Week 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?

The scores have all gone up 3-4 points. I feel a lot more positive since getting into the habit of meditating is essential to my well being. I know that now.

1. Review the goals and activities you set for yourself in each area. Have you made progress toward the goals? Explain.

I have not tried the physical exercise meditation because honestly, I'm dreading it. But, other than that, I have tried all of the others.

1. Have you implemented the activities you chose for your well-being in each of the three areas? Explain.

My physical well being feels a little better as I keep growing (literally) towards the due date of my new baby. I have been doing physical exercise intentionally and being mindful of what I eat. This makes all the difference in how I feel about myself and see myself in the mirror.

Spiritual well being is probably a little better but I have not done much to improve this area, honestly.

Psychological well being has gone up definitely. I took a vacation away from my spouse and I think that really gave us a good break to appreciate each other for who we are.

1. 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?

I do have improved well being from the meditation/loving kindness/awareness exercises. However, I did find the text books to be VERY dry and I had a really hard time getting into them. I read a lot of new age and self help books but these were quite boring to me. 

Week 9

Christan Templeton

HW420

Week 9

Final Project

I.               Introduction:

Health and wellness practitioners need to know how to develop the mental and spiritual health of others. To do that, we must first master this ourselves. Meditation and visualization improves so many aspects of life. It reduces stress by getting rid of those negatively charged emotions and releasing tension from the body. This leads to better sleep because the body can relax and let go. Visualization gives you something to look forward to and it helps you see the bright side of life. Positive thinking attracts positive actions.

II. Assessment:

My ratings were much higher a year ago when I was such a positive person about everything in life. But, once I read the book "The Disappearance of the Universe", I became depressed.. not caring about much in life. I think the book is supposed to have the opposite effect but for me, I took it very hard knowing that all we need to do in life is wake up because none of this is real.

 Physical wellbeing: Normally a 7 or 8 but since I'm pregnant, I don't feel as good as normal. So, currently it's a 5 or 6.

Spiritual well being at the moment is not good. Maybe 3.

Psychological well being: 4

            However, since doing the practices and meditations in this class, I have really improved my outlook on life. I feel much happier, relaxed, and more positive overall. I have even seen a huge change in my relationship with my spouse (in a good way!).

III. Goal Development:

At the beginning of this class, my goal development was to plan on raising my levels 2-3 points. I think this has been achieved in this short 9 weeks. However, I plan on developing these aspects and expanding on them much more as I live everyday.

IV. Practices for personal health:

            Dacher refers to training the mind as a way to increase your level of awareness. This means being more open to love and understanding our true power as human beings. As humans, we are not the peak of existence but rather, we are in transition to another path. By training our minds to focus on faith and forgiveness, we allow a much smoother and rapidly moving transition to this new existence. Physical results of training the mind include increased immunity to disease and depression. Overall, we train ourselves to have a richer understanding of our purpose and our value of other human beings/animal/plant life.

            There are a few steps that I have found helpful in breaking down how to achieve mental and spiritual health:

The first step in preparation is Loving Kindness. Loving kindness means loving ourselves and others without limitations. The text states that a thinking mind is the enemy to loving kindness. We may over think how we "give" and realize that it costs us time, money, or effort. This is not something that we should worry about but it often stops us from practicing loving kindness.

The second step is Skillful Action. Skillful action means not reacting in a way of anger or another type of outburst, but reacting with a controlled peacefulness that allows us to see the situation and assess it.

The third step is Silence and Stillness. This means simplifying your life to less friendships, more meaningful friendships, less noise, less technology, etc. This is about finding an inner peace. It's about finding what true happiness is and not the fleeting moment of a laugh we get from a comment on Facebook.

Some activities that can foster awareness and health for body, mind, and health would involve increasing my focus while I am already physically exercising. Visualize while I workout and concentrate on my breathing. This will bring the mind/body connection together. The book states that since physical exercise is already repetitive, then I have room for concentrating on these specific things. The author says to allow my awareness to notice everything but don’t attach them to anything (Dacher 2006).

V. Commitment:

                        Meditation can decrease my stress and anxiety. It also increases my well being, ability to learn, and adaptability to change. My favorite meditations are guided meditations. I don’t see any weaknesses to meditation but an endless amount of benefits. Generally, guided meditations suggest that we sit upright on the floor or in a chair but I like to lay down so I can truly relax and let my whole body go limp. A study in the January issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, found that meditation increased gray area of the brain in things like memory, stress management, and empathy (Bahnoo 2011). Meditation and visualization improves so many aspects of life. It reduces stress by getting rid of those negatively charged emotions and releasing tension from the body. This leads to better sleep because the body can relax and let go. Visualization gives you something to look forward to and it helps you see the bright side of life. Positive thinking attracts positive actions.

References:

Dasher, E.S., (2006). Integral Health: The path to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA. Basic Health Publications, Inc

Bahnoo, S. (2011).  “How meditation may change the brain”. NY Times from: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/how-meditation-may-change-the-brain/

Unit 8

My favorites are subtle mind and traditional meditation.

Subtle mind is really great for learning how to deal with impossible situations or stressful situations. Subtle mind practices can strengthen our ability to have a witnessing mind.

Traditional meditation in a personalized sense is my favorite.  I love being able to just let go of everything before I slip off into sleep.  I read a quote today that said we should not be upset to lose anything because we don't really own anything. So, when I think of this, it helps me to realize that my new computer that was damaged is not really important in the long run. 

Week 6

During the loving-kindness exercise, I always like to send love and forgiveness to those who have hurt me first. This way I can let go of all that weight on my shoulders. Then, I move on to my loved ones and then those all around me.

The areas I need to improve:

Practicing a witnessing conscience during an argument or a crisis.
Realizing that I'm a part of everyone and that I'm not affected by what they do.

Anyone else loving that we got free meditations out of this class? ;)

Week 5

Powerpoint presentation


First of all, I noticed that the subtle mind exercise is word for word from the book. I found the voice distracting because of the nasal tone the man has. I was very happy when a woman's voice took over. I don't prefer one exercise over the other. Meaning, I liked both the subtle mind and the loving kindness exercises. I think they both feel extremely healing and I can comfortably listen and participate in both of them.

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

I have noticed that when there is tension in our home, more things tend to go wrong physically. People get sick, electronics get broken, dishes accidentally dropped, etc.

Week 4

1. Describe your experience. Did you find it beneficial? Difficult? Why or why not? Would you recommend this to others? Why or why not?

I found the exercise to be quite relaxing and helpful even when allowing loving kindness to flow to my enemies. This part especially feels healing and after doing this, I feel unaffected by stressful situations (at least for a little while).

1. What is the concept of "mental workout"? What does the research indicate are the proven benefits of a mental workout? How can you implement mental workouts to foster your psychological health?

Mental workout is a term used for a disciplined meditation that we intentionally do everyday for the improvement of our wellbeing. 

Week 3

1. Based on your reflections, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal wellbeing), where do you rate your A-physical wellbeing, B-spiritual well-being, C-psychological well-being? Why?

My ratings were much higher a year ago when I was such a positive person about everything in life. But, once I read the book "The Disappearance of the Universe", I became depressed.. not caring about much in life. I think the book is supposed to have the opposite effect but for me, I took it very hard knowing that all we need to do in life is wake up because none of this is real.

So,

 Physical wellbeing: Normally a 7 or 8 but since I'm pregnant, I don't feel as good as normal. So, currently it's a 5 or 6.

Spiritual well being at the moment is not good. Maybe 3.

Psychological well being: 4

1. Develop a goal for yourself in each area (physical, spiritual, psychological).

Of course my goal for these would be to raise 2-3 points. I stopped doing as much meditation as I was doing last year and I think this has greatly affected my outlook on life.

1. What activities or exercise can you implement in your life to assist in moving toward each goal?

Read more, exercise more, meditate more, eat more raw foods, maintain a garden, read to my children, make a list of what I'm thankful for..

1. Complete the relaxation exercise The Crime of the Century. To hear this exercise, click here. Describe your experience. (What it beneficial? Frustrating? etc.)

I liked the relaxation exercise. I recognized it as a chakra clearing exercise which I usually find very helpful.