Final Blog for this class

Hi everyone!

It's our last blog for this class, going to miss ya all!

After reviewing my personal assessment from Unit 3 I noticed some changes, but not major because I am a tough cookie to change and learn new positive habits.  I would say my Spiritual and Psychological have gone from a 7 to a tad bit closer to an 8.  But, I also mentioned in the Unit 3 blog post that around that time of the month I normally go alittle crazy and that has gone up and improved greatly because I have started using meditation to improve on that area so I am so happy about that. I have also started attending a Buddhist temple on Sundays that has helped me in these departments of psychological and spiritual areas of need. For my physical part I have gone from a 5 to a 6 six because I decided to implement more physical activity into my life and enjoy it now, but want to do more not less. I choose different varieties in activities from PIYO to walking and running.  I enjoy it and it has helped me so much in stress and health.

My experience in this class has been challenging and rewarding because I definitely needed an eye opening experience and explanation for some areas I have needed to focus on and I have because of this class.  That is why I decided to take these steps listed above and plan on keeping them even when the schedule is busy.  I have learned so many things I have also passed along to friends and family that I had no idea about and they are also learning and taking my advice when it comes to taking care of our mind, body and spirit.  

Victoria

 

 Hi all!

I believe it’s important for wellness professionals to develop psychologically because they are the examples of health and wellness in many cases.  It’s important for not only wellness professionals but for everyone to become balanced in their bodies through our mind, body and spirit.  In order for a section of that to be successful we need to be psychologically well.  We need to be positive and always moving forward.  Spiritually we should be healthy in a way that we might be connected to a higher power to help us through our lives in a successful, peaceful manner.  Physically we need to be healthy and involved in some type of activity that keeps us challenged and essentially that also keeps our psychological and spiritual sides also healthier in the wellness department. Another reason it’s important for wellness professionals to be developed in those 3 areas is because most people want to talk to someone for advice and take suggestions from someone if they are practicing what they are preaching. 

The areas I need to develop in order to achieve my goals would be all areas.  I psychologically need to start believing in myself and thinking more positive.  Spiritually I need to participate in some form of meditation or prayer to help me get spiritually in touch so I am not so worried all the time and that I believe goes hand in hand in psychological department.  As far as physically, I need to start getting in to a focused and regular physical activity program.  I am just all around and out of order no regular so I feel like I am not getting the results I need in order to become physically developed.

My assessment consists of spiritually, physically, and psychologically.  I assessed each one and the results for my area in spirituality I am a 7, because I believe in a higher power and believe I pray daily and regularly, but it’s not focused and I also have a hard time in letting the higher power take over and be in charge.  I am stressed and worried often only making myself tired and unfocused. Physically I am a 5 because I am healthy, and participate in random activities, but not regularly and I am not focused on a specific goal. I tend to be random.  Psychologically I need to focus and participate in meditation or pray that is focused and consistant, even if it is 15 minutes day. This is important so I can heal parts of myself psychologically in order to grow stronger and focused.

My goals for physical, psychological and spiritual are definitely going to be beneficial and something I plan on being consistent with.  My physical goal is to start by the end of this week (Friday) to become involved with PIYO.  I want to follow the program I bought and do the activities it instructs to do on the first day and then the days to follow.  My psychological goal is to start attending the guided meditation service they hold every Sunday at the Buddhist temple in order to help relieve some stress, and worry.  I believe this also helps me grow spiritually as well and to be more connected to the higher power.  I need to start praying more and knowing that things will work out.

Practices for my health for the physical side would be PIYO or something as simple as walking. I need to ensure I have this time scheduled in order to complete the activity and that I stick with it.  Practicing psychological strategies would be mediation, and reading about positive things.  I need to start doing this regularly so I have the habit of being positive and only picking up something to read that is positive and can enhancing my psychological area, which also goes hand in hand with physical activities.  Practicing spiritual strategies would involve focus and awareness of what I believe and don’t believe that way I can ensure I am doing what I need in order to foster growth in this area.  I could not only meditate as I mentioned above but also, prayer, and even tai chi.

In order for me to become successful in my progress in the next six months I will assess myself as I did this time around by measuring myself in a way that is honest and place it on a scale of 1 to 10.  This is just one of the strategies I can use to assist myself in maintaining a long-term practice in health wellness, others would consist of making sure I make time in my schedule to do so, and also just to stop procrastinating.  I have found a friend to accompany me in each event in order to be successful in each activity I have chosen to improve the areas needed to be balanced, and living the life of health and wellness.

It was wonderful learning with all of you have wonderful holidays!

            Love, Victoria 

           

After reading and learning about the different ways for mental exercise I believe that visualization and loving kindness are beneficial for me more than the other exercises.  I tend to be a very visual person and keeping a picture and a mindset of image I want to see in the future or daily will help keep a remembrance of happiness and love for myself and everyone around me.  As for loving kindness, this is beneficial for me because it will help have a broader and accepting self for myself and others around me on a constant level of love and kindness.

Hi everyone!

Hope your weekend is going well!

When I listened to meet Asclepius I was not interested.  I actually fell asleep and was very distracted from the beginning voice of the man. When it came to actual meditation part I got very relaxed but to relaxed and as mentioned fell asleep.  I tried it the second time another day and just didn’t like it for someone reason.

 “One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” is very powerful sounding to me.  When I first read this I completely agreed with it because I believe we can’t know what someone is experiencing unless we were them.  This would apply to a health and wellness professional because they should give advice on what they have actually experienced and if they haven’t they need to clarify that so that person they are helping is aware that this person didn’t go through the same things I did an doesn’t have an idea accept maybe hearing something similar from someone else.

I do believe that as a health and wellness professional we should be developing our health in psychological, physical and spiritual selves because we need to be at our best when we are trying to help others be their best, we are the examples.

I can implement psychological and spiritual growth in my personal life by taking meditation as more of a necessary activity instead of putting it on the back burner, and getting physically healthy by starting a new physical activity exercise.  

Hi all!!

The Universal Loving Kindness meditation exercise was definitely interesting.  It is basically saying something positive that have to do with love, kindness, freedom etc. for 10 minutes.  This meditation practice helps us focus and switch out minds to be more powerful in love and kindness towards others.

The integral assessment is about taking ourselves and making somewhat more vulnerable in my opinion because we are taking a part at which we basically struggle or dislike about ourselves and ten focusing on it and making them part of our minds in order to focus on changing it.

I believe mine would be filled with different things, but the first part I would like to work on and struggle with is patience.  I tend to be anxious and fidgety when I need to get something done, instead of just doing it in its own time and do the best I can.

Victoria

Hiya!

The difference between the Loving Kindness and Subtle mind exercises would be that the loving kindness one tends to focus on how we feel against others and how we see others.  It teaches us how to rid those negative feelings of others and strengthen the love we have towards the ones we already care about.  The subtle mind exercise helps us focus on relaxing our thoughts and calming ourselves.  These are exercises that can be used when have certain instances you can turn to either one for guidance in those areas I mentioned above. Both tend to be relaxing, but I can’t quite get into them. 

I believe the connections of spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness are definitely linked because one can’t be working great without the other two working great.  We spiritually need to be healthy with a kind, loving, caring, and happier mindset that connects us to know spiritually we are in a place of love and happiness when we find it from within.  Physically our bodies need to be less stressed and feeling good for us to be spiritually and mentally working well.  When we participate in physically activities our bodies release chemicals that help improve our mindset and lift our spirits and we become more in touch with ourselves and become happier so when we are happier we are also so much more caring of ourselves and others and we tend to me also more forgiving.  All these connect us to be happier, healthier individuals that can relax and enjoy our lives because we putting so much energy into loving ourselves and others.

Victoria A. Demanuel

Hi everyone!

Hope your weekend is going well?

While listening to this audio I found it very relaxing.  The initial voice of the man explaining what the audio is about was a bit annoying, but it quickly passed and the ladies voice was ok. Not annoying, but not my cup of tea.  However, I found that not only was I so relaxed while listening to this audio and participating in the breathes and listening to the words, but I felt somewhat less stressed and less anger to some others that I had been upset with. So I believe it was beneficial for me. I would recommend it to others, but explain what to expect and what type of voice they may hear.  But I believe this could do some great healing from within.

The concept of a mental workout is that it helps let the mind relax, concentrate, feel things and be at its best.  When we do not work out our minds we in a sense lose it because we aren’t as quick or we are stressed, and maybe feeling tired and not in a great mood.  When we exercise the mind those things are somewhat or entirely alleviated.  There have many studies to prove that when workout our minds and play simple games like a crossword or take a run down the street or even take a walk  those activities help our mind free of stress, and tiredness a bit.  Mental workouts definitely play a big part in our psychological health as well because without brain stimulation our brains won’t work very well.  We need blood flow and thinking going on to exercise our minds to keep it quick and less stressed out which then helps our emotional part get in a better place as well because we start feeling good because of all the exercises.

Enjoy!

Hi all!

Based on my reflections my physical well-being is 5, because I healthy for the most part, meaning blood work  and body working normal according to the tests, but I am somewhat overweight and need to improve on that.  I would give my spiritual well-being a 6, I usually have spiritual time when I prayer which is often when I am alone, but need to literally improve on my spiritual time all together.  My psychological well-being is definitely a 7. I tend to have the most psychological problems around that girlie time of the month and it takes its toll, and lasts about 2 weeks of craziness in my head.

To improve myself in physical well-being I am going to start getting up 5 times a week and start walking 5 miles for one week, then gradually start jogging/walking 5 miles for 2 weeks, then try a new work on one of the five days to mix it up a bit.  This will get my blood pumping and energy rolling. 

To improve myself in spiritual well-being I am going to start making more time to allow myself to meditate.  Maybe try something new to help me focus and last longer than 10 minutes.  My goal is to allow 30 minutes, three times a week to help me in my spiritual department.  Then gradually allow more time.

To improve myself in the psychological area I need to allow more time to relax and have some fun.  I noticed when I go out with friends and family, and I didn’t want to at first I always feel better and have fun.  The physical activity and meditation will also help improve my psychological well-being too.

My experience with the relaxation exercise The Crime of the Century was different.  I am not too familiar with meditating, so being asking to say things to myself in the beginning was a bit weird and I giggled a little, but towards the end started to get into it. I also started to feel fidgety towards the end too, like I was uncomfortable with my position. But, at the same time felt annoyed by the voice. I felt like I was listening to a Blue’s Clues show (I used to have it on the TV when I nannied) the voice is very similar to that character in the show.

Journey to Relaxation Exercise

Hi everyone!

I am really enjoying this autumn weather! It is so nice, cool and pretty outside here in Cali.  Hope you all enjoy your weekend :)

The audio was very relaxing, to my surprise.  I actually took part in listening to it and participated in it as well.  I am not sure if it's because I worked a full day and feel a bit tired, or was able to just sit and focus on what the man was saying, along with how calm his voice sounded? But usually trying to meditate or relax is impossible for me, at least mentally.  Usually if my body feels relaxed my brain isn’t relaxed it’s thinking about a million things I need to do.

Overall this audio was very calming, relaxing, and I enjoyed listening to the description of what he was asking to do in order for the relaxation to occur.  I liked that I was able to follow his words and actually get somewhere in my trying to be a more relaxed individual.

Victoria