FINAL BLOG: MY EXPERIENCES THROUGHOUT THE TERM

1. In the unit 3 personal assessment of psychological, physical and spiritual well-being I scored a 10 being the highest in optimal well-being and health because I meditated and incorporated deep breathing techniques regularly; I also considered myself to be emotionally intelligent and capable of training my mind by maintaining positive thoughts and being aware of my behaviors and consequences behind my reactions. I was able to maintain self-control under stressful chaotic and challenging situations due to me being consciously aware and spiritually in-tuned. My physical was rated a 10 in unit 3 because I was exercising regularly and ate nutrient-dense foods while moderating my portion size; I was also free of any diseases or health risks. I would now rate my psychological, physical and spiritual well-being a 13 because I have attained so much knowledge on how to attain inner-peace, healing and well-being. I also became knowledgeable on new techniques that can help me gain mental stability, physical and spiritual well-being such as loving-kindness, subtle mind, person-centered, skillful action and maintaining silence and stillness.

2. My goals and activities have increased and I have made adjustments from unit 3 because I have attained more knowledge to self heal and I have set forth new challenges and goals to achieve for my spiritual, physical and psychological well-being. My goals are to become more trained in my mind to maintain positive thoughts in order to create positive outcomes; I will eliminate negative thoughts and environments that will cause stressors. I plan on incorporating more meditative practices into my daily regimen, listening to peaceful and serine music that is calming and relaxing to my mind, body and spirit. I will not let stress consume me or change my attitude to negativity, I will also stay focused and determined to maintain my physical health by being physically active, loving myself and family more.

3. I have implemented the activities and goals in three areas because I can benefit from all of these practices mentally, physically and spiritually to have complete wholeness and balance in my life while increasing my inner-peace, health and well-being.

4. My personal experience has been a great transition from mental, spiritual and physical development that has allowed me to flourish in my life to become a better being, improve my health while becoming consciously aware of my thoughts and actions and how it would affect my health. I have also learned to train my mind more in order to create positive outcomes. It has been rewarding to have inner peace because it has allowed me to look at my life differently and really appreciate the things I have in life and make me realize how precious and unique my life is to me. I have learned to forgive and love more without having anxieties and stresses of being upset or thinking about past hurtful memories. This experience has allowed me to help others because I can teach individuals ways to improve their inner peace and well-being while eliminating stress and the onset of diseases that is triggered from negative thoughts and emotions.

The Importance of Pscychological, Spiritual & Physical Health

          Psychological, spiritual and physical health is necessary to sustain life and it is important for health professionals and individuals to maintain these obligations in order to eliminate the onset of certain health risks and sustain optimal health and well-being. It is important for health professionals to develop psychological, spiritual and physical well-being because it promotes mental health for the health professional to heal individuals in a way that is precious and unique without overshadowing important health needs of spiritual, psychological and physical health. It is important for health professionals to sustain their psychological, spiritual and physical health in order to heal individuals as a whole and help communities which will abolish inequalities and deliver health equality, improve primary care services, improve psychological therapies, promotes social inclusion for individuals with mental health problems by improving employment prospects and opposing discrimination and stigma (“Psychological Health and Well-being”, 2009).

        It is important for the health professional to develop spiritual wellness in order to maintain balance within their body and reclaiming medicine’s spiritual roots. It is important for health professionals to be spiritually involved with self because it can give them mental stabilization in order to be compassionate and understand the client’s spiritual needs that is necessary for their complete and whole healing process. Once the health professional connect with their inner being (spiritually) they can see life as a whole by servicing work on the soul; spirituality can consist of being compassionate with clients by holding their hands when they are depressed and in a distressed state of mind, talking to them about what is important to them because clients value these experiences with their health professional. It is important for the health professional to be spiritually in-tuned because their clients may spiritually and mentally suffering and have the inability to engage in some deepest questions of their clients life such as why is this happening to me, is there a God and what will happen to me if I die? The healthcare professional will need to be spiritually strong and coherent to certain spiritual situations that will require the health professional to assist their client’s spiritual needs and know how to help their client overcome spiritual adversities.

        It is important for the health professional to be physically well because it is necessary in order to exist and it develops personal responsibilities for their own health and also make them aware of the importance of their client’s health and how to incorporate healthy behaviors. By health professionals being physically well it can empower them to be able to monitor their healthcare needs along with their client’s health needs and warning signs. Physical health can be rewarding for health professionals because it allows them to become physically fit which leads to psychological and spiritual benefits that enhances self-esteem, determination, having a sense of direction, mental stabilization and self-control. In order to develop and achieve these goals of psychological, spiritual and physical needs individuals must maintain a nutrient-dense diet, meditate to sustain inner-peace, harmony and balance, exercise regularly or be physically active for mental and spiritual well-being and eliminate stress by training the mind to produce positive thoughts and raise their level of consciousness for spiritual growth and well-being.

Assessing health care needs can be challenging because it is such a broad spectrum of areas that is necessary to be covered and many factors contributes to maintaining good health such as eating nutrient-dense foods, exercising regularly at least 3 days a week for 60 minutes, eliminating stressful situations and environments that is not conducive to health and well-being, having positive thoughts while diminishing cluttered ones and being spiritually aware and conscious of self behaviors in order to fully flourish in life to sustain optimal health. I would score my psychological, physical and spiritual wellness a10 because I am intuitive, consciously aware of my behaviors and actions along with being aware of the consequences of not having self-control, I know the importance accountability and how my reactions will affect my inner well-being, physically, spiritually and psychologically. I treat my body as a whole by meditating, eating nutrient-dense foods and beverages, yoga, consuming botanical supplements and herbs, practicing loving-kindness and subtle mind techniques, maintaining a positive environment in order to sustain my spiritual, psychological and physical well-being.

         Goal development is important for human flourishing by sustaining physical, spiritual and psychological growth. Goals that are important to achieve in physical development consist of regularly exercising or being physically active for at least 4 days a week on the elliptical for 45 minutes, maintaining adequate portion size meals for food and beverage intake, continue maintaining an alcohol and drug free environment, making sure to achieve target weight within the next three months, being consciously aware of my surroundings by eliminating stressful thoughts and environments; also forgiving, letting go of painful memories, loving my family unconditionally and maintaining positive thoughts will allow me to accomplish my goals while achieving human flourishing. Visual imagery of positive images can create positive thoughts and be uplifting to my spirit and inner-being, associating my-self with positive and loving individuals such as family and close friends can bring positive environments, deep tissue massages, taking trips, being appreciative of the things I acquired and just be grateful and thankful for the life I have can create happy and positive environments which allows good health mentally, physically and spiritually.

There are several strategies I will incorporate in order to sustain physical, psychological and spiritual well-being such as cardiovascular exercises to maintain cardiovascular endurance and physical health, yoga for flexibility, mental stability, stress management, motivation, inner peace and spiritual growth. These practices can be implemented by participating on the elliptical for cardiovascular fitness for at least 45 minutes 3-4 days a week, meditating everyday for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour for progression of mental stabilization; meditating, stretching, free weights and exercising will also help my spiritual development and becoming consciously aware of how to eliminate negative unhealthy behaviors.

         I will stay committed to my goals and progress more into human flourishing by staying organized with my thoughts, eliminate being around negative energies and individuals that can bring my spirit down, maintaining positive thoughts in order to sustain mental health, not giving up when adversities are present, loving my-self and family will also help me stay motivated and encouraged in order to sustain the longevity of mental, physical and spiritual health; eating proper nutrient-dense foods will also give me the energy necessary to maintain my health while eliminating the onset of certain health risk such as diabetes or cardiovascular diseases. Psychological, spiritual, physical health and well-being is necessary to live a happy and balanced life as a whole and it is also essential for healthcare professionals to incorporate balance within their life in order to have the capabilities to heal individuals as a whole effectively.

                                                       Reference

Psychological Health & Well-being. (2009). Retrieved from www.bps.org.uk/.../psychological. health

 

 

THE BENEFITS OF MEDITATION PRACTICES & MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

Over the unit course practice sessions I enjoyed the visualization and meditation practices because the guided meditation also known as guided imagery or visualization allowed me to form positive mental images of situations and places I found to be relaxing in order to clear numerous thoughts that may cause me to stress out. I enjoyed using my senses such as sight, smell, sound and textures. I also enjoyed mindfulness meditation which is based on being mindful or having an increased awareness and acceptance of living in the present moment which broaden my conscious awareness (“Meditation”, 2014). It allowed me to focus on what I was experiencing during meditation such as the flow of breathe while observing my emotions and thoughts and letting thoughts pass without judgment. These practices ultimately fostered mental fitness by allowing me to experience positive thoughts which lead to positive outcomes while strengthening and training my mind that gave me inner peace, awareness and human flourishing. Mindfulness has many strengths such as inner peace, tranquility, eliminates the onset of certain diseases, keeps the mind, body and spirit in a balanced and positive state and individual’s can also achieve psycho-spiritual flourishing (Dacher, 2006).

References

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

Meditation. (2014). Retrieved from www.mayoclinic.org/.../meditation

  

UNIT 7 BLOG: AESCLEPIUS & MINDFULNESS PRACTICE

The Aesclepius exercise allowed me to visually access my inner healing ability that is found within my inner self and it interesting how the wise healer resides within self and it help guide individual’s to the integral process. Ancient Greeks called this inner healer Aesclepius which is also known as the subtle mind. Meeting Aesclepius consist of closing the eyes and visualizing an image of a very wise loving man or person that is close to an individual and I chose to pick my fiancé for this particular routine and I found the exercise to be easy and fun at first but when the exercise continued further it stated to choose an individual alive or that has passed on I began to get sad and I instantly thought of my nana (great grandmother) at first it was somewhat challenging to complete this exercise because I felt overwhelmed with past memories and her not presently being here with me in the physical but as I continued with the exercise I began to think of how I respected and honored her and I felt a sense of connection with her. I then stabilized the image in front of me as I carefully observed my nana. The sound of the water brought harmonious memories that reflected back when my nana was alive and I began to see all the positive time we shared together; I began to realize how special she was and still is to me and I reflected on how much she loved and cared for me and I how I felt as if she still was here with me spiritually. I was able to feel her compassion and love and this connection deepened within my spirit and soul. I continued the exercise and I stabilized my mind while imaging a strong beam of light that forming around her head like my angel and I felt protected and content and the beam of light connected within my inner being. This was a great experience and I would continue practicing it to obtain inner peace and connect with my past and present loved ones; I felt rejuvenated after this exercise. This exercise does require a substantial amount of focus and transitioning of the mind in order to be able to fully connect with the inner being.

Providers of healthcare must work on their own spiritual evolution to actually experience what the model represents and as Wilbur put it “one cannot lead another where one has not gone” because in order to teach and heal individual’s as a whole the teach must have experienced healing practices as whole and understand the true purpose and significance of healing modalities in order to transform suffering of illness into the grace of healing (“Integral approaches to Mind-Body Medicine”, 2005). In order for an individual to become integrally informed and take up an integral practice awareness is important to the practice of medicine and the practitioner must transform the enjoyment of the doctor and patient relationship. Human development is experiencing medicine as a spiritual path that transcends and diminishes the lower level issues of financing of healthcare; this can also help the practitioner to be empowered to make changes in socio-cultural problems that are seen in medicine today. Disease that is seen in patients can be the grace through which both the healer and patient transforms their respective lives.

References

Consciousness & Healing: Integral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine. (2005). Elsevier Churchill Livingston Publications

Meeting Asclepius. (n. d.). Retrieved from doc sharing mp3

LOVING-KINDNESS (MEDITATION)...INTEGRAL ASSESSMENT

As the consciousness expands individual's capacity for empathic listening, caring for others , seeing, generosity, heartedness and emotional intimacy spread to all their relationships they may have with other people and in their life. The development of universal loving-kindness is the final leap in interpersonal development. The kindness practice allowed me to gain freedom from suffering which allowed me to have positive thoughts of sustained health, wholeness and happiness. Meditation is a great way to relieve stress, clear the mind from numerous thoughts, it allows inner peace for the mind, body and spirit and it calms the mind to expand the consciousness; meditation can prevent certain diseases from occurring due to being stress free and chaotic thoughts and behaviors. The mini love and kindness  practice was powerful and it allowed me to expand my heart and mind; it also helped me to eliminate thoughts of hatred and anger which allowed me focus more on personal love to universal love and kindness. I am glad that the universal exercise can be practiced anywhere and anytime. The integral assessment was a great practice that aimed toward my evolution in knowledge that helped me address and support each aspect of life with the goal of realizing my human potential as commitments, my temperament and my general level of health. This exercise allowed me to expand my consciousness so that I can transcend my consciousness and heal from emotional wounds. Integral development allowed me set goals for the future such as fitness, nutrition and self-regulation for my mind, body and spirit; integral health allows me to be balanced and not be under or overdeveloped in certain areas of psycho-spiritual and integral health because it allows awareness.


Reference

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

 

 

UNIT 5: SUBTLE MIND PRACTICE

The subtle practice introduced me to my subtle mind and is now part of my daily regimen that I will continue to practice 15-20 minutes daily. The subtle practice allowed me to progress to three levels of psycho-spiritual flourishing from a witnessing consciousness to the mind of calm-abiding which is the subtlest mind of the human consciousness. This practice helped me evolve  and allowed me to experience the effects over a period of time that helped me maintain stabilization of my mind, more patience and inner calmness. This particular practice is ancient that is related to breath; the use of breath is for two reasons because it is a direct relationship between the breath and mind. As breathing becomes more rhythmic the mind follows that and a peaceful breathing pattern leads to a peaceful mind. The breath is always with individuals so breathing practices can be practiced anywhere at anytime. When individuals use their breath they will learn how to tame and stabilize the mind by developing the witness consciousness; as witnessing replaces grasping and clinging individuals progressively evolve into unity consciousness. The loving-kindness exercise diminished self-centeredness and helped to achieve human flourishing by opening my heart to others; the exercise also included a progressive experience that involved three levels to the mind such as the witnessing of the mind, unity consciousness which cultivates the mind and love and kindness. Both exercises allowed inner peace and human flourishing with the mind, body and spirit and will be practices at least 3-4 times a week for at least 15-20 minutes.

Reference

Loving-Kindness Practice. (n. d.). Retrieved from mp3 audio

Subtle-Mind Practice. (n. d.). Retrieved from mp3 audio

UNIT 4: LOVE & KINDNESS (MENTAL WORKOUT)

I found the loving-kindness experience to be very beneficial to relaxing my mental state but somewhat challenging because some portions of the exercise required forgiveness and to deal with certain emotions that may have been forgotten about due to the pain it caused. The loving-kindness exercise diminished self-centeredness and helped to achieve human flourishing by opening my heart to others; the exercise also included a progressive experience that involved three levels to the mind such as the witnessing of the mind, unity consciousness which cultivates the mind and love and kindness. The love and kindness was a mental workout that enhances the passion of others and the water sound was very soothing and rejuvenating which allowed me to calm and open my mind to become more affectionate with my loved ones. I was able to eliminate any negative sensations in order to be at peace within my body, mind and spirit. I was able to shift my thoughts from unpleasant feelings to positive feelings by giving them energy in order to change my level of thinking. I was able to get with my inner being by loving myself more by eliminating negative thoughts and energies that hindered me from achieving human flourishing. It was challenging at one point of the exercise to think of one of my loved ones suffering but then taking deep breaths allowed me to see hope and helped me not to become overwhelmed with negative thoughts and sadness; I did like the part of the exercise where I was able to send out peace and wellness to my loved ones after having to think about them suffering that was relief mentally and physically. I was then able to embrace all individuals regardless if they were good or bad and it helped me to forgive them for any hurt or pain they may have caused me. I enjoyed the natural peace of my mind and heart in order to connect with inner self to maintain stability of the mind, body and spirit.

 

                                                                   Reference

Loving-Kindness Practice (n. d.). Retrieved from mp3 audio

MIND-BODY-SPIRIT REFLECTIONS/MEDITATION

On a scale from 1-10 with 10 being the highest in optimal well-being and health I would consider myself to be spiritually inclined because I meditate and incorporate deep breathing techniques regularly and I also consider myself to be emotionally intelligent and capable to train my mind by being aware of my behaviors and consequences behind reactions; I am able to maintain self control under stressful, challenging and chaotic situations due to me being spiritually in tuned. I would rate my physical well-being a 10 because I exercise every day, eat nutrient-dense foods regularly with moderating my portion size; also eating fruits and vegetables are a daily regimen with incorporating vigorous intense exercises such as aerobic/anaerobic exercises, yoga, boxing, hiking, meditating and deep breathing techniques (which help produce oxygen to the brain and throughout the blood stream). My psychological well-being would be an 8-9 because I continue to learn everyday and there is always room for improvement and obtaining the knowledge necessary to expand my level of thinking. My experience with the Crime of the Century gave me a sense of relaxation and calming effect to my mind, body and spirit it also rejuvenated and gave me a soothing sensation in my mind, body and spirit. Listening to this audio actually gave me energy after hearing and participating in the activity. The rainbow meditation exercise was a visual imagery that gave me a sense of peace especially when I focused on the color red that allowed me to feel grounded, safe and comfortable in my environment while being stabilized to the earth. I did feel confident and was conscious of my self-worth when I pictured orange while deep breathing. Yellow was also a good color that I focused on which pertained to body regions for feeling loved and chanting “I choose to love” made me want to be closer to my family which gave me the ability to love and share positive feelings with my loved ones.

 

SPIRITUAL WELLNESS

Spiritual wellness is important for every individual to have while being able to explore having a belief for a sense of purpose and meaning in life. The path to spiritual wellness may involve meditation, affirmations, prayer or specific spiritual practices that will support the individual's connection to a higher belief system or power; meditation and yoga can also help individual's develop spiritual wellness ("Spiritual Wellness", 2014). Spiritual wellness is finding meaning in life while demonstrating the individual's purpose and having the ability to be compassionate toward other individual's. Spirituality is unique to every person and the spirit is referred to the deepest part of an individual existing. Spiritual wellness is a personal issue that involves values and the capacity for forgiveness, altruism, love and fulfillment that help maintain spiritual health, well-being and balance within the mind, body and spirit.  

Reference

Spiritual Wellness. (2014). Retrieved from wellness.ucr.edu