission trip to the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky helping repair homes for the under privileged. Although for some this may sound like my Spiritual Wellbeing should be ranked high, I believe that on a spiritual end we all fall short of optimal.  This is an area for me that I can always grow in and do not believe I will ever be able to rank it as a 10, but at the same time I do feel I am in a good place spiritually. I gave my Spiritual Wellbeing a score of 6

Psychological Wellbeing: 4

This is definitely holding me back on my journey to optimal health.  I struggle quite often with stress, times of negativity, times when I have very low self-esteem, and over all crankiness.  I contribute this to: my busy multitasking lifestyle, my constant inner struggle with what I feel my body should look like, working at a job that I no longer want to be at, and lack of sleep trying to accomplish too many things in one day.  For these reasons I ranked my psychological wellbeing at a 4.   

My Goals and 1 activity to work towards accomplishing my goal:

Physical Wellbeing:

 To figure out why my hair is falling out! This is really freaking me out, and I am not sure if it is an age thing, hormonal, nutrition, or a result of stress. I plan on scheduling an appointment with a local naturopath to have my blood analysis done in hopes of determining if there is a physical reason for why this is happening or is it a psychological reason.

Spiritual Wellbeing:

To spend more focused time in prayer and devotions.  Although I spend time in prayer daily, there are times that I do it while doing other things.  I feel that I need to allot for time just for this task and not try and fit it in while doing other things. I will get up 15 minutes earlier in the morning to read a devotion and spend time in quite prayer without any other distractions.

Psychological Wellbeing:

Oh, where do I begin with this one?? My first goal here will be to decrease my negativity.  This is a goal that I have been working on because I see how negative my son can be and my hopes are that he will learn from my example.  I know that negative feeds negative and at the same time positive feeds positive, so the more positive I have around my son the more positive he will become.  To accomplish this I will refrain from speaking negative remarks, although I may think them, which is not much better, I will work on that next.  I will start my trying to make one full day of no negative remarks and build from there.

Although these goals look good on paper, the hard part comes when you must really implement them into your lifestyle.  I have to say, for me, this is not just a school assignment; it is truly the stepping stones on the journey towards optimal health.  I will employ these goals into my daily life in order to get that much closer to my end goal.

Laurie

The Power for Achieving Relaxation is Within You

"Relax" a word that is at times easier said than done.  

As the week is rapidly approaching the end, my stress level seems to be rising just as rapidly.  I had very high expectations of what tasks I would need to accomplish today which have fallen a little short.  I will be leaving tomorrow for a mission trip to the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky, my family and myself have been looking forward to this trip, although I have been a little on edge trying to get packed, work, and get my school work done before we leave.  Everything but my school work was accomplished.  As I finally only have a few hours left before bed, I curl up in my corner of the couch armed with a cup of green tea and a bowl of fresh strawberries. I log in to my class: Creating Wellness: Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of healing and there waiting for me was just what I needed, a relaxation exercise.  

I begin to listen to the audio, the voice is incredible soothing, I decide to attempt to get the full benefit of this exercise.  I shut the end table light off, put my earphones in, and close my eyes.  I listen to the voice explain how I have the power for achieving relaxation just by thinking about it.  It is a technique called Autogenic Relaxation.  By thinking and focusing on a particular body part you can make it feel more relaxed and comfortable.

I continue to hear the voice saying the word "relax" and with every breath I repeat the word and I immediately begin to feel more at ease.  As the exercise continues I stay completely focused on my thoughts of becoming more relaxed, I picture the blood running through my arms and they begin to feel heavy and warm, my fingers have somewhat of a tingle in them.  My mind is blank except for my thought of relaxation.  I begin to feel totally at peace, almost to the point that I could fall asleep.  Oh, how my mind and body needed this and then....BAM!! reality hits.  My son comes storming through the living room like a bull in a china closet yelling Mom wheres my DSI. 

I truly can see how techniques like these can help promote relaxation and reduce stress.  The trick is teaching yourself how to implement them into your real, everyday life and doing them when you need them most.

Laurie  

Hello

My name is Laurie I am the mother of three a daughter 25, and two sons 21 and 13. My children are my most prized accomplishments.  I live in Northeast Pennsylvania with the love of my life and my youngest son.   On the journey for a healthier lifestyle for myself and my family I discovered a passion for nutrition and fitness.  I am currently pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree at Kaplan University in Health and Wellness and Studying Naturopathic Nutrition Counseling through Trinity School of Natural Health. Throughout my studies I have discovered the importance of achieving harmony within our bodies which in turn will lead one to a state of well-being. “To achieve a life of wellness one must embrace habits and behaviors that will promote better health and an improved quality of life” (“What is Wellness, n.d.).  

Reference:

“What is Wellness” (n.d.). Definition of Wellness retrieved August 5, 2012 from:

               http://definitionofwellness.com