My personal path to mental and spiritual fitness!

After considering all of the exercises we have had to endure over the past weeks, I have come to the conclusion that both Loving Kindness and the Subtle Mind was most beneficial to me.  I've come to this conclusion because I felt as though I just could not stay focused and my mind either wanted to drift on another random thought of chatter or I wanted to fall asleep in the other exercises.  Either way, I've just been struggling to even get a chance to see what works for me.  In spite of this trouble, the speakers in both Loving Kindness and Subtle Mind did a great job at guiding my focal points as I've mentioned before.  This was a huge help for me.

I've realized that family is a major motivator for me, like many other people I'm sure.  Learning how to treat others should not only exist within the family unit but transcend to others I may encounter on a daily basis.  I have learned that this is very important especially with a career guided toward health and wellness.  I've also come to realize that establishing and maintaining overall health has so much more to do with gaining inner stability over outer physical stability.  With this is mind, these exercises can be a huge help for clients that are struggling with people on their job or just struggling to manage a heavy load of responsibility.  Some of the methods that have not worked for me, may just as well be perfect for some of my clients and their progress toward integral health.

Subtle Mind Exercise

1. Compare and contrast the Loving Kindness exercise and the Subtle mind exercise. Explain your experience including the benefits, frustrations etc.

As I've completed both the Loving Kindness and Subtle Mind exercises, I noticed that I was more easily frustrated while the speakers spoke.  However, I appreciated the fact that they briefly gave me my focal point during the exercise.  I also really like the periods where you only heard the sounds of water, as it was very calming.  As I stated last time, it was quite hard to get into loving kindness at first since I was dealing with such a stressful situation.  It was also difficult to complete the subtle mind exercise, because I went into it with the worst migraine you could imagine probably as a result of the stress following the effects of Hurricane Isaac.  I noticed that as I completed the exercise it felt like a struggle and it felt like my blood flow was trying to change inside my body.  As I felt this, it was almost scary and almost made me want to discontinue. As I continued on, the speaker mentioned how it would seemed like a forceful struggle to get through the exercise and that is exactly what I felt.  However, as I stuck it out to the end I found that my mind had found so much more stillness and the migraine was completely diminished.

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

In my opinion, spiritual wellness is an integral tool to mental and physical wellness. I feel as though the three coexist and/or thrive off of the others.  When one piece is missing, we will eventually find ourselves hungry for something that we cannot explain and spirituality will be it.  According to Dacher (2006), it is virtually impossible to reach the subtle mind-body experience without development psychospiritually and I firmly agree with that.

Loving Kindness Exercise

I'm afraid I have been struggling to complete this exercise this week as my family has been making preparations and experiencing high anxiety as Hurricane Isaac approaches the coast.  I think I am so sleep-deprived right now that all I experience is deep sleepiness every time I attempt the exercise so far.  I will try my best to try again as the day progresses, but I will probably have to report after the Hurricane has passed later on this week.

Please keep those of us on the coast of Louisiana in your prayers.

Thanks

Wellbeing Reflections

If I were to rate my current well being on a physical, spiritual, and psychological level it would be as follows:

1. Physical a 7, because although I have come along ways and am very active I could improve some poor impulsive eating habits and consistency in my exercise schedule.
2. Spiritual a 7, because again although I have come a long ways as far as developing a relationship with God and realizing my true purpose by reading the Bible I know I can improve.
3. Psychological a 9, because I have probably come the furthest on this level as far as controlling the mental chatter that can often rule and destroy lives.  I have realized for some time now that some things just aren't important, and the mental thoughts that try to torment you will only hinder your life from moving forth positively.

If I were to set goals and activities to improve my well being it would be as follows:

1. Physical is to lose 20 lbs so that I can get within my target weight for optimum health.  I can achieve this by being more consistent with jogging and boxing fitness sessions per week in addition to resisting the temptation to indulge in one too many batches of baked snacks on the weekend lol.
2. Spiritual is to develop a closer relationship with God by reading and praying on a daily basis.  I could probably also make the decision to attend church regularly.
3. Psychological is to reduce some unnecessary activities in my life and replace them with some quiet time to relax, meditate, and become more in tune with myself, my potential, and creativity.

As far as the relaxation exercise, I would say yes it was beneficial since I was able to achieve complete relaxation through my entire body and mind by the end of the audio.  At first, I will admit I was a little frustrated as I had to keep warding off thoughts in my head in addition to not being able to visualize the rainbow beams of light.  However, as I stuck it out I became very relaxed except for feeling tingling sensations on my skin in various places.  I am wandering if this tingling is due to changes in my blood flow.

Welcome Classmates!

Welcome everyone to the blog site of someone most people would say is a very opinionated, outspoken individual so you never know what you might hear from me.  Thankfully, this blog is dedicated to class assignments so it shouldn't be too bad.  A little over 4 months ago myself and my family rededicated our lives to God as born again Christians, and let me tell you there is no renewing of the mind, body, and spirit than giving your life to our Heavenly Father.

I finished the relaxation exercise and I have to be honest that I just could not get with it.  In the beginning, I felt myself falling into a deep relaxed mode but as he continued talking my mind began to wonder and I just could not remain focused.  It's funny that he focused so much on the blood flow, and the way it predominates the abdominal area while relaxed because I actually just learned that a few days ago for the first time.  Other than that, I was very disinterested at the time.  Maybe I should try it again at another time.

Welcome

Hello all,

This will be very interesting for me to start a blog! 

I am a US Army Veteran that was once deemed disabled by PTSD, Bipolar, and other personality disorders.  However, thanks to the help and support of my wife, I have been able to address the internal issues causing my external outcomes.  As a result, I have been leading a happy, healthy, ad well lifestyle for over 4 years now.  I've made so many strides that I have found myself capable of counseling others in their struggles.  I hope to soon open a boxing gym that trains in boxing fitness for discipline, training technique, and weightloss purposes.  I envision a place where boys and young men can have a place to learn and grow, channel stress, and find more positive ways to respond to the rigors of life. I hope my life experience will provide some helpful insight to others who may share the same or similar stressors I've faced.

Say hello to one of my new loves.....Gracie Grace!