Week 5 Blog

1. Compare and contrast the Loving Kindness exercise and the Subtle mind exercise. Explain your experience including the benefits, frustrations etc.

Comparison between the Loving Kindness and Subtle mind exercise:

Both were narrated by a man and the instruction was given by a woman.

Both had ocean sounds in the back ground during ‘relaxation’ time.

Both were a relaxation exercise to help ‘workout’ the mind.

Contrasts:

Loving Kindness focused on focusing on a love one that brings you love and reflect on how you feel.  Then you were instructed to focus on a love on that was suffering.  You are to ‘take in’ their suffering and ‘breath out’ love and kindness to them.  Finally you are asked to “take in” suffering of strangers and ‘breathe out’ love and kindness to them.

The Loving Kindness focused more assisting other people versus assisting yourself.

Subtle Mind focused on working your breath.  Using this exercise as daily practice will lead you down the path of human flourishing.  This exercise focused more on the individual vs. other people.  

Unfortunately my experience was the same with the Loving Kindness exercise as it was with The Subtle Mind practice.  I was unable to concentrate and thus did not receive the benefit of these exercises.  I prefer an exercise that does not have as much speaking.  I am unable to focus enough to visualize what the speaker is asking, i.e. colors coming from various parts of your body.  I am able to relax my body and mind with exercises that have soft music or nature sounds along with some speaking.  I like more quiet in order to relax.

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

There is a connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness.  When you are able to train your mind thru ‘mental workouts’ you will start to see the benefits of these exercises.  A well spiritual mind will allow you to have a healthy mental and physical body.  Your spirit is directly connected to your mind and body.  When you have an unhealthy spiritual wellness, your mind and body will also be unhealthy.  It is imperative to gain a sense of balance between the spirit, mind, and body to have overall health and wellness in your life.

I see the connection in my own personal life.  My first marriage was an unhealthy relationship.  The unhealthy relationship had an overall effect on my physical, mental, and spiritual health.  I felt that I had not hope and fell into a bout of depression.  I contribute my poor mental health directly from the events that took place in my unhealthy relationship.

When I exercise and take time out for myself, not only do I feel better physically but I am also mentally healthy.  I feel that all three aspects of my mind, body, and spirit come together.  When I am mentally healthy it pours over into my daily life and into my relationships.

I have also seen the reverse happen.  My friend is basically miserable in all aspects of her life.  She is mentally burnt out because of her job, her husband’s job, financial situation, her daughter misbehaving, etc.  She is physically in poor health.  She has to be close to 100lbs overweight and her weight bothers her.  I tried talking to her and she is just negative Nelly.  She will not be able to lead a healthy life and fix the issues with her daughter until she works on healing her ‘insides’ first.

Resources:

Dacher, E. (2005). Integral Health The Path to Human Flourishing

     Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications

Unit 4 Blog - Loving Kindness & Mental Workout

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 my experience with the Loving Kindness mp3 to be difficult.  I am not sure if it is the time of day that I am trying to listen to these exercises or is it that my mind will just not relax enough.  I was hoping that the exercises in this class would be very helpful, but so far I have not found any that I like.  I would recommend the Loving Kindness to others because they might find a benefit from it.  I think that meditation is not a one size fits all type of relaxation.  What works for me might not necessarily work for the next person and vice versa.  I am really starting to try and open my mind to integral health and I think that if the Loving Kindness exercise can help one person than I have helped that person take a step toward a healthy mind.

2.        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?

The concept of “mental workout” is exercising the mind daily just like you would exercise your body daily or dedicate daily time to studying.  It is not possible to evolve your psychospiritual life and access its capacities and resources without daily practice.  Research shows that consistent daily practice will show proven results (Dacher, 2006).

Implementing mental workouts to foster my psychological health is something that I really need to incorporate into my daily life.  A healthy mind is just as important if not more important than physical health.  I believe that if you take care of your mind, a healthy body will follow.  I have tried to take ‘baby steps’ in trying to implement mental workouts.  This morning, I tried to take just a few minutes to clear my mind before I started my day.  I also found myself trying to just relax my mind during the day.  I was taking the elevator at work (and was alone) so I thought this would be good time to close my eyes, take a few deep breaths, and try to clear my mind just for a few minutes.  I also tried to focus on pleasant things during my long commute this morning such as the cooler air and the pretty blue sky with the fluffy clouds.  I was trying to really take in a different appreciate for items that I take for granted on a daily basis. 

I know that I will continue to increase my focus on my mental health and soon will be dedicating more time daily to this important aspect of my life.

Resource:

Dacher, E. (2005). Integral Health The Path to Human Flourishing

     Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications

Blog for 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?

I would rate myself as follows:

Physical wellbeing – 7

I am giving myself a 7 because overall I am very healthy and try and take an alternative approach when it comes to medicine.  I was exercising regularly but I stopped due to an injury.  I have not been able to commit and find the motivation to exercise again after my injury has healed.  My weight is normal, but I think that I can still lose a few more pounds.  I don’t do crazy with my weight but I try and make conscious decisions on what I put in my body.  I recently went back to juicing which I am happy about.

Spiritual wellbeing – 2

Yikes that is a bad number!  This is the area that I need improvement.  I struggle with this the most.  Not to make excuses, but it is a little difficult when I do not have ‘spiritual’ support in my home.

Psychological wellbeing – 7

I think that there are areas for improvement in this category.  I have learned to ‘weed’ out much of the negativity and drama in my life.  This is why I really do not have many friends.  I know this sounds horrible.  I rather spend time alone or with my family.  I find that my friends would ‘bring me down’ or always had way too much drama for me.  Drama drains my brain.  I control my feelings the majority of the time.  I don’t believe in yelling in my house.  I do not yell at my husband or daughter.  My husband also does not yell.  My house is run very calm but effective (there are other methods in getting results versus yelling).  I try and keep my stress level low.  I know there is areas that I could improve, thus I gave myself a score of 7. 

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

My goals:

Physical – I need to get back to exercising!  I was running a few days a week until I got a nasty shin splint.  The doctor thought I fractured my tibia.  It was painful and I was out of commission for about five weeks.  I lost my momentum and stopped running.

Spiritual – This is a difficult one for me.  I honestly do not know where I want to go with this.  I could start off with baby steps and just set aside quite time for myself a few times a week.  I think maybe clearing my mind might help me make a clearer decision on where I want to progress my spiritual journey.

Psychological – I think a goal for me is to take the stress level down a little more.  I do let ‘little’ items get me going sometimes.  I need to learn to not sweat the small stuff.  I also focus on the past too much.  I find that I often say to myself, I should have or I could have.  I cannot change the past, but I can only influence my future.

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

The activities or exercising that I could implement to assist me in working towards each goal are:

·         Exercise activity - Sign up for a 5k.  If I commit to a date, and let my friends and family know that I am running a 5k, then I will stay committed in completing my goal.

·         Spiritual activity – Weekly meditation to help me clear my mind and find inter peace.

·         Psychological activity – Positive thinking.  I need to write notes to myself on what I have done that are accomplishments and items that I am proud of.  I need to stop focusing on the past and what could or should have been.

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

I personally did not care for this relaxation exercise.  I was not feeling the benefits of this particular tape.  I found my mind wondering too much and had to bring myself back to focus.  I also found that I was trying to ‘rush’ the tape.  It seemed like forever for the gentleman to go from one color to the next.  I think that there was just too much talking for me to try and focus and concentrate.

Thought of the day....

Negative in...negative out.

I am going to try and keep my mind full of positive thoughts.  I will try and not to 'fixate' on things I can not control.  These items seem to consume my energy and end up adding stress into my life that I do not need.

First official post - Introduction,statement, and meditation

Hi class.  My name is Jessica and I am from New Jersey.  I took this class to satisfy one of my elective courses for my Bachelor of Science degree.  I am currently working towards my Bachelors degree in psychology.  I will be graduating in the spring of 2013.

I have an interest in holistic medicines, alternative therpies, etc.  This is why I thought this course would be interesting to take.  I am however finding it to be a challenge.

My reflective statement is that I will learn to find more quality time for me.  My life is very chaotic.  I work full time in a demanding job.  I am going to school, so all of my free time is dedicated to school work.  I have a husband and a three and a half year old daughter.  I try and spend a much time possible with my daughter, which leaves the night time to take care of schoolwork.  In a few more weeks, all of her activites will start up again, which means that my Saturdays are a little crazy.  I need to make real quality time for me.  Even if it is just 10 minutes a day.  I need to quiet my mind and clear my thoughts.  I know this will help me stay focused and mentally strong.

The meditation tape I thought was good, but I did it at the wrong time.  My husband is getting my daughter ready for bed and was starting a bath when I started the tape.  She came into the room twice when I was trying to listen to the tape.  I was however able to relax to a degree.  I find that after I meditate that I become very sleepy.  This is not good when it it only 7:30pm at night and there are still TONS to be done.  I will try the tape again tomorrow night, when I know I will not have any interuptions.

Stress

This blog is causing me much stress.  Anyone else having the same challenges?