Hello everyone. The scores of my physical area remain the same. The score for my psychological and spiritual areas has changed quite a bit because of the knowledge obtained in this course. Learning how it is possible to clear the mind by use of contemplative practices and the practices that were given in the text made a big difference on beginning to train the mind and develop a new, better sense of consciousness. I believe that I have become more intentional in my decision making process instead of being so reactive. This, in turn, has made a big difference on how I think, feel, and deal with the stresses of everyday things.

I have made more progress in the goals as it pertains to the contemplative practices. I have been practicing the exercises that were given to us in the text on a daily basis. I make sure I set a specific time to practice them. The more I practice, the better I feel. These practices are beginning to become a part of my lifestyle just like my physical activity.

I have also implemented, not only, the practices in the book, but also began to practice yoga in a beginner’s class. Yoga has helped with flexibility and strength with a lot of help in relieving stress as well. I have begun to look into other resources and different types of contemplative practices. One thing that I really do plan to do in the near future is to visit a retreat center and sign up to attend a retreat. I think that would be very beneficial.

My personal experience throughout the course has been very positive and helpful. I have developed quite a bit in my states of consciousness and found that the materials in this course are beneficial and very helpful and life changing, but one does have to practice them and make time for them. The most rewarding thing is that because of this course, I was able to make some important decisions about my life and career. This experience will help others by allowing me to show just how this course and the whole integral path changed my life for the better. It gave me a clearer understanding about integral health, which will allow me to better and more effectively explain it to others as well.

integral health project

Unit 9 Project

Jessie Mansanales

Kaplan University

HW-420-01

Introduction

            It is very important for health and wellness professionals to develop themselves psychologically, spiritual, and physically because this brings balance to the most important areas of the body and creates a solid foundation for integral health. In order to be developed psychologically, one must invest in their inner life by first becoming psychologically literate and healthy. The psychological process focuses on identifying destructive emotions and dysfunctional patterns and replacing them with a new set of healthy attitudes and behaviors (Dacher, 2006). This is very important for health and wellness professional because it allow the professional to be able to pass on this knowledge in a positive and healthy way, thus, strengthening the patient professional bond.

            Being spiritually developed is said to be the area that is the least developed. This would pertain to the psychospiritual area. This area is an important area to develop because it is the primary source of epidemics and mental suffering and premature disease and the greatest obstacle in the path of integral health and human flourishing. This suffering can come in the form of stressors that are caused by the overactive mind as it clings on to emotions, feelings, images, and thoughts. One must learn to train the mind and control the mental chatter that affects the path to integral health in a negative way. Being developed in this area allows the mind to be trained, and make decisions based on intention instead of decisions based on reaction and little thought.

            The physical area is important because by developing this area, one gains many benefits. Some of these benefits include things like a healthy developed physical body that is less susceptible to disease, and stress relief. Stress is the major cause of premature illnesses and the greatest obstacle in human flourishing. By developing this area, the professional will have the energy, confidence, and not only the capacity to aid others in their path to integral health and human flourishing.

By developing these areas, the health and wellness professional will ensure that her or she has a flourishing and healthy life and a solid foundation to integral health in their own personal life, and ensure that the instruction and aid given to their patients will be positive and yield positive results.

            The area in which I need to develop more is the area of pshycospiritual development. The reason for this is because of the lack of control that I have on being able to control the thought processes and mental chatter. The biggest difficulty is clinging on to certain thoughts, feelings, and emotions. This area is very important because it sets the foundation to be able to work on the other areas. Even though all areas or quadrants are interconnected, this is the area that needs most attention in my personal life. Nevertheless, by practicing the witnessing mind and subtle mind practices, it has enabled me to be able to have more control and less clinging to thoughts.

Assessment

            As far as assessing the strengths and weaknesses in each domain, I have found and believe that there is always room for improvement in every area. Just like all quadrants are interconnected, it takes daily and dedicated integration of practices in order to maintain the development of a different state of consciousness. The weakest area in my personal life is the psycho spiritual. This would be a combination of aspects of the psychological and spiritual.  As far as the physical area, I would consider this area my most sound and strongest area of development. The reason is that I do physical activities and exercise with much dedication. On the spiritual and psychological level, there is plenty of room for improvement. This is improving because of the practices like the subtle mind practice and witnessing practice. By continuing the contemplative practices with dedication, these two weaker areas will begin to be developed.

Goal Development

            Goals that will be set for these areas will include practicing the contemplative practices and improving the control of thoughts and the clearing of the mind. The goals for the psychological and spiritual area include this plan of action. Being able to do the practices in order to train the mind and develop a stronger, more positive state of consciousness is crucial. Taking out the old junk and putting in new, more positive and healthy attitudes and behaviors will develop the psychological and spiritual areas.

            In the physical area, the continuation of exercise and conditioning of the biological body will remain the same with some small changes. Another total reevaluation is needed for this area nevertheless. This is just to restructure the current activity and program to make it more exciting and interesting.

 Practices for Personal Health

            Practices that will foster growth in each domain will be important in further development and maintenance of these areas. It is important to understand that dedication, patience, and hard work is needed to develop and maintain these areas in order to reap the benefits of integral health. Things that will be done are things like contemplative practices, which are the most important aspect of achieving integral health. For the psychological and spiritual, practices like the loving-kindness practice would be beneficial. This practice allows the individual to see another, acknowledge another, hear another, be present with another, and feel one with another, whether it be a lover, a partner, a friend, a stranger, and even an enemy. This opens up a person’s spirituality and psychological area, and begins to develop the individual in these areas.

            The subtle mind practice is another practice that will aid in the development. The subtle mind practice focuses on things like breath because there is a direct relationship between the breath and the mind. It allows breathing to become more easy and rhythmic, and then your mind will follow. The concept is that a peaceful breathing pattern will lead to a peaceful mind. Using the breath is always with us so we can work with it even in the midst of a meeting. Using the breath, one will learn how to tame and stabilize the mind by developing a witnessing consciousness (Dacher, 2006). A witnessing consciousness is a state of consciousness in which one learns to control the mind and is able to keep it from grasping and clinging to thoughts, feeling, emotions, and images that distract the mind.

            In the physical area, the continuation of physical activity is to be continued. Physical activity also reduces and relieves stress, which are the primary cause of premature illnesses. Healing in the physical area include things like exercise, nutrition, preventive measures, and health promotion. A small percentage of the resources spent on physical fitness will gain a considerable amount of health and healing for society. These physical activities are applied to mind/body activities with positive results, which will allow for more development and healing, thus, improving one’s state of consciousness and paving the way to integral health and human flourishing.

            These practices and exercises will have to be incorporated in daily activities, not forgetting to understand and recognize their importance. It is important to understand that the road to achieving integral health and human flourishing takes work, patience, and dedication, and one must always keep in mind the benefits of changing lifestyles. Daily practices must be done. The plan is to set aside quiet time for the psychological and spiritual each morning in order to practice the contemplative practices and begin to strengthen these areas. Physical activity will continue with the current physical fitness program of nutrition and personal fitness.

Commitment

            I assess the progress in the future as gaining development and achieving balance in these areas. Nevertheless, it will take work and dedication, and if there is a lack of progress, it will be because of my own lack of dedication. Everyone is responsible for their own health and well being, and it is up to the individual if he or she is to succeed in gaining integral health and human flourishing. I, personally, foresee a great gain in balance and direction toward integral health, and plan to continue to practice and learn more about contemplative practices. Visiting meditation centers and retreat centers is planned in the up and coming future.

            Strategies that will be used are rescheduling daily activities in order to make time and incorporate the contemplative practices on a daily basis. Another strategy is continuing education in integral health and re-evaluating and re-prioritizing daily schedules and activities. The ultimate strategy is to be dedicated and persevere to the path of integral health and human flourishing just because it is very crucial and important and there is much to gain in health and healing and obtaining a flourishing state of consciousness and life. Nevertheless, it is up to me if success or failure is obtained. These are the only two possible outcomes, to succeed or fail, and I will be dedicated to succeed because life is too precious to live in a poor state of consciousness and in an imbalanced state.

References

Dacher, E., S., (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing

Hello everyone. The two practices that I have chosen are the Loving Kindness and the subtle mind practices. I liked the Loving Kindness exercise because it opened up an area of myself that I really didn’t pay much attention to, but is very important in life. That area is the expression of love towards not only you but to other people as well. You could say that it awakened certain emotions that had been ignored for years.

            The subtle mind practice allowed me to focus on breathing, and at the same time, focus on clearing my mind. This practice is intended to train the mind to control the activity that races through the mind by acknowledging these thoughts and then letting them dissolve.

            These practices can be implemented on a day-to-day basis by practicing them. The more these practices are done, on a daily basis, the more developed one becomes, thus, developing a greater control of mental chatter. This will lead to a more controlled thought process, and decisions will be made intentionally instead of reactively or with no thought.

Love and Kindness Exercise

Hello everyone. The love and kindness exercise really made me feel a totally different way. By doing the exercise, I began to feel a sensation of humbleness toward others and to many of the things around me. It was sort of a thankfulness and gratefulness that I really do not experience quite often. What I discovered about myself was that there is a part of me that is full of love and kindness and much compassion for others, especially children. That gave me a sense of great peace, and joy to be able to open my heart to others. For some reason, I kept visualizing children in the exercise.
The area of growth that I need more growth on is the psycho spiritual development because this is the area that throw everything off balance on a daily basis just because of the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that run through my mind uncontrollably. It takes me a great deal of work to get to the stillness and quiet mind, then afterwards, I am able to focus on the focal points of the exercise. Nevertheless, practice is the key, and on a daily basis. The exercises that I intend to foster is the Subtle mind practice and the love- kindness practice.

Hello everyone. Both, the Love-Kindness practice and the Subtle-Mind practice, were a great form of meditation and a great way to begin to learn to clear the mind and take control of thoughts. Both of the practices have breathing as an important part of the practice with the difference being the focal point of the practice. In the Love=Kindness exercise, once the breathing part is established, one focuses on the concept of love, beginning with a loved one and drawing that love in. Afterwards, the focus switches to a loved one’s suffering then to a group of people and even an enemy. The purpose is to begin to show love and kindness to people, and this is done in the form of a mental exercise that trains the mind to do this.

            The Subtle-Mind practice focuses on breathe alone and the mental chatter that comes as one is trying to focus on breathe. The practice helps to witness or acknowledge the mental chatter but then quickly dissolves it in order to clear the mind. When this mental chatter distracts one’s focus from the breathe, one must acknowledge the mental chatter, then focus back on the breathe until the still, clear mind is achieved. This is the frustrating part of these practices. I found that the hardest thing to begin to do is control the mental chatter. Afterwards, gaining a clear mind is peaceful and relaxing.

            The connection between spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness is that all of these are connected.  When an imbalance exists in one of these areas, the others are affected causing an imbalance in all the body. Spiritual wellness deals with our inner life. It deals with all the struggles and turmoil that exists within an individual. This causes great deal of stress mentally and physically, which in turn, affects the body by making it susceptible to illness and disease. Mental and physical illnesses occur, which all mostly begins with an undeveloped or weak spiritual area. This can manifest in personal life by the developing illnesses or stressors one experiences in life, and in the quality of life one lives.

Love and kindness

Hello everyone. My experience of the exercise was pretty relaxing and very helpful. The exercise give you a sense of the importance of love and kindness. I would recommend it to others based on the fact that everyone needs to experience this type of meditations and even just because of what it is intended for, which is love and kindness. Like I have learned by practicing this and the reading, love and kindness paves the road to integral health.
Mental workout is the concept of allowing the mind to rethink things in a positive manner, and be able to change the way a person perceives and focuses on things. Research shows that working the mind can improve ones focus and consciousness levels. Implementing mind workouts would be during times of stress, by changing thought patterns and meditating on things like love and kindness.

Jessie Mansanales

Hello everyone. On a scale of 1-10, I rate my physical well being at a 7. I rate my psycho spiritual well being at a 6, and my psychological well being at a 5. I do work out about four times a week due to being a diabetic, and I went from weighing 360 pounds to 287. There is plenty of room for improvement in this area by implementing more dieting and cardio exercise in order to achieve my goal of 250 pounds. I am 6foot 6 inches, so I am naturally a big guy. The physical area makes me feel better when I see the results. In my spirituality, is am pretty well off as well. I attend my church every week, and have learned about prayer. I intend to straighten it more by getting more involved in prayer groups and men's groups with my church. My weakest area is the psychological area because there is plenty of stress between my 12 hour a day job, school, maintaining my health, and family. Nevertheless, I intend to start some relaxation techniques and try to set up time for these techniques in order to strengthen these areas. The goals I have set for each of these areas is to strengthen them gradually, not at a pace that sets me up for failure by doing what I previously discussed. I found the relaxation exercise very frustrating. I found that concentrating by changing color schemes is definitely not for me. I relax with a more of a mind clearing technique like mental imagery of focusing on one thing like a spec of light in darkness or a calm snowfall in a warm cabin as I watch it through the window.

Integral helath

Hello everyone. It is very fascinating how this mine-body medicine stuff works. Many people can think that it is just a bunch of bull, but the evidence is there. Upon reading the research results and all the statistical evidence, one can begin to really see how our emotions and thoughts come into play in the body's healing process. It would be great if someday conventional medicine would join forces with integral medicine. I believe that the possibilities could be very helpful and life changing for many people.

integral health

Hello everyone. It is very interesting on how important it is to have a balance of all of the body systems in order to achieve good health. Body, mind, and spirit balance is essential for optimum health. If only this concept was incorporated more in today's medicine and more study and resources were given into this concept. I think it would make a huge difference on how illnesses and diseases are treated.