Unit 9

As a massage therapist I consider myself a health and wellness professional.  It is important for me to develop myself psychologically, spiritually, and physically.  More than anything I am a mentor to my clients.  They look to me to address their physical problems but also to have a wealth of information pertaining to wellness.  During appointments I am often asked about my opinion on a wide array of wellness issues.  I can read all of the text I want but how can I truly answer these questions if I don’t take the time to experience these things myself.  This reminds me of the question posed in our reading, "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" (p.470).  I feel it is irresponsible of me to parrot back studies I have read without taking the time to experience this wellness exercises myself.  Also, I would be a hypocrite if I preached the importance of health and wellness in life but didn’t take the time for myself. That is where I falter a little bit in the wellness department I have a very intense schedule and I need to make time for myself a priority in my life.

            I find that self-assessment is a hard thing for me to do.  I would like to rate myself 10 out of 10 when it comes to spirituality, physically, and psychologically, but that’s just not reality.  The reality is that I sacrifice my “me time” to be able to accomplish everything in my busy life.  Spirituality I would rank myself perhaps 6 out of 10.  I feel a spiritual connection within myself and I do notice certain shifts in my life but I rarely take the time to sit, contemplate and expand it.  Physically I would rank myself a 6 out of 10 as well.  I eat healthy, am a healthy weight, and am able bodied.  With that being said I have not taken the time to exercise in a long time.  I enjoy running but the last time I took the time to go for a run in the morning was around July.  I always have a bit of guilt for not taking the time to exercise more.  We are only given one body and we should treat it well.  Lastly I would rate myself an 8 out of 10 psychologically.  I am able to avoid drama, think clearly, and surround myself by amazing people.  I feel like I am a very grounded person but I find myself being too empathetic.  I tend to try to make everyone happy and in the meantime sacrifice my own happiness.  I have been working on being true to myself to help this flaw.

            My goal to enhance my spirituality is a bit out there.  I will increase the amount of time I spend in nature.  When I am in nature I feel a connection to something bigger than myself.  I start to contemplate life, meaning, relationships and the importance of every moment.  I think the best thing I could do for my spirituality is to spend at least two hours every week, broken up in any increment, outside.  To increase my physical wellbeing I will go for a run at least 2-3 times a week.  Running is my favorite exercise and it gets me outside.  Although, living in New Hampshire makes running a little complicated this time of year so I will probably need to buy a gym membership to accomplish this goal.  Lastly, my goal for my psychological well-being is to meditate at least every other day.  This is a manageable goal for me and one I can accomplish.  If I start off will a goal of everyday I know I will not complete it.  With these goals I should be well on my way to health and wellness.

            To foster growth in these domains I will need to have a variety of exercises to pull from.  This will help me be more well-rounded and will increase my chances to meet my goals.  For the spiritual aspect I will continue to take long breaks for my hectic life in nature and I will start reading some literature on becoming more spiritually aware.  Psychologically I will practice two different meditation techniques.  I will practice the witnessing mind meditation exercise because I really enjoyed this approach.  I liked how this practice was okay and encouraged your mind to wander.  I feel like this approach allowed me to relax more and not scrutinize my wandering mind.  The other meditation exercise I would like to practice is the technique where you focus on breathing through your nose.  In this exercise you focus on your breath and the feeling of your breath in your body like your abdomen, chest and nostrils.  I find when I am stressed out or my mind is racing too fast that this exercise helps to center me.  For my physical well-being not only will I plan to have a running regiment I also want to find a personal trainer to help with my exercise routine.

            To ensure that I committed to my health spiritually, physically and psychologically I will plan to revisit these goals every three months.  By revisiting and revising my goal periodically I will be able to see where my strengths and weaknesses are.  This will give me an opportunity to see where my goals were laid to high and where my goals left room for me to achieve more.  It also creates an environment where I see my health as something that requires though and attention to transform it to my present needs.

             

           

Unit 8

Over the last eight weeks we have learned how to practice many meditation exercises.  The two that I found most beneficial for me and my lifestyle is the loving kindness exercise and the subtle mind exercise.  During the loving kindness exercise you visualize sending love, acceptance and positive thoughts to people in your life and people of the world.  I found that I really enjoyed this exercise. It allowed me to take the time to send out positivity and love to the people in my life.  More importantly it allowed me to take the time to forgive and the love the people who have wronged me.  The other meditation technique that I truly enjoyed was the subtle mind practice.  This practice compliments my personality well.  When I meditate I often feel aggravated at myself for letting my mind wander.  Then I am irritated at how "poorly" I am meditating.  In the subtle mind practice observing your mind wander is part of the meditating.  It is about being the observer of your own thoughts and separating yourself from the ranting of your own mind.  When I practice the subtle mind exercise I find that I do not get frustrated with myself and can truly enjoy meditating.  I am planning on making a point of either start off my day or ending my day with one of these two exercises.  I need to take time for me and work on my mental fitness.  I can at least find a few minutes in a day to spend doing meditation.  Especially now that this class has showed how important meditating is.

Unit 7 Blog

The meditation practice this week asked us to think of someone we respect and admire for his or her wisdom and I chose my Mother.  She has a deep calming presence and has a great awareness of the important things in life.  When reflecting on her wisdom and characteristics I realized I admire her for her love of everyone and her ability to find fun in every situation.  She absolutely lives by the life is too short motto.  Although I did enjoy this exercises I did once again have difficulty imagining the beams of light associated with this mediation practice.  I felt like I was trying so hard to imagine it that it took away from the exercise.  Maybe I am just not creative enough for those mental visuals.  I enjoyed the thought of absorbing my Mother’s great attributes.  I hope to be half the woman she is some day.

The saying, “One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” is a very strong statement to me.  It means that if you have not accepted this lifestyle into your life how can you expect yourself to teach someone about it?  As a massage therapist I have many clients looking to me for advice able health and wellbeing.  I couldn’t possibly give them advice if I did not practice it myself.  Not only does it make you a better teacher it allows the person to trust you in there learning path.  I think in my profession it is important to have and practice wellness.  You are touching people while they are in a relaxed semi conscious state and extremely sensitive to negativity or positivity.  I would like to continue my path to wellness with more mediation practice and practicing love and compassion.

Unit 6

I just completed the loving kindness exercise from Unit 6 out of the book Integral Health.  I had a hard time settling down my brain into a quiet relaxation and then reading a computer screen.  I do like it much better when the exercises are on audio but I suppose trying something different was good as well.  WHen I was finally in the state where I could do the exercise I was surprised at how the words affected me.  The words were

May all individuals gain freedom from suffering.
May all individuals find sustained health, happiness, and wholeness. 
May I assist all individuals in gaining freedom from suffering.
May I assist all individuals in finding health, happiness, and wholeness. (Dacher, 2006)

When I read these words before relaxing I did not feel like I was going to have much of a reaction but in a relaxed state I surprised myself.  I felt like I was letting go of some bitterness I didn't know I carried.  It made me think of what a weight is lifted when you let something someone has done to you go.  Many years ago I was in a relationship and after about a year I found out that he was married.  I was devastated and angry.  For a long time I thought about if I saw him again what I would do.  I thought about what I would say to him or her.  About 18 months later I ran into his wife's best friend and I realized I could tell the friend and she would tell the wife.  It was at this moment that I had a sense of calm rush over me and I let it all go.  I realized I wished him no harm and the last thing I wanted to put out into the universe was anymore hurt.  I can't explain to you how therapeutic it was to let it completely go.  I felt lighter without my burden of hate.  Anyhow, long story short .... this is what this exercise reminded me of.  I wish health and happiness to everyone I know even if they have wronged me because I realize that hate and anger are to heavy a burden to be carried.

When I look at my life and I think of what area needs more development I automatically think of the pyschospritual aspect.  I run my own business 50+ hours a week, teach night class 10 hours a week and I am taking three college courses.  (Have I mentioned I have the most tolerant husband in the world.)  I find time to do everything except the mental and spiritual "me time."  I need to create a priority of taking time for me and my health and wellness.  I ned to implement a time where I can meditate and do exercises like the loving kindness exercise.

Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral health: The path to human flourishing.  Long Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications

Unit 5

Today for my class I participated in a subtle mind practice.  I enjoyed the loving kindness exercise last week but I enjoyed this exercise much more.  When I meditate I often find that I am constantly distracted by my own thoughts, feelings and inner chatter.  During this exercise if you happen to go on a mental field trip it is ok.  Watching this experience is as much a part of the exercise as the breathing.  I enjoy meditation exercises that allow me to focus on breathing and the minds quiet instead of directing me as to what to imagine.  I enjoyed the non-judgment aspect of this activity as well.  I often find that I become irritated with myself for my mental wandering.  Some days I know I will not be able to concentrate so I don't meditate at all.  The subtle mind practice gives me an opportunity to accept whatever my mind does during the process.  The biggest part of the exercise is to look at the thought process as an observer and accept it for what it is.  I truly enjoyed this experience.

I believe exercises like this are so important to health.  Spiritual health is so strongly connected with mental health and physical health.  An example of this is to think about a statement that you hold very true to yourselves.  An example would be - My children love me.  When you say that or feel that you will have good feeling of love and acceptance.  Now take that statement and state the opposite of it to yourself.  How does it feel? That statement can easily be taken as a belief, when you think about the opposite of this statement you probably have negative feeling.  You may feel upset or sad.  This is how your beliefs or spirituality can affect your mental health as well.  Take it farther and you may notice that you have a sick feeling or an anxiety response to the second statement.  This is how your belief can affect you physical health.  It is an example of you feeling a visceral reaction caused by  different hormones and chemicals released into your body because of a belief.

Thinking positively and practicing good spiritual health positively affects your mental health and physical health as well.  Health conditions like migraines, vascular abnormalities and digestive issues can all be helped by increase spiritual health.

Loving Kindness

Today we did a mediation exercise called loving kindness.  I enjoyed this exercise much more than the last one.  I am liked how it concentrated on loving yourself.  I truly believe that loving yourself is the most important thing you can do in your life.  How can you love others if you do not love yourself.  It also had us practicing breathing exercises that had us concentrating on breathing in the discomfort of a love one and then feeling it dissipate through the exhale.  It had us think of others and the peace and wellness within ourselves.  Over all the exercise was very relaxing and really stretched my mind into picturing health and discomfort and watching it dissolve in my minds eye.  I would absolutely recommend this exercise to other people because letting go of suffering and loving yourself is so important to wellness. 

I think that exercises like this and others that push your brain and cause mental work outs are integral to health and wellness.  These exercise train your mind and brain like an athlete trains their bodies.  By practicing loving kindness it eventually becomes second nature.  Research has shown practicing mental work out can increase clarity, mental focus and memory.