Integral Health: Evaluation and Techniques

Dear Professor and Classmates,

Based on your reflections, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal well-being), where do you rate your A-physical well-being, B-spiritual well-being, C-psychological well-being? Why?

Physical Well-being – I would consider myself to be a 7. I follow a healthy diet (not as consistent as I would like) and my job keeps me physical active. I try to maintain cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health but I have not been a consistent with exercising as I once was. Life has gotten very busy and I find myself skipping these activities more than I should.

Spiritual Well-being – I would consider myself to be a 5. I am catholic and send my children to a catholic school. I have strong catholic beliefs but have slipped in the practice of attending mass ever Sunday and practicing daily prayer. Again, I have let the busyness of life get in the way of my spiritual development.

Psychological Well-being – I would consider myself to be a 3. I give myself this score based on Dacher’s preparation and visualization plan to achieving integral health. I need serious work in all three areas of preparation and once there is improvement in these areas I will begin improving visualization.  

Develop a goal for yourself in each area (physical, spiritual, psychological).

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.

Loving-Kindness: lessening self-centeredness and getting rid of emotions like anger and jealously.

Skillful Action: calming the mind and slow down the knee-jerk reactive behaviors always remembering that anger breeds and anger and so on.

Silence and Stillness: This means realize what activities matter and those that waste time and hold us back, keeping us from moving forward in the development of integral health, also referred to as renunciation. Start with making a list of the most important responsibilities, then those questionable activities, and finally those things that only serve to entertain. Begin with eliminating useless activities and work your way back.

What activities or exercise can you implement in your life to assist in moving toward each goal?

Physical – I will implement cardiovascular exercises like the recumbent bike, elliptical machine or walking. I also conduct resistance training for all muscle groups.

Spiritual – Developing a daily active prayer life is essential to spiritual development.

Psychological – Activities of psychological development include meditation, yoga, or different types of relaxation techniques. Reducing stress levels is a key element to developing psychological wellness.

Complete the relaxation exercise The Crime of the Century. To hear this exercise, click here. Describe your experience. (What it beneficial, frustrating, etc.)

The relaxation exercise was beneficial in that it helped me to focus on relaxing my mind and enjoy a quiet moment to myself. The man’s voice conducting the exercise is very soothing and provides comfort with the visual color choices along with what is said. This was a great exercise but I did find my thoughts wondering to the many things currently active in my life. But with a continuous effort I would find this exercise more and more beneficial and would also continue to improve focus with less and less wondering thoughts.

Ed Busche