U-10 My Last Blog

1. Review your unit 3 personal assessment of your psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being. Reflect on these areas . How did you score yourself on a scale from 1 to 10 in unit 3? How do you score yourself now? Has the score changed? Why or why not?
2. Review the goals and activities you set for yourself in each area. Have you made progress toward the goals? Explain.
3. Have you implemented the activities you chose for your well-being in each of the three areas? Explain.
4. Summarize your personal experience throughout this course. Have you developed improved well-being? What has been rewarding? What has been difficult? How will this experience improve your ability to assist others?

I would say the only changes from my assessment in Unit three are based on a less self-critical veiw of myself. I think I've made a bit of improvement but most of it was finding a self love and being less critical of myself. In unit three I have myself the following grades: Physical -2 or 3, Psychological - 7, and Spiritual - 5.  based my physical rating on being overweight. I am overweight, but since starting this class I have joined a fitness center which provides education and support for exercise, nutrition, and relaxation in order to create a healthier you. I have been going for a week and so far so good. Also I shouldn't have graded myself so low. I am overweight, but I am relatively healthy, no diseases, I don't drink, smoke, or even eat junk food. I would say physically I'm a 6 and well on my way to a 10! Psychologically I am set up for success. I am a Psychology major so I have a great understanding of the importance of psychologicial health and I have a lot of avenues for persuing that health. I have been in therapy for the last year and I have done a LOT of my work. I would rate myself at a 8 or 9. Spiritually I rated myself only a 5 because I was feeling a lack of connection at church. However I didn't take into account that I never lost any sense of connection to my God. I have found other avenues of feeling connected and growing spiritually. I have started to meditate daily and try to hike in the mountains a lot. It is in these places that I feel the most connected. I would rate myself spiritually around a 7.

For goals I will continue with the fitness program I entered, continue meditating and attending church, and I will continue therapy.

My personal journey in this class has been an interesting one. I got off to a roaring start very excited about healing my whole self and taking in all the readings, meditation practices, and blogs like a wide eyed doe. A couple weeks ago a personal trial knocked me on my *#@!! and knocked me on my friend's couch and I had a few weeks where I didn't read, blog, meditate, or participate in class at all. Now I'm in a stage where I am scrambling to get things done. I am stressed out and overwhelmed, but it does some good to review all of these things again, and in order to catch up I think I've done like 6 meditations this week! So that's good. I'm BACK! I do have a strong commitment to myself to continue my goals and keep this wellness train on track!

Good luck to all my classmates! I have loved reading your blogs. They have helped inspire me when things were difficult and keep me going when I needed a boost. Some of them have also helped me to put my trials into perspective and make me grateful for them! Thanks guys!

U5- Subtle Mind

I was FINALLY able to do the subtle mind practice using the link in doc sharing. I have to say I loved it. It was very simple and relaxing. I have been going through a very difficult separation this last week or so now and the subtle mind and rainbow meditations have been very helpful. The Rainbow meditation when I am feeling broken down or weak in my resolve, and the subtle mind when I am just feeling stressed out or overwhelmed.

It took me a LONG time to get to a place where I wasn't overwhelmed with all the thoughts running through my head. It's a good thing this practice was over 20 minutes long. By the time 15 minutes had passed the first time I tried it I had finally settled my mind. The second time around this process went much more smoothly. I think with practice this meditation will become very helpful for me.

Ongoing Daily Wellness...

In order to keep myself on track for daily steps toward integral health I have a couple of websites I want to share with all of you. This first one is one I found through Facebook, I was invited to it actually. It is a blog sort of, and each day they give you a small challenge for that day to keep a healthier lifestyle. Some of them are small and easy some more difficult. For example today's was to do a crossword puzzle or sudoku puzzle. The more challenges you complete the more points you get!

This is the site for the video and the site for the daily challenge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOId_Maazhw&feature=player_embedded
https://challenge.meyouhealth.com/signup

Hopefully that video and link worked... if not, sorry :) copy and paste the link at least. The other sight is one I found on my favorite Bordem Killing website, www.stumbleupon.com. This sight was just a nice reminder. http://www.donothingfor2minutes.com/

I've had a good time in this class and I hope you all find the wellness you are looking for. Good luck in your journeys!

U9- Final

It is important for all health and wellness professionals to develop themselves psychologically, spiritually, and physically in order for them to truly be healers for others. It is a well known fact that we cannot see something that we are unaware exists. Therefore if a health care professional is only developed and learned in the importance of physical health, they will attribute all aliments of their patients to the physical body. While a patient may be getting headaches because they have a psychological issue that professional would only be able to treat the physical headache. This would be a temporary solution to the symptom, but until the source of the pain is found and treated appropriately, the headaches will persist. Personally in order to become a good therapist, I need to develop in all three areas. I cannot help a patient with a psychological problem who has a debilitating and untreated physical ailment, nor one without some connection to their own spirituality.

            When we assessed our heath in Unit 3 I scored myself at a 2-3 out of 10 physically, a 6-7 psychologically, and a 5 spiritually. I fell like those are still pretty accurate. I am only a 2-3 in physical health because I am quite overweight. With further consideration I think I am closer to a 5 physically. While I am overweight, I am not suffering from any major illnesses or ailments. I think I scored myself so low because it is a physical issue that I can control. Psychologically I would rate myself at a 8, maybe a bit higher. I have a very strong foundation of information in psychology (a bachelors degree worth, almost) and I am in therapy. I have good self-reflection and am able to be objective most of the time. Also I have a willingness to assume responsibility for myself and make changes when necessary. Spiritually I am doing fairly well also. I would rate myself around a 7. I was feeling very disconnected to my spirituality back in unit 3, but I realized that I wasn’t disconnected from my spirituality, just my church and that’s okay. I have a strong sense of connection to my creator and to this planet. I am LDS (mormon) and it was difficult at first for me to meditate. I felt like I was breaking some rule. I felt especially guilty when I started to feel more connected through meditation than I did with prayer. With prayer I always felt like I was taking to myself, or that I was talking to someone who wasn’t there, I was too consumed with my own thoughts and feelings of being rejected too listen for a response. With meditation I was forced to quite those thoughts and feelings, after a while I could really let go. I think a combination of the two will be my key to a very strong sense of spirituality.  I will be able to use the practices of meditation to calm my heart and mind enough to pray to my Heavenly Father on a completely different level, a level where I can really listen to that still, small voice in return.

            Going forward I am most concerned with my physical health. There is a fitness center here called The New Well (link). They are a weight loss program that works with your nutrition, offers counseling and stress reduction, and really takes a holistic approach to weight loss and overall physical health. I joined them last week and I really look forward to permanent results. Also the projected that I could reach my goal in 9 months and I am going on a cruise in 10 months so it works out quite well! For my psychological health I will continue to see my therapist. I also have been working very hard to limit my stress. I live in a house with a husband who is ADD, a son who has Asperger’s, and two sons with ADHD. Needless to say I am the only one in my house who is ever even slightly organized. I have “SuperNanny’d” our house. I have put our entire household on a routine and I have put visuals throughout the house of our routine, menu for the week, and chore charts. I have also put those three boys on a reward system which they earn beads for all kinds of positive things and can spend those beads on all kinds of rewards like TV time or a new toy. It has been working very well. As part of my personal routine, I have included 10 minutes per day of dancing, just turning up the tunes and shaking my tail feather. I can’t explain it, it is physically a workout, but it is also fun and exhilarating. As far as my spiritual wellbeing I am committed to doing 10 minutes of meditation per day to start. I think I will do a short meditation exercise before my nightly prayer as well. This will allow me to slow down, get out of my own head, and truly commune with God. I have also committed to hiking more. This will help me in all three ways, physically I will be getting exercise, psychologically it is a great way to clear your head, and spiritually there is no where I feel more connected than in the mountains. Once I get a bit healthier physically I am planning on going to my sister in-law’s yoga studio where she teaches hot yoga. They do yoga in a room at 100-something degrees. I used to love yoga before I had my babies, and I am excited to do it again.

            In order to track my progress I plan on keeping a journal. Also my coach at The New Well will be in touch with me three times per week to talk about how my goals are going. This will be a good support. I tend to get really excited about changes like this and stick to my goals very well for the first several weeks or months, but I lose momentum and eventually end up back at square one. I think I will set up a reward system for myself to keep me going during this time. As part of my weight loss plans my husband and I are putting ten dollars in savings for every pound I lose, when I reach my goal I get to take that money and buy some new clothes. That is a goal that I think will keep me motivated.  I am also a very routine based person, I think that once I get in the routine for a few months, it will become just a part of my day. I am excited to take the wealth of information I got from this course and build a new me!

U8 - My favorite 2 Exercises.

I never got the opportunity to do the Subtle Mind practice because my CD is weird, but I really enjoyed the Loving-kindness (about the 4th time I tried it) and the Rainbow exercise from one of the first few units. I also really benefited from the pain relief one that I found when I couldn't concentrated a few weeks ago because of a piercing pain in my neck. I think these ones were more beneficial to me because I was really able to visualize a tangible thing. For example colors coming into or out of certain parts of my body in the rainbow exercise. I also was able to put meaning to those particular parts of my body. In fact I was feeling quite ill a few weeks ago and I had a splitting headache. I couldn't really concentrate on anything, my head was pounding and my "to do" list was multiplying. I took some of my essential oils, the peppermint one, and just put one drop on my "third eye" Chakra right on my forehead. I then did the pain relief meditation and was able to visualize the source of my pain within my body and release it into the Earth. (I envisioned the pain as these shadowy crawly creatures) I finished my meditation feeling completely refreshed. A combination of aroma therapy, mediation, and understanding what part of my body is the window to certain powers within my body really helped me overcome.

I also really like the loving kindness practice. I feel like I'm really doing a service to others and I feel very good about myself after spending 20-30 minutes concentrating on releasing the suffering of others. It has helped me to grow more connected to my husband and to be more compassionate about his trials rather than annoyed by them.

U7- Meeting Asciepius

It took me a few tries on this one too. I had a hard time really visualizing a person whom I hold in high esteem and wisdom. The first time I tried it my mind was filtering through all the people I could think of when out of nowhere a very strong image of my best friend's foster parents when I was a teen popped into my head. I focused on them for a while because it was so strong of an image, but I think I was distracted by something I don't remember. I thought it was very interesting that those two people who I always loved, but never really thought too much about later in my life were the people who stuck out for me. I am considering finding them and just telling them I was grateful for all of the things they did for me when I was a grieving and angry teen.

The second time I tried I used a well known Marriage and Family Therapist and Author John Gottman. I met him at a conference last fall and he was just a wealth of knowledge. I was able to stay a bit more focused this time.

U4 - Loving-Kindness Humor

So I finally was able to settle my mind long enough to really do the loving-kindness meditation and it well very well with a humorous ending. I typed "loving" into the search bar of my itunes and found it on the list. I did the practice quite well. I was able to really hold my husband in my heart in the first steps then for the second part, I thought of my 13yr old son who is being bullied. I concentrated on taking in his suffering and breathing out good kind thoughts. I actually visualized breathing in black smoke and breathing out white smoke. I felt like and emotional human filter.

The humorous part was when the practice was over and this woman's soothing voice telling be to carry on my loving-kindness mind for the remainder of the day when the track ends and my brilliant itunes shuffles to the next song containing the word "loving"... Of course it was Joan Jett's "I Hate Myself fo Loving You". It was pretty funny.

LibbyK

Pain Relief Meditation

Once again I tried to do the meditation assignment and couldn't concentrate past my distractions. This time it was this sharp, shooting pain I've had in my neck for a few days now. So determined to overcome this struggle I decided to find a pain relief meditation to do first. I found this one on Youtube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwiiWrt3Ld8 

It was quite an experience. It talks about going in through the mind's eye into your body and visualizing both your healthy body and the source of the pain. I was surprised to find that my healthy part of my body just seemed to glow a whiteish-blue color. The source of my pain was this cluster of shadowy critters crawling around really fast. Like spiders and scorpians. It was strange that that's what I see as pain. Also it has you release your pain back into the earth which worked well with my critters because I just saw them burrow deep into the Earth.

Anyway I just wanted to share my experience, I'll do the assigned meditation later in the week too.

LibbyK

Gluten-Free, Casein-Free and Feingold Diets...

This is the second night in a row that I find myself pulling an all-nighter. I am trying to sort through the endless amount of information online about the nutritional changes that I can make for my 4 year old son who was just diagnosed with ADHD. For several weeks I have been loosely following the Feingold Diet and it has made a big difference, it cut his meds in HALF!!! I'd love to get to a point where I cut the meds out completely...

So I reach out to you classmates, do any of you know anything firsthand about these diets? I am struggling with where to start and what supplements I can use that aren't so expensive...

Thanks ahead for your input! :-)

U6 -Loving-Kindness and Integral Health Assessment

Well, that was informative! I have discovered that I am incredibly self-centered. I scored low on the interpersonal and worldly axises. I have been spending all of my time for the last couple years in crisis mode and doing damage control in psychospiritual and I have lost track of looking outside myself. Not myself so much as my immediate family. I focus all of my attention on my kids and my marriage and even my own healing, I have become absolutely univolved in the world around me. How horrible is that. I used to volunteer, donate and attend rallies all the time, and I haven't done most of those things in over 3 years! Wow, what an eye opener.

Also I think on a subconscious level I feel guilt and shame over this because all three times I tried the Loving-Kindness exercise I just couldn't. In fact my heart would race and I would feel more anxious. Maybe I didn't want to think about someone else and take on their struggle because I'm just too self-centered right now...

Hmmm....

LibbyK

Spring Cleaning!

I am posting this in response to discussion questions about changing your attitude toward the necessary things that we hate to do. For example I hate to clean my house, with 3 boys, 2 kids under age 5 and 2 kids plus my husband who have ADD/ADHD (and are unorganized slobs) my house will get very messy very quickly. I have for a long time, been under the negative attitude of "what's the point". Lately I decided to change my attitude and just take my house one room at a time. Each room has been taking several days, but by the end it is clean and organized and I feel so much better! Knowing the outcome makes doing the task a positive experience.

For example check out my new office!  By the way you should know it used to be just the desk with a mountain of papers and books on it so bad that I had to hold the mouse and the keyboard in my lap! Here it is now though  :-)

 Check out my Bathroom too!!!

I'm starting to love Spring Cleaning... this could be a problem, but I have to say I find it much easier to get centered when my house doesn't look like an episode of Hoarders!
LibbyK

... isn't it ironic.

I just thought I'd take a second to share the irony of my current situation.

I'm sitting at a coffee shop on a cold and windy Saturday afternoon drinking a double shot mocha, eating a piece of delicious cappuccino rum cheesecake, and taking frequent smoke breaks while I stress about getting my homework done so that I can get back to my messy house full of rowdy children. I am on a time crunch because I have a weeks worth of housework to catch up, and I'm recovering from mild food poisoning. Oh, and the ironic part? The project I'm trying to pound out is all about Mental Fitness. That's right I am trying to write about how important it is to maintain a healthy mind, body, and spirit.

So, do I get Hypocrite of the Year award or what?!?!

AAAARRRRGGGG!!!

So I'm having the hardest time with these practices! I haven't summed up the loving kindness practice from last week yet even though I tried to do it three different times and I just tried to do the subtle mind practice, but I can't. Help! Two weeks ago I was out to dinner with my family and I ran into the  man who raped me when I was 13. I'm in therapy and we're working through it, but ever since running into him I feel like all those feelings are rushing back up to the surface and I'm standing here with my finger in the dam. Each time I try to calm my mind and do one of these meditation practices I feel like I'm pulling my finger out of the dam. I know I just need to set up a safe environment where I can just let it all out and either scream and yell, or cry, but I just can't. I'm too scared.
Sorry classmates.
Libby

My Health Report Card

This is not something I would consider to be fun... I will try to be as honest in my assessment as possible.

Physical Wellbeing
- I would grade myself at a 2 or 3 in Physical Wellbeing. I have been obese since my daughter was born, and I used food to cope with a difficult couple of years my family has been through. I am also unfit, my daughter was born C-section and I haven't built up that core strength yet.
-My goal physically is to get down to a healthy weigh. I don't have a number, I am more interested in feeling healthy.
-To reach this goal I have hired a personal trainer and made a commitment to go to the gym 3-4 days per week. I change up my workouts often so I don't get bored. Also we are changing our diet in the household to more protein and fiber, less sugar and fat, and I'm trying go more organic.

Psychological Wellbeing
-I would grade myself at a 6 or 7 in psychological wellbeing. I am still healing from traumas and I still get triggered from outside sources, but I am aware of my triggers. I am able to feel my reactions and remain present... I hope that makes sense.
-My goal is to get to a place where I no longer get triggered. I want to forgive those who have traumatized me and be in charge of my own happiness rather than relying on others for it.
-I have been in therapy for two years and feel like I was a 1 when I went into therapy. Also I have a very supportive husband whom I can process things with. I have only recently began to meditate and look inward for solutions rather than blame my emotional states on my environment.

Spiritual Wellbeing
-I would grade myself right at a 5. I have a strong sense of faith that everything will be okay. However, I struggle with church and I find myself questioning why a lot. "Thy will be done" is a hard one for me. I question why when karma seems to be backwards. My faith is strong, but my spirituality isn't, if that makes sense.
-My goal would be to reconnect with God and the Earth, also to reconnect with my spiritual self.
-Honestly my spiritual wellbeing was closer to 10 two years ago and has been slipping and I don't have a plan to bring it back up. I guess that is where I have been interested in meditation. like I'm trying to reconnect with my spiritual self.


I feel like taking this class was a step in this process, also learning to meditate, getting out to the gym, changing my diet, and continuing therapy are also big steps. I have made a commitment to myself to become a healthier person within my body, mind, and spirit. The idea that the power to become healthy and happy lies within me rather than my environment has been very empowering.
LibbyK

Amazing Meditation Experience!

Last night I had a strange and amazing experience in meditation. I should tell you that while I am new to the practice of meditation I have used meditation recordings to fall asleep for years because I have anxiety struggles as a result of my PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder).

Also you should know that my exceptionally high anxiety last night was a result of going out to eat on Sunday night and casually running into the man who raped me when I was 13. In 14 years I have only run into him one other time. It was about 5 years ago and I had my first and only panic attack, I thought I was going to die. Sunday night I was overcome with rage. It felt as though my body was on fire and I couldn't think, or see anything but fire. I could feel my heart thumbing in my chest and apparently I was breathing quickly and crying as well. Anyway he left almost as soon as we saw each other and I was able to have this reaction without him seeing it.

I spent most of Sunday in a trance, but last night I couldn't sleep so I listened to a meditation track on my ipod. After a while I found myself in this strange state where it was as if my body was asleep, but I was conscious. My body was heavy and immovable, but I was aware of it. I felt trapped but not scared like I was under a lead blanket, or swaddled. The weird part was that I couldn't move, I tried for a long time and it took several attempts before I could move even my eyelids or fingers. I was pretty strange to feel disconnected from my body in that way but still be there. It was also amazing because no part of my body ached, or was uncomfortable, it was just there. I  probably sound crazy, but I wanted to share.
LibbyK

The Crime of the Century exercise.

This one was interesting for me, but not quite as relaxing as it was empowering. As it came to each part of the body I applied slight pressure to that place on my body for just a second so that I could physically feel it and concentrated on that spot. Some of the Chakras I didn't have to do that with. It was more energizing for me than relaxing because I could feel all the energies passing through me.

Also it seemed to trigger some of my past traumas when he was on the Yellow Chakra and was talking about self worth. I don't really know why that word triggers me as hard as it does but I felt an overwhelming sadness, cried for a few minutes and moved on.I felt the most energy through the red, yellow, indigo, and violet Chakras.
LibbyK

U2 -Intro and Journey On Relaxation experience

Hey classmates! I'm Libby, this is my Blog, I am absolutely new to the Blog world, so I hope I don't mess it up completely. I named my blog Pollywog in the Fog because I am an infant in my journey for self actualization and the path is completely unknown, much like a polliwog in the fog. I have been a victim for my entire life and this year I decided to create total wellness within myself. I am on a quest to heal my own body, mind, and spirit. I have hired a personal trainer and nutritionist to work with me occasionally to help bring me to a my goals of a healthier body. I have been seeing a therapist for healing on a psychological level and I do nightly meditation.

In therapy and at home I have done a lot of relaxation exercises including breathing exercises and tension and release exercises. I have never done one where I concentrated on my blood flow, that was interesting. I found that while I was breathing and visualizing bloodflow into my arms I could feel my heart thumping in my chest and with my eyes closed I could see red or orange. When I started to visualize the blood flow back to my core my heartbeat slowed and the back of my eyelids seemed darker. It was a neat experience, I will try that one more often.

LibbyK