Unit 7

1. Complete the "Meeting Asciepius" exercise on track #4 of the Dacher CD. Describe your meditative practice(s) for the week and discuss the experience. Explain how mindfulness or meditation has fostered an increase in your psychological or spiritual wellness. How can you continue to apply these practices in your life to foster greater health and wellness?

That was some heavy stuff and bit too long. I guess my underdeveloped mind was not ready for such an exercise. I pictured my Father and my mind wandered with all our experiences. The beams of light threw me off. I was calm and could hear his voice. I pictured us biking, cross country skiing, snow shoeing, and hunting. He is a quiet and calm man that I wouldn’t mind being just like. The idea to become or take in his wisdom with a beam of light got my mind wandering away from my focal point. I will have to try this exercise many times I feel to focus all the way through.
I can now calm my mind rather quickly. Like Dacher said at the end of the CD, meditation will take time to become efficient and focus our inner being. My psychological wellness has taken huge leaps in the past few weeks. Practice and determination is all we need. Eventually I will have a witnessing-mind which I feel will be step one accomplished for me.

2. Describe the saying: "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” (P.477) How does this apply to the health and wellness professional? Do you have an obligation to your clients to be developing your health psychologically, physically, and spiritually? Why or why not? How can you implement psychological and spiritual growth in your personal life?

Practice what you preach. The idea of a client being a tarnished jewel is a great example. If we know what the end result should be, the path to get there will be much clearer. I think we do have an obligation to strive for human flourishing. Practicing integral health ourselves will improve our teachings and make them more personal. Implementing wellness into our life might be contagious. Radiating a positive attitude is never a bad thing. People look up to optimism as a good quality. Suggesting methods of meditation or stress relief or even being a good listener can add to everyone’s wellness.



Reference
Amorok, T., Micozzi, M., Schlitz, M. (2005). Consciousness & Healing: Integral Approaches to
     Mind-Body Medicine. Elsevier Inc. St Louis, Missouri
Elliott, S., Dacher, M.D. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Basic Health
     Publications, Inc.

The Assessment

1. Practice the universal Loving Kindness (meditation) exercise on p. 93.

The mantra gave purpose to the meditation. Focusing on helping individuals and not self is not something I’m used to. During the two minutes I repeated the four lines about fifteen times. I found it cleared my head of those pesky random thoughts. The slower I said the lines the more meaning I felt was presented. This is another great mind exercise to continue throughout our health and wellness journey.

2. Complete the Integral Assessment discussed in chapter 11 (p.115).

The initial question was difficult to answer. What aspect of my life is the source of difficulty or suffering? I was torn between psychospiritual or worldly… Those are two new aspects of my life in terms of labeling so maybe I’m just confused. Psychospirituality to me seems like it’s the hardest aspect to master on the way to flourishing. Worldly is a vast subject and I find myself very active in the community and Air Force. I do feel more stress associated with being around other people and their negative thoughts.

The next question was about which aspect I felt was most important. What is my level of development in that area of my life? I feel biological is my biggest focus. Fitness, nutrition, and self-regulation are the three lines of development. I feel self-regulation is my shortfall. Giving my body and mind a break from work and school is a hard task sometimes. Rejuvenation is needed to flourish.

Next was, which areas are ready for growth and development? I believe all areas could use some work but, I’ll stick with psychospiritual. There are so many areas of our lives that spiritual development would improve. Mind, body, and spirit would feel the benefits of improving the psychospiritual aspect of our life.

I feel this class is full of tools we can use to improve our integral development. Meditation and mantras can be rather focused so we benefit each and every time we attempt these mental exercises.

Mental Health

Unit 5 Blog

1. Compare and contrast the Loving Kindness exercise and the Subtle mind exercise. Explain your experience including the benefits, frustrations etc.

The Loving Kindness exercise is rather difficult to stick with. I found the Subtle Mind exercise easy to do. I think the more specific the thoughts are required for the exercise is what makes it difficult. My experience with the Loving Kindness was not a good one the first four times I actually wanted to turn it off. I pictured my wife for a minute and then lost all concentration. The exercise is far too long and specific for easy meditation. The Subtle mind exercise I found easy because when we are picking our breath as the focal point I thought of swimming. Swimming to me is a calming and focused exercise. The ease of redirecting the random thoughts back to my focal point (which was exhalation out my nose) was quick and easy. On another note my CD is messed up from day one. The first time I played The Subtle Mind it quit about half way through with a horrific nose. Thanks to the reading I know I didn’t miss anything.

I think the benefits to these exercises would be that we now know where to start with our mental exercises. We can modify them to meet our needs. Example would be to replace the last half of Loving kindness with just about anything else.

2. Discuss the connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. Explain how the connection is manifested in your personal life.

Becoming comfortable with the thought of spiritual wellness isn’t easy for everyone. In the beginning I associated religion with spirituality. Discovering that an inner higher power and mental health is the spirit we are referring to. Praying can be directed to God or to yourself. Recognizing thoughts and emotions that are on your mind and going through them as a prayer can be empowering, relaxing, and even relieving. Mental health I think is the connection between your spirit and physical self. During meditation or exercise I get the same mental release. When the activity is all done I feel a weight has been lifted and I can go on with my life.

3. Participate in the Blogs of at least two other students. Provide them with feedback on their experiences (Do you have any suggestions or support for them? How does their experience compare to your experience? What have you learned from their blog?)

I found that we had a split decision between a few of us. Some found the Loving Kindness exercise easier because it was more focused. I found much the opposite. All other aspects of the exercises and learning thus far is the same. Benefits to our personal and professional life are stress relief and clearer thinking. My suggestion to all is keep with it, this concept can only get better with time and practice.

 Reference
Elliott, S., Dacher, M.D. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Basic Health 

   Publications, Inc.

Life-

Hello everyone,

Life is so very busy. The holiday break was a breath of fresh air, a break from reality. I have three work trips coming up, the first one is a short two weeks, the next is a month long Air Force School, the last is a four month deployment...
I've pushed through some busy times with no problems before but this time I'm also studying to make rank. I would appreciate everyone's prayers I test on February 8th.

Thank you for letting me vent and whine.