Loving Kindness

The Loving Kindness practice from the book Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing by Elliott Dacher (2006) was a new and great experience for me.   As I started getting into it I felt like my toes were getting tingly, in that normal?  It even made me laugh a few times.  I found that I was so focused on this exercise that I had blocked out the rest of my surroundings.  Focusing on love and kindness, I noticed sometimes that I had a smile on my face.  This exercise felt good and improved my mood after it was over.

Mental workouts do for our inner self what running and weight training does for our physical body.  A trained mind has the ability to influence our physiology, hormonal system and immune system.  “Research studies and personal reports have also demonstrated that mental training can transform the mind by reducing disturbing emotions that cause anger, hatred, fear, worry, confusion, and doubt while enhancing positive emotions such as patience, loving-kindness, openness, acceptance, and happiness. This mental transformation, acting through the mind/body connection, provides enhanced resistance to mental distress and physical disease, expands our healing capacities, and promotes well-being” (Dacher, 2006).  

References:

Dacher, E. S. (2006). Intergral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach , CA: Basic Health Publications.

A Reflection of My Personal Health

On a scale of 1-10, I would rate my physical health as an 8, my spiritual health as a 6 and my psychological health as an 8.  Physically I have no major issues, I exercise regularly and I maintain an overall healthy diet.  I am not, however, a world-class athlete so there is still much room for improvement.  My spiritual health is something I am always looking to improve upon.  It is a missing link in my life and it always seems to confuse me.  Psychological health has a lot to do with how you deal with life.  I certainly have some addictions and compulsions, but overall I feel happy, calm and blessed.

Physically I want to not only push my body to new limits with exercise, but more importantly, I want to reach a new level of connection with my body.  To do this I think I am going to start incorporating some yoga into my routine.  I have done yoga before and found it very boring, but I think I was going into it with the wrong mindset.  This time I plan to go into it with an open mind and search for the physical and mental benefits as opposed to stimulation.

Spiritual health has been nothing shy of a mystery for me.  I am searching for a connection with all living things and with the universe.  Every time I think I am on the right track I end up confused and frustrated at some point.  I will continue to meditate, pray and try to take moments of silent reflection, and continue to search for my own spiritual health.

Psychologically I do have some compulsions and addictions that need to be resolved in order to achieve true psychological health.  They are nothing major, but like most people I have habits or things that I turn to when I get bored or emotional.  I want to learn to fill those voids with meaningful things or self-reflection. 

The relaxation exercise which can be found at: http://www.kushs.net/kaplan/HW420/TheCrimeOfTheCentury.mp3, was great.  It focuses on seven different areas of the body and associated each area with a different color light.  It was very relaxing, although sometimes I find that I get so relaxed that I drift off to sleep.  I need to work more on keeping my focus. 

Journey on Relaxation Exercise

This audio exercise, which can be found at http://www.kushs.net/kaplan/HW420/JourneyOn.mp3, was wonderful.  Unlike most narrated meditation sessions that focus on your breath, this session focused on the mind and the blood.  Through visualization you move your blood from the abdominal cavity into the bodies extremities making them warm and relaxed.  Not only was this relaxing in the moment, and re-energizing upon completion, but it teaches us that we are not restricted to the involuntary functions of our bodies, rather we have control over every function if we choose to practice that control. 

Welcome

Welcome to my blog designed as an assignment for a class at Kaplan University.  This is my first blog ever, and I am excited to get the feel for it and also start looking at other peoples blogs.  As a Health and Wellness major the psychological and spiritual aspects of healing are very interesting to me and very important to my education.  As we move along through the term I hope to be able to provide some interesting feedback and learn from my classmates.