Final Project

Introduction:

The development of the physical, psychological, and spiritual elements are essential for every health and wellness professional. This is because overall health and wellness does not just include the physical body, but it includes spiritual and psychological components as well. In order for a person to be healthy overall and to attain optimal wellness, they must be physically, spiritually and psychologically healthy.

The areas I need to develop more are the psychological and spiritual areas. I tend to do what is recommended for a healthy physical body such as proper nutrition and exercise, but I do not exercise my psychological and physical aspects as much as I should. I must make psychological and spiritual health a priority by practicing exercises such as yoga and meditation on a regular basis. I need to remember that health and wellness does not just include the physical body, and I will make it a priority to develop myself psychologically and spiritually.

Assessment:

I have assessed my health in domain by measuring my knowledge about the domain and then determining how often I do what is needed in order to grow in the domain? My physical score is an 8 because I tend to exercise regularly. I attempt to eat well on a regular basis, but sometimes my food and drink choices are not the best.

My spiritual health was assessed by gauging how much I pray and attend services to support this. I pray on a daily basis, but I do not attend church regularly, so my score is an 8 in this area.

I engage in yoga and meditation on a random basis, yet I know the benefits that exercise such as these provide to my psychological health. Right now, my score is a 4 in this area, but at times in my life, it has been as high as an 8. I really need to make a conscious effort to practice yoga and meditation several times a week.

Goal development:
            Physical – I would like to compete in another triathlon, so my physical goal is to train for and complete a triathlon.

            Psychological – I would like to implement yoga and meditation on a regular basis. My goal is to participate in yoga class three times each week.

            Spiritual – I tend to pray very regularly, but I do not attend church as much as I should. My goal is to attend church each Sunday in an effort to increase my spiritual health and wellness.

Practices for personal health:
            The strategies I can implement to foster growth in each of these domains are numerous. In the physical domain, I need to practice swimming and biking more. I have been running regularly, but in order to meet my triathlon goal, I need to practice the other two components.

For psychological growth, as I stated in my goals, I need to practice yoga and meditation several times a week.

For my spiritual growth, I need to pray several times a day and also attend church at least once a week.

I will accomplish each of these by setting a schedule for every activity and making it a priority to actually do every activity.

Commitment:
            I plan on using a checklist to assess my progress in the next six months. Each week, I will write down the physical, spiritual and psychological activities that need to be completed. Each week I will count the check marks and calculate my percentage I completed. Throughout the course of six months, I will need to have a 90% completion rate.

In order to maintain my long-term practices for health and wellness, I must actually complete the activities. I must not procrastinate or make excuses because my goal of overall health and wellness can only be accomplished with a balance of physical, spiritual, and psychological health.

 

Exercises and Practice Sessions

Review the exercises and practice sessions you have completed in this course. (Loving Kindness, Subtle mind, Visualization, meditation etc.) Choose two practices that you have determined to be most beneficial. How can you implement these practices in your personal life to foster “mental fitness”?

After completing the exercises in this course,  I believet hat the two which are most beneficial are the loving kindness and meditation exercises. The loving kindness is such a great reminder of how we should treat one another and how being loving and kind can contribute to our overall health and wellness.

Meditation is something that I have not done on a regular basis, but I really enjoyed meditating throughout this course. It is such a relaxing technique, and it is exactly what many of us need in the midst of our busy lives.

I really hope to continue  to practice exercises that we have done throughout this course. I need to make it a priority and implement it into my life on a regular basis.

Week 7 Blog

This course and the many meditation practices and exercises have made me realize what an incredible impact meditation can have on our psychospiritual, biological, and spiritual wellness.  Meditation specifically can increase spiritual wellness because of the focus on the mind and how the mind can affect the physical body. It was a little hard for me to understand how meditation could help in any aspect of life because it didn't seem to benefit the physical body at all. However, after completing meditation practices, it is clear that they can clear the mind and bring peace to one's spirit, which positively affects all areas of life.

I am going to really try to continue to practice meditation and especially yoga on a regular basis. Yoga offers the physical exercise as well as a meditation aspect, which can result in optimal, overall wellness.

"One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" means that a person should have experience in an area where they are teaching and/or leading another. As a health and wellness professional, I do have an obligation to "practice what I preach" by developing each aspect of my health - psychological, physical, and spiritual.  I need to be an example for those I am leading, and to lead by example, I must have experience. Therefore, I will continue to develop my psychological, spiritual and physical health.

Exercise and Assessment Process

The exercise and assement process entailed saying positive statements to myself over and over again about others; specifically how I can help others. This exercise made me discover that I can and should do more for others. Instead of just praying for others, I need to make more of an effort to actually do things for them. I have chosen this area to be a focus of growth and development for me as I now realize that doing for others needs to be a priority for me.

Some specific activities I can do to foster greater wellness in this area is to make sure to meditate daily, continue to pray for others, and make a concious effort to help others regularly.

Week 5

Loving Kindness vs. Subtle Mind

I enjoyed both of these exercises very much. The loving kindness exercise seemed to focus more on the importance of being kind to others and ourselves while the subtle mind exercise focused on completely clearing the mind. I could relate a little more to the loving kindness exercise because I am not very good at completely clearing my mind or focusing on breathing. However, I do know the importance of breathing exercises and of clearing the mind, especially when we have so much going on in daily life.

There is huge connection between spiritual/mental wellness and physical wellness. As we have discovered in the recent weeks, there have been many research studies conducted that show how the mind/body connection can contribute to overall health and healing when a person is ill. We need to all remember this connection and the importance of maintaining spiritual and mental health with physical health.

Loving Kindness Exercise

Loving Kindness Exercise

Like the other exercises, I really enjoyed this. I found it beneficial because it reminded me of the importance of kindness. In my opinion, it was soothing as well as humbling and reminded me of how essential it is to implement kindness into everyday life.

Research has shown that mental workouts are just as important as physical workouts. I have competed in many athletic events over the years, and I know first hand that mental toughness is just as important as physical toughness when it comes to accomplishing goals as well as staying healthy. I must make it a priority to practice mental workouts just as I practice physical workouts because the mind-body connection is crucial to success and wellness.

Blog Week 3

Based on your reflections, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal wellbeing), where do you rate your A-physical wellbeing, B-spiritual well-being, C-psychological well-being? Why?

 

I would rate my physical well-being as fluctuating from a 7-9 I typically compete in marathons and triathlons, and when I am in training, I am exercise constantly and eat very well. However, when I am not in training, my eating and exercise habits are not as good. My goal is to be at a 9 constantly, even when I'm not in training.

 

My spiritual well-being is a 7. I pray each day, I feel as if I am a very spiritual person, but I do not always put my beliefs into practice. Once again, my goal is to increase this number.

 

For me, it is a little difficult to gauge my psychological well-being. I would say it is about an 8. I feel balanced mentally, but I do lose my temper at times, which I am working on.

Develop a goal for yourself in each area (physical, spiritual, psychological).

 

My goal in each of these areas is to be at least at a 9. I can increase each of these areas by implementing healthy physical, mental and spiritual practices.

What activities or exercise can you implement in your life to assist in moving toward each goal?

 

In order to move toward each goal, I must actually do what I have said I am going to do. For example, I must actually exercise six days a week, and not just say I am going to do this. Additionally, I need to actually attend church instead of having the intention to do so.

 

Relaxation Exercise

Once again, I enjoyed this exercise. As I stated before, I was skeptical about these types of exercises until I tried these. I enjoy the voice, the directions, and the calmness these entail.