Unit 10 A final look at human flourishing

When doing week three’s blog I rated my physical health at a 9.  It is still the same. There is always room for improvement, but actually feel stronger in the past few weeks as I have increased my activity and taken steps to become physically stronger.  Such as adding a spin class to my schedule and doing at least 50 pushups every other day.

My spiritual wellness was at a 5-6 at the time of week three and now I think I am more at a 7. I have a long way to go, but awareness, thinking about it and considering what steps to take. Before this class I really had not been giving it too much thought. I think about it more. In the recent week a good friend passed away. He had been battling leukemia since last March. In November he had a bone marrow transplant and it had looked like he was going to beat this. Then quite suddenly he slipped away from us. He was my head coach for the Half Marathon training group I run. Yesterday was his funeral. It was at a Catholic church and though I do not go for the “Stand-sit-kneel-pray” ceremony of organized religion, I thought a lot about God and how I hoped there was a heaven. I’d like to think I get to see all the people who have gone that I miss so much. This class has really opened my mind to a different mind set.

My psychological well-being was and still is around a 7. I have a lot of work to do. My awareness is more, but I have work to do. I need to change the way I think about thing. I cannot at this time change my life’s circumstances, but I can change the way I think about them. Right now I live in Fremont, which is an hour at the least from work, not to mention, from where my friends live, all the things I like to do are, well you get my drift. I moved to Fremont to live with my boyfriend, as his kids were still young. However they are now in college. I would like to move back to San Jose but it has become too expensive to live there especially with college tuition to pay for. So here I am. I have found some good fitness classes to take that are on my way home from work and I now listen to books on my iPhone during my commute.

My goals that I set physically, emotionally and spiritually are on track. I am slowly increasing my physical strength, I have been stepping away from my work area and taking a walking meditation. We have a labyrinth out near our parking lot and some days I will walk it and just breathe slowly. I’ll try to clear my mind or just observe my thoughts, but not try to work things out. My stress driving to work is greatly decreased due to listening to Audiobooks.

This class has been a great experience. It has opened my mind up and I am so much more aware of my state of mind, state of emotion, and the state of my physical health. I think the best thing is that I have started a yoga practice and paying more attention to my emotional state. The worst thing is that I am paying more attention to my emotional state. Seriously, I’ve realized that I need to make some changes in my life and that will take some work. But I am glad of it.

Between last term (HW410) and this term I have become more mindful and my awareness has greatly expanded. In some ways, it has made me more sensitive, mostly to myself, but that is a good thing. If you are not aware of your state of physical, emotional and spiritual well-being, you won’t be much good to others, not to mention crappy company. This class has already helped me to help others. I’ve used mindfulness in some of my newsletters and my approach to coaching. I plan to move forward towards the goals I have set. My goal this year is to be someone’s inspiration. I wish the best to all of you. S.

Unit 9: Final Project

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An Assessment of Integral Health

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically not only for themselves but also for the people they serve, clients or patients. As we have learned through this course, to have true integral health there needs to be a balance of physical, mental, and spiritual development. Leading by example is important. You cannot ask someone quit smoking when you, yourself smoke. On the other hand, I haven’t really been a smoker. I tried it in high school and in college but it never stuck. Would this mean that I could not have empathy for someone trying to quit? It is hard to lead someone to where you have not traveled. Over the past several months, in this class and the prior class, I have been put to the task of evaluating my physical, emotional, and spiritual health. What I have found is that while my physical health is really quite good, I am a little lacking in both psychological and spiritual aspect. Through last term, I realized that I was depressed and began to take steps to deal with the way I was feeling. I have some stress in my life but it mostly deals with my commute to work and the stupid drivers I encounter, trying to balance work and school, and finally finding time to have a relationship with my boyfriend, who feels he is last in line for my attention these days.  I started to revisit the spiritual aspect of my life. It is a work in progress but at least I am aware and taking step to improve upon this.

Awareness is a good place to start. I believe if I had not been taking these courses, I would be just stumbling through life thinking things would be fine and really just getting through life. An assessment is the best place to start when taking on change. Taking into account the past few months this is what I have come up with for my assessment. As I have previously mentioned I am doing fairly well in physical health. I give myself a 9. Besides having cold and stomach flu in the past month, I am very healthy. My blood levels are the highest they have been in since the first time I was diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia in 2000. I am training for a half marathon, dancing, yoga and now taking a spin class. The only physical aspect I would like to improve is to increase my physical strength and muscle mass.  My psychological health is at about a 6. In the past year I have been depressed. During the previous school term I was able to identify this. There has been a great deal of sadness in my life over the past four years, as well as many joys. I have recognized there are many things I should be joyful about in my life that I am not. I need to understand why and how I can fix this.  My spiritual health is at a 7. I have been practicing yoga and mediation more frequently and my spiritual awareness has increased. However, I feel it could use some further exploration.

The best way to move forward in these three aspects is to set goals. After giving it a great deal of thought I have set these first three goals. My physical goal is to increase my physical strength and muscle mass. My psychological goal is to work on my depression. My spiritual goal is increase my practice of yoga not just in the physical sense, but exploring the eight limbs of yoga.  I will also develop my mediation practice.

In order for me to increase my physical strength and muscle mass, I will need to incorporate strength training into my already full schedule. One strategy is to get back on the 100 Pushups plan. I have done this before so I know this is a reachable goal. I can do pushups every other day and gradually build up to 100 pushups. The other strategy is to do 20-30 minutes of strength training each time I go to the gym or use fitness bands at homes 2-3 times a week. In order for me to find ways to decrease my depression, I will learn more about treating depression and journaling my feelings daily. If necessary, I will seek professional help.  To expand on my yoga practice, I plan to find a good yoga studio and teacher who embraces the full essence of yoga and meditation. I will set aside twenty minutes in the evening as reflection and meditation. This may just consist sitting quietly and thinking of 5 things I am grateful for or it could be guided imagery. Whatever it is, that time is just for being still and quiet. Also, I plan to go to a weekend retreat this year at either Land of Buddha Medicine or Mount Madonna. Both are local, so I am confident that I could arrange this either between terms or after I finish school in September. 

The best way for me to track my progress is to keep a log. I plan to do this by daily journal. I will do a brief log of all three aspects. This will help me see how I am doing and hold me accountable to do the work. A strategy for my fitness goal is to pack my weekly workout clothes in a bag that I will keep in the car. Always have an extra pair of walking shoes in the car and in my office. By practicing yoga regularly, my stress should decrease while my spiritual aspect should deepen. Starting with these short-term goals will make them more achievable and I can build upon this foundation. I find that having an event planned such as a 10K run or a 51 mile bike motivates me to stick with the program so that will be part of my strategy. I have a half marathon in February, the Zoo-de-Mac 51 mile bike ride in May and the Wharf-to-Wharf 10k event in July. These are the events that will help keep me on track physically. It is the Meditation that may be the tricky part.  Even if I take only ten minutes to meditate and slowly increase the time I meditate, I’m sure I will succeed. Dacher tells us “with faith, we can open our mind and heart and take the courageous first steps on the path to integral health” (Dacher, 2006).

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Reference:

Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach: Basic Health Publications Inc

Unit 8: Most Beneficial Meditation

To choose from the meditation exercises we did, I would say the most beneficial exercise was Subtle Mind, followed by Loving-kindness. I think the subtle mind exercise is great for clearing the mind of all the mental chatter. I like focusing on my breathing. I find this helps many thoughts fall away. I think this is a good practice to do before I go to bed, especially when my mind is restless. By observing my thoughts without judgment, I can let my mind settle which, in turn, will lead to better sleep.

I find myself using loving-kindness as I am training for my half marathon. As move down the trail I smile to the people I pass and as I exhale I think, “send them loving kindness”. I have no expectations of them to return it, but I feel better as I move along. I think that this can be useful in my life as I find myself frustrated with self centered, rude people I encounter daily. Instead of feeling frustrations and anger with them that only causes me stress, I can simply wish them well.

Unit 7 Meeting Aesclepius

So my blog has been a work in progress with the rush for Christmas and then getting sick and now well if it is a jumbled mess, I apologize.So here goes.

I don’t know if it is the season of the year or that it has just been a rough time with all these recent deaths, but I have been a very teary person lately. As I tried the Meeting Aesclepius meditation the first time, I immediately thought of my mother, who I miss very much. I got tears and that went along with memories and so on. So there was no focus on mediation this. The next time I focused on my Yoga teacher and mentor Julianne. In many ways she is the ideal that I hope to aspire to in my spiritual growth.

This went so much better, I felt a sense of calm wash over me and I found I was better able to “settle into stillness”. As I sat I focused on one of her favorite sayings, “Inhale gratitude, exhale love.” I settled and felt my breath grow slower and deeper. This time there wasn’t the emotion of sorrow that I had experienced with my mother, but more of peacefulness. I have to say this was not my favorite meditation.

I started this blog last week, but let me tell you of my journey this week. I missed Christmas. I had the stomach flu and though we had a houseful of people, I could not pull myself to be with them. Finally I felt good the next evening for a few hours and just as I was going to bed I had the hint of a scratchy throat and stuffy nose, yes I woke up the next morning with a cold. (joy) But as I had lain in bed before falling asleep I did a visualization of my immune system, white blood cells and T-cells waging war against the cold germs and destroying them. Good energy in bad stuff out…breathing. I have to say though I still have a cold, it is minor to what they usually are. I ran/walked eight miles today and I felt great.

Some one posted on Facebook this week “Inhale gratitude, Exhale love”. I thought this would be a fitting meditation. I took it on one of my short walks this week. It took a while to focus on it as I was under the weather and today I briefly attempted it on my long run, but it was not the time for it. I think this would be a great thing to practice a few times daily.  

"One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" This saying is very true. I taught a boot camp style fitness class for three years about 10 years ago. Wow, that seems so long ago when I am writing this. Anyways, I had all sizes, shapes and levels of fitness in my classes. We did some fairly extreme workouts but I never made anyone do anything I had not done and benefitted from. If they were new, I’d do the exercise right there with them. I shared my experience as a newbie, especially anything I had struggled with. I still believe that you have to lead by example. I try to do that for the most part. I think if you are going to work in the wellness field you need to set an example for your clients or patients. One of the doctors at the medical center I work at was a self-proclaimed couch potato about six years ago. He joined the half-marathon/5K training program I had just set up. He was just going to walk the 5K. Each week he showed up and did the training distance we were doing for the half, but he said he would only do the 5K at the actual event all the way up until the week before the event. Well, he completed the half marathon and has gone onto running four marathons and numerous half marathons. For the past four years of the program he has been one of my coaches. He shares this story with his patients, credits this change in his lifestyle as saving his life. It was not just his health that benefited, but how he interacts with people and his patients has changed.

As far as implementing psychological and spiritual growth in your personal life goes, I think starting small and going from there. It could be by journaling, meditating, or just breathing. It could be as easy as setting your intention each day. I have a metal paperweight that says, “Be…” and then there is a place to insert a card with a different word, which can be whatever you want. Brave, patient, present, and many others. But I find it can help me set the tone of my day. Sometimes during the day I look at it and think, “oh how fitting for today”.

I think there is a lot to mindfulness and being present in your life. For example, today I could have spent my run worrying about getting my house clean for company tomorrow and making grocery lists, but I would have missed the misting rain on my face, the surprised smiles of those I gave my smile to, the beauty around me on the trail, and the joyful look of those who were accomplishing the distance of eight miles for the first time.

I wish you all a happy new year and safe travels.
Sarajane

HW420 Unit 6 - Intergral Assessment

This week I practiced loving kindness meditation only a few times. But it was really hard after the events that took place on Friday. This was a tough week with the murders of all those innocent children. I took in a lot of grief, hopefully some of the parents. Losing a child is something that should never happen to a parent. And this senseless killing of so many children, I just can’t say how awful, I can’t get my mind around it. Why? My brother lost his daughter and that is something you never recover from.

So as I practiced, I tried to take into my heart their loss and pain and sent love and comfort to all the families. I’d like to say that I found some peace, but this is too horrible. I think the best thing I did was I turned off the media coverage, as I do not believe it is doing anyone any good.

In the assessment I identified that my relationship with my friends and my boyfriend could use some work. I have become very closed off and yes I am busy with school and work, but I seem to be pushing people away. I know this is something that I need to work on. I know a lot has to stem from my unhappiness about where I live. I want to move back east and live in a small town. So I am aware of what we have studied this week that I need to look at it from a new angle, turn it around into a positive. I’ve been doing that for many years and I am tired of it so I need a new plan. Believe it or not, writing is helping.

I have to say, I am doing all right with fitness, nutrition and even self-regulation. I could improve in my interpersonal relationships, worldliness, and my psychospiritual area can use a lot of improvement. I am a work in progress.

I think writing a little more, calling my friends and talking to them instead of texting is a good activity. My relationship with my boyfriend, well one step would be for us to both put away the computers and other electronics and spend time like we used to. I think that is the first thing to work on over the holiday break. 

Have a good week. Just Breathe 

~Sara

Unit 5 Subtle Mind exercise

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I hope everyone has had a great week. I have had “Life” happening this week, the highs and lows. My niece had her baby, full term, but complications had her airlifted to UCSF Medical Center. All is well. But two days later I hear that the 8-year-old little boy from my hometown lost his battle to cancer. I don’t know him but I am overwhelmed with sadness for this family. The week followed with a migraine and hot flashes that have increased with intensity. The worst thing is that having a migraine kills the time that I need to be studying. But the week ended on a high note with my granddaughters first birthday.

Amidst all the craziness I had some time to do the meditation exercises.I found the Subtle Mind practice worked much better for me than the loving kindness. I think it is mainly because most of the meditation practices I do are focused on the breath and in yoga I focus on my breathing. I like the idea of an anchor to the breath. I noticed the chatter cleared much more quickly than the loving kindness.

 With the loving kindness I had to go through a list of people I love to decide who I send love to. What? There goes my mind.. Why that person?, but what about this person?…oh I wonder how their new job is going…..and off goes my mind. It is much easier to just focus on the breath.The other thing with the loving-kindness is that it brought up a lot of emotions. This time of year I miss my family, especially my mother, who passed away two years ago. I am still moved to tears at the thought of her or something that reminds me of her. Today is an example of that. We had a holiday lunch at work and I said to someone, “Save your fork, the best is yet to come” My mom would say that from a story she had read. It brought up gut wrenching tears.

Maybe I am the one I need to send loving-kindness to. But the subtle mind exercise is just observing thoughts that come up with no judgment. To me it is much more peaceful.I’ve listened to the loving-kindness exercise several times now and still the woman’s voice startles me. I have not experienced that with the Subtle Mind exercise.

The connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness is that by developing a fit mind helps us to clear the mental chatter and even change it by replacing negative with the positive. By cultivating spiritual wellness we thrive emotionally and physically.

Cheers everyone. Be well.
Sarajane

Unit 4 Part 2 - Mental workout

I treated myself with loving-kindness and took another nap.

I think we all get a mental workout everyday that is not conductive to good living but having to navigate through a stressful, busy day. However, this is not really beneficial to us.
Good healthy mental workout deals with focus and control. By practicing meditation and being present in the meditation, one can develop control. When I taught Wholebirth Yoga one of the meditations we used was to help women to focus on the discomfort and just be with it without reacting. this meant just feeling everything, not adjusting their sitting position if it was uncomfortable, resisting itching their nose or anywhere else, noticing only. I know one of the hardest things for me is to resist scratching an itch. Many women told me that in their birth experience this exercise had helped them in the early part of labor to relax instead of reacting.
 
So I think I could take a cue from this learning and go back to noticing, but not reacting to things in my life that cause me stress.