Meditation Practices

For this weeks unit, I completed the "Meeting Asciepius" guided meditation from the Dacher CD. Personally it was not one of my favorites. I prefer my own meditation techniques that I have practiced for years. I am sure the only reason for this is that I have become set in my ways, and have found my own techniques that are more beneficial to me. Mindfulness meditation has allowed my psychological and spiritual awareness to grow. When I practice my meditation techniques I am a much more upbeat person with a positive attitude. These techniques have also made it easier for me to deal with my problems with anxiety. I plan to continue to practice my meditation techniques for the rest of my life.

The saying "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" is a very great insight inti thehealth profession. In my opinion no professional has any business giving another person directions on how to live their life, if the professional is unable to follow similar directions themselves. When I become a nutritioist/dietician I do owe it to those seeking my guidance to be developed psychologically, physically, and spiritually. I must have my own life together and under control before I can assist another person with their own.

Integral Assessment

For me, the loving-kindness meditation exercise and the integral assessment that were a part of this weeks assignments were not difficult to do. I found that the loving-kindness meditation really brought about a sense of peace, and sort of oneness with the world. In completing my integral assessment, I realized very quickly that the area of my life that I needed to focus on growth and development is the worldly aspect. This is because I have social anxiety, and I have difficulty interacting with other people. I am extremely shy, and I prefer to just keep to myself. This is a problem I have dealt with my entire life, and I have not been able to overcome it. Honestly, I believe I am just a shy and quiet person by nature and I will never overcome that completely. The key lies in learning to thrive among others despite it. I could further develop this area of my life by trying to get more involved in my community, and interacting with others as much as I can.

Loving Kindness vs. Subtle Mind

I found this weeks subtle mind exercise to be easier to do than the loving-kindness exercise. I think this was mainly because the subtle mind exercise was so similar to meditation exerises that I have been doing for a while. Since I have a little experience with this kind of exercise, it was not hard for me to focus on my breathing and allow my various thoughts to fade away. When I successfully quiet my mind, it fills me with a great sense of peacefulness.
Spiritual wellness is very much connected to mental and physical wellness. If a person is healthy in their spiritual wellness, it will be reflected in their mind and body as well. I can see this connection in my life because when I do an exercise such as the subtle mind exercise, or the loving-kindness exercise I feel in much better health mentally and physically.

Loving-Kindness

I was found the loving kindness exercise which we were required to do for this weeks unit, to be a very interesting concept. It would be great to be able to eventually be able to live your life having that outlook, but it would be very difficult for most people. For myself, it found it very hard to think of all the horrors that occur in the world and the people who are the cause of them, with an attitude of loving kindness. This was the first time I have ever tried a loving-kindness exercise, and I can see that it would be beneficial for everyone. I just need to practice the technique further.
The concept of a mental workout is basically just some activity that requires extra effort of your mind. It is exercising the mind. Mental workouts can be used to benefit your psychological health by helping you to become more tuned in to your mind, and what you may need to do to keep it healthy.

Optimal Well-being

Optimal well-being is achieved by having all aspects of your life in good health. This does not include just caring for your physical well-being, but also your psychological and spiritual well-being as well.
If I were to rate myself on a scale of 1-10 for the different aspects of my wellbeing, I would rate it as follows:
Physical- 7 For my physical well-being I would rate myself at a seven, because overall I am of decent health. Although I am a bit weaker than I would like.
A goal I would like to accomplish dealing with my physical well-being would be to learn a new physical hobby, like dancing. I could work on this goal by attending dance classes in my area.
Psychological- 6 For my psychological well-being I would rate myself at a six, because I tend to feel overwhelmed and depressed at times. But for the most part my psychological well-being is pretty good.
A goal I would like to accomplish dealing with my psychological well-being would be to have a better sense of self worth. I could work to accomplish this by becoming more active in my community, doing all I can to help this world to be a better place.
Spiritual- 9 For my spiritual well-being I would rate myself at a nine. This is one aspect of my life I am very confident about. I am very much in touch with my spiritual self.
A goal I would like to accomplish dealing with my spiritual well-being would be to expand my knowledge further. I could accomplish this by meditating more often, and asking for spiritua guidance.

I found the relaxation exercise for this weeks unit to be very similar to other exercises that I often do. I also recognized that it was a chakra cleansing exercise. I really enjoy taking part in these types of exercises, I believe they help you to become more spiritually aware.