Summarizing Experiences

The Assessments:

Based on self-reflections, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal well-being), the following areas of physical well-being, psychological well-being and spiritual well-being have been rated in comparison as:

                                                     Unit 3   Unit 10

Physical Well-being rating:             6           6.5

Psychological Well-being:              6           7

Spiritual Well-being rating:            7           7.5

The Changes Noticed:

Physical Well-being:  Positive results are becoming evident due to healthier eating, increased awareness, and exercise habits.  Less caffeine consumption is showing me that I sleep better and feel more rested upon rising.  I have also begun to lose some weight.  Motivating myself toward these new well-being goals is improving which also contributes to well-being.

Psychological Well-being:  This is where I see the most improvement which is directly associated with regular meditation practices, and intentionality, awareness, and observance exercises.  Something that I have added on my own is to do a ‘repetitive mantram’ as a way to promote the reduction of negative mental chatter and increase a sense of spirituality.  I credit this choice to Eknath Easwaran (2011) who said “A mantram is a powerful spiritual formula which, when repeated silently in the mind, has the capacity to transform consciousness. There is nothing magical about this. It is simply a matter of practice. The mantram is a short, powerful spiritual formula for the highest power we can conceive of – whether we call it God, or the ultimate reality, or the Self within. Whatever name we use, with the mantram we are calling up what is best and deepest in ourselves.”

Spiritual Well-being:  Due to meditation and mindfulness exercises; and intentionality, and observance exercises, I am seeing new spiritual experiences appear and it becomes the authentic understanding that you do not know, truly, what some of these experiences are until you ‘have’ them yourself.  One example:  I have heard it said that it is best to love yourself.  My thought response?  “Yeah, yeah….I love myself” but until you ’feel’ love wafting within and without and experience the depth of the loving vibration itself, you really do not understand it specifically.  When I was working on the Unit 7 exercise and researching Eknath Easwaran and the Eight Point Program (2011), I began to feel good, then really good, then joy running around on the inside of me, then joy from every cell in my body.  At this point part of my mind wanted to analyze what was going on and another part just wanted to stop and observe.  I stopped, observed, was quite taken aback by the feelings and thought that if I started back into the Unit 7 assignment that I would lose the feeling.  After experiencing tears of joy running down my face, I figured it could not get better than that, so I decided it was time to step forward and I went back to work.  I felt, not as good, but had an elevated sense of well-being for the rest of the evening.  With that said, I am so looking forward to future spiritual experiences.

The Goals and Implementations:

All identified goals in the areas of physical, psychological and spiritual are being acted upon and shifts are becoming evident, which support and encourage me to continue in all areas.

Thank You:

This class has covered a myriad of intricate information that, if applied, can lead to positive shifts and unimaginable experiences.  Dacher (2006) states “We just need to train ourselves to surf the waves of outer adversity rather than to drown in them.”  The glimpses of some of those possibilities that I have experienced, I’m thinking, are some examples of what Elliott S. Dacher (2006) mentioned in our course textbook Integral Health as “fruits will begin to emerge early”.  The body follows what goes on in the mind, thus making the mind a very important point of focus in this journey, and therefore a beautiful and precious gem that can reflect exquisite experiences.  Prior to this course, I had the understanding that there was definitely something more to human existence than what was seen and touched.  I’ve had far too many experiences that hinted at something more.  This course has connected some of those dots and I am very happy and grateful for this!  So much of what we have learned has filled in so many blanks that the upgraded awareness of what is possible is completely and positively stimulating.  With these tools, the understanding that integral health is limitless is invaluable.

“Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!”

References

Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral health:  the path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publishing, Inc.

Easwaran, E. (2011). The eight point program. Retrieved from http://www.easwaran.org/the-eight-point-program.htmlEaswarrdklkfj

Understanding Integral Health

Introduction:

Health and Wellness Professionals that desire success for themselves and their clientele should have a well-established understanding of the importance of holistically developing the physical, psychological, and spiritual areas for balanced well-being.  To develop one area and not another brings about an out of balance condition that does not serve the professional or their clientele.  Professionals not skilled in integral health can bring more harm than good when guiding clientele toward human flourishing.  As this is the beginning of my journey to integral health, it is apparent that work is needed in all three areas.

Assessment:

Dacher (2006) gives us an Integral Assessment tool that helps to not only identify areas in need of attention but to prioritize them as well.  While in a contemplative state, one can begin to take inventory of ones’ integral health, thus identifying areas that are in need of attention.  This process may take several attempts spread over a few days or even weeks (Dacher, 2006).  After defining which areas are in need of improvement, focus can be given to just those areas to determine their priorities.  For example, my physical assessment is average, my psychological assessment is just less than average, and my spiritual assessment is less than average.  I have great enthusiasm in addressing all of these areas with what has been described in Dacher’s book, Integral Health (2006), through exercises and practices.

Goal development:

Goals in these areas are identified as the following:

1)     Body/Physical – Manage weight to a healthier level; eat healthy, nutrient dense foods; increase exercise; sleep more soundly and wake refreshed

2)     Mind/Psychological – Adjust mental activity to be less reactive, pause, and opt for the more positive events and outcomes; become an observer to thoughts

3)     Spirit/Spiritual – Expand consciousness and connectedness by contemplative practices; meditate, practice forgiveness, compassion and gratitude; focus more on others

Practices for personal health:

Implementing the following will foster my growth:

1)      Physical practices:  Walking meditations, Qigong, stretching meditation, focused labyrinth walking, awareness and observation exercises, and swimming meditation

2)     Mind practices:  Deep breathing exercises, focus and inner listening exercise, skillful action exercise to minimize ‘knee-jerk’ reactivity, mindfulness exercise, intention exercise, and subtle mind meditation

3)     Spiritual practices:  Meeting Asclepius meditation, A taste of human flourishing meditation, mantra repetition exercise, contemplative music observance, deep listening exercise, and prayer

Examples of Exercises:

1)     Physical:  ‘Walking meditation/Intentionality, awareness, observance, listening and focus exercises’ – With each breath, intentionally let go of stress and become lighter.  With each step bring up your senses of the environment you are in, observe and listen to the details of it.  Next focus on proper posture, stride and arm swing to be in rhythm.  Then focus intentionally on the inner awareness of breathing, the effect of increased oxygen flow, the magnificent movement of muscles and become the witnessing mind.  The witnessing mind flows into calm-abiding, and if you can catch a glimpse of unity consciousness, that would be excellent.

2)     Mind:  ‘Mindfulness exercise/Intentionality, awareness, and observance exercises’ – At any time of the day or night, intentionally become completely aware of the present moment and witness/observe all that is taking place, letting go of everything else.  It is stated perfectly in the movie Peaceful Warrior “there is never ‘nothing’ going on” and “there is only this moment” (IMDb, 2006).  To that end, be non-judgmental and non-attached as a practice, yet very in the moment and very observant, including all inner activity as well.

3)     Spiritual:  ‘Contemplative music observance/Witnessing mind/Intentionality and observance practice’ – This is a beautiful exercise and very easy on the mind.  Once you find a piece of contemplative music to your liking, in a quiet setting, listen gently while letting go of the outer world and practice the observance of the witnessing mind which will eventually lead into calm-abiding.  Then intentionally visualize blending with your higher self, allowing the transference of knowledge, wisdom and deep gratitude.

Commitment:

The commitment to health and wellness is therefore a life journey and periodically, assessments are needed to refresh the understanding of where we are and what needs a little more of our love, focus and attention.  Any time that boredom or a non-forward movement is noticed, it is time for a reassessment.  Dacher’s (2006) Integral Assessment tool is an excellent choice for reassessment, as described above, and can be used for short-term or long-term review.  This course has been a powerful positive thrust in the journey toward integral health and I very much appreciate the experience and the knowledge.  Wishing loving-kindness to all in their future endeavors. 

References

Dacher E S 2006 Integral health:  the path to human flourishingDacher, E. S. (2006). Integral health:  the path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publishing, Inc.

IMDb 2006 Peaceful WarriorIMDb (2006). Peaceful Warrior. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0438315/quotes

Exercises and Practice Sessions

A review of Dacher’s (2006) exercises and practice sessions completed in this course:

Ø  Meditation/Visualization - Subtle Mind: witnessing mind, calm-abiding mind, unity consciousness experience

Ø  Meditation/Visualization - Loving-Kindness: remove suffering, replace with health, happiness and wholeness

Ø  Meditation/Visualization - Universal Loving-Kindness: remove suffering, replace with health, happiness, and wholeness for all

Ø  Meditation/Visualization – Meeting Asclepius: Merging with higher self

Ø  Meditation/Visualization – A Taste of Human Flourishing: Merging three aspects of a flourishing life (happiness, wholeness and radiant health)

Ø  Meditation/visualization –  Integral Assessment: Identifies areas within that need work

Ø  Exercise: deep breathing (to relax)

Ø  Exercise: focused attention (to give ourselves direction)

Ø  Exercise: listening (registers needed information)

Ø  Exercise: observance (note behaviors and thoughts)

Ø  Exercise: intention (pursuit of desired goals)

Ø  Exercise: skillful action (ending destructive knee-jerk reactive behavior)

All of these exercises and practices have important values to anyone wishing to engage in their own journey to integral health.  As far as choosing only two to implement into my personal life, all I can say is that where I am in this current moment I will implement the Subtle Mind meditation to develop my level of calm-abiding mind which will lead into a fuller experience of unity consciousness, as well as Meeting Asclepius meditation to repeatedly experience more of who I truly am, and I don’t think I could leave out any of the exercises.  I understand the importance of the Integral Assessment meditation and will check in with this visualization from time to time to further clarify my holistic personal development.  I am also aware of the benefits of both Loving-Kindness meditations in that what you give to others so you yourself receive.

References

Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral health:  the path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publishing, Inc.

"Meeting Asclepius"

Completing the “Meeting Asclepius” exercise on the companion CD by Dacher (2006) was a very pleasant experience.  Relaxing was not an issue and I loved working with the suggested colors.  I actually had an experience when I was in my early 20’s that changed my perception that is linked to the color indigo.  Some friends and I were in a spiritual development class and one night on my way to class, I drove over a hill and the entire night sky was indigo.  It so stunned me that I had to pull over to the side of the road and get out of my car because I wanted to know if I was seeing things.  Ever since that night, when I get the highest difference in light and dark, I will begin to see this indigo color. Sometimes when I’m driving at night, the dark pavement against the white stripes, the stripes turn indigo.  It’s like my own private light show.  The quickest place that it shows up is right after a camera flash.  You know how when that happens you see that red dot where the flash was?  Well, I see an indigo light.  No one has ever been able to fully explain to me what this is, so my interpretation is that there is something more than this physical universe. 

During the “Meeting Asclepius” exercise when it was suggested to begin working with a white light, what came to me was a white light edged in indigo.  It was very beautiful and it made me happy thinking that maybe now I get to develop whatever this indigo light is.  I really liked the idea of the blue light for authentic speech because as a child I was told not to ask questions.  This blue light felt really fantastic!   I’m looking forward to developments yet to come.

Wishing everyone well!

References

Dacher E S 2006 Integral health:  the path to human flourishingDacher, E. S. (2006). Integral health:  the path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publishing, Inc.

"One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself”

Dacher (2006) makes the statement "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself”. An example of how this would not work in a positive way would be a severely depressed practitioner trying to guide a severely depressed patient to wellness.  On the other hand, a practitioner that practices integral healing, on a personal level and acquires those skills of attainment can view all beings as the jewels that they already are while enhancing awareness of their own personal transformation which is empowering to them.  For those practitioners who truly care about their work and the people they give service to, believe their own personal integral journey becomes abundantly beneficial to themselves and everyone else.  Every life can benefit from integral health, including me.  It is my intention to continue with my meditations and exercises, and further explorations on integral health to aid in my own transformation into flourishing.

References

Dacher E S 2006 Integral health:  the path to human flourishingDacher, E. S. (2006). Integral health:  the path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publishing, Inc.

Universal Loving-Kindness & Integral Assessment

The Universal Loving-Kindness meditation practice was more challenging than I thought it would be because I was required to repeat four phrases and I couldn’t recall them during the meditation very well and had to start over several times.  So, by the time I finally did get through it, I couldn’t feel any expanded wellness in my mind or heart.  I just seemed relieved that I made it through the practice and got to the end.  I understand that the intention of this practice is to expand our consciousness using compassion for others.  So, I will try this again, after rehearsing the four phrases, to see if I can attain the witnessing mind concept to repeat the phrases for 10 minutes and see how it goes.

Completing the Integral Assessment as suggested by Dacher (2006), seemed sketchy in results.  In meditation, when I asked myself what aspect of my life was the source of difficulty and suffering, I didn’t get any answer, and then I got a small flash of interpersonal but no indication whether it was community, family or personal.  When I quieted my mind again and asked what area of my life was ready for growth and development, I didn’t get any indication at all.  Being that this is a new process for me and I wanted to make sure I was taking the proper steps, that in itself could have been a distraction preventing me from picking up on messages or clues.  Dacher also indicated that exploring this may take a few days to do, or even weeks, and as this becomes a quality and reliable tool for personal use, it should be used regularly to check on personal progress and to identify additional areas that could use some improvement.

What I understand is that Dacher’s Integral Assessment is an inner personal development tool that is used to review all aspects of our life and empower us to make choices which will further expand our life experiences in very appreciative and fulfilling ways.

Even though my integral assessment only briefly indicated the area of interpersonal as needing improvement, I feel sure that all areas, in this current moment, are in need of improvements.  I’m going to take the attitude that interpersonal is exactly where I need to start making plans of improvement and I will further that by identifying the target area of ‘family’ as where to start.  I desire to experience more quality time and conversations with family members.  Since I do not live around any of them, other than my mother, I will put positive efforts into quality conversations with them.  Actually, this idea is already filling me with happiness.  I will spend some time in meditation seeing this activity coming together smoothly, visualize loving-kindness flowing to each of them with ease, practice compassion and forgiveness for us all, and envision their happiness.  Then, from this place of joy in my heart, I will speak with them and further develop positive personal relationships.

References

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

Meditation Comparison

In comparing the Loving Kindness and Subtle Mind exercises by Dacher (2006), I can see that different aspects of my mind are activated.  With the Loving Kindness exercise, I’ve come to spend extra time afterwards basking in the vision of the essence of me as a mature woman, embracing the essence of me as a young child, in this beautiful blended energy of wholeness that brings me great peace.  In the Subtle Mind exercise I need to stop the program in order to get all of my 10 deep breaths in then start it back up.  I find the flute music and waves distracting when I’m trying to learn how to witness my thoughts, maybe because I'm trying too hard.  Normally I love sounds of water such as rain, streams and oceans.  I can see thoughts come and go but I don’t know where they come from or where they are going.  I am beginning to understand what is meant by “grasping and clinging” to thoughts and that is pretty interesting.  So, I’m thinking this new exercise will need several sessions to achieve the stable calm-abiding that is mentioned by Dacher.  It does sound like an interesting experience and I’m looking forward to it.

References

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

The Mind-Body-Spirit Connection

In years past, Western civilization has long addressed issues with the mind and issues with the body, and in the 21^st Century we are witnessing an increasing shift to address the ‘Mind-body-spirit’ as a whole and what it takes to do so.

Aspects of mental wellness: develop and maintain alertness, cognitive functions, exercise the mind, meditate, challenge and stimulate the mind, acquire knowledge, and express creativity.

Aspects of physical wellness: develop and maintain exercise routines to build strength, flexibility and endurance; partake of a healthy diet, express creativity, and care for the body.

Aspects of spiritual wellness: develop and maintain an inner state of connected awareness to all that is, express creativity, experience the enormity of forgiveness, appreciation, gratefulness, mindfulness, and unconditional love.

These three aspects of holistic wellness are so joined that one cannot affect an area without affecting all.  In my own life, I can see beneficial effects in all areas when I meditate through a qigong practice, but not to the perfection levels as stated above.  My mind becomes relaxed and clear, my body becomes energized, and I feel euphoric until I apply my attention elsewhere.  That is an indication that there is more practice needed and I look forward to further developments on my journey.

Loving Kindness Practice

Beginning the Loving Kindness Practice by, Dacher (2006), seemed similar to other meditations that I have done in the past.  I have not gone through any practices of taking on other peoples suffering and transforming it before.  I’ve sent other people loving-kindness in the past but not taken on their suffering for transformation.  That part was interesting. Pre-reading the loving-kindness process helped me to understand that this new experience was not going to injure me and that in itself gave me the confidence to make the full attempt that the guidance instructed.  Evidently during the segment of taking on more people’s suffering and transforming it, I fell asleep.  Most interesting!  In other meditations I’ve been told that this is particularly good because I needed exactly that, in that moment.  So, I’m not sure if that means my first attempt was successful for the other people that I was working with but it helped me out with something that I evidently needed and I do feel quite refreshed.  This will be interesting to see the developmental stages.  I'm looking forward to it.

References

Dacher, E. S. (2006). Loving Kindness Practice. On The path to human flourishing [CD].

About Mental Workouts

In psychospiritual flourishing, the term “Mental Workout” takes into account the exercise of deeply quieting the mind, using intentional focus, developing new awareness, replacing negative thoughts with positive ones, and introducing new ideas and ways of thinking, that contribute to an improved sense of well-being and an interconnectedness with all things (Dacher, 2006).

Research indicates that in as little as one hour per day spent in the practice of a mental workout, accumulative beneficial results are seen and well-being is enhanced.  And just like any training regime when the practice is stopped, the benefits recede as well, thus it is very important to establish a regular life affirming routine.

I can implement mental workouts by setting aside 30 minutes in the morning and evening.  It’s not necessarily the length of time spent in a mental workout but the consistency that will bring about the desired results.  In organizing my daily events, it is much better to start my day with a mental workout because it will contribute positively to everything else that goes on during the day.  It is also beneficial to end my day with a mental workout because it will contribute to a peaceful nights rest.  How great is that?!

References

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

Development Proposal

I propose the following to assist me in moving forward toward my physical, spiritual and psychological goals:

Physical goal activities:  Swim, walk, strength training, stretch, and eat healthy foods each week.

Spiritual goal activities:  Mindfulness meditations – deep breathing exercise, visualize myself as expansive white energy without a body, and allow myself to become open to inner guidance and dialogue. 

Psychological goal activities:  Start using my left hand more (I’m right handed), exercise my mind by playing memory games (there are lots of fun memory games available), and attempt to learn something new each week.

Self-Reflection of Being

     My personal ratings:

          -        Physical Well-being rating:           6

          -        Spiritual Well-being rating:           7

          -        Psychological Well-being rating:  6

The above ratings have actually risen in the past two years due to a slow unwinding process of detoxification from being out of work from doing something that did not bring me joy, for almost 30 years.  I am very happy to report these ratings and look forward to the increases yet to come.


Personal goals for myself in each area:

   Physical           - lose 25 pounds, exercise regularly and eat healthy

   Spiritual           - further develop my awareness of my connection to source

   Psychological  - learn new mental fitness routines and explore ways to 

                                    continuously stimulate motivation

"The Crime of the Century" - Relaxation

With this relaxation technique, it did take a little time getting into the swing of the meditation.  It was actually right up my alley, using all those colors.  I loved it!  I didn't fall readily into picturing a window in each of the areas, but just the deep brilliant living colors of the chakras.  Right after I finished, I went to work on a project and it flowed fabulously together and I was finished in no time at all.  Wow!  Maybe I should meditate just before all projects!!!!  I am going to do this just out of curiosity.  Hope everyone is doing well with all of their work for this week.

Building NrLight

I must say that building this blog was not as challenging as I thought it was going to be.  I'm sure that starting out without any knowledge on how to do it made me feel more scared than I needed to be, but with my understanding of how to step through the learning process, I moved that scary feeling into "exploring" and I began to find some interesting items like my fish tank.

Once I figured out how to access the color settings I was a happy camper!  I just "love" working with colors!!!!! 

I still don't know what many options are but as time allows I'll discover them.  It kind of sets up the possibility of having more fun down the road.  I like that!

"Journey On" - Relaxation Experience

After listening to the "Journey On" assignment, I experienced the ability to change sensations in my arms and legs from what was considered normal to me to what felt like heaviness, and this was quite interesting.  Just the idea of the mind giving commands to body parts and those body parts responding to those precise commands with immediate response was quite fascinating.

I wanted to find out more about this autogenic training technique.  It is actually a type of therapy that was developed in the 1930's for relaxation and stress reduction in an effort to stimulate natural healing in the body.  It has also been used to reduce anxiety, manage pain, reduce fatigue, and lower irritability (WebMD, 2011).  I'm also reading that in order to master Autogenic Training (AT), you need to do it regularly, and then because you always have it with you, you can use it anywhere at anytime.  How convenient is that??  This seems like it would be a nice personal tool to have around.

References:
WebMD (2011). What is autogenic training. Retrieved from

http://www.webmd.com/balance/tc/autogenic-training-topic-overview

From my Inner Light to Yours

Hi there! Welcome!! Ready your keyboard and let's see what's happening!  All this is very new and very interesting and I'm sure there will be many discoveries and oopses to go through, so "let's do this!".  We are all here together.