The Evaluation

As I evaluate the assessment from early on in the class I found that my scores are pretty much the same only I would say I am a deeper 8.5 spiritually, and a psychologically I would raise myself to a 8 as I have been using the practices and developing my inner peace more readily. Now my physical score, well honestly have dropped and I could just kick myself. But as I know that with exercise comes less stress, better sleep, more energy, and more knowledge with blood flow and better health. So guess what I will be doing…

I continue to feel confident in my goals as each area has shown openness and opportunity to grow and become a happier, healthier and whole person. This class has brought me to realize my career goal of being a wellness coach is on target and has invited me to better develop the idea of demonstrating and implementing pathways for others to grow into a healthier, happier, and whole people.

This class has been an encouragement to me as I have developed an understanding of others through the weekly blog and hearing of their experiences. Knowing that others struggled at first with the practices yet with practice they too were able to grow as I was. I will continue to work on my loving-kindness and subtle mind to develop my ability to help others find their inner peace.  

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A Plan for Integral Health

Introduction

As I take on the role of a health and wellness professional I realize that if I am to be a success at assisting others on the path to integral health I will need to be complete myself. Taking each aspect of the four quadrants, breaking them down and addressing each part; psycho-spiritual- is the driving force of my life, it motives me to walk in surrender my Lord and Savior and to know that when this area of my life expands it allows me to flourish in other areas of my life.  Biological- knowing how the body works and how the mind can affect the way the body operates is transformational (the power of positive thoughts can change the physical effects of the body). Interpersonal- realizing the transition from a focus of myself to the focus of family to the focus of those around me is an integral step in building a professional career. Worldly- taking this step allows for me to give, care, nurture, and mentor those that come onto my path.

Taking the first step of psycho-spiritual practices and continuing to exercise these practices will allow me to have a more open heart that will allow for me to cultivate a community of wholeness.

Assessment

As I evaluate each quadrant I know that no matter how confident I am about myself I will never be totally complete as there will always be changes in my circumstances as well as my physical wellbeing. So with that in mind as I look at the psychological and the biological quadrants, I feel confident in my emotional expression, my ability to regulate my wellness through positive self-talk, and knowing and understanding my body. I continuously evaluate my nutritional intake and my fitness regime. This area is my downfall: I love to eat and I struggle with snacking late at night. A fitness program is all well and good but acting on the program is the answer. I have the best laid-out plans for physical fitness programs for me but without a commitment they are useless. When looking at the interpersonal and worldly quadrants I seem to fare pretty good. I have a strong support system that is there when needed; all I have to do is be willing to ask for help (which is hard for someone who is too proud or independent). My family looks to me for strength and I have been that strong pillar for them for years. I am active in my community and love to give, I give time, prayer, a listening ear, and financially when I can.

This assessment evaluation changes as my life changes, the people I come in contact with, my family issues that arise, my financial obligations, my wellbeing. I have to learn to be flexible and open to the change and regard each change as an opportunity to grow in the four quadrants as they all four interrelate. 

Goal Development

Physical- Build and incorporate an exercise plan that fits my schedule and is feasible to maintain.          Monitor sleep and listen to my body as what is needed to maintain good health.           

Monitor the time and amount of food and snacks available, to maintain a healthy diet. 

Psychological- Continue to recognize my stressor points, and limitations, seek assistance when             needed.

Spiritual- Through prayer and devotion allow God the opportunity to do His work in me. To give     an open door to the wisdom and understanding provided by Christ, as I engage with             others through my professional career.

Practices for Personal health

I have learned multiple practices over the course of this 10 week class and some seem to fit right into my lifestyle and some seem more frustrating, so I will integrate the ones that seem to benefit me to further my career. For the Physical I will continue to practice the listening and applying what my body is telling me. My physical body is affected by my sleep patterns, my eating patterns, and the weather. Monitoring each aspect closely and understanding the results of these can determine how my physical body reacts to the day the people I come in contact with and the world around me. This is an easy step and can be completed through a journal or even a conscious thought process. I have been listening to my body for years and am in-tune with it and do not need to journal any more. When I started this journey I would keep a journal.  For the Psychological practices I would implement the practices of loving-kindness and the subtle mind as they will assist me with understanding my emotions, my stressors, and my reactions. And once I have a better understanding of these I will be able to let go of the negative and allow the positivity and clarity of mind to flow freely each day.  The Spiritual domain is somewhere I love to be. Sitting in silence and clearing my mind through meditation allows for me to let go of all the stressors of the day and view them instead of a hindrance, as testimonies or teaching opportunities.  Knowing that God has not given me a spirit of fear and doubt but a spirit of confidence knowing He is in control and His ways are perfect, allows me the confidence to continue to walk towards His will to win the prize. A good way to do this is through prayer and also taking time to walk through a visualization of meeting with Asclepius. Finding a mentor of yours and visualizing yourself sitting and absorbing wisdom, patience, and peace from this individual is a great way to take what you have learned through past talks and monitoring and applying them to your current walk.

Commitment

Taking a personal assessment of the integral focus of you treatment plan is to honestly evaluate the progress or lack of progress. Have I met my goals? Do the goals require a fine tuning? Look at each quadrant and each aspect of each quadrant and evaluate the progress or not of each domain. Having an understanding that you will never be fully developed and there is always room for growth, allows for honesty when it comes to evaluating. Depending on the season of your life your focus of growth will be different.

As I become more committed to integral health and wellness I will strive to learn as much as possible to better assist my clientele. Keeping and knowing the integral vows talked about through this course is a good strategy for continued growth. (see resource list below).

The Subtle Mind Practice

http://kushs.net/kaplan/HW420/Subtle Mind Practice.mp3

Loving-kindness Practice

http://kushs.net/kaplan/HW420/Loving Kindness Practice.mp3

Meeting Aesclepian

http://kushs.net/kaplan/HW420/Meeting Aesclepius.mp3

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

http://www.mindandlife.org/ Mind and Life Institute 

I plan to implement these practices daily. Each morning I arise early for a quiet time before the day starts. I have placed these sites on my MP3 and can easily listen to them at any time I have an available ½ hours or so. The book Integral Health The Path to Human Flourishing will continue to be at my side and I know that as I grow my library will also grow. I have also placed the Mind and Life Institute for access to further reading material.

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Unit 8 The eval.

I chose the Subtle Mind exercise and the Integral Assessment as my favorite practices as they seemed to speak volumes to me and allowed me a chance to reflect on where I was and see a more relaxed and focused person when completed. Taking a personal inventory of where you are daily can assist you in getting the most out of each day. For me I would schedule the subtle mind practice in the mornings before the day begins which would allow me the opportunity to start the each day with a calm-abiding spirit. And then at the end of the day after the house is quiet taking a moment to reflect on the happenings of the day by taking the integral assessment to evaluate what worked and what needed to change.

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Meeting Aesclepius unit 7

I had to do this practice 3 times the first two times it irritated me as I couldn’t let go of what was going on throughout the house. But the third time I resigned myself to the practice and when I lost connection and focus I would let go of the distraction by focusing on my breathing, I saw an elder from church. When I saw the elder I experienced a sense of peace, and tranquility. I did not see the light but when I thought of his mind; I sensed the wisdom that he carried when he spoke. When I thought of the throat I noticed how gentle his words were and when I thought of the heart I noticed all the loving service he did for others (his mission work, the way he always took time to talk with people, and pray with them). When I sat with him on the shore of the water that was in the background I felt a sense of peace, silence, like I had no care in the world.

The saying “One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” In my world that statement says a lot. I use to sell a car product, I used it for a year before I committed to selling it as I wanted to know the product and believe in it before I put my name behind it. The same with this saying and the health and wellness profession, to best help your clients you must believe in what you tell them. If it doesn’t help you and you don’t believe in it, it won’t help them. It seems the more we do these practices the more enlightened I feel I’m not sure about the wisdom part but the calmness I see on a regular base. Things just don’t seem to affect me as much as they use to, I feel I have more patience and understanding.

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After completing the universal loving-kindness I was not able to do much in the shape of relaxing just like I was doing an exercise in reading. Yet I do see if I was angry and using that as a way of calming down (like counting to 10) it would be great as I would not be focusing on the anger issues but switching the focus to others, taking the focus from a “me” center to an “All of Us” center.

As I sit here after completing the assessment and evaluating all four quadrants I can see that the biological quadrant is my focus. I looked at psycho-spiritual quadrant and I am an encourager and walk in this gifting daily. The interpersonal quadrant is flourishing well at this point in my life, yet I know there is times when I will need to heal and grow in this area. The worldly quadrant seems to come easy most of the time as I feel connected to society am active in the community, and love to talk with others about my experience. Now for the biological quadrant, I need much attention in this area. I am comfortable with the nutrition aspect but the fitness aspect needs extra attention. I find it difficult to engage in workout activities due to the heat (even with fans and air).  I can set it in the schedule and plan to follow through but something always seems to get in the way, and then the exercise plan gets pushed out the door. I could invite a friend to come workout with me but I just haven’t so… The self-regulation part is another area that needs much attention as I struggle with self-control when it comes to eating and self –esteem when it comes to feeling good about the way I procrastinate on the whole biological quadrant.

I think I am going to call a friend and see if they would like to come and workout with me 3 days a week early in the morning before it get hot or the schedule gets filled.

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The Subtle Mind

In comparing the loving-kindness and the subtle mind practices I can see the benefits of both I do seem to like the subtle mind better as I was able to refocus my mind to my breathing. I noticed at first I was having to really focus yet as I was able to relax and start witnessing the activities that were drawing my attention I was able to let them go and go back to breathing. The mind trails led to my busy schedule and the family. Although I could allow them (my thoughts) to mess the whole calm-abiding practice up if I chose, but with making a commitment to refocus on the breathing and then the quiet, peaceful and serene time, I was able to enjoy calm-abiding state. I am not sure I made it to the unity consciousness state but I think as I continue to try this I shall make it there. Although I kinda like the calm-abiding state even if it was only for a short time.
I really like the idea that it was all about the breathing and that we take our breathing everywhere we go and if we take a minute in our busy days to focus on the breathing the calmness will come and replace the hectic moments. I do deep breathing techniques before stressful meetings or appointments but never thought about doing it during a meeting.
It amazes me how much stress effects the body in the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of the our lives. If taking a few minutes a day to relax and do some loving-kindness and/or subtle mind exercises to combat the effects of stress on the body then why not put that in your schedule. When you can take it with you and apply the techniques anytime anyplace with there is no extra items you need to carry with you it almost seems like a no brainer to try. Wonder why I haven't done this before? 
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unit 4 The Workout

As I sit here having completed the loving-kindness exercise and realizing I feel at peace with all that is around me. I have come to realize I have been doing this for some time as I take time to soak in the presence of God as I listen to soft worship music. Being in His presence takes the worries I carry daily to a place where He can take them and carry them for me. After spending time with Him in His presence I am able to take on the burdens of my loved ones and my friends as well as the neighborhood and the community and breathe out a spirit of peace and love. I also ask for protection and blessings to be poured out on them. When I look at this loving-kindness exercise I do find it very beneficial and not difficult at all, it is taking time to slow down and breathe. I tell friends and family when they are overwhelmed with life and happenstance to slow down and breathe (maybe I should take my own advice). It really does work and makes life much less stressful and weary. It has given me a sense of energy (that is much needed, as I always seem to be tired).

Just as we take time to schedule in a time for physical exercise we need to schedule time for our psychospiritual selves. Just like when we start a rigorous fitness plan and the first week we struggle with aching muscles and fatigue so it is like the mental workout for our psychospiritual being. We take it slow and make every step a focused step the fatigue and frustration will fade quickly. If we make it a commitment each day to follow the regime and continue to follow it for a week then another week then a month we will see the benefits and be able to see the result of peace in our day to day walk. Before long you will be living in loving-kindness, subtle mind-witnessing, calm-abiding, and unity consciousness.  

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