The Wrap Up on Whole Health

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?

The score changed slightly for the better from unit 3 until now. Spiritual health went from 6 to 7, and psychological went from 7 to 8 and physical stated the same at a 9. I am sure I will never give myself a 10 in any category as I think there is always room for improvement in any area of life. I was able to give myself a little better score because this class reminded me how much better I felt when I was practicing meditation with Deepak Chopra and Eckhart Tolle, so I found my books and cds and am practicing again. I am feeling better already and am more relaxed and calmer.

I am making progress on my goals. I continue to do my physical workout and am looking into a church that a friend of mine goes to that I feel might coinside with my beliefs and plan attend soon. I have been doing some meditative practices regularly.

I believe this course has really helped me in some many ways. First, it reminded me to get back on track with my meditative practice and to learn and try more. Also, the professor and classmates in seminar were so knowledgeable and sharing in their beliefs and experiences that it really brought alot to the course. This class has been a wonderful experience and hope to continue to build on this knowledge. Some of the meditative practices were difficult in the beginning but improved with practice. I hope I have all of you in future classes. Good luck to all of you with your future plans. May all of you have success and health!

In Health

Michelle C.

Whole Health

With this post my blog has come full circle. This is my final project for my class project. It is about whole health and the three domains, physical, psychological, and spiritual. I hope it helps someone.

Unit 9 Project: Final Project

Michelle Coghill

Kaplan University

HW-420-01: Creating Wellness: Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

Cindy Fouhy

December 20, 2011

                                                                                                                                                                 I.                      Introduction:
Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychological, spiritual, and physical areas of their life because as professionals they need to lead by example. As professionals we have a moral and ethical obligation as well as just a conscious obligation to help our clients in every way we can succeed in being healthy, informed, and proactive in their healthcare. If we do not continue to learn, practice, and actively lead the type of lifestyle we want to teach or clients, how do we expect them to listen and respect us as professionals? We have to live what we intend to teach and lead our clients to a true overall wellness.

My physical fitness is good, and continues to thrive. I lead a very good example for my clients in this way. My exercise routine and diet, which includes a good nutritional background has continued to improve and I am respected for my knowledge and commitment. This is the type of respect and knowledge that I want to earn for the other two areas as well. Mentally I am pretty strong as far as being able to make commitments and keep them, but until recently I had not been doing my meditation exercises. I had let them slip as my life got busy. I am working now to reincorporate them into my daily routine. My spiritual wellbeing needs improvement if I want to gain the respect, I pray everyday, believe in God, and try to treat people with respect and dignity. However, I need to give of myself more with volunteering and helping when and where I can more freely. I want to help with homeless shelters and feeding the homeless.

When we help others because we want to freely and without wanting anything in return is actually one of the best things you can do for yourself, mentally and spiritually. It makes you feel good, happy, and just plain wonderful. What better way to increase your mental and spiritual fitness. This time of year, the biggest holiday of the year, is one of the best opportunities to help, even though people do need help everyday of the year. Also, in our area, which is in southeast Iowa, it gets cold this time of year so it is even more important to help the homeless because of the drastic weather conditions we can have. Also, the economy in recent years has been worse so there is even more homelessness so the homeless shelters are overcrowded and cannot meet the needs of the increase. I can help! I want to help! This will help me.

                                                                                                                                                               II.                      Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

My spiritual health is about a 7 on a scale of 1-10. After reading the texts for this class and reading other materials from the internet and books from such famous authors as Deepak Chopra and Eckhart Tolle, I believe I have a true understanding of what whole health. Spiritual health is just one of the key areas that need be developed. Believing in God or a higher power is a start, praying daily, and growing that belief beyond oneself is the key to spiritual health. Growing the belief is where the volunteering, giving, and compassion for others thrives and you feel your spiritual wellness.

Physical health is my strongest area and I would rate that at a 9. I think there is always room for improvement. I do a cardio workout at least 6 days a week and strength training 3 days per week. I also walk my dogs on a regular basis and try to do other physical activities such as riding my bike when weather permits. I have annual exams for prevention and I take a few vitamin and mineral supplements daily. I eat mainly a plant based diet but I do not classify myself as a vegetarian. I do not eat red meat but do eat some chicken breasts, white fish, and turkey occasionally. I try to drink plenty of water, and do not drink soda or other sweetened beverages. I continue to learn more about nutrition and physical wellness and try to incorporate them into my lifestyle. I feel better after my workouts and I can feel my physical wellness.

Lastly, my psychological wellness is probably in the middle of spiritual and physical wellness at about an 8. I think my mental fitness is better than my spiritual wellness but not as good as my physical wellness. However, as I know all three of these aspects are immensely important, if someone asked me which one I thought was the absolute most important I think I would have to say psychological wellness. The reason I believe that is because I believe our minds are more powerful than our bodies and I also believe the mind controls our bodies and has some control over our spirit. However, I also believe that our spirit has some mind of its own. I hope that makes sense to you. I had done meditation on a regular basis a couple of years ago and really saw a lot of benefits from it as far as calmer, happier, and able to deal with stress better. However, I let life get in the way and lost my routine.  About a year ago or so when I started taking classes at Kaplan I started working those bad into my schedule. Since this class I have been trying harder and again am seeing the benefits. After I have done a meditation exercise I can feel my psychological wellness and almost touch it. With the stress in our daily lives from our workplace, children, spouses, and other responsibilities I believe everyone could benefit from some type of meditative exercise even if it is just as simple as finding a quiet, relaxing spot and closing your eyes for 5 minutes. According to our text simple meditation or breathing exercises can help lower blood sugar, blood pressure, and improve mood (Dacher, 2006).

                                                                                                                                                  III.                      Goal development:
           List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical,      Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.

The goal that I have in each of these areas is to continually improve how I feel about myself in each area. This is how I believe a person can truly tell how they are growing in each area. A person knows his/her body the best, and by body I mean their whole being. My goal for my physical wellbeing is to continue my workouts as I have for the past 10 years, along with my annual exams and tests. I believe I continue to improve my physical health, as well as maintain and prevent many illnesses because of my physical routine and nutritional lifestyle.

The other two areas are a bit more challenging. The reason I say they will be a bit more challenging is because I have not kept them in my daily routine as I have the physical workouts. I know I can make the commitment and do it, so here is my plan for psychological and spiritual goals.

My goal for psychological fitness is to utilize my loving-kindness and subtle mind exercises alternately 4 days per week so Monday, and Wednesday I will do loving-kindness and Tuesday, Thursday I will do subtle mind exercise. Then on one other day that I am not doing those exercises I will do just a deep breathing exercise that concentrates on my breath and relax. I have been trying to incorporate some breathing exercises into my physical workout and it just has not worked well for me. After, a month of doing this regularly I hope to be feeling better about my psychological wellness and my assessment of self. If I do not then I will change the exercises I am doing to see if that helps.

Spiritual wellness is even a bigger challenge for me I think. The reason I say that is not because I do not believe in God or a higher power because I definitely do. I grew up going to Sunday school and bible school and I went to church pretty regularly. Then as most young adults, I drifted away awhile and then started back very regularly and ended up joining a church that I loved. Unfortunately, that church ended up dismantling a few years later and then I moved and did not find a church when I moved out of state. I pray everyday and truly believe in God and prayer and spiritual guidance. So the goal for myself in the next few months is to look into and attend a few churches that I think maybe a good fit for me. I hope to find a church home again that I love.

My other goal for what I feel is both psychological and spiritual is to begin volunteering and helping at a homeless shelter in my area. Anytime in the past when I have volunteered to help others I always felt overwhelmed with joy and happiness. I believe this helps me both mentally and spiritually. I believe homelessness is one of the worst possible things that can happen to a person and I can only imagine what it must be like to not have a place to call your home, a place to sleep, and stay warm. I hope that I can make a difference in someone’s life by helping in any way I can. We have several shelters in my area so I am calling to see what type of help they need and when so I can work this volunteer work into my schedule. I want to do this on a regular basis not just on occasion so I want to do my best to get a regular schedule set up with them.

4. Practices for personal health:
   What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example.

I really discussed this a little premature when I spoke about the goals I had in each area. So I will not say too much here except that I want and know that I can improve in all three categories and intend to do just that. I believe that my goals that I have set along with the plan to implement them will help me succeed in my improvement. I intend to continue my education in the nutrition and health field, one day becoming a licensed dietitian. So, with that being said, it is very important for me to continue to foster as much growth as I can in developing my health in all the areas so that I can gain the respect of future clients and peers.

Commitment:
How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?

I made a commitment to myself over a decade ago to live a healthier lifestyle and to learn as much as I could to help myself and others. I quit smoking, changed my diet, began a exercise program, became a certified personal trainer, started taking college classes, and began instructing classes part-time in a gym a few years ago. I am respected for my knowledge and commitment to my exercise routine and striving to help my clients lead healthier lifestyles. I want to take this further now with involving my clients in psychological and spiritual wellness so I have to make a commitment to myself and keep it to further improve my own psychological and spiritual wellness so I can help them.

I have specific goals in each category so I will know if I am keeping them or not. So I will have no problem assessing my success or failure of my goals.

My strategy is simple. Just like my exercise routine, it is not a matter of am I going to do it today. It is when am I going to do it today? That is how the other two practices will be put into the schedule. It is just like any other priority that has to be done. It must be put on the schedule for the day and get it done. This is how important things get done. It takes commitment, time management, and above all motivation and ultimately habit. Motivation gets you going, and habit keeps you going. You can have good habits and bad habits. I keep trying to eliminate my bad habits and fill them with good, in this way I do not waste my time on things that are not worth it. If we stop and think about everything we do in a day, many times we will find things that we can eliminate that will help us find the time we need for the things that matter such as time with family, our health, and me time. If there is one thing that will help our physical, mental, and spiritual health, I think that would be me time. Everyone needs time, to breathe, relax, calm down, unwind, and just breathe. This will help our whole wellbeing.

References

Dacher, Elliott, S. Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing, (2006) Basic Health Publications: Laguna Beach, CA

Schlitz & Amorok, Consciousness & Healing, (2005), Elsevier Publications: St. Louis,

            MO.

Mental Fitness-The Best Exercises

We have definitely determined that mental fitness is just as important as physical fitness. We have discussed and practiced a number of different exercises to enhance our mental fitness. I think for me the loving-kindness is a good one. I have problems moving passed my close relatives and friends sometimes when I do the exercise however, after doing it a few times it is becoming more powerful for others as well. I am able to feel it more and more.

Deep breathing meditation really helps me as I concentrate on my breath. I concentrate on watching my breath as I breath in and out. It really relaxes, calms, and makes me feel just overall better. I can get pretty hyped up during the day at work, and at other times and this is something that I can do almost anywhere and it makes me feel better quickly.

I believe both of these exercises are beneficial to everyone and am starting to talk to my clients at the gym about these because many of them have stressful jobs as well and can use some quick calming and relaxation ideas. I also believe that many times this is why it is hard for people to lose weight because there body is stressed and pent up. There metabolism does not work well so if they learn to how to relax and calm the body they will naturally have an easier time losing weight.

In Health

Michelle C.

Meeting Asciepius

This was a very powerful meditative practice for me. It was probably the one that I felt really "into" if you will. I could visualize my grandfather who died two years ago this month just after Christmas. I loved him with all my heart and soul. To me, he was wise, loving, and kind. I can easily visualize him as my wise man as I do my meditative practice. A few years ago I did meditative practice utizlizing Deepak Chopra and Eckhart Tolle cd's and books. I did these daily for a couple of years. It definitely helped me in my life with stress, health, and just my well-being. Unfortunately, I ended up abandoning my routine as my schedule got busier.

Now, with this class, it has reminded me of how much better I felt and why. I will definitely continue with the meditative practices even when this class has ended. I have got my books and cds back out and will be utilizing them again as well.

Could we imagine trying to tell someone about an experience that we had not actually had. So for instance, we try to tell someone how much fun we had at an amusement park but we had never really been there. Could we really tell them about it when we had never been there? How could we? It is the same with meditation and meditative practices. If we have never done them how do we tell our clients about the experience? We cannot possibly tell anyone what it is really like unless we have been there and done that.

As a health care professional, I think we do have some responsibility to our clients to try an experience and experiment with a variety of possibilites that we could share with them. Obviously, everyone is different and will respond differently to certain practices. We could not possibly try all the alternative ideas and options there are out there, but we can try some that interest us and we can compare notes and experiences with our fellow health professionals. In this way we can share more ideas, options, and alternatives with our clients. Then, they can choose what they would like to try that may be able to help them in their health and wellness goals.

In Health & Wellness

Michelle C