Final

 

Introduction:

As I scrolled through the pages and course descriptions looking for my next course at Kaplan I tried to find something that was a break from the black and white pages of my usual classes. I needed something I could enjoy but also a course that would still relate to my medical professional goals. I found a perfect class, Creating Wellness: Psychological & Spiritual Aspects of Healing. In the beginning of this course I thought that maybe I made a mistake. I wasn’t familiar with human flourishing or consciousness and healing, nor did I understand what it meant to have true health, happiness and wholeness. It is now week 9 and my class is coming to an end. As I think of what I have learned I am excited. I not only understand what this class was all about but I see how my own health and wellness is impacted and how I have complete control to change anything negative in my life and replace it with positive. This isn’t human flourishing, it’s me flourishing.

Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically?

I think that it is very important for health and wellness professionals to be In sync with the relationships of the mind, body and spirit at all times. True healers continue to grow in their craft over a lifetime. Each of these aspects has a cause and effect relationship with one another. For example, a psychological illness or stressor can alter the physical well-being of a person greatly. Healers should first love and nurture their own bodies psychologically, spiritually and physically, “for without an intact self there can be no true healing of another” (Schlitz, Amorok & Micozzi, 2005, p.36, para.2). Health and wellness professionals should be able to come from a point of experience when teaching & healing. This also creates a strong bond & trust between the patient and healer and when there is already inner knowledge from experience the outcome to heal will be more of an instinct than an action in question (Schlitz, Amorok & Micozzi, 2006).

 What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?

The areas that I need to develop to achieve the goals I have for my own health and wellness journey are psychological and physical. For me the two are reliant on each other greatly and to alter or improve one so must the other be altered and changed. I am still learning how my mind takes on stress and transfers it to my physical being. I am continuing to explore the many different meditation techniques such a loving kindness, the subtle mind and visualization techniques

Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? Since taking this class I have learned to examine closely my own health in each domain. When each domain is closely looked at I can start to piece together a map of how my health and wellness in all domains compares to one another. Then from the techniques and teachings I have gained from this course I can apply them to my lifestyle how I see beneficial.

How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 being the weakest and 10 being the strongest) I would rate my spirituality an 8. I feel that even when other areas of my life and health have fallen short my spirituality has always remained on a strong foundation. I have a close relationship with my spiritual beliefs and have used spirituality to help me through other hardships that I have experienced in my life. I do feel that if other aspects of my life were stronger I could flourish much more in this part of my life.

In the physical aspect of my life I would have to rate this at a 5. I do not have problems with weight or serious health complications but I have struggled with chronic pain for the past 6 years now and I just turned 30. This has been a huge part of my life and also a massive obstacle hat I have still to overcome. The pain keeps me from doing many normal activities that most 30 year olds can do just fine. I have been practicing yoga now for a few months and this has helped in some ways. The main focus of the yoga was for me to strengthen my core and become stronger as a whole. In this way it has actually had a cause and effect relationship on my psychological wellbeing which I now rate at a 6.

My psychological wellbeing is a 6 because although I am continuing to gain a better understanding of how I can control my mind the physical stress and obstacles in my life continue to be a problem and in turn affect my way of holding stress mentally.

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

Goals for my physical well-being: yoga session for 30 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening 6 days a week. I need the morning session to focus on core strength and the evening session to focus only on slow stretching and breathing. I hope that this can reduce my pain and increase my energy levels. Another goal I have is to try and get to sleep earlier by implementing a nightly routine. I hope that this will reduce my fatigue and insomnia episodes during the week. 

My goals for my psychological health are to implement a daily 10 minute meditation session once a day and at least 15 minutes in the evening before bed. I want to use the day meditation to help me establish better relationships with those around me. I hope that I can stop my mind completely, stop all mental chatter and distractions. By doing so I may be able to keep negative emotions from snowballing and possibly transferring onto those around me. The evening meditation I hope will calm me and keep my anxiety down so that I can focus on sleep and keeping my mind still.

Spiritually my goals are to pray often in my times of stress. I also want to remember to not only pray in times of stress but also happiness as well. Be thankful often and use prayer to induce meditation and relaxation during my sessions. I hope that prayer will help me to in progress in my other goals as well.

Practices for personal health:
What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains?

Physical- Exercises that I can implement for my physical well-being are yoga and seeing a chiropractor to try and help manage my pain. Yoga will help me to strengthen my core muscles which are the most important part of supporting your spine. Spine health is in a way another aspect of my health I must keep in mind because it does relate so closely to my chronic back pain. Remembering to practice the yoga in the right form is just as important as frequency.  I have seen a chiropractor last week because I have never explored this field of medicine for my pain before. During my consult I learned that spinal manipulation for chronic low back pain has many positive outcomes. I will be seeing this chiropractor again for my first adjustment next month.

 

Psychological- The meditation exercises that I like the most and that helped me achieve a sense of relaxation during times of great anxiety were the Loving Kindness exercise. For loving kindness I have been practicing this when I feel overwhelmed by either my environment or others. I try this when I know that I may start to get extremely angry at someone else. First I find a quiet spot to relax and open my heart to the thought of love to those around me and to myself. I think of how deserving these people are of being loved and how opening my heart to kindness. I try to engage this open heart of loving kindness for as long as possible during my relaxation. I let my heart fill with happiness towards others and genuine care. If I practice this often I may be able to implement loving kindness more often and instinctually. I hope that this will make my heart bigger and my love greater. The second meditation exercise is the visualization exercise. This helps me to focus on calmness and stillness in my mind and heart especially before I sleep. I start this exercise by lying down on my bed just like I am going to sleep. I close my eyes and start to focus on my breath. I use the deep belly technique because it reduces stress and brings more oxygen into my body as well. Once I focus on my breathing I first think of a time in my life that brought me great happiness. Then a time that brought be great wholeness and lastly a time that I felt vitality and healthy. For each of these moments I must consume each precious moment in my life as it was. I must focus on each moment as I am an observer. I engage every sense in each moment what did I smell, what did I hear? Did I remember a specific food? Every detail matters in this exercise. I take my time with each moment. When I am done I then put all three moments together and meditate on them as a whole. I often feel grateful, happy, and relieved. This clears my mind so that I can sleep with a still mind as well.

 

 Spiritual- For my spiritual exercises I often incorporate prayer into my breathing exercises during yoga. It is a way for me to focus my mind and body together with my spirituality as a whole. I also use prayer when I meditate and often during other forms of meditation exercises. For example, during the Loving Kindness exercise I revert to prayer often and throughout to help me stay focused and calm. 

 

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?

To make sure I stay on track with my goals I would like to make myself a calendar and have each activity or goal that I am supposed to be doing listed for each day. If I can fulfill all of the required activities during my week then I will reward myself. It shouldn’t be anything big and nothing that would defeat the purpose of an activity. For example, no splurging on unhealthy food since health is kind of the goal. I could buy a new shade of nail polish or go to a special place on the weekend with my son. However, I do feel that the main goal is going to balanced health. If I don’t progress I am hurting myself and I will definitely know that even without silly rewards. This is something that I have to want deeply and care about very much, which I do. It should not be a “diet” type attitude the person making these goals should want to reach them more than anything because it’s worth it.