Going through the Loving-Kindness exercise, I found myself quite uncomfortable with the requests that were made. I do not believe that “taking in” other people’s pain and suffering is safe or a good idea and so I refused to even attempt this. I instantly felt discomfort within me when the guide said to do this and I trusted myself and did not proceed with this portion. I feel that, in doing this, I would be endangering my own health (not to mention the health of the baby within me). I do not see anything wrong with “breathing out loving-kindness” to others and feel that it would be a great thing to practice but this is the only aspect of the exercise that I feel comfortable participating in. I would never recommend anyone to take in others’ pain and suffering, but I would absolutely recommend opening one’s heart to extend compassion to others.
Mental workout refers to the deliberate exercising of a specific mental focus in order to progressively develop an expanded consciousness as well as its healing capacities (Dacher, 200). Dacher has two exercises of contemplative practice that he teaches in his book: Loving-kindness (the exercise that we were assigned for this blog entry) and the subtle mind which are both on his CD. Dacher states that the aim of the two exercises is to “help us to tame and train the mind, open the heart, expand consciousness, and progress us toward psychospiritual flourishing” (Dacher, 2006). I can implement mental workouts in order to foster my psychological health in various ways. I could exercise control when faced with a challenge that invokes in me a negative reflexive feeling, I could take time to assess a situation before jumping to conclusions which may be unproductive or negative, and I could commit to a constant state of awareness of my inner thoughts and feelings so as to direct them to be more positive. These are just a few examples as there are an infinite possibilities of things that I could do to train mentally, improve my integral health, and have a positive impact on my environment.
Dacher, E. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach, California. Basic Health Publications, Inc.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Unit 3
1. Rating my personal well-being
a. I would rate my physical wellbeing right now as a number 6. It is normally higher, but this pregnancy is my third and is taking a toll on my body. I eat moderately well, definitely don’t exercise enough, and don’t handle stress well at times.
b. Regarding my spiritual wellness, I would rate that as an 8 because I feel content spiritually. The development I have experienced spiritually has been substantial in the past few years and, although there is always room for improvement, I am quite happy with where I stand right now.
c. Psychologically, I feel there is definitely room for improvement; I rate myself a 5. I do face challenges psychologically in the ways that I am sensitive to depression and stress-related ailments.
2. Goals
a. I have learned a lot about physical fitness while attending Kaplan in the last year. I am much more aware of the areas in which I need improvement, such as aerobic and anaerobic exercise, stretching, strength training, and relaxation (which are all physical areas!). I am better at relaxation than I am at aerobic exercise and I do need to become more active. My goal for myself physically is to walk more during this pregnancy and slowly get back into a routine after the baby is born to improve my physical wellbeing. The primary part of my goal is for it to be consistent.
b. Since I am content with my spiritual wellbeing in general, I would like to maintain my spiritual health and work toward improving it in whatever ways I can.
c. Psychologically, my goals are to handle stress better; to maintain control of my emotions and not allow myself to become overwhelmed by life and consequently suffer minor mental ailments.
3. Activities
a. Something as simple as 10-15 minutes walking at a brisk pace on my treadmill while distracting myself with music or television would be a great start toward being more active.
b. Praying is one way that I could maintain my spiritual health and seek a closer to connection to my God.
c. Stress-relief exercises like meditation or Tai Chi are ways that I could improve my psychological health because they would help me to refocus myself mentally and bring perspective to my circumstance.
The Crime of the Century
During the exercise, I relaxed all of my tense muscles and my whole body felt warm and tingly. It was interesting applying specific colors to the chakras and I believe this could be very beneficial if you used that concept to harness the power of colors (with intent), so I’ll have to look up the meaning of the colors before doing this again so that I know what each color represents. The best thing about this meditation was the combination of colors and shapes with each area. I think that being specific like that helps to boost the power of the meditation because each one of those specifics already has so much intent put into it that that power is harnessed in the meditation.
a. I would rate my physical wellbeing right now as a number 6. It is normally higher, but this pregnancy is my third and is taking a toll on my body. I eat moderately well, definitely don’t exercise enough, and don’t handle stress well at times.
b. Regarding my spiritual wellness, I would rate that as an 8 because I feel content spiritually. The development I have experienced spiritually has been substantial in the past few years and, although there is always room for improvement, I am quite happy with where I stand right now.
c. Psychologically, I feel there is definitely room for improvement; I rate myself a 5. I do face challenges psychologically in the ways that I am sensitive to depression and stress-related ailments.
2. Goals
a. I have learned a lot about physical fitness while attending Kaplan in the last year. I am much more aware of the areas in which I need improvement, such as aerobic and anaerobic exercise, stretching, strength training, and relaxation (which are all physical areas!). I am better at relaxation than I am at aerobic exercise and I do need to become more active. My goal for myself physically is to walk more during this pregnancy and slowly get back into a routine after the baby is born to improve my physical wellbeing. The primary part of my goal is for it to be consistent.
b. Since I am content with my spiritual wellbeing in general, I would like to maintain my spiritual health and work toward improving it in whatever ways I can.
c. Psychologically, my goals are to handle stress better; to maintain control of my emotions and not allow myself to become overwhelmed by life and consequently suffer minor mental ailments.
3. Activities
a. Something as simple as 10-15 minutes walking at a brisk pace on my treadmill while distracting myself with music or television would be a great start toward being more active.
b. Praying is one way that I could maintain my spiritual health and seek a closer to connection to my God.
c. Stress-relief exercises like meditation or Tai Chi are ways that I could improve my psychological health because they would help me to refocus myself mentally and bring perspective to my circumstance.
The Crime of the Century
During the exercise, I relaxed all of my tense muscles and my whole body felt warm and tingly. It was interesting applying specific colors to the chakras and I believe this could be very beneficial if you used that concept to harness the power of colors (with intent), so I’ll have to look up the meaning of the colors before doing this again so that I know what each color represents. The best thing about this meditation was the combination of colors and shapes with each area. I think that being specific like that helps to boost the power of the meditation because each one of those specifics already has so much intent put into it that that power is harnessed in the meditation.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Reflection: Unit 2
Journey On was a very pleasant experience. I have practiced guided meditation before and I think that it made it very easy for me to follow along. When the guide asked that we focus on our arms and hands, the feeling of warmth and heaviness was instantaneous. Going through the meditation, I felt my tense muscles relax, especially the ones in my shoulders. Once it was over, I continued to feel relaxed and energized for quite a while.
What I learned from this exercise was the physiological reaction of our energetic intentions. I have done this same meditation (not verbatum) before, but instead of focusing on the "blood flow" of an area, it was the relaxation of the muscles that we envisioned and experienced. I was very interested in this difference, because, in the end, they go together. You focus your energy on a part of your body and the physiological reaction is the change in blood flow."
What I learned from this exercise was the physiological reaction of our energetic intentions. I have done this same meditation (not verbatum) before, but instead of focusing on the "blood flow" of an area, it was the relaxation of the muscles that we envisioned and experienced. I was very interested in this difference, because, in the end, they go together. You focus your energy on a part of your body and the physiological reaction is the change in blood flow."
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
And a pic...
This is me and my daughter when she was about 8 or 9 months old (I think), hanging out in the hot tub!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
A New Blog for a New Class
This blog is dedicated to my Kaplan U class: Creating Wellness- Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing.
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