Figuring Out Loving Kindness

As I played the first mp3 I was immedietyly looking for the fast forward. The introduction was pretty short Im sure but by my time perception it was like being in an 8:00am lecture back in college on a Monday morning. After the introduction I got to the Loving Kindness mp3 and the womans voice was much more relaxing. I was able to understand a little of what was being asked of us during that time of meditation. But I soon found myself confused with all the different levels mind and thought.Chaseing thoughts through my "subtle mind "and "finding deep aspects of my mind" had me almost more anxious than having kind love.I then found myself just praying during this time about those thoughts,feeling and  images. So I guess that was beneficial but I most likely would not listen to it  again. I would recommend other try it though because I do believe in the individuality aspect of intergral health. What cures you may not cure me and vice versa. I did like the flute though. I would actually listen to that to relax if no one was talking. Yeah, definetly no one talking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where I am on My Journey to Integral Health

Based on your reflections, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal wellbeing), where do you rate your A-physical wellbeing, B-spiritual well-being, C-psychological well-being? Why?

   Since reflecting I would rate my physical well being as a 5 I have suffered from chronic back pain for five years and it has exausted me physically and emotionally. But for the past 3 months Ive taken my healing into my own hands and am doing much more yoga, eating better and trying to understand what it truely means to have a spiritual well being. I still have a long way to go. My spritiual well being is rated a 3 becuase I am only now trying to integrate it into my life more often with meditation and relaxation. My psychological well being I would rate at a 10. I have recognized where in my life I need to make improvements. The process of making these improvements makes me happy and encouraged.

Develop a goal for yourself in each area (physical, spiritual, psychological).

Here are some goals for each area of my life

Physical- I will practice yoga for 45 minutes every mornig. Before coffee, before the sun, before the family even gets up. First is Yoga

Spiritual- I will spend 10-15 minutes every night in silence and reflect on my day and how I can improve areas of my day that elliminate strss and worry.

Psychological- I will do more things in my day that make me laugh, smile or feel happiness. They dont have to be big things just holding my husbands hand while watching tv, or reading to my son or talking to him about funny things. Just add those things in my day.

What activities or exercise can you implement in your life to assist in moving toward each goal?

Activities to help me get there are Yoga, music therapy, meditation and prayer

Complete the relaxation exercise The Crime of the Century. I find it very difficult to do relaxation tapes like this because of peoples voices. I can only truley relax and find calmness in silence and serene surroundings. It is hard to focus when someone is technically still telling you what to do. I dont want to hear that after i have gone the whole day with people at work telling me what to do, my family and kid asking me for stuff and telling me I need to do stuff for them. I just want quiet to be honest.

Tapping into Mind/Body

I am intrigued this week by the powerfulness of the mind body approach to health and wellness. I would like to practice more of the relaxation technique that was demonstrated called the autogenic training technique. I feel that it may help to reduce stress and induce relaxation in my everyday life which can help fight depression. However,  I am a long time sufferer of chronic back pain and I have tried this type of meditation for severe pain before and it was not successful.  From what I understand this technique can have actual physiological affects on your health like lowering blood pressure and slowing the heart rate but for debilitating pain I don't think that this worked very well for me. Like most complementary and alternative medicine it is individualized and it may not work for me but it may work wonderfully for someone else. I will continue to try this technique though because I do think that you can train your mind and body to become more aware and open to new pathways of enlightenment. It may actually help more after fine tuning the technique and much practice I dont know yet. Has anyone else had success with this technique in relation to pain?