Week 8: What Exercises Worked for Me?

Hello me mateys! (Yes, it's a pirate kind of day and no I didn't make anyone who ticked me off walk the plank...yet) Welcome to another adventure in the psychological and spiritual aspects of healing! We are on week 8 and we have two more weeks to go. It doesn't seem like we have been at this that long, but I do hope that all of you have enjoyed learning these new techniques each week just as I have.

I will be the first to admit that last week was not a good week for me at all. It was a very rough week and I had to use almost all of the techniques I've learned over these eight weeks to get past everything. I am doing better this week (still waiting for the Karma smackdown bus to hit, and it will eventually, believe me it will), so this blog should be a bit better.

So, come with me my little marshmallows (mmm...marshmallows) as we explore the exercise for this week.

1. Review the exercises and practice sessions you have completed in this course. (Loving Kindness, Subtle mind, Visualization, meditation etc.) Choose two practices that you have determined to be most beneficial. How can you implement these practices in your personal life to foster “mental fitness”? Provide specific examples.

For me, the two best practices I have found to be the most beneficial for myself have been meditation and visualization. Meditation give me that time to quiet my mind and work on my breathing techniques. I can use those breathing exercises to imagine that I'm breathing in the good and positive energy and breathing out the bad and negative energy. So many people think that in order to do meditation that you have to do it for a long period of time each day. You don't have to do that. Meditation can be done in just five minutes a day if that's all the time you can spare. 

Visualization is my 'mini vacation' that I can escape to each day. I can sit back and think of a place I want to be, like on a beach at night or in a mountain cabin surrounded by falling snow. I can see the sights, hear the sounds, and even smell the different scents. After a visualization trip, I feel calm, relaxed, free of stress and energized to finish my day. 

I did not care of the Loving-Kindness exercise of the one from last week. I am not at a point where I can truly use the Loving-Kindness exercise. This exercise asks a lot of a person (to take on another person's problems and love them no matter what). I simply can't do that yet. I may get there in time, but right now, this exercise won't work for me. For the exercises I found not very helpful, I will continue to read about them and see if I can try my own way to achieve what these lessons were trying to teach us. I know I had problems with the voices of the instructors. Perhaps I will use just music and see if I can perform the exercise without any spoken help.

I hope that by practicing these two techniques that others will be more inclined to listen to my advice about the topics. I've noticed that many clients that notice that others understand their questions and needs are more likely to take that advice and believe that these exercises will work. They may not work for one person the way they did for another, but each of us is different and that is to be expected.

I am curious as to what methods the others in this class have found helpful and the ones they found not so helpful. Again, I'm sure it's different for everyone. And so, we have come to the end of yet another week. Keep up the good work and don't give up if something doesn't seem to be working for you. With a little time and patience, you'll get there.

And so, my fluffy little marshmallows (now I want S'mores or Rice Krispie Treats) I will leave you with these words: Success isn't measured by the position you reach in life; it's measured by the obstacles you overcome.

Meeting Asclepius - Greek Healer or Just a Pain? (yes, pun intended)

Good Morning (or evening) my star shines! The Earth says hello! (yes, it’s been a Johnny Depp night) Welcome again to another week in the adventures of psychological and spiritual healing! We have only a couple more weeks to go on this adventure and while it is not exactly impossible to achieve complete human flourishing in a ten week period, we should be well on our way to doing so.

And so my darling lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!), let’s see what this week’s exercise holds for us. This week we listen to the exercise called Meeting Asclepius.

1. Complete the Meeting Aesclepius mp3 (located in the Doc Sharing area). Describe your meditative practices for the week and discuss the experience. Explain how mindfulness or meditation has fostered an increase in your psychological or spiritual wellness. How can you continue to apply these practices in your life to foster greater health and wellness?

First, I would like to say that the past couple of days have been very trying for me and I have had to rely greatly on meditation to get me through it. I found out at my place of employment that the people that are being hired in or that have not been there as long as I have are being paid more than I am for the same amount of work that I do. (If any of you heard an explosion the other day, that was temper blowing up. I admit it, I take the blame. What could I do? The voices in my head took a vote and I was outvoted on this one.) Needless to say, I am now looking for another job and can’t wait for the day that I can turn in my two week notice and tell this company where to go (and let me tell you, I was close to getting out the Voodoo dolls and the sharpest pins I could find and also sending the flying monkeys, cats, dogs, and squirrels out on this one, jacked on so much coffee and Mountain Dew. I took a lot to hold back on this one.). I have felt a lot of anger and betrayal, and I still do, but thanks to my meditation exercises, it’s helped me greatly.

The exercise from last week was easier to follow and not as distracting. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about this exercise. The instructor again talked way too much and it was hard to concentrate on what I was supposed to be visualizing. The background music was fine and pleasant, but the voice of this instructor is just annoying (nails on a chalkboard, seriously could anything be worse? Note to Dacher on these exercises: choose another instructor!!). Right away I had a problem visualizing someone older that I admire and respect. I had to resort to characters from movies and I finally ended up going with Mr. Miyagi from the Karate Kid (the original one). I simply did not get much from this exercise since it was way too hard to concentrate on. However, I won’t give up and will continue to work on meeting Aesclepius.

2. Describe the saying: "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" (p.477). How does this apply to the health and wellness professional? Do you have an obligation to your clients to be developing your health psychologically, physically, and spiritually? Why or why not? How can you implement psychological and spiritual growth in your personal life?

I think this saying speaks for itself. How can a client believe what I tell them that they should do if I don’t do it myself? Will a client believe the benefits of meditation if I don’t practice it myself? Will the client believe that I tell them about eating right and exercising if I don’t do that myself? Clients are more likely to believe us a health and wellness professionals if we have experienced a lot of what we want them to do. Many times a personal experience will engage the client more and make them feel that we truly understand their fears and concerns and make them feel that we do care about how they feel and what happens to them. It’s the same as when we go to the doctor. We want them to understand our concerns and listen to us and we are more likely to follow instructions and believe what they are saying if we know that they have gone through, or know someone who has gone through the same things. I think that if we can show our clients that these techniques work, and each one will be different for each client, and they head our own stories of success, then we will be able to help them achieve human flourishing as well.

Well, my little star shines, we have come to the end of another week. It’s hard to believe that we only have a couple of more weeks to go in this class. But, the journey is not over just yet.

And so, my dear children (I really gotta stop watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), I leave you with these words: Life may give you reasons to bring you down, but show life you have a thousand reasons to smile and stay strong.

It's personal assessment time!!

Hello my little spider monkeys!! (yes, I’m still on the monkey kick. I had to send the flying ones out a few times this past week. What can I say? A few people ticked me off.) Welcome to yet another week of adventures in psychological and spiritual healing. We are on week six now, so we don’t have many more to go. Last week, we discussed the Subtle Mind aspect. This week, we are asked to try a Loving-Kindness (yay, not really) exercise and to do an integral assessment of ourselves and see what we can learn. So, crack out the coffee, Mountain Dew, and No-Doz pills (and if you take all of those at the same time, please come to work with me. I would love to see how my boss and customers would react) and let’s see what we can learn about ourselves.

1. Practice the universal Loving Kindness (meditation) exercise on p. 93.

Yay, Loving-Kindness again (ugh). In this exercise, we are asked to clear our minds and to say a few lines for about ten minutes. The lines are as follows (and it would really help if I could type! Must be too much Mountain Dew):

May all individuals gain freedom from suffering.

May all individuals find sustained health, happiness and wholeness.

May I assist all individuals in gaining freedom from suffering.

May I assist all individuals in finding health, happiness and wholeness.

2. Complete the Integral Assessment discussed in chapter 11 (p.115).

The next part of the assignment asks us to do an integral assessment on ourselves. We use the four parts of integral health (psychospiritual, biological, interpersonal, and worldly) to determine this assessment. The steps are below:

Step 1: Release all mental activity and when ready, ask myself “what aspect of my life is the source of difficulty and suffering?” Now, I can ask “what line of development is most essential for me at this time?” Next, I ask “what is my current level of development and what can I aim for?” It is said that this process can take a few days to discover. 

Step 2: This step moves us from healing to integral development. Now, I can ask “what area of my life is ready for growth and development?” I can also ask “Is this the same area that needs healing or is it another area?” as well as “what would the next level of development look like?”

Step 3: After doing this assessment, each day I can ask myself how I have handled these experiences, at what level am I functioning, in what ways can I improve, and how can I move my life towards a more sustained health, happiness and wholeness.

3. Describe the exercise and assessment process. What did you discover about yourself? What area have you chosen to be a focus of growth and development? Why? What are some specific exercises or activities that you can implement to foster greater wellness in this area?

Okay, all those that have done the exercise and assessment, raise your hand. (okay, be honest, how many of you just raised your hand to a computer screen? O_o Come on, I know some of you did. Set the coffee and No_doz down and back away slowly.)

Okay, first off, the exercise I would rate as a half and half. The first two phrases were not as hard to believe and were easier to concentrate on. Now, the last two were a bit harder. I don’t think asking myself to help others is too out of the question, but if I don’t make sure that I have health, happiness and wholeness first, how am I going to be able to help another person find theirs? It’s like the first Loving-Kindness exercise we did. If you can’t love yourself, how the hell are you going to love anyone else? (Thank you RuPaul) The same goes for this one. How can you help someone find health, happiness and wholeness if you can’t find it for yourself? I'm sure with some work that I will be able to accomplish all of these at some point. Perhaps not to the extreme effect that some take, but enough to be comfortable with myself and achieve my sense of balance.

Now, for the assessment. Right now, the difficult part for me is a tie between biological and worldly. The biological part being fitness and nutrition. I’m trying very hard to be healthier, eat what I should and become more fit. It’s not easy, but I’ve only been at this for a couple of months. The worldly part is work. It’s not that I don’t like my job, I do, but it’s getting to the point where I’m not sure if I can stay with it much longer. It doesn’t pay hardly anything, barely over the state minimum wage which is next to nothing, and it’s not paying the bills anymore.

I’m ready to grow and develop in these two areas as well. I’m ready to be fit and healthy, as much as I can be, and to integrate myself into a different job that will allow me to use the techniques I’ve learned in school and to help others. I also want to keep developing my psychospiritual and interpersonal areas as well.

I think, for the most part, I’ve managed to handle these experiences well and that I’m functioning at a fairly good level. The more I can learn about psychological and spiritual wellness, the better my physical wellness will be and hopefully, I’ll be able to achieve the highest level of integral health possible for myself. 

So, how did everyone else do with their exercise and assessment? I’d like to think that we are all learning new ways to enrich our lives and I believe that part of that comes from all of us giving each other encouragement and advice.

Well, my little monkeys, it’s time to fly back to the nest (no bicycles please), for we have come to the end of another week in our journey. Join me again next time to see what journey we will take next.

And so, I leave you with these words: Sometimes the best response in life is no response, and as long as you are always true to yourself, you never have to explain or justify who you are to anybody. Stay true, little monkeys. Until next time!

Subtle Mind (perhaps not in my world, maybe in yours)

Hello my furry little kittens!! Welcome to yet another week of Psychological and Spiritual Healing Adventures. It’s hard to believe that we are half way through this class already. Last week, we explored the concept of Loving-Kindness. This week, we will talk about the Subtle Mind. So, come and tip toe your dainty little paws (sideways if you'd like) with me through our next exercise and let’s see how this one compares to last week.

1. Compare and contrast the Loving Kindness exercise and the Subtle mind exercise. Explain your experience including the benefits, frustrations etc.

Last week, when we were asked to listen to the Loving-Kindness exercise, I had a very hard time concentrating on the instructions. The voice of the instructor bothered me a lot (yes, my claws came out and I was wishing I had a scratching post, it drove me nuts) and I simply couldn’t concentrate that well. It was an exercise that I wouldn’t recommend to anyone. Now, this week, we were asked to listen to the Subtle Mind exercise. While this exercise had the same instructor, and her voice is still grating on the nerves, she didn’t talk as much (which was a blessing, because too much of her voice probably would have made me turn loose the flying monkeys, which I didn’t want to do. I’ve been good all week (like you guys believe that) and besides, the monkeys need a rest) and I found myself able to listen to the waves and flute music in the background. The Subtle Mind exercise focuses on our breathing and asks us to train our minds to ignore the pesky thoughts we have and concentrate on opening our minds to focusing on more important matters. Our minds are clear, but we are aware of our thoughts and surroundings. With our breathing techniques, we become more of a spectator to our thoughts. It’s very easy for our minds to be distracted, especially considering what we go through each day. Breathing techniques tend to bring us back to our center of focus. This exercise would need to be done for a few weeks at least to take the full effect, but I think this would be an exercise that I would recommend. However, someone new to these breathing techniques and training of our minds may want to begin with some easier exercises and then work their way up to this one when they feel more confident.

2. Discuss the connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. Explain how the connection is manifested in your personal life.

Many people have different definitions of spiritual wellness. I think the best way to describe spiritual wellness would be this: a personal matter involving values and beliefs that provide a purpose in our lives. Many people may see this as following two important steps, which are as follows:

*It is better to ponder the meaning of life for ourselves and to be tolerant of the beliefs of others than to close our minds and become intolerant.

*It is better to live each day in a way that is consistent with our values and beliefs than to do otherwise and feel untrue to ourselves.

Reference:

UCR (2012), Spiritual Wellness, University of California Riverside, Retrieved from http://wellness.ucr.edu/spiritual_wellness.html

I think that for us to reach spiritual wellness, we have to have an open mind and be willing to allow others to have their opinions while we have ours. I’ve always believed that to truly understand something, you have to understand all aspects of it. The same goes for our values and beliefs. My values and beliefs are different from the next person, but I’m not going to change them simply because someone doesn’t agree with the way I think and do things. I wouldn’t be true to myself if I did that, and being untrue to myself, I’ll never be able to achieve true spiritual wellness. If my values and beliefs were being questioned and I changed them, I would begin to question myself, which would work greatly on my mind. This would affect my mental wellness, and as that would go on, it would begin to take a toll on my physical wellness. I would feel down and depressed, even worthless, and that would make me feel like I had no energy, not want to do anything, not want to eat, and so on. Everything is connected and when one part of that connection is thrown off balance, everything goes out of whack. For anyone who has been through this, it’s not a fun thing to experience. 

Will I be able to achieve spiritual wellness? I believe so. I don’t expect it to happen overnight, but with some time and keeping in mind that I need to stick by what I believe in and what I think, I should do just fine.

Well, my fine furry friends, we have come to the end of yet another week in our journey. I encourage all of you to challenge yourselves each day and to never give up on anything you’ve set your mind to. We are all on the same page, some of us in the center, some on the edges, but we are all together, and as long as we believe in ourselves and our abilities, we can accomplish anything.

And so, I leave you with these words of wisdom. Life is for sure like a box of chocolates. Some are bitter (they play games with your mind), some are sweet (they go right to your hips), and some are full of nuts (crazy as can be), and those, my friends, are the ones you want to keep in your life for a long time.