Personal Progress

In looking back to my assessment of physical, psychological and spiritual well-being that was completed in Unit 3, my scores remain unchanged.  While I have made some progress in my physical well-being, I don’t believe that it is enough for me to raise my score at this time.  I have made some progress in my physical goals, however I have not made any progress toward my psychological or spiritual goals at this time.  I think that I will make more progress during the break from school, as the number one thing that prohibits me at the moment is lack of time in my day.  I have not yet implemented the activities that I chose.  This is due to my time constraints at this time in my life.  I have thoroughly enjoyed this class and feel that I have gained a great deal from it.  It is nice to be with like-minded individuals and to see that the research is showing that these methods are legitimate and are showing real health benefits that can be measured scientifically.  I love the refreshing and relaxing feeling that comes over me after completing a meditation or visualization exercise.  This will improve my ability to help others by providing them with the exercises that I have found most beneficial to myself.  I will also have the feedback provided by my classmates and professor of methods that worked well for them, as no two people are the same.

Final Project

           As a health and wellness professional it is important to make sure that you develop psychologically, spiritually, and physically.  We have to lead the way down the path for our clients to follow.  We need to experience it for ourselves to know what each step feels like, to know what we feel like when we reach the next level.  The area where I personally need the most work is developing physically.  I will finish with my degree in nutrition in May of 2013.  I think that my road to a career in nutrition will be much easier traveled if I reach a healthy weight before I graduate.  I am not too far off, so that is an attainable goal as long as I can stay focused on it.  I thoroughly enjoy all of the aspects of a health and wellness lifestyle I just have to make more time in my day for it.  I love to exercise and challenge my body, I enjoy meditation, prayer and quiet, and I love to read and learn new things.  I will keep working towards my goals, and set new ones as I accomplish these.

            I have assessed my health in each of the three domains of health and wellness.  My lowest score is my physical score, which I have given myself a 6 on the scale of 1-10.  Since my major is in nutrition, I will need to look the part so that people will easily be able to see that I can apply my skills to my own life.  I have dropped 20 pounds off of my frame, and if I can drop 20 more before May of next year I will be at a healthy BMI.  I am on the right track making healthy food choices and monitoring my portions.  I have also been spending time at the gym on both cardiovascular exercises and strength training.  Since the weather has turned warmer I have also been walking around the neighborhood more.  I would love to see my score at an 8 or 9 early next year. 

My spiritual score I have rated an 8.  I talk to God daily, to thank him for the wonderful life that he has given to me.  I have a strong belief systems and strong values which do not waiver.  I believe in the connectedness and the interdependence of all beings and that all things have energy. 

My psychological score would also rate an 8 on the 1-10 scale.  I ranked it this high because I am very comfortable with who I am and approach things with a ‘fearless” mentality.  I know myself, and how I typically react and respond to situations, and have been making changes and corrections to the way I handle certain instances.  I do however have much room for improvement.  I need to schedule more time in my day for yoga and meditation to escalate to the score of 9.

            I have set goals for myself in each of the three areas of health and wellness.  The goal that I have set for myself is to reach my goal weight by then, which is a realistic goal.  I have always carried extra weight in my lower body, and want to be fit so that I can lead others towards a healthy life.  Psychologically I have set a goal for myself to spend more time in meditation and visualization techniques, and to challenge myself to always keep learning something new.  Spiritually my goal is to spend more time in quiet peace.  To schedule more time for self-reflection and prayer.

            There are some growth-fostering strategies that I can use to improve myself in each of the three domains.  For physical growth, I will schedule time to make sure that I get enough cardiovascular exercise in during the week.  Another strategy that I can use for my physical growth is to track my eating in an online food diary.  I will implement these by using scheduling and tracking and will meet my goals making me a much stronger person.   For psychological growth I will use meditation.  To implement this I will schedule it in my day to make sure that I have allowed myself time to grow.  Another strategy that I will use for psychological growth is to continue my education even further.  This will ensure that I keep up with the latest information in the nutrition field, and help to stretch my mind up to the next level.  To implement this I will apply to a dietetic program and pursue becoming a Registered Dietitian.  To grow spiritually I will begin practicing yoga.  To implement this I will sign up for a beginning yoga class at the YMCA.  My second growth strategy is to spend more time in both prayer and silence.  This leads to a better feeling of connectedness and oneness.  To implement this I will start getting ready for bed 20 minutes earlier each night so that I have some time alone to spend with God.

            I will assess my progress after 6 months by re-evaluating myself and seeing where it is that I score.  For my physical assessment I will recalculate my BMI with my current weight at that time to see how far I have gotten and how much further I will still have to go.  To track my growth spiritually I can begin recording in a journal the nights that I spent time in prayer and monitor the increase.  To monitor my growth psychologically I will have my school grades to measure.  The more that you incorporate these practices into your life the easier it will be to maintain them.  It will become second nature, and it will be a regular routine.  Reaching goals that you set for yourself will also work to motivate you even higher to achieve more.  The higher the level that you yourself reach the more helpful you will be to others.

The Two Most Beneficial Exercises

The two exercises that I feel have had the most benefit on my life thus far are the Loving Kindness exercise and the Meeting Aesclepius exercise.  The Loving Kindness gave me a great feeling of connectedness and brought a great sense of joy over me.  I really could have used this one earlier today, if only I could have gotten away for just a moment it probably would have made my day much brighter.  The Meeting Aesclepius exercise was one that was very easy for me to envision and I didn't struggle to get through it, as in it didn't seem to be too long.  I really love the way that I feel when I finish with these two exercises.  I am sure that I appear much happier to others as well.  I am going to work at including them in my weekly routine.  I would love to say daily, however until I finish school weekly is much more realistic.

Meeting Aesclepius

I really enjoyed the Meeting Aesclepius meditation this week.  This one I did not struggle with, I thought that the amount of silent time to focus was just right, it didn't feel too long.  Part of this has to do with the fact that I knew exactly the right person to choose to use as my focus.  I am really starting to see the changes that I am making on the inside begin to show up on  the outside.  I have most noticed this with my physical activity, which is the one area that I chose as needing the most work in my life at the moment.  Even today when I went on a walk with my daughter (while she rode her bike), I found myself asking questions to myself like, "why don't I pick up the pace to keep up with her better?  Why don't I ever start to jog while I am out walking?  What am I afraid of?  What stops me from pushing myself physically?"  I now know that I have all of the tools and means and strength inside to get to where I need to be physically.  I will continue on using the different meditations that I have learned in this class, and keep working on my physical fitness.

I definitely feel that in order to be successful at a career in health and wellness that you need to be leading by example.  I don't think that you can teach someone meditation, if you never meditate.  I don't think that you can recommend yoga to someone without first trying it yourself.  I am a Nutrition major, so I need to be in better physical shape before I graduate.  As I think that it would be difficult to run a practice if I myself was not in the best physical shape of my life.

Integral Assessment and Universal Loving Kindness

The universal loving kindness exercise I found fairly easy to do.  It felt very powerful during the meditation and I felt stronger when I finished.  The assessment process was a little tougher for me to complete.  Although it was very obvious to me which part needs the most work, fitness.  The first reason for this is to improve overall health. Another reason for this is that I will be graduating with my Bachelor's degree in Nutrition next spring, and need to improve my fitness to show that I can apply all that I have learned.  The ways that I will use to implement this into my life are to keep up with my good eating habits, and to make sure that I get to the gym as often as I can.  I work at the YMCA, so I always have access to a gym, a pool, and any exercises classes that they have.  This should make it much easier to obtain my goals and put my life in better balance.

The Subtle Mind Exercise

I found the Subtle Mind Exercise to be more difficult than the Loving Kindness Exercise.  For me it is much easier to do more visualization during an exercise than it is to have the long gaps between instructions.  I realize that this time was to be used to practice watching your thoughts without grasping for them, so this exercise will be challenging for me.  I will keep practicing and as I get better at it, it may not feel like such a long pause between instructions.  I am still enjoying the Loving Kindness Exercise, I really feel the benefits of this one.  After my first experience with The Subtle Mind I did not feel many benefits, only some frustrations, however I will give it another try tomorrow and see how it goes.  Practice makes perfect!

Loving Kindness Exercise

I found most parts of the loving kindness exercise to be fairly simple. There was one part that was difficult for me, it was where you were supposed to turn the "faucet" on yourself. I did find this exercise to be very beneficial and I will definitely use it again. Part of this exercise reminded me of a conversation that I had with my Great Aunt. She had told me about one of her friends that would heal her friends by "breathing in their illness". I wonder if this was the practice that she used? I would definitely recommend this exercise to others. It was fairly simple and I did not drift off.

The concept of a mental workout is to stretch the brain as we do our physical muscles. It has been shown to reduce disturbing emotions and enhance positive ones. A recent study shows an increase of gamma waves when individuals develop a compassionate mental state (Dacher, 2006). I am going to try to implement these mental workouts in the 20 minutes in the morning after my daughter leaves for school and before I have to leave for work.