Saturday, October 27, 2012

Unit 10 - Reflections and Updates



Dear Professor and Classmates:
Review your unit 3 personal assessment of your psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being. Reflect on these areas. How did you score yourself on a scale from 1 to 10 in unit 3? How do you score yourself now? Has the score changed? Why or why not?

Unit 3 – Scores
-           Biological – 7
-          Spiritual – 3
-          Psychological – 5

Unit 9 – Scores
-          Biological – 8
-          Spiritual – 6
-          Psychological – 4

Yes, my scores have changed because of my integral grow, as well as the methods and concepts that I have learned throughout this course.

Review the goals and activities you set for yourself in each area. Have you made progress toward the goals? Explain.

Unit 3 – Goals:

Physical – My goal for physical wellness is to get back on an exercise plan which consists of physical activity 5 -7 days a week. Also to be more consistent with my nutritional development of more whole foods and less processed foods. I need to get back to a calorie deficit so that I can lose some unwanted weight.

Spiritual – My goal spiritually is getting back to attending mass ever Sunday and eventually attending the Catholic daily mass as often as my work schedule will allow.

Psychological – My goal with psychological wellness will be to begin working on developing the program of preparation and visualization.

Unit 10 – Update:

Physical – Yes, this plan of a workout and nutrition programs has been set in motion. I have not lost many pounds but I can tell things are happening. I have begun to firm up and my strength as somewhat returned. I have currently been consistent for the last 5 weeks. Feeling Great!

Spiritual – I have begun attending weekly mass but have not currently attended any daily mass. This is still on my list and before the New Year begins I plan on having a routine in motion.

Psychological – I have begun developing my plan of attack for continuing my growth and development of integral health and human flourishing. I will be taking the week between classes to finish the details and get it written down.

Have you implemented the activities you chose for your well-being in each of the three areas? Explain.

Unit 10 – Updates:

Physical – I have implemented the treadmill and elliptical machine but would like to increase the time daily to 45 minutes. Currently I am at 10 to 15 minutes as a warm up for my weight training.  

Spiritual – I pray but not on the consistent pattern. My goal is to pray when I wake up, before I go to bed, and eventually find some time mid-day to take a few moments to pray.

Psychological – Currently I am relying on the Subtle-Mind Practice and Meeting Aesclepius Practice methods. Yoga is something I would like to practice every day but do not have this set in motion yet.  
Summarize your personal experience throughout this course. Have you developed improved well-being? What has been rewarding? What has been difficult? How will this experience improve your ability to assist others?
            
         This has been the most enjoyable class I have taken. I am a more relaxed and confident and have a better overall feeling toward my life. The reward has been a better appreciation of life and a better understanding of improving how we live our lives. Sometimes it was difficult to open up and find the answers but because of the growth, knowledge, and rewards, these difficulties have been forgotten. This class will allow me to teach others because it has taught me. Living life in appreciation of all it has to offer presents a positive attitude to the world, making it much easier to convince clients, friends, and family of the concepts and methods, as well as their ability to work. “Practice What You Preach”, words to live by.

Ed Busche

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Contemplative Practice



Dear Professor and Classmates,

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.
            
            The two practices that I have chosen are the Subtle-Mind practice and Meeting Aesclepius practice. These are the two practices that influenced my mind and I had the most success in staying focused. I will implement these practices into my life by listening to each audio session twice a day. The Subtle-Mind practice will aid me through the development of my mind; the untrained mind, witnessing mind, calm-abiding, and unity consciousness. The Meeting Aesclepius practice will aid me in visualization of what I want to become and helping me to stay focused on the mental picture. Using these practices on a consistent daily basis will help me in developing the ultimate goal of integral healing and human flourishing.

Ed Busche

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

The Wellness Professional



Dear Professor and Classmates,
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?
             
              I listened to Meeting Aesclepius and I was able to use a person from church as my focal point and when I listen I became extremely calm and absorbed in the moment. I have not been as consistent with my calming mind practice lessons but I can say that the practice I have done has given me the ability to calm my mind. I see things from a different perspective and calming my mind is something that I am constantly aware of. My intention is to determine a period, twice daily to listen to the practice lessons that have been taught so that I can continue my journey toward a calming mind and human flourishing.

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?
             
                This statement essentially means we cannot teach someone a practice that we do not participate in and believe in. So as health and wellness professionals we need to practice what we preach and our process of healing will have much more value if we are practicing the methods that we teach. An example of this would be using the mind calming methods we have learned in this course and use our positive experience to add value to the program. We have an obligation to our clients to provide the best methods possible for healing; these methods need to include all three aspects of mind, body, and spirit. The implementation of mind and spiritual growth can be acquired through two methods: develop an integral practice plan and the other is called life-as-practice. Life-as-practice requires more skill so it would be wise to begin with a consistent integral practice plan and as skills improve move on to the life-as-practice method (Dacher, 2006).

Ed Busche

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

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Integral Health Assessment / Exercises



Dear Professor and Classmates,

Universal Loving-Kindness – When I began the exercise I had trouble maintaining my focus but was able to still my mind through controlled breathing and focusing on these movements. Once I gained my focus I began to picture the suffering of individuals and people longing for health, happiness, and wholeness but unsure about how to get the process started. Then, I began picturing the people I know in my life that I would like to help ease their suffering and guide them to health, happiness, and wholeness (Dacher, 2006).

Integral Assessment

Psychospiritual Flourishing – For this dimension of flourishing I have chosen the area of emotional to focus on. I have had many issues in the last two years regarding job and personal issues. So currently I am still holding on to the emotions of fear, anger, and regret. The two exercises that I am going to pursue would be the preparation exercises: skillful action and silence / stillness, found in chapter 5 (Dacher, 2006).

Biological Flourishing – For this dimension of flourishing I have chosen the area of self-regulating to focus on. I do very well with fitness and nutrition, but the self-regulating needs work. The stress level in my life needs to be regulated better and I have chosen the exercise of Yoga to improve in this area (Dacher, 2006).

Interpersonal Flourishing – For this area of flourishing I have chosen the area of family to focus on. More importantly the relationship I have with my wife. We are both going to school and trying to raise a family so you can imagine that our personal relationship is just going through the motion. The exercise I have chosen is the Intimacy and Spiritual Union found in Chapter 9. This exercise is what we need to break the monotony of the current relationship and begin moving forward in growth and development (Dacher, 2006).

Worldly Flourishing – For this area of flourishing I have chosen the area of work to focus on. I was forced to take a lower paying job about two years ago and it has been a rough transition. The exercise I have chosen to develop my work relationship is the transformation and beginning with small step, found in chapter 10. This has opened my eyes and given me a different perspective when viewing my responsibilities at work. Changing my attitude will allow me to touch more lives in a positive way and I will do my job better (Dacher, 2006).

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