Unit 9 Project

I. Introduction:
Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually, and physically because they need to be a product of their product. Dacher states, “To become the agents of a more expansive health, we must begin with our own life.” These professionals must be willing to explore the inner aspects of our own life through psychological development and contemplative practice. To achieve the goals I have put in for myself, I need to improve on my spiritually health the most, then my psychological health next, and I think I have a good grasp on physical health.

II. Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

Since taking this class, I have assessed my health in the spiritual and psychological side by doing the practices and activities throughout our weeks. I have never meditated before since this class, so I have noticed when trying to meditate in our practices I have struggled to connect with the exercise. I assess my physical health by how active I am; I work out in the gym 3-4 days a week, indoor soccer once a week, and random times of walking, running, hiking, etc. I would score my physical health an eight out of ten because even with how active I am I still believe there is always room for improvement. I would score my psychological health 6 out of ten because again there is always room for improvement, but I still need to improve this area in general. Psychological health is such a wide area to cover and every day is a new battle with psychological health because there is always something going on in life. Lastly, I would score my spiritual health a 5 out of ten; I believe this area is my most lacking area at times. Again, this area of health is tested every day in life so some days are better than others.

III. Goal development:
List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.

My physical health goal is to gain ten pounds of lean muscle mass and to run a half marathon. My psychological heath goal is to improve on my stress, anxiety, and worriedness tendencies. My spiritual health goal is to practice meditation a few times a week and work to once a day to improve my overall health. Meditating every day will benefit all of my other goals I have in place for myself also.

IV. Practices for personal health:
What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example.

Some strategies I can implement to foster growth in the psychological domain is to practice meditation regularly and do more yoga to relax and concentrate on myself. Two strategies I can implement for my spiritual health is to pray more regular and to believe and trust in people more than I do. Two examples to improve my physical health is to set a routine for my work out schedules and to make more meals ahead of time so I have a better prep so I can be more successful in my physical goals.

V. Commitment:
How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?

In the next six months I will assess my progress for my physical health by taking before and after pictures and weight and body measurements. For my psychological health I will get a package to a yoga place and have set appointments, and with six months’ time I will be an experienced in yoga. I will be able to tell I have better balance so I can concentrate on myself and relaxation in the yoga process. I can assess my progress in my spiritual goal by feeling more comfortable praying so I can connect with myself and a higher power.

Two exercises

The two exercises and practices that I think benefited me most were the visualization exercise and the loving kindness exercise. I liked the loving kindness exercise mainly because the sounds that they put into the practice. I really like the sounds of nature and being new to meditation I tend to do best with those kinds of sounds while I do it. The visualization exercise is good because it makes you reflect on great times in your life and being in a meditative state makes it a inner connection. These two exercises can help with my mental fitness by practicing both of these exercises on a daily or weekly basis to excel in my mental fitness. By exercising my mental fitness, I will improve in this area where I will have a strong connection with my inner self which is good for everything.

Meeting Aesclepius

Since the beginning of this class I have been trying to incorporate some meditating on my own and using the exercises we have in doc sharing for class. I am still very new to this and having a hard time connecting to my inner self, like these exercises we have for this class. I think some more time practicing will help me really connect with these exercises. This practices can benefit my health and wellness by helping me relieve stress, relax from the day/week, connect with my inner self and improve my psychospiritual side. The saying one cannot lead another where one has not gone himself means that someone like me that is new to meditation cannot coach someone on it because I don't know everything about it, know what they will need to expect, etc. A health professional needs to be current on all the health and wellness practices to coach their clients on. They need to be a product of their product, but in their line of work areas.

Loving Kindness/Integral Assesment

I didn't really like or find any benefit from the universal loving kindness exercise. Repeating four lines for ten minutes really didn't do much for me at all; I found it boring and not helpful but maybe it's because I am still new to connecting to my inner self.

The integral assessment was interesting; I chose psychospiritual as my aspect of my life that is lacking. I chose this because for one it's one of the most underdeveloped areas that we have read about in our book and similar to that I have not explored that side of myself too much and am just starting to. I have meditated a few times; still working on it, I finally went to my first yoga class too. It was actually hot yoga; I enjoyed it and would like to keep both those up.

The Subtle Mind practice

I enjoyed the subtle mind practice I think a little more than the loving kindness practice because we had more time with the soothing sounds without someone talking. I like the sounds of both the exercises, the ten deep breaths were a bit much but it was my first time doing ten deep breaths so I will practice this a few times this week to improve. I am still having a hard to incorporating the peoples voices and to do what they say while how relaxed I get with the nice sounds. Spiritual, mental, and physical wellness I think all runs together because to reach "wellness" overall you would need to have a good amount of each of these. If only two are good and one is lacking I think it can have an affect. For myself, my spiritual wellness is the lacking one and I will improve on this by practicing with these practices we are doing.

Loving Kindness Practice

I thought the loving kindness practice was interesting. I really liked the ocean sounds and the Indian whistles. When I was younger I have bought C.D's with ocean sounds, waterfalls, ran, thunderstorms, etc. and I would listen to them at night or whenever I would like to relax. I am still working on the meditation so the talking of it was a little difficult for me, but I will get there. I would recommend this to others because it is relaxing and beneficial to anyone that will try this. The concept of a mental workout is to do something that works the mind; like a workout in the gym would train muscles. I workout at least 3 days a week in the gym lifting weights and I could incorporate mental workouts with my own by focusing on my mind with my workouts. To train the mind I will focus on my breathing, visualize my workout before I do them with perfect form too.

Wellness Reflection

On a scale to one to ten I would rate my physical well being at eight, spiritual well being at 6, and psychological well being at 8. I rated my physical well being at eight out of ten because I am only 24 and am very active in sports and working out. I rated my spiritual well being at a 6; spiritual well being is about finding meaning and our purpose in this life and our place in the greater universe. From this definition I would say I have some improvement in finding my place in the greater universe. I feel like I am starting to find out my meaning in life with this career path switch; started going to a traditional college for nursing just cause they made good money but health and wellness is what I am passionate about. I rated my psychological well being a 8 because I wold say I am pretty comfortable with who I am, where I am in life, being happy for what I have, etc.

A goal for myself with my physical well being is to train for the half marathon I have been wanting to do for some time now. A goal for my spiritual well being is to reflect on my purpose in life and look at the bigger picture. My goal for my psychological well being is to try not to stress as much as I do now. We all have busy schedules and even though I don't have a wife and kids doesn't mean I don't. Between full time work as a service plumber never knowing what time my day will end, full time school- we all know how much time consuming all the homework can be, working out- which is very important to me, then just trying to enjoy life like everyone else.

Some activities I can do to work towards my goals can be: running, training, and book a date for the half marathon I want to do, take time for myself alone in the quiet to reflect on my life, meditate, etc. and work on time management to stress less.

The relaxation exercise was interesting; I have never done something like that before. It was beneficial in the sense of relaxation. A sort of frustrating feeling was not getting what he was talking about feeling grounded, centered, loved, etc. I have never meditated before either so maybe that is similar to it but I don't know.