Unit 4

This week we focused on loving kindness. By listening to the audio that was provided as part of Dacher's text along with reading the text I was able to have a complete understanding of Dachers Loving-Kindness excersice. Taking the time to practice this excersice on a daily basis so far this week has been very beneficial to me. When I find myself feeling frustrated towards another person my mind reverts back to the words "take in their suffering, allowing it to disolve in your heart". Doing so helps remind me that we are all on the same journey together and that they may not be at the same point as I am. I read a book by Pierro Ferucci called The Power of Kindness about 1 year ago. This book has a chapter on patience. Ferucci discusses the true meaning of patience with others; I may be in a hurry to get where I am going but I should always remember that this may not be the case for others around me. It is important to have patience and understanding for others and try to imagine where they are in their own lives. This book seems to go hand in hand with the information Dacher is giving in his text. I feel that by practicing the loving-kindess excersice on a daily basis my true understanding and love for others will continue to grow.
The nost important aspect of this excersice that I would like to note is that it is impossible to show loving-kindness to others if you do not have it first for yourself (Dacher, 2006).

Unit 2

Hello Everyone,

Well I breezed right through Unit 2 (I went right past the blog discussion!...oops). Needless to say I am very sorry this is a week late. If you have time to offer any valuable feedback I would be more than gracious!
for unit 2 we were assigned another (or, our first) relaxation exercise. These excersices are beginning to be my weekly life savers. I have always been a fan of meditation and relaxation methods but rarely make the time to implement them into my daily life. It does not take long before one can begin to see the benefits. My stress level went right through the roof when our professor notified me about my missing work for unit 2. The first place I started was with the relaxation method and now I feel stress is completely gone.
To start the relaxation method this week has us focus on using our blood circulation to help relax the muscles in our body. This excercise walked us through taking the 80% of our blood that rests in our abdominal cavity during relaxation and sending it to the muscles in our arms and hands. By doing so our muscels were able to absorb more blood and began to feel heavy and warm. Through the tranquil music, relaxing voice of the narrator, and the process of meditation I was able to relax my body and mind and offer myself a new stress free start to this assignment. I am planning on implementing our weekly relaxation method into my daily routine to help increase my psychological well being.

Unit 3

To answer the question...
Wellness, as a person centered orientation, relies heavily on the concept that
the individual is aware of his/her strengths and needs. However there is often
little encouragement or expectation for the individual to self reflect or take a
holistic personal inventory or to convey their awareness with their health
practitioner. Take a moment to reflect on your own level of wellness;
physically, psychologically, and spiritually.

If I were to rate myself on a scale of 1 to 10...
Physical Wellness - 9; I have made it my goal over the last 2 years to eat 90% raw and avoid high volumes of sugar and gluten. I have a nutritionist that helps me with my diet as well. I feel that this has helped my physical body immensly by providing my body with the nutrients it needs. I also practice yoga regularly which helps me to maintain a healthy physical body. Because I am very active in the outdoors (I love backpacking, hiking, skiing, and bicycling!) I like to try and maintain a healthy physical body to allow me try new things and challenge myself physically.
Spiritual Wellness - 6; for the majority of my life I have focused very little on my spiritual self. I am hoping that by taking the creating wellness class at Kaplan will help me learn more about my spiritual self. I have also been taking advice from friends on how to take my yoga classes and use them to focus on my spiritual self which I think will be beneficial.
Psychological Wellness - 6; I have plenty of room for improvment on my psychological wellness. I currently go to school full time, work full time, and have a 3 hour commute to and from work a couple of times each week. I have allowed this to cause a great deal of stress and anxiety in my life and need to find a sourse to release the stress. The reading in Chapter 5 from Dacher's text this week gave me new insight as he discussed the preparations for integral health. I believe I can use these preparations to help improve my psychological wellness. I will also set the goal to use my yoga practice to instill more silence and stillness into my life and focus more on inner self then my surroundings.
The excersice I completed The Crime of The Century was very beneficial to me! This excersice is something I would like to implement in my daily life to help me focus more on my inner self and to let go of all of the stress, and anxiety I experience. Using the rainbow method to relaxation is a great way to relax your entire body.

Mind and Body Connection

"The mind is the body, the body is the mind" -Dr. Candace Pert