Journey to Health & Wellness During HW420

INTRODUCTION

To be an effective and credible health and wellness professional, it is important to have a good understanding and also maintain integral health this may include the continual physical, psychological and spiritual development.  It is important for professionals to have knowledge about integral health practices and assist clients or patients to apply these practices in their life.  A health and wellness professional should strive to reassess themselves continually to ensure that they are maintaining integral health.  This process will help the health and wellness professional to be confident and share his/her knowledge with their clients or patients.

Personally, I need to continue to develop physically, psychological and spiritually to achieve integral health.  I will continue to work to develop mental health training to assist with achieving integral health.  I have found that mental training can benefit both physical and mental health.  To create a greater spiritual connection, I have been meditating and focusing on the overall mind, body and spirit connection that can be achieved through meditation.

ASSESSMENT

            

At the beginning of the class, I rated by physical, psychological and spiritual well-being on a scale of 1-10.  For this assignment, I have rated all three again to compare the growth that has been achieved throughout this class by implementing new practices and strategies.

Physical Well-being:

I rated my physical well-being as an 8, at the beginning of the class.  As I have read more about physical well-being and implemented more strategies and practices I realized that my physical well-being several weeks ago was probably a 6.  After implementing yoga into my work out and health regimen, I would now rate it as an 8.  I still need to continue to focus on and maintain my physical health to continue to grow and strive to lose weight and achieve my goal to be able to complete a 5 K this fall.

Psychological Well-being:

I rated psychological well-being as a 7, at the beginning of the class.  As I have learned more about psychological well-being, I would change my initial rating to a 6.  The reading and practices from this class have helped me to learn new techniques and practices to help calm my mind, relax and reduce stress.  I would not rate my psychological well-being as an 8.  Incorporating breathing techniques, meditation and yoga have all helped me to grow psychologically and implement new strategies to cope with stress and quiet the mental chatter.

Spiritual Well-being:

I rated my spiritual well-being as a 7, at the beginning of the class. I have continued to have spiritual growth throughout the course and would rate my spirituality as an 8, now. Practices learned and implemented have helped me to focus on my spiritual well-being.

GOAL DEVELOPMENT & STRATEGIES & PRACTICES

Physical Wellness

GOAL: To become more physically fit, to lose weight and continue training for a 5K this fall.

STRATEGIES & PRACTICES:

To continue to promote physical well-being, I plan to continue to practice the concept of Olympian Mental fitness and yoga.

Mental fitness involves redirecting one’s energy from the exclusive focus on outer things towards the inner development focus.  This type of fitness when accomplished can offer profound well-being of the mind, body and spirit.   Health and healing will begin to develop our consciousness and inner life. One must be willing to refocus one’s attention, energy, and efforts to explore uncharted frontiers of the mind and its capacity for healing.  To accomplish this process, one brings together the mastery of outer healing with inner healing, resulting in the transformation of ordinary health to precious health.   This concept emphasizes a holistic approach, which one needs to focus inward to ensure that one has the capacity to heal oneself, maintain wellness and achieve well-being. 

I have been implements the practice of yoga at least several times a week to help with physical fitness and the mind-body connection.  Yoga has been beneficial to help stretch and strengthen muscles and to focus on healing the body.

Psychological Wellness

GOAL: To manage my stress by reducing the mental chatter throughout the day and achieving a more relaxed mind to foster better sleep routines.

STRATEGIES & PRACTICES:

I plan to continue to use breathing exercises, meditation and yoga to help promote psychological well-being by reducing mental chatter, anxiety and negative thoughts that may cause stress throughout the day.  Breathing exercises have proven to be helpful throughout the day, to reduce stress while working, driving or at times when mediation would not be practical. 

Meditation during the afternoon or evening has been beneficial to help relax and calm the mind, when I have 20-30 minutes to dedicate to mediation.  When I began to mediate regularly, I mediated for 10-15 minutes and continued to increase the amount of time that I could calmly focus on my thoughts and breathing.  When my thoughts begin to wonder and the mental chatter begins to become overwhelming, I shifted my thoughts back to focusing on my breathing to calm my mind.  I have also incorporated visualizations into my meditation sessions, to help focus and calm my mind.

Yoga has helped to promote physical, psychological and spiritual well-being.  It has helped me to become more relaxed and focused.  Yoga helped me to focus on my breathing and making the mind, body and spirit connection.

Spiritual Wellness

GOAL: To become more aware of the higher powers, not necessarily GOD but believing that there is a reason for all actions and occurrences.

STRATEGIES & PRACTICES:

I plan to continue using visualization techniques and mediation to become more focused on my spiritual health.  Occasionally, I have implemented prayer into my mediation sessions to help calm my mind when I had concerns or worries.  This process calls upon my religious beliefs, to call to a higher power for assistance or guidance. Continuing to remind myself that there is a reason that situations occur or why events take place, has helped to create a greater spiritual well-being.

COMMITMENT

            

I will continue to assess my progress by gauging how my physical, psychological and spiritual well-being is working together to complete a unity of the mind, body and spirit.  I hope to have met my goals, by having a notable decrease of stress in my life, managing my mental chatter with ease and focusing on the overall unity of the mind-body connection.

 To promote the continual practice, I plan to make these exercises and integral part of my daily routine.  I think it is important to continually focus on well-being, to ensure that one is always striving for growth potential within each area.

Two Most Beneficial PracticesDuring this class, I found that meditation and the Loving Kindness were the two most beneficial practices. Throughout my meditation sessions, I continued to feel a sense of peace, calmness and relaxation. My mind continued to become more quiet and calm; my breathing became a point of focus as it continued to become slower. Following meditation, I continued to feel calm and less stressed throughout the day(s). When I would become overwhelmed or stressed, I began to focus on my breathing and quieting the mind’s chatter to help focus on the positive.

During this class, meditation and the Loving Kindness were the two most beneficial practices for me. Throughout my meditation sessions, I continued to feel a sense of peace, calmness and relaxation. My mind continued to become more quiet and calm; my breathing became a point of focus as it continued to become slower.  Following meditation, I continued to feel calm and less stressed throughout the day(s).  When I would become overwhelmed or stressed, I began to focus on my breathing and quieting the mind’s chatter to help focus on the positive aspects of the day.

The loving kindness exercise helped me to feel calm and relaxed.  I also reflected on several individuals that I need to focus my attention on to ensure that I am treating them with loving kindness.  Additionally, the exercise helped me to emphasize the importance of loving oneself. Throughout the exercise, my mind became more quiet and calm throughout the exercise, as I let go of negative thoughts and focused only on positive thoughts. Following the exercise, I felt more focused on the positive aspects of my life, which included my family and friends.

           I plan to continue to practice both meditation and Loving Kindness exercises to help with mental fitness.  I have implemented meditation at least twice a week, to help reduce stress, relax and calm my mind.  Calming the chatter has been beneficial to help me to focus throughout the day and avoid overwhelming negative thoughts created by mental chatter.  The Loving Kindness exercise has been beneficial to focus on loving myself, family and friends to help promote more positive thoughts and a mind that is more calm and focused.

Meditation Experience

During the meditative process, my mind became less noisy.  As directed by the excercise, I was able to visualize a loving woman who had been an important part of my life for many years.  As I focused on her and the qualities that she represented and ones that I aspired to have, I felt calm and relaxed.  I reflected on her compassion and love for others that she demonstrated to all of those with whom she interacted.  She was a beautiful person who was always positive and offered help and kindness to others.  I continued to feel a sense of peace, calmness and relaxation throughout the duration of the exercise.  My mind continued to become more quiet and calm; my breathing became a point of focus as it continued to become slower.

I can continue to apply these practices to help create a greater sense of peace, calmness and create more positive thoughts throughout the day.  The experience was very positive for me and I plan to continue to practice this type of meditation regularly. 

The saying, “One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself”, refers to the idea that one must be able to understand or have practiced what he/she is trying to teach or convey.  A health and wellness professional must continually be aware that his/her psychological, physical and spiritual develop must be an ongoing process and focus, if he/she intends to help the client.  Using the techniques discussed in this class such as meditation, self-reflection, visualization and mental fitness I plan to continue to grow spiritually, psychologically and physically to ultimately achieve integral health.