Final project

Final Project

Jennifer M Baer

Kaplan University

HW420-03

January 9, 2011

Final Project

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?

      The only way to achieve optimal wellness is by developing psychologically, spiritually, and physically.  I feel that it is of utmost importance for a health and wellness professional to practice what they preach and if they are not fully developed in each of these areas of their life they have no business telling me how to live my life.  Therefore, as a future health and wellness professional, it is important for me to develop these areas of my life in order for my patients to take me and my advice seriously.  I personally feel that I need to spend more time on developing each of theses areas of my own life before I graduate in August 2011 and begin looking for a job in my field of study. 

Assessment

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

      There was a time in my life that I was in great physical and mental health.   During that time I felt wonderful!  People in my life recognized this and many people called me “smiley”.  Then I went through some difficult times.  My grandmother, with whom I was very close, passed away suddenly and I stopped taking such good care of myself.  I began focusing more on other people in my life and their wants and needs.  Then a few months ago I realized that I was in a bad place mentally and spiritually.  My physical health was fine however; I knew that I could do better.  I started to question a lot of things in my life and began making changes. 

      When I started this course I felt that physically I was at an 8 and that I needed to start exercising more and eating better.  I did have a job that kept me very physically active although I ended up leaving it in order to improve my psychological health.  Therefore I may have taken a step backward but, I would still rate myself at an 8 maybe 8 ½ because, I have started working out at home.  Spiritually I was at a 5 when I started this course and now I would say that I am at about a 7.  I have done a lot of soul searching over the past two months and I am in a much better place spiritually even though I am not quite ready to start going to church again.  Finally, at the beginning of the course I rated myself at a 7 psychologically.  Using the exercises and completing the reading for this course have definitely helped me psychologically but, I still need to do a lot of work.  Therefore, I would probably rate myself at an 8 psychologically.  There is still a long road ahead of me but, so far I happy with the progress that I have made.  I know that there will be times when I get off track but, I also know that I am on the path to human flourishing and I will get there one day!

Goal development

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

Physical- Participate in 60 minutes or more of physical activity most days of the week.  This can include taking walks in the park, yoga, lifting weights, swimming, playing tag with the kids, or any other activity that I feel like doing that day.  I also would like to eat better since I do not want to undo the work I have done by getting more physical activity.  I definitely need to start eating more vegetables and encouraging my kids to do so as well.

Psychologically- Replace reaction with intention.

Spiritual- Go to church regularly.

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- Yoga and taking walks in nature.  Both of these practices will be easy to implement because, I can include my children in them.  My kids love doing yoga and my youngest loves going on long walks which I can do on a trail at a local park. 

Psychological-Relaxation techniques such as progressive muscle relaxation which I can do at night before bed work on improving my personal relationships.  The second one will be hard and I am not sure that I can do it alone therefore; I may seek the help of a counselor. 

Spiritual- loving kindness practice and practicing intimacy and spiritual union.  Loving kindness can be practiced anytime I have some time to myself.  Practicing intimacy and spiritual union will take some time to do as I am single at the moment and plan on staying that way until I first am able to love and care for myself.  However, one day I will meet someone with whom I will want to share this experience.  I look forward to that day!

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? 

      Over the next 6 months I will keep a journal in which I write about my chosen practices for health and wellness.  In 6 months I will again assess where I am physical, psychologically, and spiritually and then I will have one of my closest friends tell me where she thinks I am because unlike myself she will not lie to me.  Then I will establish new goals or continue with the old ones until I can say that I have mastered the still mind and open heart that comes with developing a unity consciousness.

References

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

            Basic Health Publications Inc.

Unit 8 post

I found The Journey On and The Crime of the Century to be the best relaxation exercises for me.  I have way too much going on at once and I am pretty much always stressed out.  I could definitely benefit greatly from using these techniques more often.    Therefore, I have saved them to my computer and I plan on trying to put them on my MP3 player as well so that when my kids go to bed I can listen to them.   I am going to miss having this class.  I have learned so much and I and others in my life have noticed how much calmer I have become since starting this course.

I can't believe what a difference this class has made in my life!!  Today I actually took a step back and thought for a few hours about a situation instead of just reacting to it.  I am so proud of myself that I just had to tell everyone.  I hope that the rest of you are having similar experiences!!

~Jen

Meeting Aesclepius

To me the saying that "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” means that if you have not first experienced something you will not be able to properly teach someone else to do it.  Personally I feel that it is my obligation as a health and wellness professional to take the best care of myself as possible and to learn as much as I possibly can in order to help my patients.  After graduation I plan on becoming a dietician and I can not see anyone taking advice about how to eat properly from someone that does not do so themselves.  The thing that I have noticed about many of the dieticians in my area is that they are overweight.  There is absolutely no way that I would listen to a dietician’s advice if they were overweight.  The ways in which I can incorporate psychological and spiritual well being into my life is through meditation, yoga, and reconnecting with nature.  These are in fact some of the things that I have let fall by the wayside since starting school however, if things go according to plan I will graduate in August and be able to get back to “normal”.

Personally I did not like the meeting Aesclpeius exercise.  I found the sound of the waves in the background to be more distracting than relaxing.  I do however, plan on trying this exercise again as I have had good experiences with all of the other exercises that I have done.  Mindfulness and meditation have helped me to calm down.  I have a great deal of changes taking place in my life right now and I am feeling quite well the majority of the time.  I have even had people tell me that I seem calmer and like I am at peace with the decisions I have made in regards to my marriage ending.  I am taking it day by day right now but, I definitely plan on continuing to use these exercises in the future along with yoga to continue fostering greater health and wellness.  When I get into a routine I would like to take some time to “pay it forward” by teaching others how to use these techniques in their lives as well.

~Namaste~

Integral Health text

This book is deep and so true.  Considering the following...

An infant totally depends on the outer world for its physical and emotional survival.

It cannot give to the world. It can only take from the world. The world serves

our life rather than our life serving the world. This is how we relate to the world in our

most undeveloped state. Unfortunately, this is how many adults continue to relate to

the outer world. ~Dacher, 2006

I love it!

Unit 3 Post

When I tell people everything that I have going on in my life between being a single mom, work, and then school they always say “I don’t know how you do it”.  Honestly some days I am not sure myself but, one thing I do know is there are a lot of areas in my life that are not getting the attention that they deserve.  Physically I would say I am at an 8.  For someone studying nutrition I often do not eat as well as I would like.  I exercise occasionally although my job keeps me pretty physically active when I am there.  Spiritually I am at a 5.  I do believe in God however; I have been through a lot over the past few years and I often struggle with trying to understand why some of the things that have happened to me have.  I have not been to church in several months and I feel that it definitely shows.  Psychologically I am at a 7.  My husband and I have separated after almost 7 years of marriage and I am dealing with everyone’s opinions about the situation.  I am actually happy with the fact that we are going to divorce because; he has put me through a lot but, everyone is thinking that I am a bad person since they are only hearing one side of the story –his.   I am a little bit more private and have not told anyone the things that he did to cause me to want a divorce in the first place so everyone blames me.  

Physically I need to start eating better and exercising more.  Spiritually I need to start going to church again and remind myself that things happen for a reason.  Psychologically I need to talk to someone when I am feeling down instead of holding it all in.  One activity to that I can implement in my life that will help with all three areas is yoga.  I used to do yoga years ago and I felt great!  However; when I started school I had to give some things up but, my daughter is actually doing yoga at school so maybe we could do it together.


I am glad that I waited until I got home from work today to try this week’s relaxation exercise.  I don’t know if it is because it was a holiday or what but, a lot of the people that I work with were crabby and it definitely took its toll.  The slow deep breaths alone were enough to calm me down and afterwards I felt completely relaxed.  The only thing that I found frustrating about the relaxation technique was that I had a difficult time hearing what the guy was saying and I had the volume all the way up.  Other than that I loved it!

The Journey On

The Journey On was much like a relaxation technique I have used in the past called Progressive Muscle Relaxation where you tense your muscles and then relax them in order to manage stress and achieve total relaxation.  My experience with the Journey On was almost as relaxing for me as Progressive Muscle Relaxation however; I did not fall asleep as I normally do with my usual relaxation techniques.  With the Journey On I was able to to imagine my blood flowing from my abdomen up to my shoulders and down to my hands and while doing this I actually felt my hands and fingers getting heavier.  When I was instructed to let the blood flow back to my abdomen I noticed that my fingertips were not as warm as they had been when I thought about the blood flowing to my hands.  Afterwards I felt very calm and relaxed.