Wrap Up

Since Unit 3, I don't think that my scores on my wellbeing have greatly improved.  But at the same time, I have learned many tools and exercises that I can use to improve my overall health.  Between work, school, and the holiday season I am happy just to get enough sleep each night, never mind add new things to plate!  Now that we have a break coming up it will be much easier to find the spare time to try this exercises continuously, instead of doing it one night and not being able to get back to it for over a week.  I fee that this class has taught me a lot about the mind body spirit connnection, and it is something I need to work on and improve, especially my spiritual side.  I greatly enjoyed taking this class and wish that there were more like it.  This is a subject that is hard to grasp if you aren't given a path to follow, and the more we can learn about integral health through school, the more likely we are to seek and find other sources of knowledge on this subject to improve our own lives and the lives of the people that come to us for advice.  

Happy Holidays Everyone!!

Final Project!

My Integral Health Plan

As a health and wellness professional, it is important to practice what you preach. The field of health and wellness is concerned with developing the mind, body, and spirit connection. Through everyday experiences we become aware of how closely connected these three aspects of life are, and when one is suffering, the other two tend to follow. As a health and wellness professional, it is essential to learn how to exercise and improve our physical, psychological, and spiritual self so that we can improve our own lives before trying to help others do the same. Granted at any point in time we may find it hard or difficult to maintain a certain level of balance, after all we are only human and reality likes to throw us curve balls, but the key is to know how to recognize these curve balls and bounce right back instead of getting thrown off course.

For myself, I need to work on my spirituality and pay more attention to my psychological health. I have a strong foundation in my physical life since I am a group fitness instructor and I love what I do. I push myself hard in my workouts and physical challenges yet I know when to cut back a little and give my body some extra rest and recovery time. Just like everything else, my physical needs are constantly changing and if I don’t change my regimen to cater to these changes then I am doing more harm than good. For the most part I have a healthy mind, but I let stress get ahold of me way too easily and would like to work on improving this over time. I have very little knowledge of my spiritual self and would like to enhance my understanding of it and strengthen it to be a bigger part of my life.

Assessment

When it comes to assessing my physical spiritual, and psychological wellness I look at different aspects of my life and how I perceive my acceptance of them. In the case of my physical self, I know that I am physically fit through fitness testing. While I try to maintain a healthy diet, I tend to have unhealthy breaks that I would like to avoid. Overall I am a healthy individual, and nothing stands out as a health problem or a red flag for one. I feel I have a high score in physical health, yet it is something that can always be improved upon through daily choices.

I assess my psychological wellness in how I deal with situations. I am a laid back, logical, practical, down to earth person and am rarely thrown off by big changes in my life or events happening around me. But for whatever reason I tend to let little insignificant things stress me out, and that fact that they get to me stresses me out even more. I tend to have control issues and do not like to let go of them, and most of my stress has to do with these types of things. I like to know details of who, what, when, where, and why in my life, and when I can’t get the answers to those in a situation I get unnerved. Other than this specific issue why my psychological wellness, I feel I have a somewhat high score in psychological health.

When it comes to spirituality I can’t really say I ever tried to assess myself. I am not religious at all, and up until I started taking courses on health and wellness, I thought that was the only part of spirituality. Now that I know there is much more to it than being religious I would like to find ways to embrace my spirituality and improve it. I definitely score low in spiritual wellbeing and need to make the effort to balance out my mind, body, and spirit connection.

Goal Development

My physical wellbeing can be further developed by varying my fitness program. While I am set in the classes the I teach each week, I make an effort to take others to learn new techniques and moves that I can incorporate into my own classes. I also enjoy the change because it is something my body isn’t used to and new routines are better for preventing boredom. I recently started taking a box and sculpt class and would like to learn about kickboxing. When I have extra time I am going to schedule one on one instruction with our instructor.

To further develop my psychological wellbeing, or mental health, I want to take up some form of meditation. I do not have quite enough extra time to find a yoga studio or take hour long classes but there are endless books, CD’s, DVD’s, and what not that can teach me how to meditate on my own, even if it is just for ten minutes a day. I would like to find a type of mediation that suites me best, and that will allow me to clear my mind and start fresh.

My spiritual wellbeing needs a lot of work. One of the most important aspects of my spiritual self that I would like to improve is my ability to accept unconditional love. I am a very independent person and over time have developed a skewed view of society. I am in no way a “people person” and I don’t really have an explanation for why I am this way. I want to make the conscious effort to learn how to open my heart and mind toward others, not just my family and friends, but to strangers too. Instead of viewing the cup as half empty, I would like to view it as half full.



Practices for Personal Health

While I would like to further my development in kickboxing skills specifically, I am also going to make an effort to learn all types of new exercise regimens. With a little time and research, it is easy to find all sorts of training programs for different aspects of physical wellbeing. Like a how-to girl from a magazine, I would like to try out all different forms of exercise, no matter how unique they may be. I will also practice the ones I enjoy and incorporate them into my classes so others can enjoy their benefits too.

While there are many ways to foster growth in my psychological wellbeing, I feel that visualization and mediation exercises will be most beneficial to me personally. I will find a guided visualization exercise that caters to personal experience. I find beaches and places of warmth to be the most relaxing, and even just small day dreams of these places can leave me with a refreshed feeling of calm. Meditation is harder for me to stick with since my mind loves to wander. I have tried and enjoyed meditation practices based on observing the breath and since I can use that as my main focus I am able to maintain a calm stillness in my mind. I will try to do this meditation practice for 5 minutes every day at first, and increase its length over time.

The loving kindness exercise in Elliot Dacher’s book Integral Health the Path to Human Flourishing is a great place to start my goal of learning how to love unconditionally. By focusing my thoughts on my breath, and taking in others suffering with the breath, and letting go of concern and worry on the out breath I can learn to accept that just like any other emotion or feeling, love is not set in stone. I can appreciate the people around me for who they are, and accept that who they are may not be who I want them to be. There is no sense in holding attachment to things I cannot change, and I need to learn how to embrace the uniqueness of others I would normally not come in contact with. I can also make an effort to work on my spiritual union with my boyfriend, something he may need work on too, by doing intimacy exercises. We each have a hard time expressing our feelings to each other, and the exercise Dacher describes between partners would open our eyes to a deeper connection. We know it is there, we just don’t make a point of acknowledging it.

Commitment

            Coming up with goals and exercises is the easy part of integral health.  It is implementing these ideas and sticking with them that is the real challenge.  Just like I do everything else in my life, I will schedule these activities into my week, and hopefully stick with them.  I will assess my progress or lack there of by keeping a weekly log of what I have done and what I have pushed to the side.  I will also make a conscious effort to keep notes on what I like and dislike about the new health exercises in my life.  If I don’t particularly like something at first I want to give it a chance before writing it off completely.  If I do like something, I want to look for more ways to implement it.  Over the next six months, three of which will be filled with my last term at Kaplan University, and the next three filled with a whole lot of extra time, I plan on greatly improving my mind, body, spirit connection so that as a professional I can pass on my knowledge and suggestions to help others.

Wrap Up

In my opinion, the two most beneficial exercises for obtaining integral health are visualization and meditation.  While the others were also helpful, I feel that there are a lot more wiggle room with visualization and meditation. You can find your own style and preferences and go with that.  We all find comfort in different things and I think we should learn how to focus on that and use it to our advantage on a daily basis.  Just thinking of these things can help create a calm in our chaotic day.  Meditation is also a great way to relax, whether you are crazed or just looking for some rest from your thoughts.  These are also easy exercises to do when you have a few spare minutes and just like a nice day dream, you can snap in and out of it depending on where you are and the time you have to devote to it.

Asciepius Exercise and Leading in Health

I enjoyed the Asciepius exercise because this is something I already believe in.  The people in your life have a great effect on the choices you make.  If they approve and/or are supportive then you have a much better chance at succeeding in your personal goals.  If you put you down or are unsupportive, you will most likely fail.  I have learned over time that a friend who doesn't support changes in you is not a real friend.  Family and friends can be a great part of a wellness goal if they want to see you succeed, and may even try to join a quest you are on, even something silly such as eliminating white breads from your diet. (No more deli sandwiches for your lunch date!)
One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself is something I live by.  It makes me angry when people run their mouth about things they have either not experienced themselves or have not done themselves.  In health and wellness you need to practice what you preach, or you have no validity to others.  You wouldn't take driving lessons from someone who has never driven a car so why would you take health advice from someone who doesn't practice it themselves?  At the gym we have a trainer that for a while fell off the wagon and got pretty round.  He was always a big guy, but he is a heavy lifter and looked the part.  When he gained weight he didn't look like he belonged working at the gym, and many people didn't want to train with him because he didn't look like he would know what to do to get them the results they wanted (and he is actually an amazing trainer, which goes to show image has more to do with skill level to someone that doesn't know you).  Then he got back into the swing of things and changed a few things in his life, and now he looks like a heavy lifter again and his client list has gone up.

Loving-Kindess and my Integral Assessment

I'm not too sure how I feel about the loving-kindness exercise.  I felt more like I was trying to win a beauty pageant than open my own heart and mind.  I did feel a sense of appreciation for what I have been given in life by the end, but I didn't have that feeling of love for all like I did with the first loving-kindess exercise we did two weeks ago.  Ehh not feeling this one, definitely liked the other one better!
The integral assessment on the other hand was much more interesting and eye opening for me.  I think this is something we should all do continuously so we can see where we have been lacking in life and try to build up our experiences.  I am all set in my biological aspect of life, I put a lot of my time and effort into this, but the other three areas I am not so set with.  I am not too in touch with you psychospiritual self, and would like to work on ways to really find out who I am and what I want to get out of my life.  My interpersonal aspect is pretty developed with my personal and family life but I would like to do more for my community.  This also flows into my worldly aspect which could also use a lot of work, outside of the first part, work itself.  I have always wanted to find ways to volunteer and do things on the side, and I think I will put more effort into finding ways I can do this.  I have a tight schedule with school and work and its hard to make time for other things but I will utilize my break time to find ways to volunteer around my community and ways to give back to the world.  I will also be done with school in March and that should free up some time!

The Subtle Mind

After completing the subtle mind exercise I almost felt more frustrated than when I started!  I have a hard time calming my mind and letting go of thoughts.  The loving-kindness exercise was easy for me to focus and concentrate on because we were supposed to lock our mind onto a specific thought, but the subtle mind exercise wanted us to witness without grabbing onto thoughts.  I am able to focus on my breathing and keep my mind clear, but once I start to relax my mind and stop focusing on each breath I start to grasp at different thoughts about my day and what I did do and what I need to do.  The stillness would come and go a few seconds at a time and I never got past that part.  I feel that if I tried to do this for 10 minutes everyday I could eventually train my mind to be quiet and still.

Spiritual, mental, and physical wellbeing are interconnected.  You may be strong in one category but one cannot exist without the others.  In my opinion, mental wellbeing comes first.  If you can focus your mind and thoughts then you can focus other things in your life.  Like our mental fitness reading, using your mind and exercising it regularly will increase its strength.  Having a strong mind can help you achieve your physical goals.  Physical wellbeing can be influenced by our mind and thoughts so healthy thoughts lead to healthy bodies.  The spiritual wellbeing is also important for accepting that you are a part of a whole.  It lets you see that something bigger than yourself does exist, and the more you nurture it, the healthier it becomes.  A well balance mind, body, and spirit can lead to true happiness and wholeness.

Loving-Kindness and Mental Workouts

After reading chapter 6 and doing the exercise on loving-kindness, I felt more relaxed and that I had a more open heart.  I have a tendency to have negative views about the people around me (working the desk at a dry cleaners for 10 years, and handling membership accounts at a gym with automatic billing will do that to you!) regardless of if I know them or not.  I have a very small group of close friends and I do not make much of an effort to expand on that, partly because I never have free time, and partly because I just don't have the energy for it.  With that said, and this may seem contradicting, I am one of the most helpful people you will every meet.  As strange as that sounds, I will rarely if ever say no to helping anyone with anything, and it is not a forced effort but my knee jerk reaction.  I almost wish I was able to say no thanks or no I'm sorry sometimes but I always am happy with my decision after the fact.  I think that the loving-kindness exercise allowed me to take a deep look inside, and feel emotionally the way I act physically.  I suggest anyone that has 5 free minutes should try this and see if it has the same calming heart affect as it did for me!

Mental workouts!! yay!!  Being a group fitness instructor, workouts are my specialty.  And as a group fitness instructor, you learn quickly how to deal with other workouts, like patience workouts and motivational workouts.  One of the classes I teach is BodyPump, a strength and endurance barbell class that goes to music.  Its 5-6 minutes straight per muscle group, which as you can imagine, is a true test of endurance.  I can get through them with my eyes closed, motivated or not, because I am so used to being the instructor.  But days that I am not motivated to teach I need to workout my acting skills so that my participants are motivated and pumped up.  At the same time, there are always the participants that come all the time and make no real effort to give it all they have (hey, going to the gym and just being there doesn't mean you went to the gym and exercised!)  I then get my workout in patience when they as week after week, how can I get rid of this, or how can I do strengthen this, and then proceed to smile, nod, and  ignore everything I just suggested :)  Mental workouts can come in all shapes and sizes, but working out your mind to benefit yourself, to achieve that integral health, of happiness and wholeness, can be one of the best things you can do.  If you can workout and train your mind to function in the way you want, you will never go back to letting it go back to laying on the couch useless and lazy!