Personal Aspects of Holistic Wellness

Why is it Important for Health and Wellness Professionals to Develop Psychologically, Physical and Spiritual.

Spiritual, Physical and Psychological wellness is important development for those in the health profession I believe because it is the old saying of “practice what you preach” (Author Unknown).  How can your generally give a person advice or administer medicine when you really can’t understand where the pain is really coming from?  If a practitioner understands the true connection of mind, body and spirit then they will be able to prescribe you with the right medicines that will free you from your illness.  The prescription may not come in a pill or bottle but a major change of mind from negativity to positive affirmations, bitterness to love and release of hurt and unforgiveness and resentment to loving kindness and hope.  The body can hurt but a renewed mind and path of enlightenment can heal you physically from the inside out.  As we have studied and learned, strength of mind and heart brings about feel good emotions and oxytocin in the brain, serotonin levels increase and your mental capacity enlarges. 

To achieve physical, mental and spiritual wellness for myself requires commitment, love for self, others and a mindset of determination to have some follow through to reach my wellness goals.  I need to remove the hurts of the past and forgive those you have hurt me and those I have hurt.  I must seek balance and healthy personal goals.  Be selfless enough to meet the needs of others without losing self. Gain mental balance and when things get to emotionally out of control STOP, pray, meditate and know that things will work for my good and the good of those I love.

Assessing My Wholeness (Physical, Spiritual and Psychological Well-Being

Throughout this course, I have been discovering better methods of meditational exercises, making time to visual clear my mind and in cooperate healthier lifestyle choices.  Currently I rate my physical wellness at a 7 out of ten.  At the beginning of the course I rated it a five but since then, I have actively attended exercise classes and established a 30 minute session of outside walking five days a week.  It was hard at first but my body and mind have started to thirst for the fresh air and freedom I feel as my body pushes against the wind and the energy and joy I gain after I have completed my walking journey.  Spiritually, I am strong and gain knowledge and power from my personal source of strength in my belief in God and His holy word the Bible.  I have begun to commit scripture to heart and use them as my source of meditation and mantra.  A favorite is: Wherefore my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath (King James Version, James 1:19).  This helps me spiritually and holistically know that    I need to allow others to be heard, be wise in my words, stop trying to solve the world’s problems or be quick to give useless meaningless advice. 

Next I must refuse to allow angry thoughts that result in angry behaviors.   Resist negative emotions and issues, never allow hurt to fester or even entertain its destructive power or influence in my life! So I rate my spiritual growth at a 7.5.   I am also learning to take every experience as something that can have a positive message and life lesson to help others. My goal is to continue to study and learn to put into action among my fellow man acts of kindness, love, peaceable conversation and be a person who gives without the thought of receiving something in return. Psychologically my score is still a six.  Although I am striving to be mentally stronger and gain more knowledge each day about this world, my place in it, my responsibilities to others and understand are connectivity to each other, I still struggle with how to compartmentalize these areas/thought without over thinking. I am still trying to find balance and mental peace, restoration and the ability to have a subtle mind. 

My Goals (Spiritually, Physically & Mental Health)

Spiritually, my goal is to continue to study the Bible to gain wisdom as well as learn more about the God who is my “Absolute”.  This goal I believe will help me have peace, love others, be merciful and treat others with the kindness and humility I want to be shown.  Physically, my goal is to lose twenty-five more pounds not just for looks but to gain a sense of physically wellness and relief from knee pain, joint issues and overall self-esteem.  Psychologically, my goal is to set a time (undisturbed no matter what), where I can clear my thoughts, meditate, practice loving –kindness exercises and  have the ability through continued practice, clear harmful thoughts within seconds because of mind strength and make a dedicated exercise plan that clears my mind and detox’s my body.

 Commitment

            To assist with my wellness journey, I have literally removed as much temptation and alluring junk food from my house until my will power and understanding of the damaging effects of the “gooey” stuff no longer lures me.  I know walk at least 3 times a week and have accountability partners to assist me in my physical transition.  

            Spiritually, I continue to pray and meditate on God’s word.  I practice loving kindness and mental wellness by saying prayers for as many of those who cross my path rather friend or foe.  I am striving to remind myself to always be humble, appreciative and grateful for each day and every gift of wellness that has been offered and obtained in my life.  I memorize scriptures and am know trying to verbalize positive affirmations to increase my self-esteem which was at a low in the beginning of my life.

Mentally, I am in school learning how to gain an awareness of holistic health. I take part in beginner meditation classes as well as practice silence and breathing exercises that calm the brain. I continue to invest in education to feed my brain with knowledge and understanding of culture, world events, and human awareness as well as continued studies of social sciences and there subsidiaries.

Respectfully,

Desiree Stroder

Review the exercises and practice sessions you have completed in this course. (Loving Kindness, Subtle mind, Visualization, meditation etc.) Choose two practices that you have determined to be most beneficial. How can you implement these practices in your personal life to foster “mental fitness”? Provide specific examples.

Good Evening Wellness Bloggers,

The two exercises that I have chosen to be most beneficial for my life and mental journey is Meditation and the Loving Kindness exercises.  I chose these because my mind feels like a runaway train running on a shortened track and meditation will allow me to just STOP and calm down these ole ragged thoughts of mine!  As I am learning better meditational methods, I am becoming aware of what my body needs and the importance of just taking a few moments to relax my body, mind and spirit.  To release the stressors and negative thoughts of work and visual assaults that pass my eye gates and focus on nothingness.  As I meditate, hear the sound of my heart beat, watch each breath go in and out I literally feel negative energy seep out, replaced with more clarity and renewed hope of “You got this girl”! 

My meditations involve pray and thanksgiving because I have come to realize that truly I am blessed beyond measure and that my life could always be worse.  It is not, it is a life that I have been given to do wonderful things, awesome feats and he gift of a healthy mind, body and soul to lift and support others.

That brings me to the second exercise which is Loving Kindness.  I want to love others, I want to help others and if I could take the pain away from the child with Cancer, the man with AIDS, my family member with Sickle Cell Anemia I WOULD. . . . Yet, what I can give them is my positive thoughts, my support without fear or worry, my hugs, my joy and my prayers that they WILL be healed in God’s time in His way.   Loving Kindness as I am learning means to give yourself to others with no intention of what they can do for you but out of a freely flowing unselfish heart.  I hope as the years progress I will truly walk what I talk…

Be Blessed,

Desiree Stroder

Meeting Aesclepius

Good Evening Wellness Bloggers,

1.      Complete the Meeting Aesclepius mp3 (located in the Doc Sharing area). Describe your meditative practices for the week and discuss the experience. Explain how mindfulness or meditation has fostered an increase in your psychological or spiritual wellness. How can you continue to apply these practices in your life to foster greater health and wellness?

After listening to the Meeting Aesclepius meditative practice I must say that it was an epic fail for me this week.  Placing no blame on the session, it was ALL my own distraction.  My week was very difficult and physical illness drained much of my ability to focus.  The session did provide some insight on people that I find to have an abundance of wisdom and why I believe them to be wise.  While my thoughts of them were positive, I still could not “become in tuned enough to allow their wisdom and positive flow to become my own.

Secondly, I have come to the realization that listening to a meditative recorded voice is not something that I am comfortable with.  One on one contact would be better suited for the person that I am and the lifestyle that I have.  Psychological and spiritual wellness is a daily practice of mind, body and spirit.  It requires a determined heart and the ability to remove all distraction to become a healed, completely regenerated person.  What these meditative practices have made me aware of is that I am stressed out, unfocused and need a major overhaul of what are considered priorities in my life! 

The practices that I will foster in my life are some counseling, meditation that involves walks in parks and gardens where clean air can flow through my lungs.  Trips to my local beach where I can sit and listen to the waves and think of “nothingness”.  Remove unnecessary stresses and don’t take on the burdens of others but rather give them love and encouragement that can ease and comfort their situation.

2.      Describe the saying: "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" (p.477). How does this apply to the health and wellness professional? Do you have an obligation to your clients to be developing your health psychologically, physically, and spiritually? Why or why not? How can you implement psychological and spiritual growth in your personal life?

 

Providers of health care must work on their own spiritual evolution to actually experience what the model represents (p. 476) This simply means that those with your psychological, spiritual and physical health in mine should be able to relate and instruct you on your wholeness journey because they too have experienced and are experiences a transformation that involves a mindset focused on more than just western medicinal practices.   Investing in your overall health means choosing a health care provider that can counsel you with holistic approaches, cares about you as a person, understands your belief system and is more than just a doctor but a friend, confidant and healer.  He/She can be these things because they have walked the journey you are taking and want to walk it with you.  That should be the obligation your wellness professional should desire. 

 

Be blessed,

Desiree Stroder

References:

 

Dacher, E. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Basic Health Publications, Inc.  Schlitz, M., Amorok, T., & Micozzi, M. S. (2005). Consciousness & healing: Integral approaches to mind-body medicine. Philadelphia, Pa: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone

Be Well MY Brothers & Sisters

Good Evening Health & Wellness Bloggers,

After reading what the universal Loving Kindness (meditation) exercises was, it was easy to complete.  I believe that those who have a gift for caring and are receptive to the needs of others feel, believe and repeat those positive messages of healing without wavering and faith that individuals in this world rather you know them personally or not will gain freedom from illness, disease and harm.  I don't know who said this but I think it is true that "The heart of the matters are the matters of the heart" (author unknown) I for one, have a heart that wants others to not suffer.

As I stated before, I believe in the power of prayer and often times when I enter into my grandmother’s nursing home, go into a hospital, view a sick and shut in list, see someone walking alone or see a person with a distraught face, I send a prayer of healing and wholeness.  What I have discovered about my self is that I am a little over sensitive in that I want to take away the pain of others at times so much so that I began to feel ill or sadness.  I have to realize that everyone has a cross to bear and that my strength is what they can lean on and a positive assisting attitude.  Being sad and bringing sadness to their situation will not help them and may make it worse.

What I need to focus on more in my life is my biological life. Being raised by a single (very tough disciplinary) yet hard working mother I learned independence early but was missing the nurturing part of the mother-daughter relationship as well as a father-daughter relationship period!  I began to eat an excessive amount of food to cure what ailed my heart but it only made my body toxic.  When I am sad, depressed or lonely eating became my run to.  Even after losing 106 pounds, that issue with self-esteem and body image rears its ugly head and I have to fight hard not to find the nearest honey bun.  I recognize the sources of pain vs. food and now am trying to practice healing eating habits and use exercise and fast walking as my go to source when negative feeling occur. Releasing those negative feelings into the fresh air and out of my body.

Respectfully,

Desiree Stroder

The Subtle Mind

Good Evening Health Bloggers,

1. Explain your experience including the benefits, frustrations etc.

This week we had to compare and contrast the Loving Kindness exercise and the Subtle Mind exercise. While the Loving Kindness exercises allowed us to focus on others and reflect on are personal feelings of support and empathy to those we love and humanity as a whole, the Subtle Mind exercises is teaching us how to control our thoughts, to intentionally reinvent our thinking process and what we allow to affect our mind.   The internal & outward effect it has on the body and training our subconscious into a psychologically healthy mind-body connection.

My experience with the Subtle Mind exercise was more positive than the previous exercises.  I believe this happened because I was already tired and mentally my brain had been on overboard from the weeks work so I was at a place where I was pliable and receptive to listening to the meditational exercise.  The young lady's voice was very relaxing and the waves are a added incentive since it reminds me of the beach, which I love.  I am still learning to do breathing exercises and relax my mind and the advantage of this exercise was that it was over 20 minutes long so there was time to refocus when your thoughts would shift to a distracting thought.

2. Discuss the connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. Explain how the connection is manifested in your personal life.

As we are learning of how intricate the body is, we begin to understand we are more complex than most can imagine.  If we hurt our finger the finger doesn't say ouch but triggers the pain to our brain, which then can be shown through facial expression, emotion or verbal acknowledgement. When we spiritually are at a place of peace our minds are at ease and that same peace flows and is expressed in our body movements, stance and even appearance.  How we feel rather good or bad can be seen and felt within us and outwardly to others which lets us know that there is a connection of spirit, mind and body. When we are depressed, some have lost of appetite, are unfocused, become isolated and studies have shown that this is in direct correlation to brain patterns and negative thought.  The opposite is true when we are joyous or incorporate exercises like meditation and yoga.  The brain shows signs of a natural happy drug-endorphins that show the link and effect it has between the brain and our bodies.

Respectfully,
Desiree Stroder

Loving Kindness Exercise

Good Evening Consciousness and Healing Bloggers,

This week I had to allow myself the experience of the “Loving Kindness” exercise.  I do believe it was beneficial in that I am able to experience, express and recognize feeling that I have for those I love when they are close to me and the intense pain and empathy I feel for those who are hurting.  The talking was still an issue for me but the sound of the waves had a positive effect on my ability to relax.  Yet, once I had to think of a loved one who was sick and in pain and remove the image and “breath out” positivity, I was unsuccessful in that manner.  As I thought about that person, the images were hard to remove and I began to focus more on the pain of their situation wishing I could take it away.  I found myself starting to pray almost unconsciously that God would remove the pain and heal them because that is my source of healing when I am having these feelings.  Needless to say, after I prayed the images left but my focus on the exercise was no longer in the picture. 

What constitutes a “Mental Workout” is the daily training of the mind.  In the text Integral Health, author Dacher talks about Contemplative Practice, this practice involves the intentional practice of quiet thinking, meditation or thought. A place of peace and calm where you can reflect and am fully alert and in tuned with your inner spirituality. Research indicated the benefits of a continuous mental workout can improve hormone imbalances, immune systems, our attention span, memory and view of what’s around us.  Prayer, yoga and meditation would be tools that I would use to implement my mental workouts.  The power to have some follow through on these mental exercises have the most potential for benefits.

Respectfully,

Desiree Stroder

References:

Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Basic Health Publication, Inc. Laguna Beach, CA.

Rate My Mind, Body and Soul Wellness/Relaxation Exercise #2

Good Afternoon Health and Wellness Discovers,

As a person who has juggled family, school, work and life, I must say that my “whole” self is in need of an overhaul, spa year (not day) and a lot if clutter removal.  Unintentionally, I have taken a side thought to self-care and tried to supply everyone else’s (family, friends, work) needs because that is what I felt was priority in my life.  This week we have to reflect, score and analyze the importance of mind, body and soul during this journey called life. 

On a scale of 1-10 I had to rate my physical health, spiritual wellness and psychological health.

A-physical well-being- 5

Although I have lost over 100 pounds of fat-my eating patterns are still off balance and unprepared.  I struggle with proper food chooses and consistency.  I get bored with exercises that have the same routine more than a couple of weeks.  Also it’s hard to get into a routine when I am the primary support to get my children to appointments, activities and school functions, so my time to get these bones a moving is difficult when time is limited.  My goal is to try to MAKE time for at least 30 minutes of exercise on a weekly basis which can entail walking, swimming, line dancing or Zumba with a good rotation so that I do not become complacent.

B-spiritual well-being-7

I am a women who believes in the power of prayer and I love God.  In the morning when I rise I listen to scripture and prepare my mind for the day ahead.  Spiritually, I believe I am the most intact because reading my bible is something I enjoy and do before anyone wakes up.  It is the one thing I have made precedence in my life.  My spirituality sustains me and strengthens me.  Even when tired I believe that my faith gives me renewed strength. Has taught me humility, kindness and wisdom.  I am also learning to take every experience as something that can have a positive message and life lesson to help others. My goal is to continue to study and learn to put into action among my fellow man acts of kindness, love, peaceable conversation and be a person who gives without the thought of receiving something in return,

C-psychological well-being-6

My mind is constantly in motion about to many things at times.  I gave myself a six because I believe that I have a strong since of who I am and can willingly acknowledge that there are some things in my life that need to be changes.  Sometimes the mind needs to be at rest where nothing is going on and that is my goal.  To mentally be stable enough to think clearly and realize multitasking is not the best thing for my life.  Focusing on one task at a time is best for me.  Turning the cell phone off during family time.  Meditating and just listening to nothing can give me clarity on issues if I allow myself to STOP doing everything and realize if I don’t my physical, mental and spiritual self will collapse because my being is a complete working system that needs wellness in each part to make a whole.

conclusion-Thoughts of Relaxation Exercise

Relaxation Exercise- Crime of the Century

The Rainbow exercise was frustrating due to trying to focus on too many trains of thought from the instructor in my opinion.  The deep breathing was fine but once I had to put colors to body parts as well as think about objects to represent them I lost focus.  When I think of meditation I think of quietness, minimal conversation and one point of focus like the sound of a waterfall, quiet music or complete quiet, so this didn't work for me.

Be Well, Desiree Stroder