Unit 9 Project

I.                    Introduction: It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually, and physically because they will have a better connection with their clients. For example, a practitioner who meditates on a regular basis will have the clarity in his mind to truly listen to the concerns of his patient. This effortless integral approach will bring a “holistic and evolutionary understanding of the patient” (Dasher, 2006, p169). This type of acknowledgement can be healing on its own. Physically, a practitioner should practice what they teach. Someone who seeks advice for a healthy lifestyle will be disappointed if the practitioner is obese.

An area I need to develop to achieve my goals is both psychological and physical. I work with clients in an environment where not only food choices, but alcohol is involved. Though I make good food choices, I need to improve in alcohol consumption. I have noticed that even two drinks affect my exercise regimen the next day. This is a challenge for me every time I have to entertain, but through this class I have gotten much better.

II.                 Assessment: Throughout the course of this class, my assessment has changed tremendously. My spiritual aspect has increased due to a continuous and genuine connection to attending church. Through meditation and yoga, my spiritual wellness has also grown. I feel a true connection and balance I have been looking for all my life.

My growth in spirituality is helping me physically. Since I am in better spirits these days I am more motivated to go to the gym. Yoga has also been changing my physical appearance which is very rewarding.

Psychologically, I have improved. Through the help of meditation and going to church I know that my psychological domain will grow. I am trying my hardest and I have been praying to have the will to control the habit of drinking with my coworkers and clients. Though I have improved tremendously, it is still a work in progress.

III.               Goal development:

·        Psychological - My goal is to attend these entertainment dinner meetings without consuming any alcohol at all. Some may think this is easy, but it is harder to do than one may actually think. Continue the practice of mediation daily in the morning in bed before I start my day.

·        Physical – Continue attending two yoga classes twice a week. Learn more about Qigong and introduce it to my mother because of her cancer. I have read that Qigong has great healing techniques.

·        Spiritual – My goal is to daily connect with God through prayer and not just on Sunday. Also, having the family join us will help us bond better. In addition, thanking God for allowing the great connection I feel when practicing yoga.

IV.              Practices for personal health:

·                    Physical – I decided to start riding my bike to the gym once a week. It’s only a 15-20 minute ride. Also, I will try my best to go to the gym 5 days out of the week. Currently, I am going 4 times. Additionally, I will start riding my bike with my 11 yr old son, Anthony once a week.

·                    Psychological – Psychologically, I have a strategy to not let any negativity affect my life. To me, this means not to be judgmental or envious of anyone. I can practice the loving-kindness exercise which will give me the clarity to achieve my goal. I will be a better person by being generous and positive towards others. Also, I will teach my son how to meditate. However, the words I will use with him will be to calm his mind when he is frustrated. He will be open to this approach.

·                    Spiritual – Strategies to reach optimal spiritual growth are to involve my entire family in going to church. Afterwards, we can all go out to eat. Another strategy I have in this domain is to develop a deeper connection with my spiritual being by meditating on a daily basis. I can continue to meditate a few minutes in my bed before I start my day.

V.                 Commitment:

One thing I can do to track my progress is take a picture of myself now and compare it in 6 months. I really want to push myself physically, so I am excited to see the results. Another thing I can do is take the integral assessment 6 months from now. By this time, I should have acquired a deep listening to my inner self. I should be able to more easily determine where I stand in my human flourishing development.

I do plan on reading some of the books suggested in the resource guide such as The Future of the Body by Michael Murphy. Most importantly, I will continue to practice loving-kindness, practice subtle mind, practice yoga, try Qigong also try group meditation at my gym.

Unit 8

Two practices I have really enjoyed are loving kindness and meditation. I have become a more optimistic person with the loving kindness practice. It has even rubbed off on my husband. Yesterday was a family birthday celebration My husband’s nephew who burglarized my mother’s home was there. His mother was also present. I did not let any negative emotions rise within me. I simply acknowledged their presence and enjoyed my meal. I did not approach them, maybe one day but for the time being I am not ready. I have not forgotten, but I forgave. I followed the steps on forgiveness pg. 339-340. I am actually going to print it along with the power point presentation for a couple of my family members.

My husband did not want to go to the dinner. You see, most of his family disowned him after he stood by my side when the burglary happened. They later asked for forgivenss and I forgave. He did as well. However the bond he once had with them may never be the same. He said yesterday that he did not want to go because they barely talk to him. I told him that they did apologize and asked both of us to forgive them. They were trying at least. He later called me back and said how good of a person I am becoming. He was going to try not to be so mean.

Mental fitness is overall helping me become a better person. I am in a better mood and I am building stronger relationships all around.

Unit 7

 I chose my mother for the image selection of this exercise. She has tremendous compassion and love for others. I try to approach my situations as she would. She is very forgiving and always offering to help others as best she can. The exercise helped me connect to my mother. The beam of light to connect even more I did feel. I felt a warmth presence energy around me. The speech beam of light I did not feel.
Meditaton has helped me relax and not stress, especially during PMS. I have become more calm and my family has noticed a difference. Gradually, with practice of meditation I can learn to still my mind. I can apply these practices in my personal life to have deeper relationships with others. For example, my 18 year old daughter, Victoria. I will also be leading a good example for my kids by being more optimistic. In turn, I will also increase my health.
2.      I agree n the saying one cannot lead another where one has not gone himself. For example, a nutritionist cannot educate someone if they continuously have poor eating habits. It would be hipocritical. Yes, I think my clients would look at me for inspiration. If I do not practice what I teach then they will not confide in my word.  I can implement psychological and spiritual growth in my life by practicing exercises which will still my mind. In addition, I recently attended church to reach a greater connection to God. It was my own personal goal and it did help me grow more spiritually. I will be attending more often.

Universal Loving-Kindness and Integral Assessment

The universal loving exercise made me feel peaceful after the practice. I thought of those who are suffering around the world. I also thought of my family members who are suffereing from obesity. I hope they find their way and conform to a better and healthier lifestyle. I have a sister who has been doing cocaine and recently discovered she was using crystal meth. Though she swears she is no longer doing either, I think the cocaine addiction is taking over her life. With this exercise, I pray she will find her way out of this abuse. My best friend is also an addict. Whenever she drinks, she wants cocaine. It is starting to take over her life. She cannot function in school or work. With this exercise, I hope they no longer suffer.

The integral assessment was an eye-opener. It is very personal to write about this one, so here we go. The psychospiritual I asked myself what drives my life and am I at the level of the connectivity between mind, body, and spirit. With the help of these exercises and practice of yoga, I think I can accomplish this. Family drives my life and the will to better myself and encourage others the same as well.

The second is biological. I have implemented more time for fitness and nutrition throughout this course. I have also seen changes in my physique. I feel so much better about myself. I have also tremendously limited my drinks when out with clients. My face has also cleared up from any blemishes. I have found the apple cider vinegar has helped as well.

The third is interpersonal. My family comes first before personal and community. Now that I have typed it, I am realizing I need to work on personal first. How can I care for others if I do not care for myself first. This is an area which still needs some progress. I also need to be forgiving for those who have wronged me. I have to not let this bother me anymore.

The fourth is  worldly. I think I need some improvement in this area. I will not allow work to mix with my personal life. I can work with generativity by assisting my friend with her homework. She is a beautiful beautiful girl who growing up has used this to finish school. She has others do homework for her. Unfortunately, it shows in her tests and papers when no one is around to do them for her. I will reach out to her to help her, but not do the homework for her.

Unit 5 Subtle Mind and Loving Kindness

1.      The loving kindness exercise was not as long as the subtle mind. I did enjoy the ocean background noise in the subtle mind track. However, trying to concentrate for that long of time was quite difficult. I also have to make sure there are no distractions to practice both. I was sitting on my mat Indian style and my big dog kept getting in the way. She wanted to meditate too.

2.      I think a spiritual connection to mental and physical wellness is possible. However, I need to work on being more disciplined and acknowledge my thoughts and release them. I did feel more relaxed afterwards. In my personal life, I am learning to let go of small things. This is especially important during PMS. I did not feel as stressed this past week as I usually have. I actually did not even have menstrual cramps at all. This hasn’t happened since I was a teen.

Unit 4 Loving-Kindness

1. I practiced the loving kindness exercise. I found this exercise very emotional. The thoughts of breathing in the suffering of my mother who went through chemo and the recent death of my dog was intense. However, breathing out health and happiness to them was relaxing. My mother is doing well since her last chemo session in September. She recently told me that in case there was a relapse, she would never go through chemo again. I also hope that my Ruby who was missing a couple of weeks ago did not suffer. We think she was either taken by coyotes or a hawk. Either way, I hope and breathing out any suffering they might of gone through.

I also breathed in the negative emotions towards those that have hurt me or my family. My mother was undergoing chemo and I was the main caretaker of any personal or financial responsibilities When I lived with my mother over the summer, my husband’s nephew broke into her home. A camera in my mother’s room was missing along with my wallet. He also stole my wallet. I had 2 atm cards. One was open and the other was not activated. Since he tried to use the non-activated card at a Wal-Mart, I was not able to press charges. Since the transaction did not go through, according to Dallas police, no crime was committed. All evidence pointed to him. He had been at my mother’s home the evening the robbery happened among other things. I approached him, his mother, and his father concerning the theft. They wanted evidence and we were not able to provide any due to the transactions not following through.

Since then, part of my husband’s family disowned him. They have recently apologized and said they should not have medelled in the issue and my husband finally told them our part of the story. However, his mother still gives me the cold shoulder and I do not acknowledge them when they are around. I do not think the mother knows about the transactions not going through. In her mind and her son’s word, unless there is hard proof then there was no crime. His actions caused much suffering in my family and his as well. How can I overcome this dilemma? Every time I see their face, especially his I feel so much anger and hurt. This Sunday my husband’s brother is hosting a Super Bowl party. I will not be attending because of the negativity I feel being in the same room the mother and son. Any thoughts or suggestions?

The concept of mental work-out is to practice daily our connection to our psychological well being. The benefits obtained “can be well on the road to health, happiness, and wholesness” (Dacher, 2006, 64). I can mentally connect to my mind by practicing the love-kindness practice at least for 15 minutes twice a day. This practice will help reduce any stress in my life. It will also help send any positive energies to others.

Unit 3 personal level of wellness; physically, psychologically, and spiritually

1. Upon my own personal reflections, with 10 being the optimal well being, I rate myself under:
Physical Well being a 7
Spiritual wellbeing a 2
Psychological well being 5

Physical Well being is a 7 because I try to work out on a regular basis. I have recently also included yoga again in my regimen. This will also help my spiritual and psychological well being. I also try to eat clean. I am trying to instill healthy living in my children. It was harder with my oldest daughter because along with me having a lifestyle change, my family changed with me. It was hard at times. Switching to wheat spaghetti a few years ago with limited choices was not easy!

Spiritual well being is a 2 because although I do believe in God and Jesus Christ, I have not been in a church for years. There is a church close by that I have been wanting to attend with my family for some time. My schedule is crazy because I work allot of the weekends out of town. Next week I do not work, I will try my very very best to attend next Sunday.

Psychological well being is a 5 because I think there is much room for improvement in this department. Positive thinking and love-kindness toward others will help improve my psychological well being as well as spiritual. One thing I can do to improve this is by letting go of the past and build better relationships with my in-laws.

2. My goal is to attend church next weekend. I just let my family know what the plans are.

3. I would like integrate yoga to my 11 year old. He is very active and cannot wait to join 24 Hour Fitness when he turns 13. I would like for him to try yoga to help him still his mind. For years I was told by various people he had attention deficit disorder. I refused to put him on any medication. What I did do is enroll him in karate and baseball to help him be more patient. Since I changed the family's eating lifestyle for the better, his behavior changed as well.

4. I just finished the link for Crime of the Century. It was very relaxing. I could feel my stress releived with every breath. I especially liked repetition in my life has a meaning, a purpose. It helped me want to achieve my goal even more. I would like to assist those seeking legal statis in this country.
Thanks