End of the class, unit 10

1. 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? After reviewing  my assessment from unit 3 and how i would score myself now it has definitely changed. I would rate all of my spiritual mental and physical all above an 8. Before none were over that at all. I am very proud to say that i really the benefits of this class. I was able to use the exercises and information and apply them to my life. 
2. Review the goals and activities you set for yourself in each area. Have you made progress toward the goals? Explain. I have definitely made progress in my goals. I am more active in my physical fitness. I am eating healthier. I have taken time to myself each day to meditate and pray. Just overall feel better.
3. Have you implemented the activities you chose for your well-being in each of the three areas? Explain.  I have definitely implemented activities to help my well being. I have incorporated more exercise activities such as playing wii sports and dancing with the stars as well as walking. I also have implemented more healthier food in my everyday diet. Last i have implemented meditation and some of the exercises such as the subtle mind and loving-kindness a few times a week if not everyday. This has helped me mentally and emotionally in so many ways.
4. 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? This whole class has been rewarding. I have had to make some time and actually do something about my life but its all worth it. My whole mental, physical and spiritual health has improved and continues to everyday. I loved this class and it really opened my mind. I will continue to improve my life with these exercises and knowledge. Thank you!!

unit 9 project

Unit 9 Project

HW420

Cristina Holcomb

Introduction:

It is critically important that health and wellness professionals are developed psychologically, spiritually and physically because If they aren’t they won’t be able to properly help their patients. The patients aren’t going to listen to someone who hasn’t practiced or practice what they preach. They want to know that the person they are going to is legit and knows and believes that the exercises or whatever they are doing are going to work and there is proof by the professional. The areas I need to work on personally are my physical health. I feel that I am great spiritually and pretty good psychologically. I feel that I can work on my physical health through bettering my nutrition and my exercise routine. By bettering my condition I can therefore be able to feel better about myself inside and boost myself psychologically.

Assessment:

I have assessed my health in each domain on how I feel and by exercising the practices given in the course. By exploring the loving-kindness and different meditation practices I was able to ease my mind and focus on myself. I have to score my spirituality as 9 out of 10. I pray all of the time and am very spiritual. Whereas physically, I have to say I am a 5. I am really out of shape and I could do so much more for myself. Life is not an excuse and by taking better care of myself I will grow better psychologically as well. I am about a 7 psychologically and I know it can increase and it already has some already with doing the exercises.

Goal development:

Goals have always been a hard subject for me. I always try to make a goal but some just I never seem to follow through on. Short term goals I can do but long term tend to boggle my mind. But as far as goals for physical psychological and spiritual health I have a plan. For my physical goal I am setting a goal to exercise in some way at least 3 days a week. This will help me to become more active and make me work my body and help get rid of some of this excess weight. For my goal for psychological wellness I plan to meditate at least once a day if not that then at least 5 days a week. This really helps my mind and I know by clearing my mind I am able to think clearly and be less stressed out. And as far as my spiritual health I do pray every day but I think I will start to read the bible at least once a week to start. I believe this will help me to become more spiritual and get closer in my faith.

Practices for Personal health:

Physical practices tend to be those of exercising or working the body in some way. Two examples or exercises I can do in this domain would be to go walking for at least 20-30 minutes. This is a great way to get the heart pumping. Another great exercise I can do is play my Nintendo wii. I have many great active games such as dancing with the starts, dance dance revolution, tennis and other games. This is a great way to have fun and also get this weight off. As far as spiritual practices I can think of two great ones. One is praying which I do but I think for me I need to pray even deeper and get even closer. Then also I think going to group study for church will also help and I just signed up for one with a friend and a few family members. It is a great way to get more spiritual especially since I will have the influence of others to help guide me. Lastly I have psychological. I have said meditation and this is a great exercise to practice for personal health. Also I think would be great would be yoga. It can go into physical and psychological actually and a really great exercise to ease the mind and the soul.

Commitment:

I will assess my progress by looking at what I have done or will be doing. If I am not living up to my goals or expectations then I will need to step it up. I think for strategies I can make a goal list or a pattern and just remind myself. Also, I will have my husband be my partner. I know with his motivation I can do this. When you have a partner everything runs so much smoother. I know I can do this and I believe in me.

unit 8 review of practices

I have reviewed the exercises and practice sessions and have found that by doing the loving kindness and also doing the visualization. These both had a great influence in my life. With the loving kindness i am able to feel love for myself and for others and feel so refreshed inside. As for the visualization i am able to find a place in my mind or visualize and it helps me to be able to focus on that instead of things that are bothering me and helps me to push those aside and find peace inside. I am starting to treat these at treatments or workouts for my mind and implement them in my life at least 3-4 times a week if not more. These are very important and i know that by doing this i am able to have a better mind and also it helps me to feel better physically. I am not as tired but more like energized yet relaxed and i know i can get through the rest of the day.

unit 7:Meeting Asciepius

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?

For this unit we listened to a meditation track called Meeting Asciepius. I loved how it brought someone you admire or look up to into it and how it focused on them at first. Just really loved the whole thing in general. I am not fond of the woman's voice because it feels a bit forced but i did love the background and the words she was saying. I felt at peace and was able to go inside myself. I have been able to really work on my spiritual and psychological wellness. It has helped me to become more peaceful and calm throughout my day but it doesn't mean i don't have my issues or faults. I still have frustrations but it has become a lot easier to deal with.

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?

This is saying that unless you have tried something or done it yourself you cant truly lead someone or tell them how to do it. I feel i have to know the material before i can help my clients or else how can i say i am doing my job right. All of us have a obligation to our clients to know what we are talking about inside and out so we can help them to the best of our abilities. As far as my personal life i can implement psychological and spiritual growth in my personal life by doing the exercises. Taking the time to relax and breathe. By training my mind to not stress out and focus on healing on myself from the inside out. I will take the time at least a few times a week if not every day to do some meditating or relaxing exercise to help ease and train my mind. 

unit 6 universal loving kindness

The loving kindness exercise and the integral assessment really made me look deep inside and focus on a few things. I was really down about myself and i wasn't realizing just how much until this week and doing these exercises and assessments. I chose to focus on my confidence within myself. the really great part about this week is finding out i got my referral to go to doctor to get a gastric bypass to help with obesity. I have a long history of obesity in my family and unfortunately i am one of the ones who was "blessed" with it. I do my best to think positive in life but sometimes it can be really hard. My fiance tells me all the time just how beautiful i am to him and so do my friends but i guess just i don't always feel that within myself. So my focus this week was just to be proud of the person i am. To tell myself i am beautiful because god doesn't make anything ugly. I started to write myself little notes and to say i am beautiful to myself every morning and what i look in the mirror and honestly it is truly helping.

unit 5

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

Loving kindness and subtle mind were two totally different yet similar experiences for me. Both of them helped me to relax and focus and when i was done feel so much better inside but each felt different emotionally. One i was feeling better deep within myself because i was easing my mind. With the other i felt like i loved myself and i could love others as well. Taking that emotion that i give so freely to those i love and give it to myself as well. It's okay to love yourself too.  I did not have any frustrations but only benefits. I have even been told i came out with a better attitude and didn't look as stressed or frustrated.

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

The connection of spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness all coincide with each other.When you are spirtually well it creates a positivity in your mental state which then in turn makes your body physically feel great. If your are negative and dont have faith it creates a negativity and put a negative impact onto your mental and physical state which makes everything so much worse. This is why i keep my faith up and never give up and do my best to stay positive because thats when i feel mentally and physically so wonderful.

Loving kindness practice

Describe your experience. (Did you find it beneficial? Difficult?) Why or Why not? Would you recommend this to others? Why or Why not? I have to say that the this was really beneficial to me. I instantly started to feel at peace and i have done this twice so far but even just after the first session i was hooked. I found it a little bit difficult to find a calm place because my lets say energetic mom and my sweet hubby to be who is well hes got mulitple personality disorder so he tends to be a bit loud and obnoxious as times. I wouldn't have him any other way just not the ideal setting here at home but i did the best i could and it did help a lot. Helped me not to focus on my worries so much and just focus on my mind and soul.

 What is the concept of “Mental Workout? What does the research indicate are the proven benefits of a Mental Work Out? How can you implement mental workouts to foster your psychological health? A mental workout is training the mind to deal with many situations. Working your mind to stay calm while in crazy situations. I think that by doing these mental workouts can help our minds expand and help our bodies and minds get a brand new kind of energy.

The crime of the century

For each of my physical, spiritual and psychological well-being i have to say i would rate each one differntly then the other.  My physical well being is not great but not too horrible so i would say its a 6. There is a lot that i need to improve and i need help to improve. As far as my spiritual wellbeing i believe i am a 9. I have my faults but for the most part i am very spritual and have faith. Psychologically i have faults due to past problems in my childhood and young adult years that still effect me. They are not as bad as they once were but i would still rate myself a 7 in this area. For each one i want to be at optimal level but starting small is the best. i want to get my physical well being at least to an 8 by the end of 2011 and my psychological at least to a 9 within this year as well. I think that by setting these goals i have something i can work on slowly and efficiently. Some activities i am going to incorporate is more daily exercise. I am an active person but i think i can do more for myself at least walk every day or play on my Nintendo Wii doing some kind of moving game to get my heart rate going. As for psychological i am going to start doing more relaxation exercises. They have already helped so much . I think if i can relax more and go deeper in my soul i will be able to heal and to forgive and move on completely with my future.

For the relaxation exercise it was really nice to relax. The music soothing. I was a little uncomfortable with a male voice i think it is because the abuse from males in my young adult and young child years. I thought it was cool though how he said to focus different parts of your body and how he uses metaphors and uses real objects to pertain what he is talking about. Really great exercise. If anything it was more beneficial then frustrating.