Exercising Appliance & Practice

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?

I feel like I already touched on these changes in my final project, but I am more than happy to do a recap =) Although, I feel like the score I give myself today, could be different from the score I gave myself last week. Just another reason as to why I believe constant reflection and evaluation is important to achieving integral health.

I would say that over all, my physical wellness has definitely gone up. I'll give it a 8.75 compared to my 8 in unit 3. I am in the best physical health of my life and I intend to keep working on this aspect. I feel as though the choices I have made in my nutrition and lifestyle have had a very positive affect. I would also say my psychological well-being has grown from a 7.5 to an 8.5. I can say for sure that the conscious efforts I have learned in this class have been put to work and well utilized. Although I rated my spiritual well-being as a 9 in unit 3, I will have to give it another 9. I'm not saying that I haven't grown spiritually since then, because I feel I surely have. I have just came to the conclusion that I will forever be at a constant rate of 9. This is because I will focus on my spirituality first, and I will always see room for improvement.



As of yet, I have unfortunately made no progress in the goals I have outlined in the preceding post. However, I only made those goals three days ago. It is a high priority for me and will give it the required attention and focused effort very soon. I don't want to give the impression that I am putting off anything, but I am being honest. I have done some contemplative thought, mediation, and exercise since I posted my goals but I do have a ways to go. I set some some pretty high, but realistically achievable goals. This will take some time.



3. Have you implemented the activities you chose for your well-being in each of the three areas? Explain.

I would say that within these three days I have somewhat touched on the activities I have chose. But then again, it has only been a very short while.


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?

I went into further detail about my experience in this course in my discussion post this unit, so please refer to that if interested. In summary, I have gained a new awareness through the help of this course. I have also found new meaning in my life and ways to achieve my integral health goals through the practices we have studied. Over all, I would say that I have improved my personal well-being. On the other hand, I am now more educated and can see more improvement that needs to be made that I have previously been unaware of.


I would say the most difficult aspect of this class was learning how to analyze my experiences, thoughts and emotions, by simply observing them and choosing how to respond. Because of this, I feel like I have much more control over my life and how I create my experiences. I took this course for my own personal gain and have no intention on working with patients in my career. But I can say that I will share any wisdom I have gained with those who are in need of it. In fact, I have been using methods that were taught in this class to help my sister who has been letting the stress of life affect her a little too much.

~Thomas

A Contemplative Thought on What Has Been and What Will Be

A CONTEMPLATIVE THOUGHT ON WHAT HAS BEEN AND WHAT WILL BE
Creating Wellness: Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing
Thomas, Latham Oakley, Fail


HW420-03
Mark Maule, M.S., YFT, SPN, CFT




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?

I now believe that it is the up-most importance that a professional practitioner intends to develop themselves holistically. The main reason being, is that this is a sure sign that the professional understands the life-long process of human flourishing and seeking integral health. I believe that by practicing it yourself you gain wisdom through experience of the practices as well as from contemplative thought. This wisdom can then be passed on to others as the practitioner seeks to fully heal a person. Also, while the proffesional is on their own journey they will begin to realize how special and unique they are. In return, they should come to the conclusion that everyone as is just as exceptional and treat them accordingly with practices and techniques that are tailored to their patient's individual needs.

Personally, I understand that I need to continue working on all areas of my development if I truly wish to prosper in all the fruits. However, from most important to least (and at this current time) I would say that I need to work on my spiritual, psychological, and physical development.


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

I try to asses my health in each domain every chance I have to go into contemplative thought, or even when I notice something about myself that could use some improvement. On a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being in great health - I would first rate my spiritual health as 8.5. Very optimistic, I know, but I make a conscious effort everyday to focus on my spiritual self and try not to get caught up in the day to day distractions. The only reason why I don't grant myself a 10 is because I'm not naive enough to think that I entirely know myself spiritually or even begin to understand the complexity of our souls. Also, I need to set aside more time for my spiritual development.

On my psychological health I rate myself as a 7.5. It has gone down a bit since this class has begun due to events that have arose to test my limitations. There were a couple of instances, especially with someone who is close to me, that I found it very hard to not get too emotionally involved in a negative manner. However, my actions and responses were never reasonably equivalent to what I truly felt. In other words, I made an intentional effort to respond to my mind with actions that were constructive.

I'm glad to say that my physical health had an overall improvement and increased to a rank of 8.75. I did take a little nose-dive during the term but quickly got back on my feet again and further developed my physical self. I have also been smoke-free now for just almost 8 weeks, and I never plan on looking back.


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

One physical goal: If I had to pick one psychical goal it would be to have a 12% body fat, with about a 64% hydration level (currently 14.9 BF and 61.2 H). 12% body fat might sound a little low to all the ladies out there, but women actually need much more to be considered in the healthy range. This along with a 64% hydration level, would ensure that my muscles are quite tone, as well as there will not be much 'gunk' on top of it to hide my awesome ripped-ness. It sounds superficial, but I was a chunky kid and enjoy the confidence and poise associated with looking good as well as feeling good. Also, such a journey would only entail the healthiest lifestyle I can live. A little side note: our muscles can contain about 75% water, but fat cells can only hold about 15%. This is why hydration level is so important. If you want to feel good, tone up some muscle and make sure to water those sponges!

One (or maybe two) psychological goal(s): to seek to maintain a sense of calm-abiding consciousness and sharpen my mental fitness. This calm-abiding consciousness would be quite hard to regularly maintain but I would like to be at this level as much as possible. Finding unity-consciousness as often as possible will also be greatly sought after.

One spiritual goal: to find like-minded people with strong spiritualities from whom I can learn and share with on a regular basis and in social settings. And if I could, squeeze on more goal in there, I would also like to set aside personal time for spiritual development.


IV 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.

Physical practice #1: I believe in order to achieve my goal I would like to expand my workout routines a little. Specifically, I would like to reach a point where I can do a 1.5 mile run within 9 minutes. It's pretty ambitious, but I set high standards for myself and no one else. Obviously this is going to take some training every day or so, but I can be a patient man. I would also prefer to accomplish this in a 'real world' scenario rather than a treadmill. I want to be able to fly over whatever nature puts in my path.

Physical practice #2: I would like to be a better swimmer as well. I would like to, one day soon, swim 450 meters within 6 and 1/2 minutes. I believe swimming to be a great cardiovascular exercise. I also believe it to be easy on the joints and the mind. Not to mention I love the feeling of being in water, whether it's a Jacuzzi or a cool lake. I suppose it's because I grew up in a lot of coastal regions on the eastside, as well as even Hawaii for a bit. However, I suppose in order for me to reach this goal in my practice I will have to train in the Olympic pool at my gym for accuracy in addition to safety.


Psychological practice #1: A whole lot of thought and contemplation. I have a long ways to go in my meditative journey and need to set aside a little bit of time each day to do so. It will be first thing in the morning, even if I have to wake earlier in order to make the time. I also need to be more disciplined in the practice. I need to find a routine that mentally prepares me each time. I would also like to set aside an area at my home that is devoted to meditation and contemplative thought. I am going to set up a little 'sanctuary' with any items or pictures I have that give me a feeling of joy and ubiquity. Perhaps all laid out on some shelves or a small table with a focal point in the middle such as a candle or type of plant. I would also prefer to meditate in an upright and alert position on the floor, so I would need to invest in some comfortable cushions to sit on as well , and a soft rug for my ankles to rest on while I sit cross-legged. Perhaps if my flexibility increases a little more I could enjoy an upright full lotus position.

Psychological practice #2: I am naturally a creative person. I am very grateful for this. However, I want to practice on my analytical skills, more specifically my quantitative skills. I am from the generation of calculators, and I have recently noticed how it has stunned my brain development. I can perform well in math-oriented classes because I understand the concepts. However, if I was stuck in a room with a pencil and paper I would be quite lost. Realizing that I will have to get over this if I take any business placement tests for grad school or officer qualifying tests if I chose to go military in my career, I am going to have to fix this. It is a very high priority for me. I want to be able to reach a point in which I can do very complicated arithmetic problems in my head and with great speed. This is going to take a lot of practice and memorization. In order to accomplish this level I am going to have to learn every math trick in the book. And after doing some in-depth research, I have learned that there are much more than I ever imagined available. I have found interest in how numbers work with each other as well as how they make up much of our existence. There are some mental math tricks that blow me away and I am determined to master them. I have already started weaning myself from the calculator and I feel much more sharp because of it.


Spiritual practice #1: After taking this class, I have realized that there are a lot of other spiritually-minded people in this world. I used to feel somewhat of an outcast, but now I am a little more comfortable. My practice will be to force myself to find like-minded individuals and build relationships with them that will be beneficial for each of us. I am going to let myself be more open so that I can find and connect with these people. It will not only be a learning experience but a socially comforting one as well. I believe the benefits will surely arise in all of the domains in my life. This will be achieved through going out of my way to share myself with others, being a better listener, showing more loving-kindness to strangers, and maybe even by finding a social gathering of people with similar interests.

Spiritual practice # 2: Just as I need more people in my life, I also need more me-time. Up until very recently I was very active in oil painting, as well as songwriting/recording. I have only produced one painting in the past year and it was done solely for the sale price. Actually, it has been a very long time since I have painted anything for myself, without any intention of monetary gains. In fact, the last painting I finished and didn't sell was dated in 2005. I also need to wipe the dust off of my instruments and equipment. I doubt I will find the motivation to start another band any time soon but I would still like to continue recording and documenting my songs for personal reasons. I would like to think restarting these practices will be easy considering this is my final term here at Kaplan. I'm definitely going to take a break before I even try to think about getting my Masters. Although I am very grateful for my education, I have incurred a lot of opportunity costs along the way. I am excited to soon free-up some time.


V 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 really enjoyed doing the blogs this term and I'm glad I was pushed out of my comfort zone. I really have a new understand of them now and feel that it is a great journaling practice. That being said, I want to track and record my progress by continuing to blog. However, I will be doing it under a an alias. I think this would be the best way for me to document my true thoughts as well as have the opportunity to feel as though I can freely share them with others. Within the blog I will journalize my progress in my path to human flourishing and hope that my loving-kindness reaches those who I can't physically meet. I will also lay out my goals for all to read which I think will commit myself even further towards them. Finally, I will find much fulfillment in being able to anonymously share the wisdom I may gain in my personal experiences seeking integral health.

Reflections & Transparency

Personally, I have found the two practices that were most useful were the "Journey On" and the "Subtle Mind" techniques. Although I had many favorites (Loving-Kindness, Crime of the Century, the more recently the Taste of human flourishing practice, et cetera..), I found these two to be key practices in my own human flourishing. I believe that many would agree with me in that the Subtle Mind practice offers countless benefits. Such a contemplative state can be used to reflect, gain wisdom, and even be used as a bridge to explore other techniques. I think that without the benefits of a subtle mind, we can't be able to witness our mind. Not to mention beginning our calm-abiding consciousness.


Also, the 'Journey On' opened many doors for me as far as exploring progressive relaxation techniques. I have a hard time winding down when I need to and this one definitely seemed to help. Once I try to recall the feelings and emotions that came with this visualization I begin to notice how I pull myself back into this much needed state. This is an one area that definitely needs my attention. I would like to use both these techniques to ensure that I can subtle my mind and relax my body any time I wish, perhaps even in the midst of the most hectic situations. I also see it as a much needed step in my path in human flourishing. At this moment in time, I believe that my loving-kindness is quite strong and doesn't require as much focus for improvement. Although, there can never be enough love...

Which leads me to a little update on my current well-being:
I'm back on track, exercising and eating healthy again, and have been smoke free for 4 and 1/2 weeks now. Although things don't always go well, I am much better at controlling my perspective and feelings about things and am finding a much more enjoyable quality of life. All thanks to this class.

~Thomas

Greetings, Asciepius.

I have done the "Meeting Asciepius" practice a couple of times now. I find the imagery can be very effective if I can keep my focus. For instance, on the third light I can see right through my health guide's chest and watch his heart beat. Sort of like in ET but a little clearer. I then watch both of our heart beats begin to synchronize. This helps me to better feel as though he is flowing into me. For me, the imagery is so detailed and clear that I can actually hear my heart beat at the point where my headphones touch my ears. I would say I went into a very deep contemplative state on this one. Strange as it sounds, I noticed that my head began swaying back and forth. Not to the rhythm of my breath, but in a different harmony unseen. It feels like something is moving it for me, it is subtle and relaxing. I'm sure my whole spine would have been riding this wave had I been in the upright meditative position. It's not the first time I went into this state so I did a little research on it and found similar experiences. It could have something to do with unblocking our energies. I'm not sure, though, and will have to look into it further.

Absorbing our health guide like this is very important for our mindfulness. It is a practice that helps us live the way that those who we admire to be do. I believe I'm in dire need of practices like this at this point in my life. I have fallen out of my balance and am definitely feeling the affects of it. I've also been a very bad student lately. Honestly, the worst I've ever been. I don't think I've been such a very good person in general either. I am working on it though. Moving on...

"One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself". I think this is pretty self-explanatory. As a health and wellness practitioner, it would be hard to give someone guidance from their experience of looking at a map rather than walking the trail. A real practitioner would be currently seeking integral health in their own life as well.

~Thomas

From Personal to Universal

Universal Loving-Kindness:
Perhaps it is because I've been so busy lately, or perhaps it is because I am a little out of my routine, but I didn't feel that this practice was as effective for me. I do understand it's importance but I didn't really 'feel' it. I hardly gave it a chance to be honest. I do like the verbiage used in the practice and will make the effort to use it next time I'm in a relaxed state.

As far as the integral assessment:
I liked the idea of it very much. I really appreciated the notion that we are never fully done trying to achieve integral health or even human flourishing, and to ensure to take time and contemplate on which areas that need to be worked on at this point in our lives. Personally, I know exactly what I need to focus on right now. I've been feeling very out of balance lately. I've had family in town for a couple of weeks now and it has given my usual routine some change. My exercising and healthy eating habits have gone out the window! *Still smoke free, though*
That being sad, I need to focus mainly on my biological self, and partly on my pyschospiritual. I think that being able to put everything hold and take a mental inventory of what's going on is very important. If we don't analyze our current needs then we will not be able to fully flourish.

~Thomas

Take it all in; One Big Breath

The loving kindness exercise and the Subtle mind practice differentiate in that the Loving Kindness is more of a practice of imagery and harnessing your emotions. You feed off of your love for others and pass it on to everyone else. Breathing in their suffering and exhaling health and love. It is not only beneficial for our health due to it's powerful use of emotions, and even forgiveness. But it can also be used to help others through the prayer technique. The subtle mind is an exercise meant to calm your brain activity which will ultimately help connect yourself to your inner self. In this one, you try to let any thoughts come and go as you concentrate only on your focal point- the breath. Once you have mastered this you can begin to focus solely on the silence of your mind.

The breath is much more powerful than I had ever imagined. Did you know that we only use about 1/6th of our lung capacity? We could train to use much more to benefit our mind-body-spirit health.

RESEARCH: Master Lu's Five Element Breathing techniques.

Our spiritual wellness is directly correlated with our mental and physical wellness. It all starts with our inner self. Our spirit motivates our mind, and like the 'pillow affect', it will directly manifest into our physical body. This is caused by the neuropeptides that our body uses to communicate with our mind.

~Thomas

Loving Kindness / Subtle Mind

(Painting entitled: Mind is Subtle)

My experience with the Loving Kindness Practice:
I found it very 'lovable'. This is the first time I studied the concept but felt I have inherently knew the importance of it for a long time. I liked how we first had to focus our love on someone personal to us. I found it much easier to throw a few people/animals into one big ole ball of love.

Then I enjoyed drawing from that love and pouring it into my body. The faucet imagery was very helpful in this. I definitely felt it.

It was also very easy for me to think about a loved one who is suffering and to breath it in and excel my health and love towards them. It also made me think if this practice was actually an effective healing technique, much like the effectiveness of prayer we read about this unit.

However, the hardest part for me was to imagine enemies to breath in their suffering. At first, I couldn't think of any. I began with current and past politicians who have used their power wrongly. They seemed easy enough. =)
Then I went deeper into my personal experiences, those who have hurt me, hurt the ones I love, rude strangers that have crossed my path... Unfortunately for the practice, I have already forgave them all. Over all, this is a great practice and I would recommend it to everyone. The world would reflect a much better place.

My experience with the Subtle Mind:
This was particularly my favorite and I have used it again since. It gives me a feeling of such clarity, awareness, and a conscious isolation from the busy and naturally distracting mind. I even disregarded the urge to respond to the distraction that entered my room. José came in, yelled at me, jumped on top of me and licked my nose....(José is my cat who crossed the boarder to get here, I adopted him from the stray cat agency so that he could get his citizenship). Although we can't effectively communicate due to our language barriers, I gave him some treats after the practice, and he implied that he forgave me for ignoring him.

I plan on continuing to use variations of the subtle mind practice every morning. I feel there is a lot of wisdom in which I can draw from it that will surely help me in upcoming events.

The concept of a mental workout is basically what it suggests, an exercise of the mind. I believe that implementing practices such as the ones noted above can be extremely beneficial towards our psychological health and will reflect in our mind, bodies, and even our environment. Although, much like anything else it takes a long time to practice with minute improvements everyday. I, for sure, can say that I do plan on continuing the subtle mind as well as using my 'loving kindness' in hopes that others follow.

~Thomas