Unit 6 Integral Assessment

Revisiting the Loving-Kindness Exercise

This second time of practicing the loving-kindness exercise was a little easier and a bit more emotional this time. I was able to follow along and concentrate better. When it came to focusing on strangers the only people I could focus on were those involved in the recent elementary school shooting. I get choked up every time I think about it or see the news about it. I did however still enjoy the exercise and plan to continue to practice it. I can see how beneficial it can be.

Integral Assessment

For the integral assessment I chose my interpersonal aspect of life to be the one where I am feeling suffering. As mentioned in a previous post I have had a fallen out with my mother and it is still rocky as well as a very good friend of mine that has became angry with me and I am not sure the real reason why. For this reason I chose family as my line of development even though I feel that all lines of development (family, community, and personal) are in some way suffering.

For the second part of the assessment I chose the biological aspect as the one that is ready for growth and development. The lines of development included here are fitness, nutrition, and self-regulation all of which desperately need some attention. I have been currently trying to focus on these areas. To further implement wellness in these areas I can work on healthier eating habits, start a work out routine, and continue to practice my yoga and meditating. I picked the biological aspect because I feel that working on my physical and mental health will help me to be better equipped to work on the other aspects of my life.

Unit 5: The Subtle Mind

This weeks exercise was The Subtle Mind. In this exercise the goal is to experience the witnessing mind. The witnessing mind is when you are able to observe the mind and how it works. You observe your thoughts and try to come to a stillness. This was a fun exercise to do. I enjoyed this exercise because you are focusing on your thoughts (which flood my mind) and you learn to let them go. I was able to actually do this exercise even though towards the end I started to get restless and was ready for it to be over. It will definitely take some practice to be able to make it all the way through. I did find that listening to the exercise instead of just reading it (as I did with the Loving Kindness exercise) is better and allows you to concentrate more on the exercise. In the Loving Kindness exercise you are given specific things to concentrate on and in the Subtle Mind exercise you are free to concentrate on your thoughts and letting them go. I can see how both are important exercises to master when working on training the mind and your path to integral health. Learning to recognize your thoughts and being able to let them go and still the mind is a very valuable tool and can help to free the mind up for focusing on the things that matter most. This can help organize your life and let you be more productive. I was actually able to see my thoughts like movie scenes on a reel and see them flash by and then disappear.

The Mind-Body-Spirit Connection

We are learning through research that the mind, body, and spirit are all connected and work together to create overall wellness (or lack of in some cases). Whenever we work to strengthen our body we in turn strengthen our mind. When we work to strengthen our mind we in turn strengthen our spirit, and the circle continues. We may not realize that when working on one aspect we are helping the others but it happens. When we realize the importance of strengthening all aspects we notice that we are capable of doing this easily. By this I mean, we can do little things to work on all aspects at the same time and not have to focus on them individually. Example: when working out physically you can visualize the increase in strength, flexibility, and endurance you are gaining from your workout. Now you are strengthening multiple aspects. You will gain more through exercises like this.

This is something that I have to start focusing on myself. I need strengthening in all aspects of my life (physical, mental, and spiritual). I just have to make the time to devote to my strengthening.  As a massage therapist this concept is one that is important for me to teach my clients as well.
Happy Strengthening!

Unit 4: Have you worked out mentally?

This weeks exercise was called Loving-Kindness. In this exercise you are asked to visualize a person you love and feel the loving-kindness is your heart and your body. Then you are asked to visualize someone that you love that is suffering and you are to breathe in the suffering and exhale loving-kindness or whatever it is that you think will help the person. The exercise continues to include strangers then everyone. This exercise will definitely take some practicing specially because it is not an audio. It was interesting and it definitely hit me when it came to the family member part. My mother is suffering from severe depression and obesity amongst other medical issues. We have recently had a falling out and have not really spoken to each other. I used my mother for this part and it was pretty emotional for me. I can definitely see how this exercise can make you change your view of others and how it can make you change your attitude. This is an exercise I would definitely recommend to my clients, friends, and family and one that I plan on incorporating into my life.


In order to strengthen our inner self and strive for integral health we must work out mentally. The exercise described above is part of this mental workout. Just like an athlete has to train his or her body to perform, so does a person on the path to integral health have to train his or her mind. The mind is a powerful tool that is capable of many amazing things including healing when trained. By  practicing (working out) daily we can train our mind. Research proves the power of a trained mind to be able to affect the body and its health. Dean Ornish a cardiologist proved that a holistic mind-body-spirit approach can reverse heart disease in patients old and young, mild to severe cases.

Unit 3: Level of Wellness

I guess we do not realize our level of wellness until we are asked to rate it. I know that there are definitely areas that I need to work on but when I actually sat down and started to think about it and rate it I was saddened. For this unit we are asked to reflect on our total wellness and rate our physical, spiritual, and psychological well-being 1 to 10 with 10 being optimal well-being.  Well, here it goes:
                                     
                                Physical:  5

                                Spiritual:  3
                               
                                 Psychological: 5
My reasoning for these ratings are because I am physically at the worst shape of my life. I use to compete in weightlifting and was very fit, now, not so much. I can really feel how unfit I am when I play with my children (it is very sad). Spiritually I am struggling with my beliefs and standing by them. I need to reexamine what I believe in and incorporate it into my daily life. As for psychological, I am a very emotional person and let my emotions get the best of me sometimes. I am working on meditation and calming my mind. My mind likes to wander a lot and it affects my sleep and my daily activities.

Goals:

Physical: to work out at least 3 times a week
Spiritual: incorporate my beliefs into my daily life
Psychological: learn to keep my emotions in check and to calm my mind and focus on the task at hand

Activities:

Physical: yoga, P90x, Pilates
Spiritual: examine my personal beliefs
Psychological: meditation

This weeks relaxation exercise was The Crime of the Century. Not sure why it was called that, I thought the guy speaking called it something to do with a rainbow. Anyway, this one was really hard for me to get into. It did not work for me I think there was too much to focus on and I just could not do it. I would go in and out of being able to concentrate on what he was saying. It was frustrating to me and I could not wait for it to be over.

Unit 2- Journey On: relaxation exercise

I love trying these meditation exercises. I have had to do this for another class and at first I found them kind of difficult as my mind likes to wander and is sometimes hard to focus on the instructions given in the exercises. I did find that this time it was much easier. 

I sat comfortably on my couch with my legs propped up. As he was talking in the beginning I began to focus on my breath and slow it down. Then as he began to instruct on the relaxation technique I did find that I was able to focus. It was awesome to feel the transfer of the blood from my abdomen to my arms. I felt as though  my arms were sinking into the couch. I was able to move my arms up slightly when he told us to try but they quickly fell back to the couch. When instructed to transfer the blood back to my abdomen I could feel my arms lighten and I felt like my whole body was sinking into the couch. I enjoyed this exercise and can see myself using it at night when I am having trouble going to sleep. I am a massage therapist and work all day to get people to relax. It is amazing how hard something so simple can be. I might even use this technique on my clients, this could make my job easier for those clients that just cannot relax.  

Welcome!

Welcome!

 Welcome to my blog on living well. I am excited to be starting this blog and sharing my experiences on my journey to a healthier, happier, and a more fulfilled life. A friend recently said something to me that made me think of my own life, she told me that the saying she has adapted to her life is "I choose only those who support and nourish me". Thank you Nancy for sharing that with me and I plan to make it my own. Healthy relationships are an important part of integral health. I hope that you find at least one thing to take from this blog that helps to improve your life in some way.