I.                  Introduction:
There are many reasons why health and wellness professionals should develop psychological, spiritually, and physically however to begin Elliot Dacher said it best. In the text Integral Health he stated that he was given the opportunity to develop inner aspects of health and life (Dacher, 2006). He stated that without this education he would not have been able to go beyond his training (Dacher, 2006). To become the agents of a more expansive health we much begin with our own lives (Dacher, 2006). By doing this we must be willing to explore the inner aspects of our own life through psychological development (Dacher, 2006). Another reason why it is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychological, spiritually, and physically is because this is the most underdeveloped aspect of our life and of our current approaches to medicine (Dacher, 2006). We cannot teach others nor can we expect others to develop psychological, spiritually, and physically in their life.
     When looking at my own life I need to develop psychological, spiritually, and physically. Before taking this course I was unaware of just how much developing my life psychological, spiritually, and physically can help my entire body. For me I need to develop all three areas psychological, spiritually, and physically more into my life especially because I want to work in the health care field.  

                      II.                  Assessment:
When looking at my wellness broken down in the three domains rating them from one to ten (one being the lowest and ten being the highest) I would say that spiritually I am around a six or seven. For me my spiritualty is rooted in the church and my belief on god. I have never been one to meditate or something of that nature for spiritual health. Psychologically I definitely have some work to do I would rate myself at about a four or a five. I am a very nice person and always speak nicely to others however on the inside I think very negatively and this has a lot to do with my psychological wellness. Physically my rating is an eight. Physically I am fit and exercise on a regular basis which actually helps with my psychological wellness because it helps me have a more positive mind.    

                   III.                  Goal development:
Physical Wellness Goal:
I focus a lot on physical fitness such as working out and staying fit. However after reading the text and learning more about physical wellness I have learned that being physically fit is not the only part of physical wellness. The text states that if we were to focus half of the energy spent on physical fitness to mind/body activities we would see a considerable gain (Dacher, 2006). I focus a great deal on physical fitness and I need to as the book states spend less time climbing ropes and more time doing activities such as tai chi or yoga classes. My goal for physical wellness is to incorporate different activities like tai chi and yoga classes.
Psychological Wellness Goal:
The text states psychological Wellness as identifying destructive emotions and dysfunctional patterns and replacing them with a new set of healthy attitudes and behaviors. The goal for myself is to replace my negative thoughts and feelings with positive ones. A way in which I can do this is to continue to do the loving kindness exercise which will focus on good feelings towards others.
Spiritual Wellness Goal:
Spiritually I would rate myself fairly high because of my spirituality with god. However there are always ways to improve and I could improve my spiritual wellness by adding meditation into my life.

              IV.            Practices for personal health:
Implementing physical wellness goals:
To implement my physical wellness goals into my life I will find a tai chi and yoga class to take. I will take one yoga class and one tai chi class a week in the evenings. This will also help with my psychological wellness because it will relieve stress.
Implementing psychological wellness goals:
1. Listen to the Loving Kindness exercise once a week.
2. Read and participate in the Journey to the Center for Human Flourishing once a week.
The loving kindness exercise will help remove the negative feelings and thoughts I have towards others and will help send out wellness and good thoughts towards others. The Journey to the Center for Human Flourishing will teach me to turn my mind off from everything else when I am going through the exercise. This will help when I am having negative thoughts to be able to sit down and turn my mind off and calm my mind before I continue with my day.
Implementing spiritual wellness:
My spiritual goal was to implement meditation into my life. I plan to do this at least twice a week. There are a number of different types of meditation I can do and always keep it changing for my. Some of the different types of meditation are Vibrational Meditation, Movement Meditation, and Walking Meditation. The first type walking meditation is Walking Meditation which involves your focusing the mind while walking (Spiritual Now Editor, 10.2). It is not easy to practice this meditation type, but with practice it can prove to be really beneficial. As clear from the name itself, this type of meditation involves focusing on your own feet (Spiritual Now Editor, 10.2). When your mind wanders away from your steps, you need to refocus it again (Spiritual Now Editor, 10.2). The second type is movement meditation which is breathing and gentle flowing movements are combined to achieve the meditative state in this meditation type (Spiritual Now Editor, 10.2). Playing music or dancing is also allowed in this technique. The basic idea is to get focused in the movement (Spiritual Now Editor, 10.2). Finally the third type is vibrational meditation which involves repetition of a particular word or a sound that becomes the focal point of the meditation (Spiritual Now Editor, 10.2). The vibrations that are produced from the word or sound pass through your body (Spiritual Now Editor, 10.2). You have to do concentrate on nothing else, but to chant that word or produce the sound again and again. It is one of the most different among various meditation types (Spiritual Now Editor, 10.2).    

                      V.                  Commitment:
For my I like to make lists for everything. I think that with this writing it down will be a good way to keep track of the progress I am making or to make sure I am making progress. For my job I do skill sheets to keep track of how my children are doing on their goals and that could be a great way for me to keep track of it also. I could write down all the goals I want to meet and the ways in which I am going to meet them. Then each week I can write down if I was successful completing it or not. In order to continue working towards my goals I will change this up maybe the order in which I do them or the type of meditation I do that week. Also I will look at my progress and see what areas are working and what areas are not. By looking at what areas are not working I can change them and try something new that might work better. Keeping track of my progress or lack of progress is what I believe will help me not get tired of working towards my goals and will help me change goals that are not working so that I do not get discouraged.  

 

Reference:

·         Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral health: The path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach: Basic Health Publications Inc.

·         Spiritual Now Editor. (10/2). Spiritual now. Retrieved from http://www.spiritualnow.com/articles/20/1/The-Different-Types-of-Meditation/Page1.html

Hi Everyone,
This class has been very informational for me and I have learned a lot about myself. The exercises that I feel have helped me the most are first of all the loving kindness exercise. I was able to connect with this exericse the most. It make me feel good to feel as though I was taking in someones pain and sending out healing to them. From time to time I can be very negative and judgemental towards other and I feel that continuing to do this exercise on a weekly basis with help me to have more compassion for others and help those in my life with the pain they are feeling. The second exercise that I feel will help me in my life is the subtle mind. I have a very hard time turning off my mind when trying to complete these exercises and this exercise helped me start to be able to do this. I also feel that once I am able to shut everything else out then I will be able to relax and relieve stress when I am feeling overwhelmed. I can get very stressed and upset sometimes and these exercise will be beneficial when dealing with the hard times.
-Ashley

Hi Everyone,
At the beginning of the exercise we were asked to visualize a person who we respect. I chose the former pastor of my church. I was able to see him and focus on him however as time went on and I was waiting for the next instruction I started to lose focus on him. Then we were told to think about his qualities and the goodness that they are. At this point I felt a happiness inside of me and a warming feeling. It made me feel great to think about him and all the greatness he is. Next we were suppose to imagine a beam of white light coming from his head into mine and have his good thoughts form into mine. At first I was able to create good thoughts like he would have done but as time when on I started to think of everything again good and bad. The part where we were suppose to have good things come from our mouths like he would was not something that I had to try very hard for because my problem is my thoughts and not what I say out loud. I never say negative things to others I keep them inside. At the point where our hearts were suppose to be transformed I felt warm again and began thinking of all the good things I could do like he would have done for others. I feel like I could continue to practice these steps by doing this exercise at least once a week. Also remember the steps throughout the week and continue to go through them even when I am not listening to it. The saying "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" is saying that if one has not experienced something than they themselves cannot give advice and help a person through the issue. This can apply a lot those who are in the health and wellness field because if they remember that if they have not experienced what the patient is going through they should not judge and they should have an opened mind to what the patient is saying and what they choose to do. I think that those working in the health field do have a responsibility to the clients to be develop their health psychologically, physically, and spiritually. This is because once they have obtained this they would be better able to help their patients go through the steps of creating a life that creates great health. I feel as though I have started implementing health and wellness into my life since taking this class by trying to train my mind to create a positive and healthy one which will in turn create a healthy body.