Unit 10

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?

     

        In unit 3 I scored my physical well-being at 7, spiritual well-being at 5 and psychological well-being at 8. I would now score my physical well-being at 8, spiritual well-being at 7 and psychological well-being at 7. My physical well-being as slightly increased because I have dramatically increased the intensity of my workouts, my spiritual well-being has definitely increased because I have been committing to this and feel a big difference in this area and finally, my psychological well-being has decreased slightly because as I prepare to leave for the military and school winds down I find myself mostly just drained and not as mentally prepared as I would like to be at this point in time.

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

      Unit 3 goals were: 
               Physical goal: I ship off for the military at the end of August and my goal is to be well above the military physical testing standards. I want to push myself to reach a high level of physical fitness.               Spiritual goal: I want to get the closeness to nature feeling I get and the wash of pure awe and relaxation at least twice a month.
               Psychological goal: I am fairly happy with where I remain psychologically, but I will end my current job soon and my living situation will change, so that will help with the issues I currently have. I just want to remain confident in the person that I am and continue to live life.
      I have definitely made giant strides towards my physical goal as I can now surpass the minimum standards of the physical testing. I am still pushing towards higher levels of fitness, but it's always a work in progress. I have definitely made steps towards getting myself out to do the nature involved activities I love to do and I have been doing so more than twice a month. Therefore, I have surpassed my spiritual goal so far. I remain fairly content with my psychological health, but continue to search for confidence and assuredness. 

     

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

                   

                       As mentioned above, I have implemented techniques or activities to achieve more of a balance between the three areas. 

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?

     The meditative exercises proved to be most difficult for me unless they focused on breathing and did not leave my mind a ton of time to wander. Most rewarding has been the connection I have been able to gain back to the outdoor activities I love to do. I do believe my overall well-being has improved because I was so lacking in the spiritual wellness area of my life for quite some time. This experience will help me to assist others to improve because I can talk about my struggles and what worked for me. Assuring others that they are not alone in their struggles to keep progressing provides confidence and a boost of motivation.

Final Project: Unit 9

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 it is important to be well rounded in the areas they support as professionals. This is a matter of practicing in the belief system the health care professional is going to be trying to convince others to follow. I need to develop in all aspects of health and wellness because it is a continuous journey of progression, but the area that needs the most help is spirituality. I want to be more at peace with circumstances in life and connected with nature.

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

     My health has been repeated assessed, measured, contemplated and thought about weekly throughout this course, not only through the exercises, but in the time I have on my own to think. Physically I am more fit than I have been in several years and I am constantly pushing myself to think of ways to keep improving. I would rate my physical wellness quite high, but not perfect because there is always room for improvement. Psychologically I would also rate my wellness high because I enjoy being mentally challenged and stimulated. I often also contemplate and analyze many situations so that I know how to handle them more efficiently and effectively. I am the type of person that can handle a lot of stress and stressful situations without feeling too overwhelmed or breaking down. Spiritually I am not completely lacking in, but I feel this area needs the most improvement. I often am too busy with life and all the stressors that I forget to take time for spiritual growth, but I have made a conscious and significant effort the past month to really develop this area. I have found that my overall mood has improved.

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

    Physical: Improve physical fitness and nutrition levels.

    Psychological: Improve mental sharpness.

    Spiritual: Find peace and draw on it when I am not able to be out in nature, away from the business of life.

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: Continue to train with workout partners, leave for basic military training, move up levels in cross fit, continue to eat and develop paleo diet.

     Psychological: I enjoy mind games, word games and trivia games to exercise the brain, continue to pursue mentally stimulating and challenging topics, assignments, or activities.

     Spiritual: Make a nature based activity a priority at least once a week and continue to progress to 2-3 times a week.

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?

     Self-assessments are a critical part of evaluating progression. If evaluations are never done then a progression may not be noticeable and defeat could set in, but even small steps are worthy of celebration. Also assessing growth allows for continual progression to occur. Journaling about daily progress and or strategies, frustrations and ideas can help to maintain long-term practices. This will also help track growth and progression.

Unit 8

For the majority of the exercises I struggled to make it through them, but there were two that still stick out in my mind as the clear winners for me. They were the only two I could truly feel like I had some sense of calm, focus and was able to reach a meditative state. The first one was back in Unit 2, The Journey on Relaxation exercise, and I was able to reach a calmer state because the man's voice and the background sounds were so soothing, but also because the exercise focused on breathing and the body. I can easily identify with the body and I immediately associate slow breathing with relaxation. The other exercise I can't seem to find the name of it, but it had oceanic sounds and also focused on breathing. I remember not being able to connect with it as much as the Unit 2 exercise, but it was the only other one where I felt I could maintain the goal and focus. I honestly struggled with the rest and found it difficult to reach a sense of connection. I have mentioned many times that for me the spiritual aspects come forefront the most when I am in nature and outdoors doing the many activities that I love. I just got back from a trip exploring different parts of Southern Alaska and Vancouver, Canada. I was able to rock climb in Skagway, Alaska, hike through rain forests, waterfalls, and glaciers in Juneau and Ketchikan, Alaska, ride bicycles through Stanley park in Vancouver, Canada and all the while I was observing amazing wildlife and scenery. I saw oral whales, humpback whales, dolphins, bald eagles, bears, puffins, mountain goats, etc. The glaciers, mountains, ocean and trees in my daily view were just utterly breathing taking and overwhelmingly beautiful. I plan to integrate more of the outdoor activities that I love so much to help me reach a sense of connection and peace. On a smaller scale I want to continue kayaking more regularly and hiking because those activities are readily available to me so they are easier to achieve.

Unit 7

Thinking of a person was not the hard part of this exercise. I immediately could think of a person dear to my heart and when the narrator left silence to think merely about the memory of the person I could take my mind back in time to my favorite memories of them, but as soon as the narrator asked me to join in communion and draw on a connection I felt like the tone of the exercise changed from simply focusing on a positive influence/mentor to a more spiritual or unworldly exercise, which I don't feel like I particularly connect with yet. I also have a hard time regrouping and focusing back into an exercise once I feel this awkward disconnect. I just feel lost and like I am missing a link to the spiritual aspects the exercises are expecting. I honestly feel like some of the phrases are just cheesy and not my favorite style. I try to complete these exercises with an open mind, but I don't think I am in the right frame of mind or leaving myself the room in my busy lifestyle to fully partake in everything the exercises have to offer. At one point in time I was taking a meditation course and utilized the skills daily. I was "forced" to take the time to meditate and was guided through it with an instructor I respected, in an environment where I felt safe, and a time during the day when I had no other distractions.

The quote, "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" very much pertains to the health and wellness professional. If a health and wellness professional wants to suggest a technique for a client, but has not attempted the technique themselves then the professional cannot expect the client to be as willing to try. The professional should understand exactly what the client will experience even if the technique was not particularly necessary or successful for the professional. If nothing else the health and wellness professional should be highly educated and knowledgeable about anything they suggest to others.

Unit 6

As I sat in my room with my eyes closed I repeated the four sentences from the universal loving-kindness exercise. I found I would at first picture people close to me and think about how I could help them or picture them smiling, but then I started thinking in bigger pictures and wondering about those I interact with daily. I may want to change my personality or the way I come off towards others I do not know so well so that I can openly help them achieve what it is they want to achieve. While I can only think of a few individuals I truly do not care for, this exercise made me think about them too and wonder how I could help them and maybe if I did I would not feel so opposed to them.

It does bug me when I am asked to complete an exercise and you are reading along and the book asks the reader to close their eyes. My first thought is always "if I close my eyes I won't be able to read what to do next!" Aside from my little pet peeve these exercises really do have some great value. I have a couple areas in life that are suffering and could use added support, but I think the two areas that really suffer the most, with me, are my interpersonal and psychospiritual aspects. This class has opened a lot of my down time to be dedicated to self-reflection and in turn I am learning more about who I am and why I react the way I do at times. I hope to only continue to grow from these experiences.

Unit 5

For starters I have been struggling through these exercises, so far each one more difficult and challenging than the last. Something really major for me to easily get into a meditative state is the voice of the narrator, the background sounds and the focus on breathing. If the I do not find the voice of the narrator soothing I find it more difficult to focus, if the background noises are too upbeat or too distracting I also find it hard to focus on the task at hand, and if there is no focus on breathing I tend to lose connection and fail to be able to relax. This exercise started off with a man’s voice, which I did not particularly connect with, but soon the real exercise started and a woman’s voice narrated. I found her voice more soothing than his and just like I prefer, she brought focus to breath and gave me time to really focus on slowing down my breathing and consciously focusing on each breath. I find this deeply relaxing and it calms my mind. I often find my mind wanders during most of these exercises, but the ones that acknowledge that that happens and just remind me to bring it back to focus really cater to me. I loved the ocean sounds and the soft flute like notes gently accompanying it at times. This was probably my favorite exercise so far. Last week I commented that the pauses were too long, but this week I enjoyed the longer pauses and just let everything quite and slow.

Unit 4

This was a pretty difficult exercise for me. I immediately felt the first pause in the exercise was too long and I became distracted quickly. The introduction was not long enough to place me in the right kind of mind to fully experience what the exercise was calling for. I was able to think of a person and instantly fond memories came to mind, but after a while I found myself wondering how long the pause would last and my mind wandered on to other thoughts. The second section asked me to turn the loving kindness to myself and since I already felt disjointed in the exercise from the first pause I found it difficult and actually impossible to get back into the exercise. I was able to feel relaxed and comfortable sitting with my eyes closed, listening to the waves in the background, but found it near impossible to connect with the activity. This exercise was even more difficult than the unit 3 exercise and unit has been the easiest by far for me to connect with.

One hour daily of practice in loving-kindness and subtle mind can make a difference and also create a "mental workout". Loving-kindness opens individuals to each other and take the attention away from the first person, placing onto another. Subtle mind is a technique that learns to quiet the hectic and careless movements of thoughts, feelings and/or images.

Unit 3

•    Based on your reflections, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal wellbeing), where do you rate your A-physical wellbeing, B-spiritual well-being, C-psychological well-being? Why?

A: Physical well-being – 7 – I am physically trying to eat healthy and keep a very regular workout schedule, but there is always room for improvement. I am hard on myself when it comes to physical well-being and therefore see a 10 as unreachable.

B: Spiritual well-being – 5 - I feel the most spiritually healthy when I am fully indulged in the outdoors and just amazed by my surroundings, but unfortunately this does not happen as often as I would like it to. Things like the beach, hiking, kayaking, etc. really just put me in that spiritual place.

C: Psychological well-being – 8 – my life is going to be changing very drastically within the next two months and my work and living situations are fairly stressful, but that being said I tend to thrive off of stress and enjoy a feeling of purpose in a full plate.

•    Develop a goal for yourself in each area (physical, spiritual, psychological).

      Physical goal: I ship off for the military at the end of August and my goal is to be well above the military physical testing standards. I want to push myself to reach a high level of physical fitness.

      Spiritual goal: I want to get the closeness to nature feeling I get and the wash of pure awe and relaxation at least twice a month.

      Psychological goal: I am fairly happy with where I remain psychologically, but I will end my current job soon and my living situation will change, so that will help with the issues I currently have. I just want to remain confident in the person that I am and continue to live life.

•    What activities or exercise can you implement in your life to assist in moving toward each goal?

Physically I have already begun to implement more physically challenging workout routines and integrate more variety. Spiritually I want to get out to the ocean, mountains and other scenic areas more often, especially as the warmer months are around. Finally, psychologically I want to just accept what I have in my life and be happy in what it is until I can change what I want to change. I am almost there, but find myself getting hung up on small things at times.

•    Complete the relaxation exercise The Crime of the Century. To hear this exercise, click here. Describe your experience. (What it beneficial? Frustrating? etc.)

While I found the man’s voice calming, I have never really connected to the color techniques. I seem to identify more with breathing and focusing on the body or even going through nature scenes. I have a more difficult time feeling secure in the method when picture beams of different color lights. I get lost in the metaphors instead of really losing myself in the exercise.

Unit 2 - HW420

Hello all,

Welcome to my first ever blog and I encourage you to read and post to my blog. I have experience with meditation and breathing exercises as I am a licensed massage therapist and have taken several yoga and pilates classes in the past. The Journey On relaxation exercise had soothing music and the man's voice was calming as well. These are important factors for me personally as I have a harder time relaxing to voices I do not find soothing. I also enjoy meditation sessions that focus on the body and/or breathing because they relax me quicker and deeper than other techniques. I found it quite easy to make the areas discussed feel very relaxed as he mentioned them. Meditation helps me to relax and I enjoy doing it, but often do not dedicate time towards it often enough. I enjoyed this exercise and look forward to more.