Unit 10: Reflection on Development of Wellness

Unit 10: Reflection on Development of Wellness

·         Review your unit 3 personal assessment of your psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being. Reflect on these areas. How did you score yourself on a scale from 1 to 10 in unit 3? How do you score yourself now? Has the score changed? Why or why not?

A.    Similar to the way that I rated my physical well-being prior, I still rate myself as being a 9. As a personal trainer, I need to make sure that I practice what I preach. I workout on an almost daily basis, or try to keep active as much as I can. Additionally, I am very conscious about what I put in my body. All and all, I would say that I am a pretty healthy individual. The score has not change because, I am currently not training for an event, which are the time that I feel like a 10.

B.     In the beginning of the course, I would have rated spiritual well-being as being a 7. Up on till recently, I did not focus on this aspect of my being; however, I have been doing progressively better. I still have a lot to learn about myself, and have not reached my full capabilities. Due to this, I currently rate myself as an 8, as I have much to learn, but I feel as I have improved.

C.     I would rate my psychological well-being as a 7. As I spend more incorporating relaxation and meditation techniques into my life, I feel that I have a solid foundation. However, as there is still much stress that I must deal with, I still face some moments of weakness. Now I would rate myself as an 8, as I am better able to handle situations that arise.

·         Review the goals and activities you set for yourself in each area. Have you made progress toward the goals? Explain.

A.    A physical goal is to be more consistent with some of my exercise routine and push myself past my current state; in other words I would like to challenge myself. In the past few years I have participate in races, such as Tough Mudder, the Spartan races, and others; however, I would like to push myself and participate more frequently. I feel as I have kept up with this goal as I have planned to enter in more competitions within the next year.

B.     A spiritual goal of mine is to keep pushing myself forward and continue to learn more alternative techniques that will help me achieve greater levels of inner awareness. I have made progression toward this goal, as I have devoted some time to read research conducted on the different types of alternative techniques. I also feel as though I have developed a sense of inner peace.

C.     A psychological goal would be to learn to have more control over negative emotions, such as frustration, anger and worrying; additionally, being able to replace these negative emotions with positive ones. This is definitely an area that I have improves, as I am better able to control my emotions and I am more aware of them. Also my relationships with other have strengthen due to my ability to better communicate with others.

·         Have you implemented the activities you chose for your well-being in each of the three areas? Explain.

A.    In order to assist my physical well-being I would implement more cardiovascular activities into my exercise routine. Currently, I have implemented more cardiovascular activity; however, I feel that I have to develop more of a liking to this type of activity, rather than just doing it because I had to.

B.     In order to enhance my spiritual wellbeing, I would like to meditate on a more frequent base. Also, I would like to incorporate exercise that will allow me to be more exposed to nature, such as rock-climbing or hiking. Currently, I have been incorporating meditation, but have not been able to talk nature walks. This is due, to the fact that I live in an urban area where there are not a lot of trails. However, I plan to take more day trips with my wife in order to get more exposure to nature.

C.     In order to enhance my psychological wellbeing, I would like to do activities that will allow me to express myself. I believe that individuals hold too much of their emotions inside, which affects psychological wellbeing. I have incorporated this activity in life, as I make it a point to call my family more frequently, since I am able to talk to them about how I feel, more freely.

·         Summarize your personal experience throughout this course. Have you developed improved well-being? What has been rewarding? What has been difficult? How will this experience improve your ability to assist others?

            I personally enjoyed the class and have experienced much personal growth. I have learned a lot about myself and way to improve my wellbeing. This process has been very rewarding as I feel more whole. The process has not been difficult, as I came into this process with an open mind. Another factor that I found rewarding is my ability to help others. I have provided my client with the knowledge that I have gained, and have seen great improvements. I will continue to be a positive example for others.

Unit 9- Final project

Personal Application of Psychologically, Spiritually and Physical Domains: Final Project 
 

            In order for health and wellness professional to help others, they need to be psychologically, spiritually, and physically developed. This is important since it is the professional who guides their clients into wholeness. Additionally, the professional should lead by example, as guiding others to wellness can enhance the professional’s well-being (Dacher, 2006). Personally, I feel as I am on the path to wholeness when it comes to psychological and physical development, as I have the will to seek change and care for my physic. The area that I would like to further develop is my spirituality. I feel as though I need to further develop my spirituality as I want to continue to reach a deeper awareness. I would want to reach great levels of inner calmness; therefore, it is important that I continue mediation.

Assessment

            As everyone has different needs, the assessments of our development should take into account our differences. Personally, I would utilized assessment, cited in Dacher (2006), as the integral assessment, helps the individual create an understanding of each domain. Additionally, I would utilize others methods to assess each domain. First and foremost, I would create goals for myself, which will be uses as an assessment tool. For the domain of spirituality, I would assess the different levels of inner peace that I feel. As I am not aware of the maximum level of inner peace, I would assess my development in term of how I am able to deal with situations. According to Dacher (2006), an individual who has inner peace, is better able to deal with difficult situations, as he/she feels a sense of calmness. As I am still developing my inner self, I would score my spiritually levels as beginner, since it can take make years to develop greater levels of consciousness.

            Physically, I feel that I am very well developed, as I do take all the proper steps to take care of myself. Additionally, I am not satisfied with being average in this domain; therefore, I always push myself and strive for greater physical health. In this domain, I would assess my development by the ability to continually push myself to achieve greater. In order to do this, I would take my performance on competitions, such as 5k’s and the Spartan race, as an assessment tool. I would score my physical health as advance; however, there is always room to grow.

            As far as my psychological development is concerned, I feel as though I things that I would like to work on; however, I am well advance compared to a few years ago. As the mind is such an important factor in order to reach greater levels of consciousness, as negative thoughts and beliefs can enable one’s development, I need to address factors such as stress. I will assess the physiological domain, by assessing levels of stress. I feels as though I can tend to fluctuate when it comes to stress management; therefore, affecting my psychological development.

Goal development

            As we strive for wholeness, we must remember that integral health is not about the full development of all areas of life, rather then development of the areas needed in certain stages of life (Dacher, 2006). Hence, my current goal of each domain is based on my current need. Concerning my physical health, my goal is to keep myself at my current level of physical fitness, as I am quite content. In the psychological domain, I would like reduce stress levels in my life. My goal in this domain is to consistently be able to handle stress. Even though, I may act as though difficult situations do not bother me to the outside world, I tend to bottle these feelings inside, which is what is inhibiting me from achieving wholeness. My goal for the last domain, spiritually, is not only reach greater levels of awareness, but also to help other achieve the same. Touching the lives of others will help me receive greater levels of fulfillment. Undoubtedly, wholeness is something that should be shared with others (Dacher).

Practices for personal health

            In order to foster growth it is important to implement exercises and practice while enhancing physical, psychological, and spiritual development. Some exercises that I will use to foster growth in my physical development are kickboxing and other types of cardiovascular training. Both exercises do not only help my physical being, but also assist with stress management, as practice in one domain can affect another (Dacher, 2006). I implement kickboxing in my training routine, two to three times a week; as far as the other types of cardiovascular training is concerned, I implement them five to six times a week.  

            Exercises that will foster the psychological domain, which I will implement is the Subtle mind practice. This practice will help to reduce “noise”, as it will remove negative thoughts that can hinder growth (Dacher, 2006). I will incorporate this practice a couple of times a week, and if possible, everyday. Another practice that I will implement to train the mind would be to do puzzles or activities such as Sudoku; I would implement these activities throughout the week as often as possible.

            Lastly, in order to enhance my spiritual development, I will incorporate the practice of mediation on a daily bases. This practice will be implemented early in the day, in order to better prepare as the day passes. Another practice that I will implement that will enhance my spiritual development is yoga. I have a difficult time implementing this type of exercise, as it is not my exercise of choice; however, the benefits motivate me to try. I will start off implementing this type of exercise on a weekly base, and eventually plan to incorporate it more to my routine. I will also try to go with my wife when she takes yoga classes, in order to have further motivation to commit to the practice.

Commitment

            In order to asses my progression six months from now, I will utilize Dacher (2006) integral assessment. Alongside, I will asses if all of my personal goals have been met and set new ones for myself as I progress forward. Therefore, I will utilize my consistency with the exercise and practice setting-up for each domain, as another way to asses my progression. In order to properly document my progression, I will use a journal to record my progression. The journal will not only help my track my progression, but the lack of progression, as it allows me to see any fall-outs.

   

Reference

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

Unit 8- Exercises and practice sessions

1. Review the exercises and practice sessions you have completed in this course. (Loving Kindness, Subtle mind, Visualization, meditation etc.) Choose two practices that you have determined to be most beneficial. How can you implement these practices in your personal life to foster “mental fitness”? Provide specific examples.

            Personally, I find the Loving Kindness and the Subtle mind exercise to be very beneficial. I have been practicing these exercises since the beginning of the course and have seen many great benefits, such as an ability to concentrate better and a sense of calmness. I will implement these exercises as I am currently doing; which is to take some time in each day to practice. Similar to the physical body, mental fitness can be gain by training the brain on a consistent base. Also, it is important not to just stick to one specific practice; therefore, I plan to eventually start practicing other types of exercises. All and all, daily practice and implementing come change can lead to mental fitness.

Unit 7- Meeting Aesclepius

1. Complete the Meeting Aesclepius mp3 (located in the Doc Sharing area). Describe your meditative practices for the week and discuss the experience. Explain how mindfulness or meditation has fostered an increase in your psychological or spiritual wellness. How can you continue to apply these practices in your life to foster greater health and wellness?

The Meeting Aesclepius exercise was very interesting as it allows one to visualize characteristics that seem important and image that one has those characteristics. When I first started doing the exercise, different individuals came to mind; therefore, it was difficult to concentrate on one individual. However, I decided to choose one person per day; this allowed for the experience to be different every day. Undoubtedly, these past few weeks I have notice a great change in my psychological and spiritual health. Meditation has helped to decrease stress levels and has allowed me to feel inner peace. I plan to continue to incorporate meditation practices in my life in order to foster greater health and wellness. By remembering the benefits of meditative practices, I continue to put my psychological and spiritual health, along with my physical health, as a priority.

2. Describe the saying: "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" (p.477). How does this apply to the health and wellness professional? Do you have an obligation to your clients to be developing your health psychologically, physically, and spiritually? Why or why not? How can you implement psychological and spiritual growth in your personal life?

Undoubtedly, it is difficult to guide others on a path that one is not familiar with. Unless one has experienced a certain adversity, they may not be aware of all challenges and difficulties that may occur in the process. For a health and wellness professional it is important to reach the point of feeling wholeness, as it helps to properly guide one’s clients. Additionally if one experiences that inner peace it is easier for others to pick up on it and incorporate it in their lives. Personally, I feel an obligation to help my clients in their entire personal development. Being equipped with the information that I have, I find it necessary to spread the knowledge. Additionally, I know that physical health is affected by one’s psychological and spiritual health; therefore, in order for my client’s to thrive physically, psychological and spiritual health needs to be addressed. By relaying all this information and by incorporating holistic practices, I am able to see psychological and spiritual growth in my life.

Unit 6 -Integrative assessment

Integrative assessment- Unit 6 

            After having meditation for a couple of weeks and undergoing the assessment, I have noticed many changes about myself. First and foremost, I am more concentrated when completing the Loving Kindness meditation. Throughout the time doing the meditation exercise I have noticed that I feel calmer and on the right path towards wholeness; undoubtedly, after going through the assessment, my thoughts were validated. Personally, I have seen that my relationships with others have become better, as I am able to see things differently.

            Even though, I have always been open-minded and laid back, there is always room to grow. Becoming a little more open-mind would be one of the areas that I would like to develop further. Sometimes, I feel that stress may gear me off the right path; however, it is important to develop an open mind and a light heart, in order to avoid the effects of stress. I will continue to incorporate meditation into my daily routine as well as implement some relaxation techniques. Alongside, I would like to familiarize myself with Reiki healing, as I have heard that it has many great benefits.