Unit 10

During unit 3 personal assessment I gave my self a 5 in all three aspects of well-being (physical, spiritual, and psychological). Now I can say that I was only a 3 in a scale for 0-10. I have increase my physical activity, reduced carbohydrate intake in my diet, and practicing meditation/prayers for 10 minutes every day at bed time. Now in unit ten I give myself a 6-7 score.

I have learned a lot during this course specially meditation and relaxation techniques that are very helping when dealing with every day stress. Meditation is a way to eliminate the lack of balance caused by mental stress. By spending time in meditation, we create a calm haven to restore balance to our physical, mental, and spiritual functioning.

We must teach with example and promote positive changes in health to our clients. It is important to realized people are motivated by positive actions, and results. When we practice we become part of the action, and other will follow.

SMILEJ

Unit 9 Project

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?

Health and wellness is more than physical conditions of the body. There are multiple aspects of wellness to consider, including physical, emotional, and spiritual. Each area requires especial attention, dedication, and integration to achieve optimal wellness of the inner and outer aspects of the body.  It is to look at the body as whole unit and take into consideration external factors that may upset the balance that predispose the body to disease. Integrating   healthy life styles may be the first step to promote optimal wellness.

The first step for  integrating a healthy life style is to follow a healthy diet for weight reduction, including vegetables, fiber, whole grains, lean protein, and increase daily water intake. In my diet I will include eating salmon twice a week. Eating salmon can help me reduce my cholesterol levels which are a little elevated. I also want to integrate physical activity to my daily routine. Sometimes I’m too busy to go to the gym, so my plan is to take the stair (to the fifth floor) at least twice a day.

II. Assessment:

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

Spiritual, mental and physical wellness refers as the integration of all aspect of the human being to maintain the balance between body, mind and spirit.  Creating wellness can mean focusing on practices that benefit one or all of the tree dimensions: body, mind and spirit. Physical wellness includes healthy eating and maintaining moderate physical activity. Assessing eating habits requires daily monitor of food and fluids intake. I don’t have regular schedules for meal time; I’m always on the run. In a typical day I may have coffee for breakfast, a fruit for lunch, and an oversized, full of empty calories dinner. In number scale from 0 to 10; 0 being the worse and 10 being the best, I score 3 in healthy eating. Even though I don’t eat fried food, I struggle in maintain a regular meal schedule. Many times I skip breakfast which is the most important meal of the day.  For lunch sometimes a have a fruit, usually an apple. At dinner time, I’m starving and I end up eating a lot of carbohydrates such as pasta, bread, or rice. 

Mental and spiritual wellness requires stress reduction. Sometimes it seems that there is nothing I can do about stress. I have million things to do, and not enough time to do them. Even when I am trying to rest in my day off, my mind is always going on about the thing that need to be done. In the scale of 0 to 10, I give myself a score of 3 in mental wellness.  To help dealing with everyday stress I have started integrating mini meditation breaks throughout the day.

Reaching spiritual wellness is important to explore my own sense of meaning and purpose. Spiritual wellness involves meditation, prayer, or specific religion practices to support my connection with a higher power. In the scale of 0-10, I score 6 in spiritual wellness. I’m not a religious person and don’t go to church as often as I should but the values of respect and love guide my decision and actions. I seek to find harmony in the relationship with other people and I always have a helping hand for those in need

III. Goal development:

 

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

 

Physical Goal

Increase physical activities by taking the stairs to the fifth floor twice a day. Taking the stair can help me to get in shape, control my weigh and to reduce my cholesterol.

Mental Health Goal

My goal for mental health is stress management. There are many ways to manage and cope with stress, but they require time and practice. The right relaxation technique is the one that fits my lifestyle.

Spiritual Goal

Spiritual wellness can be done with prayer beyond the physical or even meditation for ten minutes a day.

 

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.

Adapting healthy diet and increasing physical activity to my daily routine. Not skipping breakfast and start every day with a healthy breakfast such as yogurt and cheese, focusing on finding foods and easy recipes and switching to olive oil when cooking.  Increasing physical activities going from walking to running will help me to improve body resistance and to reduce weight. 

Meditation offers a great tool for coping with stress; it promotes spiritual growth, and can help strength the bond between mind and body. I believe that loving-kindness practice is one of the most useful tools for developing holistic integral health. This exercise supplies the concentration, understanding, and directions to love ourselves and others. Creating integral health can mean focusing on practices that benefit one or all of the tree dimensions: body, mind and spirit. Loving kindness meditation is a method of developing compassion. By spending time daily in meditation, we come in contact with a healing power within that can transform our lives and give us relief from suffering for a happy life.

Subtle Mind Practice focused in breathing and concentration.  The Subtle mind practice aims to decrease mental activity, thoughts and feelings. This exercise requires practice and it takes longer to fully experience its benefits.

Meditation and visualization practices provide positive state of mind which helps to promote wellbeing and happiness. Visualization helps to focus the mind in happy memories, and feelings of wholeness. The mind can use mental pictures to create feelings of wellness, happiness, and wholeness.

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?

An easy way to track my progress is to maintain an activity and diet journal.  Keeping a journal means a can look back or make plans for the future. It is easier to keep track of my diet and physical activities if a have it in writing. I can write calories consumed, exercise done, recipes, or whatever a need to change to achieve my goals. Seeing my progress in black and white helps me carry on when I have no motivation to continue with my plan. The journal can also help me with long term goals because I can go back and modified the plan if I’m not having satisfactory results.

Unit 8 Exercises Review

The Loving Kindness, Subtle mind, Visualization, and meditation practices have been a new and helpful experience. These practices have giving me the opportunity to change habits and cultivate a commitment for living a healthy and conscious life.  The two practices that I have found beneficial   for me are the loving kindness and subtle mind which use meditation and breathing exercises to calm the mind to reach a profound mental clarity and open awareness. In the loving kindness exercise
the part that I liked most was the sound of the water because it calms me; it helps me to relax. It helps to slow down the active mind and brings a peaceful sensation. It is an easy way to stop for a few minutes and connect to pleasant moments, and restore at least for a few minutes my inner peace.
The Subtle Mind Practice focused in breathing and concentration. Dacher (2006) stressed “Used the breath as a focal point” (p. 75) It is a unique practice with periods of silence which I liked a lot. I found that the Loving kindness exercise is about sharing loving kindness with others. The Subtle mind practice aims to decrease mental activity, thoughts and feelings. Dacher (2006) recognized that “We must learned to quiet the seemingly uncontrollable and obscuring movements of our outer mind” (p. 71)

Dacher, E. S. (2006) Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. (p. 8). Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publication, Inc.

Meeting Asclepius

The meditative practice of this week was a little different from previous weeks. First it was a little complicated to choose one person to focus the mind. I thought in my mother, but she is sick. I got sad and stop the practice to talk to her. Then I decided to concentrate in my brand new grandson. He is 2 weeks old. It was easy concentrating imagining his little face and hands. It was a wonderful experience to be with him and become the bright light with him.
Mindfulness meditation improves both mental and physical health. This practice helps deepen understanding the inner forces of life. Provides a general sense of calm, peace and balance that benefits emotional well-being and overall health.

“One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" (p.477).

This phrase is clearly telling us to take action. We must teach with example and promote positive changes in health to our clients. It is important to realized people are motivated by positive actions, and results. When we practice we become part of the action, and other will follow.

Schlitz, M., Amorok, T., and Micozzi, M.S. (2005). Consciousness & Healing: Integral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
 

Universal Loving-Kindness

Universal Loving-Kindness

This exercise was a little bit challenged for me. First I was difficult to relax because I had to keep going back to the book to read the phrases I was suppose to repeat. It is hard work, and the repetitions required memorization of the phrases. Sometimes is difficult to describe with words your feeling and emotions. I proffered the stillness and quietness, or the sound of the water.

Integral Assessment

Integral assessment provides an in-depth understanding of oneself inner conflicts, affections, and illnesses. It provides the opportunity to explore different areas such as physical, emotional, or interpersonal. (Dacher, 2006). This exercise is performed over several days or weeks. Focusing in the specific area or related quadrant that needs attention. We look at the interior/ exterior perspective of the problem.

With integral assessment I found out that I need to learn to relax. I’m always running and trying to do too many things at the same time. I want to practice relaxation techniques to reduce my levels of stress. Meditation is a way to eliminate the lack of balance caused by mental stress. By spending time in meditation, we create a calm haven to restore balance to our mental, and physical functioning. By spending time daily in meditation, we come in contact with a healing power within that can transform our lives and give us relief and solace for a happy life

Dacher, E. S. (2006) Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. (p. 8). Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publication, Inc.

SUBTLE MIND PRACTICE

Subtle Mind Practice focused in breathing and concentration. Dacher (2006) stressed “Used the breath as a focal point” (p. 75) It is a unique practice with periods of silence which I liked a lot. I found that the Loving kindness exercise is about sharing loving kindness with others. The Subtle mind practice aims to decrease mental activity, thoughts and feelings. Dacher (2006) recognized that “We must learned to quiet the seemingly uncontrollable and obscuring movements of our outer mind” (p. 71) This is not an easy task, the more I tried to stop thinking the more difficult became. The loving kindness exercise was easier to do. The instructions of the narrator helped me to stay in track of the exercise. The subtle mind practice will take longer to fully experience its benefits.

Connection of the spiritual wellness and mental and physical wellness.

Spiritual, mental and physical wellness refers as the integration of all aspect of the human being to maintain the balance between body, mind and spirit. Creating wellness can mean focusing on practices that benefit one or all of the tree dimensions: body, mind and spirit. Physical wellness includes healthy eating and maintaining moderate physical activity. Mental and spiritual wellness requires stress reduction. Adapting all these activities on a daily routine can promote physical, mental and spiritual wellness.

Dacher, E. S. (2006) Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. (p. 8). Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publication, Inc.

Hello class

Loving kindness and subtle mind practices use meditation and focusing in breathing to calm the mind to reach a profound mental clarity and open awareness.  I started and stopped the meditation practice many times because the common challenges of everyday such as phone ringing, preoccupations, restless legs, and many more. Feeling the breath moving in and out of the body and the sound of the water is the main focus of the exercise.  Recreating positive emotions towards one-self and others and using images that make us feel caring and loving.

It was a little difficult for me to quiet the mind concentrate in the breathing. The part that I liked was the sound of the water because it calms me; it helps me to relax. It helps to slow down the active mind and brings a peaceful sensation. It is an easy way to stop for a few minutes and connect to pleasant moments, and restore at least for a few minutes my inner peace.