Unit 10 Blog...

Hello Class & Professor,

These past 10 weeks have flown by! I have truly enjoyed reading all of your blogs and thank you for reading mine.

1) Review your unit 3 personal assessment of your psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being. Reflect on these areas. How did you score on a scale from 1 to 10 in unit 3? How do you score yourself now? Has the score changed? Why or why not?

In unit 3 the following were my personal assessment scores in psychological (8), physical (9), and spiritual (5) areas. I wasn’t surprised on how I scored each area during that time. Now its a few weeks later and I was happy to figure out that my scores in all areas did improve. Today, I would rate my scores as the following: psychological (9), physical (10), and spiritual (8). I have was not surprised by my new scores due to the fact I had some goals set in place and have been working toward them.

2) Review the goals and activities you set for yourself in each area. Have you made progress toward the goals? Explain.

The goals and activities I set for my physical well-being, which for me is closely related to my psychological well-being was to workout 5 – 6 days a week and eat a balance diet. I actually decided to change my workouts to 3 -4 days of vigorous workouts and 1 -2 days of light to moderate workouts. I found that when I was doing 5 days of vigorous workouts I was getting burnt out and too tired to enjoy my days off. I gave myself the permission to slow down a bit and so far it’s been wonderful! Also, I have been placing very close attention to my eating and have actually lost a few pounds. Physically and psychologically I feel great!

Furthermore, I have been practicing the exercises such as loving-kindness, visualization, and subtle mind that we have learned in this class. I find them to be extremely helpful in my spiritual growth and will continue to implement them more often in my daily life.

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

Yes, I have implemented the activities I have chosen to flourish my well-being. I am making sure I get enough, but not overdoing it with my physical activity, eating a well-balance diet, talking with a close friend when I have a problem instead of trying to fix and do everything myself, and taking time daily to practice my spiritual exercise. I truly feel I am on my way a newer inner and outer me!

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 absolutely loved this class! The text books were amazing and I actually plan on reading them over again and share with my friends what I have learned. Because of this course I am taking a closer look at all the aspects of my life such and addressing the areas that were lacking.

Most importantly, I know that because of this course I am becoming a wise healer that will make me and my future clients successful in achieving optimum health. I really don’t feel any part of this course was difficult simply because I enjoyed everything we learned.

Lastly, I want to thank Professor and my fellow classmates for a wonderful 10 weeks and wish you all the very best of luck in life! :)

Sincerely,

Teri Fournier

Final Project

Hello  Class & Professor,

Wow...I can't believe another semester is almost complete.  These past weeks have flown by and I've learned so much wonderful information that I am excited to implement into my own life!  Below is my final project and I have truly enjoyed corresponding with all of you and wish you all the very best of luck!

Teri :)

I - Introduction: 

The health field is ever changing and much different than say 30 years ago.  30 or so years ago individuals had their basic primary doctor that would treat most of their health issues.  Today, not only do you have your primary doctors still around, there is a whole new category of health services among us known as complementary and alternative medicine.  Medical schools across the world are offering unique programs in holistic healing (Schlitz, Amorok, & Micozzi, 2005). For example, in the United States the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is conducting research on the effectiveness of alternative and complementary therapies.  Many of these new types of therapies focus on an individual’s psychological, spiritual, and physical well-being (Schlitz, Amorok, & Micozzi, 2005). 

Above all, health professionals need to take the time and develop their own psychological, spiritual, and physical well-being before they can successful help their patients.  After reviewing the stages of my own well-being the area I need to take the time to develop more on is my spiritual well-being.

 Therefore, I have made a commitment to myself to set aside some time each day to practice my meditation.  I found the subtle mind and loving-kindness exercises to be very beneficial and will continue to practice them.  I realize that my psychological, spiritual, and physical well-being is an ongoing process that will change from time to time.  Right now I need to focus more on my spiritual well-being and down the road it may be my psychological well-being that takes presence.   Only then when I am taking care of all these areas can I have the knowledge and skill to help others develop their own.  If I want to talk the talk I must walk the walk!

II - Assessment: 

            In Unit 3 we were able to assess our own spiritual, physical, and psychological well-being and rate them on a scale from 1 (low) to 10 (highest). My results indicated my spiritual well-being was ranked at 5, physical well-being 9, and psychological well-being 8.  My results were not surprising to me, but I knew there were some areas I needed to focus on.

III - Goal Development:

            Most importantly, goals are good to have in my opinion.  They keep us focused and something to work towards.  I personally find having goals to be motivating and keep me on track.  There is nothing more satisfying when you set a goal, work hard, and achieve it!  As a result of the scores of my spiritual, physical, and psychological well-being I had some new goals to set.  My spiritual well-being came in the lowest ranking area and honestly I knew needed some attention.  I am so focused on my physical well-being that I tend to ignore my spiritual well-being and as we all realize by now that is not a way toward human flourishing.  

            Therefore, as I have mentioned above I am going to take the time even if its five minutes a day to start to practice exercising that will flourish my spiritual well-being.  I found that I do better when using guided exercises then trying to meditate on my own.  My mind is very busy and I need to work on achieving a subtle mind.   Dacher (2006), said “the undeveloped mind, which was once our greatest slayer, can then become our greatest healer” (p71).  My goal at this moment is to develop my mind.

IV - Practices for Personal Health: 

            Undoubtedly, goals are great to have!  But the question is how are you going to get there? In order to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves an action plan needs to be implemented.  I have come up with a set of strategies to implement to achieve my goals toward human flourishing.  My physical well-being was ranked the highest and I do enjoy working out.  However, I will admit I have a tendency to push myself too far at times which leaves me to be completely exhausted and my other domains start to suffer.  My strategy for my physical well-being is to get 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise 4 – 5 days during the work week and give myself permission to take two days off from the gym.  I found that when I was doing my boxing/kickboxing classes on the weekends I was beginning to resent them.  I needed to reclaim my weekends and use them to get my house cleaned, grocery shopping done, and time to enjoy the weekends with my loving boyfriend and children.  As a result, I found my psychological well-being to improve!

            Next, my psychological well-being was ranked at 8, which I know was a big improvement than a few years ago.  Within the past years I have been doing a great share of research and reading on how to improve my psychological well-being.  Also, I realized that my physical well-being and nutrition was closed related to my psychological well-being.   When I am taking care of my body my mind just seems to follow.  Most of the time I work out know because I know my stress level, thinking, and every other aspect of my life will go much smoother after a good work out!  Also, my psychological well-being is equally affected by my diet.  If I eat too much sugar or fatty foods it has a huge impact on my mood and thinking capabilities. I will honestly say I am not a fun person to be around if I am not eating properly or getting enough physical activity! Life just seems much more manageable and therefore my strategy in this area is to keep my physical activity and eat a well-balance diet on a daily basis.

            Lastly, my spiritual well-being ranked the lowest at 5.  This is an area I have been working on for a few years now and do believe it has improved.  I have a tendency to spend too much time and energy on my physical well-being which leaves my spiritual well-being in the just. As a result, a few years ago I started to find ways to flourish my spiritual well-being.  I discovered some video’s on Charka healing and was immediately hooked.  For those who are not familiar with Charka’s is a Sanskrit term meaning “spinning wheel of energy”, which describes specific energy locations related to the body, mind, and spirit (“Foundation for Well Being”, 2008).  For more information on what each of the 7 major Charka’s centers are go to link http://www.foundationforwellbeing.org/innerawareness.htm.  I have practiced Charka healing video on YouTube to be very helpful and will add them to my plan to help flourish my spiritual well-being.  Secondly, I am going to implement into my strategy practices the wonderful exercise we have been exposed to in this class.  I found the subtle mind, loving-kindness, mindfulness and meditation, and visualization exercises to be extremely beneficial to my spiritual well-being.

V - Commitment: 

            Above all, having goals in place is the first step toward achieving integral health.  But it takes commitment, motivation, and accountability in order to achieve goals and know when the goals need to be shifted and re-addressed.  For myself, I have a few assessments in place to keep myself on the right track.  The first step I do after setting anytime of goal is tell a close friend.  By doing this it give me accountability and keeps me motivated.  For example, I remember when I first started to work out on a regular basis which was about six years ago.  It was not easy, especially since I was about 75 lbs. overweight!  However, I had a workout buddy and we held each other accountable and motivated each other in times when we just didn’t feel like working out.  It paid off in more way than one.  It helped to develop a deeper friendship with my friend and soon I started to work out because “I” wanted to. 

            In order to keep myself on track and asses my efforts in six months I was able to find a great questionnaire that would help me asses my physical, social, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual well-being, which also applied the six principles of integral assessment (“A well being”, n.d.).  Below is the link to the questionnaire. 

“A Wellbeing Assessment Tool.” http://cms.services.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/95109/Wellbeing_Assessment_Tool.pdf.

            Most importantly, the developmental process of one’s psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being is an ongoing process that will change many times as we continue down the path of human flourishing.  As the old saying goes, “practice makes perfect!”

Teri :) 

Unit 8 - Blog

Hello Class & Professor,

During this past several weeks I have been exposed to different types of exercises that include Loving Kindness, Subtle Mind, Visualization, and Meditation. Looking back all of these exercises have been very beneficial. However, if I were to pick just two of them it would be the Loving Kindness and Visualization exercises to be the most beneficial to myself.

Without a doubt, in order to foster my own mental fitness I need to implement these two practices into my daily routine. Now trying to plan a time during the day to practice each exercise can get a little tricky since my days are usually pretty busy. So far I have found that in the morning when I first wake up before actually getting out of bed I practice the Loving Kindness exercise. It gives me a fresh and open heart to everyone as I start my day.

Next, I found the best times to practice the Visualization exercise is as I am going to bed at night and during my workouts. While I am working out I visualize my muscles becoming more toned, oxygen moving through my blood stream giving me energy, and my mental thinking becoming clear. I have used this exercise in past without even realizing it. A few years ago when I was not in the best shape I use to visualize myself running and could feel the air on my face as I ran. Now, prior to this I could not run to save my life, so to speak! Today I run 5 miles a few days a week!

Teri :)

Unit 7 Blog....Meeting Aesclepius

Hello Class & Professor,

Question 1:

Another great exercise we all completed this week!  I found the Meeting Aesclepius to be another relaxing meditation experience.  Of course the man’s voice in the beginning was annoying! Haha   However, I always find the female’s voice soothing and the sounds of the flute and ocean in the background always seem to calm my mind.  

For me, it was not problem to visualize a male individual in my life that practices loving-kindness and truly loves everyone around him.  This individual is my wonderful boyfriend, Scott. I noticed during the meditation they were referring to a few different chakras, which I am a firm believer in and can always tell when my own energies are not flowing in balance.

Mindfulness and meditation has allowed me to tap into my spiritual wellness on a much deeper level.  I believe this deeper level was buried deep down due to some emotional hurt I had experienced in the past.  As a result of working on my psychological and spiritual wellness, my relationships with others has grown on a deeper level and things that use to cause me emotional suffering no longer has its strong hold.  Though unnecessary emotional suffering has not completely left my life, I believe that by practicing all the meditation exercises we have done thus far in class will help continue to grow my psychological and spiritual wellness!

Question 2:

“One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” (Schlitz, Amorok, and Micozzi, 2005), is a very powerful and true statement!  My future career goal is to become a health and wellness professional and to be a good one at it as well.  How in the world will my clients take my advice on health and wellness serious if I am not in the best physical, psychological, and spiritual health myself?  It’s like going to see a doctor to lose weight and the doctor is 50 lbs. overweight themselves.  Why would I listen to them?  It is my responsibility to talk the talk and walk the walk.   

Since I have struggled with my weight through my teen and early adult life I know the struggles my clients are going through.  I know it’s not easy to get regular physical exercise, eat a balanced diet, and take care of your spiritual wellness when you have so much responsibility in your life.  However, I have been down that road and I hope through sharing my experiences it will motivate my clients to want to start living a healthier life. 

Furthermore, my psychological, physical, and spiritual wellness will always be an ongoing process.  For instance, I have lost weight in the past for the wrong reasons and thought once I reached my goal I was done with exercising and paying such close attention to my eating habits.  WRONG!!!  The weight only found its way back on and I had to start the process all over again.  This actually happened to me a few times up until six years ago.  This time I lost the weight for myself and wanting to work on my mind, body, and spirit.   As a result I was able to lose and keep off 75 pounds!    Through my past experiences I know my overall well-being is an ongoing process that will enhance my own human flourishing. 

Teri :)

Schlitz, M., Amorok, T., and Micozzi, M.S. (2006). Consciousness & healing: Integral approaches to mind-body medicine. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Churchill Livingston Publications. 

Loving-Kindness & Integral Assessment.

Universal Loving-Kindness – This exercise brought me such a feeling of calmness, universal love, peace, and an overall positive out look on life in general! The exercises requires the individual to close their eyes for 10 minutes and repeat four phrases. In addition, I put on my headphone and listened to my meditation music which I found to be very helpful in calming my business mind and staying focused through the exercise. As I got further into the exercise any hatred or anger I felt toward some individuals in my life started to disappear. I was freeing myself of any negative emotions I had tied to certain unpleasant memories. Now, I just felt love and wished everyone would be able to find health, happiness, and wholeness in their life no matter if they were my best friend to someone who has hurt me in the past. I will defiantly start incorporating the Universal Loving-Kindness exercise into my weekly routine!

Integral Assessment - I really enjoyed doing this assessment! Since I run a hundred miles an hour a day, so to speak, I knew there were aspects of my life that such as psychospiritual, biological, interpersonal, or worldly that were not where I wanted them to be and needed some attention. I did notice that I was lacking in my worldly flourishing and that area needed the most attention. I always feel I am too busy to get involved helping out in my child's school. As a result of this assessment, I contacted my son's teacher and asked if they needed some volunteers. Then I contact the local chapter in Arizona for diabetes and starting to coordinate a walk in April for my son's school to help raise awareness and money for diabetes. My son has type 1 diabetes and now we can together bring awareness to his school!

Without a doubt, both exercises brought awareness to me and made me take a closer look at every aspect of my life. I would say both exercises were very beneficial in my own growth and wellness and will continue to practice them from this day forward. 

Teri :)

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

Unit 5 - Subtle Mind Exercise.

Hello Class & Professor,

I found the Subtle Mind and Loving Kindness exercises to be similar and different at the same time. While listening to the Loving Kindness exercise I was given instructions on what to do, which I found easier to keep my mind from wondering. On the other hand, the Subtle Mind exercise was focused on breathing and trying to keep a calm mind without given instructions throughout the exercise.

Without a doubt, I felt the Subtle Mind exercise to be beneficial and frustrating at times in my experience. The woman’s voice, the sound of the waves crashing up on shore, and the soft music was very calming and I felt very relaxed. However, I was frustrated on how much my mind would wonder and had to pull my focus back. I know these exercises take time to master and if I keep up I will become a master at loving kindness and having a subtle mind!

Moreover, there is a huge connection between spiritual, mental, and physical wellness! I know in order to have optimum health and to practice integral health all three must be incorporated into my life. You can not just focus on one area and expect the rest to follow suit. For example, a few years ago I was going through a very difficult situation that greatly affected my mental wellness. Even though I worked out 5 to 6 days a week I felt my workouts where not doing me any good. My mental frame of mind just wasn't in it. Then I found out I had an issue with my kidneys and the rate they were functioning. At this time I was age 34 and had a GFR (kidney function) at 58%, where as four years prior my GFR was at 98%.

As a result, I took charge of my own health and started to focus on my spiritual and mental well being along with continuing my physical well being. Last June I went in for my yearly check up and my GFR was now back up to 70%! Now this was accomplished by taking no medications, but focusing on my wealth as a whole. I know that I need to continue to pay attention to my spiritual, physical, and mental well being. Since I have been doing that these past couple of years I have never felt or looked better!

Teri

Unit 4: Loving Kindness & Mental Workout

Hello Class!

I found my overall experience to be very relaxing and was able to calm my mind.   Though I will admit that the man's voice in the beginning was far from relaxing!  Thank goodness a women's soothing voice soon took and talked me through the Loving Kindness exercise. 

Without a doubt, this experience was very beneficial and was relevant to some specific situations currently happening in my life.  I found the once held resentment I had for some certain individuals in my life slowly started disappear as the exercised continued.  I started to feel nothing but love and kindness toward everyone in my life no matter if it's someone I love deeply or not on good terms with right now.  After the exercise I felt calm, relaxed, and love in my heart.  It truly was a great feeling!

Moreover, it's important not only to ensure we get a physical workout but to also a mental workout that will lead to a road of health, happiness, and wholeness.  There are two practices that make up the mental workout such as showing loving-kindness and having the subtle mind.  The first practice teaches up to open our hearts to everyone and the second one teaches how to have a mind that is calm - abiding, witnessing, and unity consciousness.   The way I can implement mental workouts into my life is by following the Loving-Kindness exercise daily for at least 5 minutes and work my way up to 30 minutes.  I find that each time I finish the exercise I have a completely different out look on life and on the people around me. 


Teri :)

Unit 3 Blog...

Hello Classmates & Professor,

 

1) After taking some time to reflect the following is how I would rate my physical, spiritual, and psychological well-being on a scale from 1(low) to 10 (highest) and why. 

 

Physical well-being: 9- My physical well-being did not happen overnight and took several years to finally make physical activity a part of my everyday life.  5 – 6 days a week you will find me either doing a kickboxing class or doing a 5 mile run.  I know that when I am taking care of my physical well-being it is also taking care of my psychological well-being.  The two really go hand in hand for me.  I am healthier and more physically fit now at the age of 37 than was I was 20!

 

Spiritual well-being: 5 – This area could use some focus and work on.  On a regular basis I will not just sit and do a relaxation video such as The Crime of the Century.  I feel I always need to go a 100 miles an hour and if I take 10 – 20 minutes to do this video I could have used that time to do something else such as dishes.  In the past when I was going through some troubling times I would often listen to videos on how to clear your Chakra’s and found them to helpful.  I need to dedicate at least 5 minutes a day to start building my spiritual well-being not matter if things seems to be going good or bad in my life.

 

Psychological well-being: 8 – I truly believe that since my physical well-being is high on the scale it closely correlates to my psychological well-being.  I know my mental thinking is much clearer and able to deal with my daily stressors in a much more productive way when I am taking care of my physical well-being.  However, there are those days when my psychological well-being is in the left field!  In those cases I call a friend who is able to look at things from a different direction and gets my thinking back on track.  I believe I can still work on my psychological well-being and do with reading and nutrition.   If I eat too much sugar my moods are out of control and not much fun to be around.  On the other hand, if my diet is full of goods such as veggies, fruits, and whole grains my psychological well-being is much better.

 

2 & 3) The goals and activities I have set for my physical well-being is to keep up with working out 5 -6 days and to make sure to throw new activities so stay way from becoming bored.  Without a doubt, my spiritual well-being needs some improvement.  My goal in this area is to spend 5 to 10 minutes a day meditating or listening to relaxing videos and slowly building my time up each week until I have reached 30 minutes daily.  Lastly, my goal for my psychological well-being is to make sure I am eating a well-balanced diet.  I have found that the days when my eating not well-balanced neither is my mind!  This has only became apparent to me recently and will continue to strive toward eating a well-balance diet.

 

4) Watching the video The Crime of the Century was timed perfectly!  I was feeling extremely frustrated and stressed out when I decided to listen to this video.  I went in a quite place, closed my eyes and put on a head set to block out all outside noise.  As soon as he started talking about the rainbow’s colors and how it relates to different regions of our bodies I knew he was talking about Chakra’s.   I have some reading and several other video’s related to my Chakra’s and always feel more relaxed and calm afterwards.  This video was extremely beneficial and will be used over and over again.

 

 

 

Welcome to my blog!

Welcome my my blog! I have always enjoyed blogging and found it to be very therapeutic in whatever I am going through no matter if it was something negative or positive. I truly have a passion when it comes to health and wellness! I am on my last year at Kaplan and will be graduate with a BS in Health and Wellness in the early part of 2013. I look forward to helping others in obtaining optimum health and know how difficult is can be once you throw work, kids, chores, and exercise into the mix.

However, six years ago I was able to lose and keep off 75 pounds while still managing to working full-time, going to school full-time, raising kids, and still finding time to get in my regular exercise. I love sharing all the new information I obtain in my classes and by the end of each semester I have so much more knowledge to pass on so others can start achieving a healthier lifestyle too.

You only have one life and I am living it to the fullest!

Teri :)

Reflective Statement

I always enjoy listening to relaxation video's!  When I started to listen to the Journey On Relaxation exercise I was feeling stressed out and could feel that stress all along my back and shoulders.  Even though I had a million things going through my mind I made it appoint to put my head phones on and truly throw myself into this exercise.  As I closed my eyes and listened I started to feel the tension in my back and shoulders disappear.  My breathing was controlled and I became more focused in the present moment.  At the end of the exercise I felt energized and my stress level had gone down quite a bit.  I now felt mentally ready to continue in my day and was ready to tackle just about anything!  

Teri :)