unit 6 blog

After completing the universal Loving Kindness exercise I really noticed that during the exercise all of my attention was off of myself.  I wasn't thinking about myself at all and was thinking about those who I knew were suffering and how I could help them.  It gave me a better feeling inside knowing that all of my attention during that exercise was focused on helping others. 
The Integral Assessment was extremely helpful.  It helped me better realize what aspects of my life are ready for growth and development and which aspects are the source of difficulty and suffering.  It really seems like the biological aspect of my life is the biggest source of my suffering.  While for others different aspects can cause biological suffering, it is the other way around for me.  If the biological aspect of my life is suffering, it causes the other aspects of my life to suffer.  It can cause my psychospiritual aspect to be overrun with negative thoughts and anxiety.  It can cause my interpersonal aspect to suffer by taking out my frustrations on those who don't deserve it.  And it can affect my worldly aspect by not allowing me to continue an active role.  The aspect that I have chosen to focus on my growth and development of is the psychospiritual.  I think that I am ready to continue my growth in this area and I believe that development in this area will allow the other aspects to develop and proceed towards integral health.  One exercise that I think will help foster greater wellness in this area is transcendental meditation.  I believe this will help me gain a clear and still mind that will allow me to organize my thoughts in a better way so I can gain a better sense of what drives my life.     

unit 5 blog

1. While both the Loving Kindness exercise and Subtle Mind exercise were both relaxing, they did have some differences.  I think the Loving Kindness exercise focuses more on shifting your attitude towards a more positive side.  The Subtle Mind exercise really focuses on clearing your mind of all thoughts while focusing on a focal point.  They are both similar in that put your mind at ease as well as calm your mind.  While the Loving Kindness exercise was relaxing for me, I found the Subtle Mind exercise to be much more beneficial.  By focusing on my breathing, it really does help me dissolve my other thoughts.  I have struggled a little bit when doing this exercise because my mind still likes to wander while I'm trying to focus on my breathing.  I think that with more practice the Subtle Mind exercise will help give me a clearer and calmer mind that will allow me to use the deeper aspects of my mind.

2. Spiritual wellness plays a big role in our mental and physical wellness.  Just think of all the times when you heard about someone living when a doctor told them they wouldn't make it.  I'm just guessing their spiritual wellness was pretty good.  This kind of spiritual wellness impacts our mental and physical wellness and makes us believe that we are far more capable of what we ever thought of.  Our spiritual wellness expands on our possibilites as humans and provides us with added strength and hope.  It has the potential to lift up our mental and physical wellness by alleviating our fears and giving us a new sense of control and comfort.      

Unit 4 blog

1. I found the exercise to be very relaxing.  It was somewhat of a difficult exercise at times in trying bring to mind someone we care about to our thoughts and feelings to trying to visualize loved ones and strangers who are suffering and breathing to take their suffering away.  It was covering a wide range of things throughout the exercise.  I listened to it a second time and reread the exercise as well.  This seemed to help me get a better  grasp on how effective this exercise can be.  I think this exercise would be beneficial for others and I would recommend for people to at least try it.  I really think this exercise would be beneficial for an individual who holds resentment against another person.  I think it would help them realize that an attitude of loving-kindness would give them a better sense of wellness and they would see a difference in how others approached  them compared to having an attitude of negativity.

2. The concept of a mental workout is that we need to keep our mind sharp and alert by using our mental capacities and resources daily.  It is just like physical exercise, if we stop practicing we will see a drop off in our ability to perform effectively.  The benefits of a mental workout include opening up our mind and developing an expanded consciousness and it's healing capacities.  Other benefits include a trained mind and diminished self-centeredness.  It is pretty easy to implement mental workouts to foster our psychological growth by taking 5-15 minutes each day to do different types of comtemplative practice.  

My Blog

1.  I would give my physical well-being a rating of 6.5.  Although I exercise frequently and eat pretty good, I consider myself to be a little underweight.  My hips cause me discomfort most of the time as well and to have something like that at a younger age is somewhat frustrating.
I would give my spiritual well-being a rating of 8.  I am more of a spiritual person than I am a religious person.  I usually read a little excerpt each day that helps provide some guidance in my life.
I would give my psychologcal well-being a rating of 7.5.  We all have good days and bad days and usually I can handle the bad days pretty well.  There just gets to be times when my stress or frustration will get the best of me. 

2.  A goal for my physical well-being would be to gain 5-10 pounds.
A goal for my spiritual well-being would be to do more to help others in need.
A goal for my psychological well-being would be to implement new stress management and relaxation techniques into my life.

3. What I could do to help gain 5-10 pounds would be to change my diet so I gain that weight in a healthy manner as well as adjust my workout so I am working more on gaining muscle mass.
What I could do to help others in need would be to find an organization that I could do some volunteer work at.
New relaxation techniques I could try would be different kinds of meditation and breathing exercises.  Using time management skills to help create a schedule so I don't get stressed when I have things to do and am running short on time will help.

4. I found the relaxation exercise to be beneficial.  I enjoyed the phrases that went with each color and body location, such as, "I feel centered" or "I feel grounded".  I thought that those phrases were a big part of the overall relaxation experience.  I found the end of the exercise to be the most relaxing, where we say to ourselves that our body is calm and relaxed.  

Relaxation Reflection

I have done different relaxation techniques from previous classes and actually found this relaxation technique to be less effective for me.  I'm sure it would be more effective for me if I tried it at a time when I felt stressed and needed to relax.  Also, when I'm stressed I usually don't suffer from muscle tension.  So performing a relaxation technique that is designed to relieve muscle tension in my arms and hands or whatever muscles I decide to send extra blood flow to probably won't be the most effective for me.  I'm sure this technique would be more effective for someone who does suffer from muscle tension.  I did notice a warming and tingling sensation in my arms and hands while performing the relaxation technique.  It was a relaxing experience for me though, it's just that there are more effective relaxation techniques out there that suit my needs better than this particular one.