Final Thoughts

In unit 3 I rated my psychological at 3, my spiritual at 4 and my physical at 7.  I would say that my scores probably haven’t changed that much.  Since I have finished all of my final projects in my final term my stress level from that is gone.  I still have other stresses but I would up psychological to 5 now.  To be honest physical is probably down around 4-5. I have not been to the gym in weeks and my job is a little more sedentary than it used to be.  This will change next week and definitely when the weather warms up.  Spiritually will stay the same and again now that I have more time I am going to try to improve this. 

I really have not progressed at all yet in my goals.  I really do have plans to start back for real next week.  I have not really implemented any of the activities either.  It has not really sunk in that I am finally done school and my body is sort of still in that mode. I have to take some time to adjust to having time on my hands and then be productive in how I use it. 

This class has been very helpful in giving me tools to use in order to meet my goals of well being.  Although I have not been very pro-active about implementing them they are there and when I am ready I will have the techniques I need.  The exercises were mixed. Some of them, like the one in unit 3 with the colors was not so difficult.  Other ones like the first one with the talk of gastrointestinal tracts was more difficult. 

Overall I think this class will help me because I have tried, even if I haven’t succeeded yet, and so I can try to teach others the benefits.  It will take time but I know that we all have the potential to have peace and calm in our lives. 

Final Project

Introduction:

 It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically in order to be able to guide their clients and help them find their paths to integral health.   You cannot teach someone practices and exercises unless you practice them yourself. 

Personally I need to work on all of these aspects in order to achieve the goals I have for myself. Psychologically I need to work on calming my mind and learning to relax.  I also realize that another thing I need to do more for my psychological and spiritual is laugh more.  I just happened across a comedy show on TV the other night and started to laugh and realized that I haven’t really laughed in a long time. It felt good and I will need to open myself to finding things to laugh at.  Spiritually I need to do a better job of connecting.  I believe in God and I used to go to church all the time.  I have fallen away from that and I think going back would do me good.  I don’t necessarily have the same belief system that I had a few years ago but I still think that an hour in church a week would be good for me.

Assessment:

I would say I am about a 5 in each of these categories.  Physically I need to get back into my exercise routine, it has gone severely downhill this past couple of months.  Psychologically and spiritually I need to do what I mentioned in the introduction.  Looking at my life I can see that I have let stress get to me more than usual and I have to try harder to let things go and just know that I can only do so much and not everything is in my control.  I think going back to church will help with this as well.  Spending more time alone and doing things for and not having the constant pressure to do homework will also help me psychologically as well as spiritually.

Goal Development:

Physically I plan to get back to the gym at least 3 days a week to do cardio and resistance training for at least 45 minutes.  I also plan on starting back at Pilates at least once a week maybe twice depending on finances.  Psychologically I am going to try to laugh more and not get so anxious about the future, and spiritually I am going to try to get back to church once a week and try to incorporate some type of meditation into my day.

Practices for Personal Health:

 For my physical I will try to do at least 30 minutes 3 times of week of either fast walking on the treadmill or the elliptical and when it is not so cold anymore I will walk outside and dust off my bike. I will also get back into Pilates.  This is not only good for physical but for psychological.  It not only tones the body but it helps to relieve stress and I have said that the hour I spend in Pilates is the only time that nothing else is on my mind but doing the exercises.  The other thing I would like to try again for psychological as well is spiritual is yoga.  I have done it several times with different results. I need to keep trying until I find the teacher who I can click with.  For spiritual as well I will start going to church and start trying to connect with that piece of myself again.  I think all of this will help to be calm and more focused and much less stressed.

Commitment:

I will assess my progress in my physical well being by how my clothes fit, they have been getting tight, and also by how I feel.  I generally have more energy and just feel better when I exercise regularly.  My psychological and spiritual I will monitor by how I react to things, how I deal with stress how I sleep.  When I am stressed and not focused or calm I do not sleep really well.  I may sleep, but I will have weird dreams and often wake in the middle of the night and not be able to go back. I will also gage by how well I am enjoying life.  Now that I will be done with Kaplan I will start back doing things that have been put by like reading, cooking, and watching movies.  

This class has been a journey.  Although I can’t say everything has been helpful much of it has and it has started me thinking and given me some tools to practice with to develop the skills I need to find my path to integral health. 

Exercises

If I had to choose I would have to choose the Loving-Kindness and the Subtle mind exercises to incorporate into my routine.  Focusing on those I love can help me to forget the stress of everyday life.  It is difficult to concentrate sometimes, but the calming music and the sound of the water helps. 

The Subtle mind exercise helped to relax and helps me to remember to breathe and be conscious of my breath along with the calming ocean noises is very good way to unwind.  I still know that I need to practice these more and learn how to calm my mind.  This is a journey and enjoying the journey is important.  I need to focus on that more instead of constantly looking ahead and missing what is right here now.