Unit 10: Summarizing My Experiences

Hey Wellness Fans!  I can't believe just how fast our time together went!  I had so much fun and learned so much that I am really, really going to miss this class.

1)  In unit 3 I rated my wellness for each of the areas we talked about and gave myself the following scores:

I gave myself a 7 on my physical wellness because I do get cardiovascular exercise every day by doing a mix of power walking and running for about 45 minutes however, I could really improve my strength and flexibility through yoga or some moderate weight training. I gave myself a 6 on my spiritual wellness because I do go to church every Sunday and this does help me to quiet the ubiquitous chatter that goes on in my mind and feel more connected to a Higher Power than myself. Still, I do not take enough time every day for silence or stillness and am confident that I will improve on my score of a 6 with the help of this class! I gave myself a 6 on my psychological wellness because I do believe my life is wonderfully blessed with loving people and that I am worthy of the best life has to offer me. Still, I often keep some emotions inside for fear of upsetting certain people in my life and this is not healthy and something I need to work on.

Although we have spent a great deal of time together studying and practices the wonderful exercises recommended by Dacher (2006), I feel as though I cannot change the original scores I gave myself back in Unit 3 because I have much, much more practicing to do.  I am not disappointed that my scores have not improved, rather I am enjoying how to slowly and intentionally design my own path to integral health.  With all of the deadlines we had to make for this class, I feel like I did not have enough time to really practice the exercises enough to say that I have improved in any area.  That's ok though because I do not see this as a lack of progress.  I see my scores as an opportunity for even more contemplative practice.

2)  Some of the goals I set for myself back in Unit 3 were:

*  Registering for a yoga class this fall (registration deadlines are today so I am going this afternoon to sign up!) to help me improve my strength and flexibility and physical wellness. Specifically, I will register for a yoga class today!

*  Scheduling a time for reflection each morning after my run to help me improve my spiritual wellness (going to start with ten minutes of just meditating or listening to one of the great CD's we have been given in the Stress class and in this class). Specifically, I will set aside 10 minutes every day this week to appreciate the silence or for some relaxation techniques and will re-evaluate this amount of time to see how it is going at the end of one week.

*  Practicing more self control in my responses to my environment and the people I interact with everyday to help me improve my psychological wellness. I have learned I can create the kind of day I wish to have instead of just spending the whole day reacting to whatever potential disaster might be lurking in the shadows for me. I used to journal at night and have forgotten to do it for awhile so I am going to get it out again and write down the affirmations that apply to my growth and anything else that I might have forgotten to get off my chest during the day. So, specifically I will journal at the end of my day before I drift off to sleep, taking care to write down at least three affirmations and/or thoughts.

3)  I am happy to say (well, ecstatic actually!) that I have indeed completed each of these goals!!  I am happily attending a yoga class three times a week and loving every minute of it.  I have followed through on setting aside 10 minutes (almost up to 15 now too) each morning after my run to practice the loving-kindness exercise and I am constantly practicing more self control in my responses to my environment and the people I interact with every day.  I have learned to stop and consider my emotions before I give my opinion, to appreciate the little but very meaningful things that exist in my daily routine, and to be mindful of my state of being.

 

4)  In summary,  I have grown spiritually since taking this course but still have a great deal of practicing to do before I can say that I have drastically improved my psychological well being.  Although I now have the knowledge on how to improve my well being, I now have to cultivate my intentions towards staying on course and faithfully practicing the concepts I have come to value from Dacher's book.  It was difficult to practice the exercises we had the privilege to experience with all of the other coursework we had to complete so now that those deadlines have been met, I look forward to having more time to re-read Dacher's book and to practice the exercises again (and again and again..... lol).  Taking this course has helped me to see how to the integral path to wellness is at the heart of good health, happiness, and wholeness and this will make me an more well rounded wellness practitioner.

I have truly enjoyed all of your blogs, think you are all extremely talented, and wish you all human flourishing and success at its best!

Unit 9: Personal Application Project

Hey Wellness Fans!

Can you even believe it is almost our last week together?  I will so miss you all!  Hopefully I will have some of you in my next classes.  That would be awesome!!  Here is my final project for you to all read, if you are interested.  I hope you all found this to be as much fun to do as I did.  As far as final projects go, this project was the most fun to do and really the most insightful one I have ever done.

Have a great week all!  See you one last time in discussion and back on these blogs next week!  :)

 

Unit 9: Personal Application Project

Jennifer A. Debelak

Kaplan University

I: 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?

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually, and physically so that they can best meet the needs of their patients. Without developing all aspects of the mind-body-spirit personally, health care professionals cannot truly understand their patients’ needs or begin to know what aspect of the patient’s wellness is out of balance and needs attention. To reach our full potential of human flourishing, we need to experience the signs and symptoms of health such as a sense of inner control, competence, self-confidence, creating and sustaining healthy relationships, and having a sense of meaning and purpose in life (Dacher, 2006). Thus, in order for health and wellness professionals to effectively council and guide their patients towards integral health, happiness, and wholeness they too must develop a strong connection to their own mind, body, and spiritual aspects of wellness.

I need to continual to develop all aspects of my wellness to achieve the goals I have set for myself. Physically, I need to be more mindful of what I choose to eat during times of uncertainty and stress. Generally, I make healthy choices on a regular basis, as I strived to eat whole grains, lots of vegetables and fruits, and a variety of nuts and legumes. I also jog daily however; I need to improve my strength and flexibility. I need to improve my spiritual health to make a stronger connection between my body and mind. I do meditate often and pray a lot however; I have learned the importance of cultivating loving-kindness instead of focusing on the negative thoughts that surge my mind often. I would also like to explore and unearth my subtle mind.

II: Assessment

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

According to Dacher (2006), we must be holistic in our assessment even though at any one time we may choose to act in only one area of life. Keeping Dacher’s advice in mind, when I need to assess my health I try to first sit in silence and reflect on each of the four areas, or quadrants, of integral health. Next, I try to picture what area(s) might need my attention. Using Dacher’s Integral Practice Program guidelines, I ask myself what area needs my attention the most and then examine the components of that area. Then, once I have determined what specific line of development is most essential to give my fullest attention to improve my health, I try to come up with some specific practices that will enable me to meet my needs/goals. Finally, I close my quiet and still moment of reflection with appropriate affirmations and a prayer.

I score myself a 7 on my physical wellness because I do get cardiovascular exercise every day by doing a mix of power walking and running for about 45 minutes however, I could really improve my strength and flexibility through yoga or some moderate weight training. I give myself a 6 on my spiritual wellness because I do go to church every Sunday and this does help me to quiet the ubiquitous chatter that goes on in my mind and feel more connected the Higher Power. Still, I do not take enough time every day to cultivate silence or stillness in my mind and am confident that I will improve on my score of a 6 with the help of this class! I give myself a 6 on my psychological wellness because I do believe my life is wonderfully blessed with loving people and that I am worthy of the best life has to offer. Still, I often keep some emotions inside for fear of upsetting certain people in my life and this is not healthy and something I need to work on.

III: Goal Development

List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, physical, psychological, and spiritual.

Some of my goals to improve on each of my scores listed include:

Registering for a yoga class this fall to help me improve my strength and flexibility and physical wellness. The class starts on September 27th and meets three times a week. I am very excited!

Scheduling a time for reflection each morning after my run to help me improve my spiritual wellness (going to start with ten minutes of just meditating or listening to one of the great CD's we have been given in the Stress class and in this class). Specifically, I will set aside 10 minutes every day this week to appreciate the silence or for some relaxation techniques and will re-evaluate this amount of time to see how it is going at the end of one week.

Practicing more self control in my responses to my environment and the people I interact with everyday to help me improve my psychological wellness. I have learned I can create the kind of day I wish to have instead of just spending the whole day reacting to whatever potential disaster might be lurking in the shadows for me. I used to journal at night and have forgotten to do it for awhile so I am going to get it out again and write down the affirmations that apply to my growth and anything else that I might have forgotten to get off my chest during the day. So, specifically I will journal at the end of my day before I drift off to sleep, taking care to write down at least three affirmations and/or thoughts.

Setting aside more time to cultivate my subtle mind. Thanks to the material we have covered in class, I am more than ever before aware of just how powerful the mind is at generating wellness. I want to be good at reducing or eliminating any activities or mental chatter that does not serve me well and replace them with activities and thoughts that bring me happiness. Specifically, I will find the value in sitting in silence and/or solitude every day for at least ten minutes to reflect on how my activities and thoughts affect my mind at the beginning of the day, before I even get out of bed, and at any time that seems appropriate during the day when I am in need of reflection.

IV: 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.



Dacher has taught me that in order to reach the human flourishing we all deserve and have the ability to self-cultivate; nourishing our spirits with mind-full, contemplative practice is an essential component to integral health (Dacher, 2006). I have also learned in Kaplan's Stress Management class that between each stimulus and response, there is space and within this space we have the capacity to choose our response. This goes hand in hand with the concept of spiritual wellness where we are guided towards developing our witnessing mind. We can run miles a day to be physically fit and have good communication skills in our relationships but this does not necessarily mean we are achieving our best possible life. Thus strategies are needed to help us foster our growth towards integral health. To foster my physical wellness, I will continue to be mindful of making healthy nutritional choices by eating whole grains, legumes, fresh and organic vegetables and fruits, and fish or nuts; keep a scheduled time to jog every day and to attend my yoga class; and continue with my preventative measures towards good health such as taking my vitamins and supplements.

To foster my psychological growth towards wellness, I will practice cultivating my subtle mind with the assistance of Dacher’s CD and book, as this exercise helped me to observe my anxiety and provided me with a sense of calm. The subtle Mind exercise helped me to see the natural rising and falling of thoughts that seem to endlessly pour into my mind. Instead of focusing on these thoughts (like deadlines, tasks, and a whole list of 'shoulda's') I noticed them and then let them go and this will help me grow psychologically. Practicing visualization exercises will also help me grow to grow psychologically. After my morning jog, I can set aside ten minutes to do some visualization exercises I have on CD.

To foster my growth spiritually, I will make practicing the Loving-Kindness exercise suggested by Dacher (2006) a part of my daily routine. I can use this as a walking meditation technique and by setting aside specific time at the beginning and end of my day to practice cultivating love for people I know and for others. Additionally, I can take walks on the trails near my home where I can attempt to connect to the stillness of nature. I have many trails available to me to help me feel the harmony or peace I may be in dire need of at times. Also, I think the conversations I have with other people in my daily life will provide me with ample opportunities to improve my psycho-spiritual well-being. I can be a better listener by really focusing on the person I am interacting with, take the time to show them love and kindness, and practice patience; all of which will help to foster my spiritual wellness (Dacher, 2006).

V: Commitment

How will you assess your progress of 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?



Intention, practice, and perseverance will allow us to realize integral health in this lifetime (Dacher, 2006). What meaning those words have to me now as I finish this course! To assess my progress or lack of progress in the next six months, I will continue to write in my wellness journal that I bought when this class first started back in July. I felt the need then to write down everything I was feeling and learning about the spiritual aspect of my wellness and have loved the time I have set aside to write in it. I have even inspired my children to have wellness journals of their own to help them discover what areas they might need to focus on and jot down ideas on how they can meet any goals they choose to set for themselves. Writing in our journals has become a regular practice in my family and helps us to track the progress we are or are not making towards integral health.

In order to maintain my long-term practices for health and wellness I intend to seek like-minded individuals in my home town and at Kaplan to help support my wellness goals and to whom I can be helpful in returning the support as well. I do not have a wellness clinic near my home however; there are several complementary and alternative practitioners in my area that may share my interest in the integral approach to wellness and interacting with them, both personally and professionally, will help to strengthen my own practices. Also, I believe becoming a good health role model for my children will help me to stay motivated and to persevere in my long-term integral practices towards wellness, as I would not want to leave them stranded or lost for guidance after I have brought them this far already. I find that children are the perfect people to help you learn the very things in life that are essential to your growth, and mine are no exception. I have also chosen to copy The Integral Vow from Dacher’s book to help me remember my goals and to help remind me of my direct path to my own flourishing (Dacher, 2006). I just know this vow is one that is of the most important vows I will ever make. After all, what could be better than integral health, authentic happiness, and genuine wholeness?



References

Dacher, E. (2006). Integral health: The path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, California: Basic Health Publications, Inc.

Unit 8: Exercise and Practice Review

Hey Wellness Fans!

I am sad this class is nearing the end, as I have come to really value the information we have learned and to cherish the exercises we had the opportunity to talk about with one another.  After considering which exercises that I would think were the most beneficial to continue, I have to say that the Loving-Kindness and the Subtle Mind are the two that I need the most practice with.  I have truly loved trying all of the exercises and found the meditation and the visualization to be the most fun, which for me tells me that while they are important, to achieve the spiritual growth I am looking for I will need to get better at the ones that gave me the most trouble (Loving-Kindness and Subtle Mind). 

I have already begun to implement the Loving-Kindness and Subtle Mind exercise into my daily routine, right after my morning run.  This seems to be the best time to set aside some quiet time (before the kiddos get up) and really concentrate on these practices.  I have also found another way to incorporate the Loving-Kindness exercise into my daily routine too.  Whenever I am feeling like the negative thoughts are creeping in or I am feeling like I am starting to come undone at the seems (happens often with a busy family and three girls to counsel what with all of their activities and friend issues), I start to turn my thoughts around by talking to myself and saying the words "loving-kindness, Jen".  It sounds crazy, I know, and although it does not always get me to feel better right away, it does help to take my focus away from whatever negative thought I was feeling.  I am glad to know that integral health is a continual process and I can make the necessary changes whenever I feel like it is warranted to do so.  I wish you all the best of luck in incorporating these practices into your daily lives.  Thankfully, we have Dacher's book for reference and reminders! :)

Blessings To You All!

Unit 7: Meeting Asciepius (Our Subtle Mind)

Hello All!

1)  I have finished the Meeting Asciepius exercise for this week and I have to say I really liked this one but it was really hard to do.  I could not see or feel myself as a wise one, maybe because I have not had enough practice yet to believe I can be wise enough.  Did that make sense?  I have been trying to do the Loving-Kindness exercise every day after I run in the morning and throughout the day when I feel like the negative emotions are creeping into my head.  I have even repeated, sometimes out loud and sometimes to myself, "Cultivate loving-kindness, Jen, you can do this".  Sometimes this works so easy and sometimes I really need to keep focusing on those words and then my positive thoughts very astutely.  I think this concentration is my being mindful of my thoughts and intentionally choosing my path in a given situation.  Being mindful and using meditation has helped me to increase my self-esteem and has given me the chance to see that I can choose my responses to everyone and every situation in my life instead of feeling like I am being reactive or controlled by them.  How liberating is that?  :)

2)  "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" is a great saying and one that I think every health and wellness professional needs to remember every now and again.  I believe this saying is similar to the concept of being able to walk the talk.  I think I do have an obligation to my clients to be developing my health psychologically, physically, and spiritually if I am going to be considered credible and be someone my clients can relate to personally.  I think clients want to feel connected to their provider and I think this connection can not exist if I cannot explain my experiences with all of the aspects of my own wellness.  As I think I say almost every week, the best way to implement psychological and spiritual growth in my personal life is through contemplative practice.  I have set aside the time, now I just need to practice cultivating the loving kindness and the subtle mind more to get better at feeling what I am thinking.  I know how important the mind-body exercises are and now I just have to keep doing them.  When I forget to do them (and you know I will at times! lol) I will now be able to stop and do them to get back in balance.  Dacher says these exercise take time and practice.  I can do that and I know you can too!

Blessings All!

Unit 6: Universal Loving Kindness and Integral Assessment

Hello All!  Time for more practice this week!

I have just completed the Universal Loving Kindness exercise and found it to be very easy (surprised?, so am I, lol).  I have had difficulty in the past exercises we have been able to practice at first but this one was very easy.  I think it was easy for me to visualize health, happiness, and wholeness to everyone because one of the greatest pleasures I get in life is to know that I helped someone in some way.  For me, this exercise was about generating that loving feeling towards everyone I met during my day and even for those I do not know, which was easy because I do only wish the best of integrated health to everyone.  What I discovered about myself in doing this exercise is while I find it easy to cultivate loving-kindness to others, I have a difficult time cultivating it towards myself sometimes.  I think this is because I set too many unrealistic expectations of myself and then feel disappointed or stressed because I have not met them.  I am a work in progress, eh?  :)

After completing the Integral Assessment exercise, I have chosen to focus on my psychospiritual aspect of healing for more growth and development because I feel like I need to be more connected to my inner self and explore what it is like to cultivate a higher consciousness since the benefits are so clear to me.  I am still trying to meditate daily after my morning jog and although I am not doing more that about 5 minutes right now, I do feel I am making progress.  I will continue to meditate and listen to the numerous CD exercises I have downloaded now through our class and the Stress Management class I had last term.  I believe practice helps you reach your goals so I shall persevere. 

May you all have good luck with these exercises and I wish you nothing but flourishing, integral health!

Jennifer

Unit 5 My PowerPoint Presentation

Hey All,

Here is a link to my Unit 5 Powerpoint presentation.  I had to change the background that I orignally used because it would not upload so although it is not exactly like I turned it in to Dr. Stewart, you should get the jist of it anyway (I hope, lol).  Hope you all like it and I welcome your honest feedback. :)

Take Good Care,
Jennifer

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8pOHnuTbePiNWRkNTVjNTYtNjg4MC00NWEwLTg5ZDUtMmM2N2M4MjJiMWRk&hl=en&authkey=COLB2OwE

Unit 5 The Subtle Mind Exercise

Hello Everyone!  I hope you are all well and beginning to flourish :)

I just finished the Subtle Mind exercise for our 5th unit together.  I was not sure how this exercise would go, as I am still having some difficulty with the Loving Kindness exercise.  I am happy to say that the Subtle Mind exercise was very helpful to me.  I enjoyed learning of the strong connection between my breathing and the activity of my mind. I did notice that as I became more aware of my breathing, essentially slowing it down, my mind was better able to focus on this exercise (I was even interrupted by my kids once too!).  The Loving Kindness exercise focused on cultivating love towards others and myself, while the Subtle Mind focused on the relationship of my breathing and the activity of my mind.  While the Loving Kindness exercise has helped me to better appreciate (gratefulness!!) the love I have for my family, friends, and on two occasions for people I have never met, the Subtle Mind exercise helped me to see the natural rising and falling of thoughts that seem to endlessly pour into my mind.  Instead of focusing on these thoughts (like deadlines, tasks, and a whole list of 'shoulda's') I noticed them and then let them go.  Although I did not find it easy to let all of my thoughts and feelings go and in fact spent most of the exercise doing this, I know it will become easier with practice.  I just have to make the time to do this each day.  I have already forgot about the Loving Kindness exercise twice because my attention was needed elsewhere.  I haven't fallen off the bandwagon yet though!  I need to practice getting the 'shoulda's' out of my head too.  One of my favorite authors, Dr Dwayne Dyer, writes the affirmation 'I am a human being not a human doing. Don't equate your self-worth with how well you do things in life.  You aren't what you do.  If you are what you do, the when you don't.....you aren't' (Dyer, 1995).  I guess I just need to remember these words more often and then focus on the exercise at hand.  Wish me luck and know that I am wishing you all of the best luck too!!

I feel the connection between our spiritual wellness and our mental and physical wellness needs to be one of awareness,  as we focus on our ability to heal our bodies by being intentional and holistic.  Anxiety and stress play a huge role in developing illnesses and diseases in our lives and taking an integral mind/body approach to our wholeness is my goal as a health care professional and as a human being.  I learned in Kaplan's Stress Management class that between each stimulus and response, there is space and within this space we have the capacity to choose our response.  This goes hand in hand with the concept of spiritual wellness were we are guided towards developing our witnessing mind.  We can run miles a day to be physically fit and have good communication skills with the people we have relationships with but this does not necessarily mean we are achieving our best possible life.  Dacher has taught me that in order to reach the human flourishing we all deserve and have the ability to self-cultivate, nourishing our spirits with mindfull, contemplative practice is an essential component to integral health (Dacher, 2006). 

Unit 4 Loving Kindness Exercise CD Thoughts

Hello Future Wellness Professionals!

Well, I just listened to Dacher's Loving Kindness exercise from the cd and I have to say this was really hard for me.  As I listened to the woman talk me through the exercise, I had no problem envisioning a loved one whom I had a great deal of love for but when she asked me to turn this love towards myself I could not help but think of all of the things I was not being in the last few weeks instead of the love I do have for myself.  I started thinking about how I should have spent more time with my kids during the days of their summer vacation instead of working on my homework, bills, laundry, etc, how I should have volunteered to help with the vacation bible school at our church but didn't, or how I should have called my Grandmother before she went into the hospital and it was too late; the list could go on here.  I do love myself and think there are many things that are good about me so I tried to turn my focus to these qualities but kept waffling back and forth.  From this point on, trying to project loving kindness towards another and towards strangers just wasn't working.  I am not giving up though, as practice does make perfect and I intend to do as Dacher suggests and practice this exercise twice daily for the first week (maybe a few more times if it still doesn't work---hey, it can't hurt right? lol).

I believe the concept of the 'Mental Workout' is the idea of contemplative practice daily.  Just as improving our physical wellness means working out our bodies with exercise that focuses on endurance, flexibility, and strength by dedicating at least 30 minutes daily to a routine, improving our mental fitness will take the same dedication and practice through exercises such as Loving Kindness.  According to Dacher (2006) current brain research is now also exploring how contemplative practice can have a positive impact on attention, memory, perception, imagery, and a myriad of other mental functions.  Clearly, mental workouts can transform the mind by reducing disturbing emotions that cause anger and fear, the two most damaging negative emotions to our health (Dacher, 2006). 

I think the best way to implement mental workouts to foster your psychological health is to set some s.m.a.r.t. goals.  For example, you could start with setting aside ten minutes twice daily to practice the Loving Kindness exercise once in the morning and perhaps once at night.  Keep a journal of your feelings, thoughts, and emotions each time to track your progress and evaluate your progress in one week, making any changes that would seem likely to help you keep practicing.  I shall take my own advice here and keep trying the Loving Kindness exercise in the morning after my run.  Perseverance right! (I shall now take off the headphones that have been on my head pinching my ears while I was writing this even though the exercise I was listening to has been over for quite some time now, lol!)

Good luck to all of you this week with the Loving Kindness exercise--hope it works for you! :)

Peace Out!

Unit 3 Blog -The Crime of the Century

Hello Wellness Fans! :)

For this week's assignment we are evaluating our physical, spiritual, and psychological well being (oh dear!) so, here I go:

1)  I give myself a 7 on my physical wellness because I do get cardiovascular exercise every day by doing a mix of power walking and running for about 45 minutes however, I could really improve my strength and flexibility through yoga or some moderate weight training.  I give myself a 6 on my spiritual wellness because I do go to church every Sunday and this does help me to quiet the ubiquitous chatter that goes on in my mind and feel more connected to a Higher Power than myself.  Still, I do not take enough time every day for silence or stillness and am confident that I will improve on my score of a 6 with the help of this class!  I give myself a 6 on my psychological wellness because I do believe my life is wonderfully blessed with loving people and that I am worthy of the best life has to offer me.  Still, I often keep some emotions inside for fear of upsetting certain people in my life and this is not healthy and something I need to work on.

2)  Some of my goals would be to improve on each of my scores listed above by:

-Registering for a yoga class this fall (registration deadlines are today so I am going this afternoon to sign up!) to help me improve my strength and flexibility and physical wellness.  Specifically, I will register for a yoga class today!

-Scheduling a time for reflection each morning after my run to help me improve my spiritual wellness (going to start with ten minutes of just meditating or listening to one of the great CD's we have been given in the Stress class and in this class).  Specifically, I will set aside 10 minutes every day this week to appreciate the silence or for some relaxation techniques and will re-evaluate this amount of time to see how it is going at the end of one week.

-Practicing more self control in my responses to my environment and the people I interact with everyday to help me improve my psychological wellness.  I have learned I can create the kind of day I wish to have instead of just spending the whole day reacting to whatever potential disaster might be lurking in the shadows for me.  I used to journal at night and have forgotten to do it for awhile so I am going to get it out again and write down the affirmations that apply to my growth and anything else that I might have forgotten to get off my chest during the day.  So, specifically I will journal at the end of my day before I drift off to sleep, taking care to write down at least three affirmations and/or thoughts.

I just finished listening to the Crime of the Century cd and I must say, I do like this guy's voice, lol!  In fact, I think that is a large part of why I can really feel so relaxed and have these exercises work for me.  Once again, I took notes first and then listened to it a second time to see what would happen.  I could easily identify with the colors of the rainbow and the seven areas of the body they corresponded to.  I even asked my husband to try it with me but that did not go the way I expected (even though it was still fun!).  For me, the best time to do these exercises is right after I exercise because I am feeling rejuvenated and ready to face the day and these cds make it easy to transition into the excitement and business of my day.  I tried it once around the noon hour (after I ate, and well duh, that was not such an opportune time ---got sleepy, lol).  Anyway, loved the cd and look forward to more just like it. 

Good luck on relaxing this week everyone!  Take a little time for yourself and even if the exercises don't work for you at least you got some time to slow down and appreciate the little things in your life! :)

Until next time, peace my friends.

Unit 2 Blog Journey On Relaxation Technique Thoughts

Hi Everyone.  Just finished listening to the Journey On CD for our Creating Wellness Class and wanted to share a few thoughts on it with you.  I am new to listening to these types of relaxation techniques and am learning to really like them.  I ususally need to listen to the CD twice before I can really appreicate its content, first to take notes on what technique is being used and what the intended outcome is, and then a second time to actually try it.  Journey On was really calming and interesting.  I found it fascinating to learn 80% of our blood is in our abdominal cavity and GI tract in a relaxed state and by just thinking we can encourage the flow of our blood from that area to another part of our body.  Although I did not feel a great deal of heaviness in my arms as the narrator suggested I would, I did feel like my arms got warmer and even tingled a bit near my elbow.  From listening to this CD, it is so apparent to me just how powerful our minds can be, even on the smallest of scales for improving your mood or degree of relaxation.  Love the power of the mind!! Now, if I could just think my way into wealth, lol!

Take Care All!

A Rookie At Blogging

Unit 2 Blog
Hello All Wellness Fans!

Well this has certainly been fun to set up this blog site.  I feel like I have just gotten a cyber space make over, haha.  I am excited to use this site to talk about wellness with everyone and exchange ideas.  I love learning from other people and could really use some good, easy to prepare, and yes healthy recipes!  One aspect of wellness I am particularily interested in is the spiritual aspect.  I believe in the intense power of the mind to heal and appreciate the value in connecting with my inner consciousness, or paying attention to what I really feel.  I think when you are able to be consciously aware of your own thoughts you can be the creator of your own experiences.  Well, enough for my first post!  I am off to figure out how the rest of this blogging thing works.  Wish me luck!

P.S. Here are a few pics of my husband and I and our girls enjoying the summer weather!