unit 10

Well, this is probably the last blog that I will write.  My scores from unit three have all improved slightly, whether or not they will stay there, we´ll see.  The pattern that I have seen here so far while I have been at Kaplan is that we move through the units pretty fast and It´s tough to let all the info we learn sink in.  It´s not until the course is done that I can look back and say ''oh yeah, that was helpful or this is something that I will use in the future''.  The one thing that I found to be a little wierd was it seemed like all the units were the same.  I really enjoyed reading Integral Health but I thought that Dacher included too many # steps to similar sounding programs and I started to not be able to tell one set of steps from another set of steps.  I guess that really does not matter because I was able to get the main point of what he was saying and unlike some of the other info that I have learned while at Kaplan, Dacher´s teachings will stick with me and it was taught in such a practical way that I will easily be able to continue with the practices we were taught.  The most important thing that I learned was that integral health is just as important as physical health (something I always knew, but now it really hit home).  If I stress as much importance or even half of what I do for my physical well being then my overall health should be very stable and very well rounded. 

unit 9 project

Total Body Wellness

     Elliot Dacher talks about how Western Society has gained mastery over the physical and lost touch with the spiritual.  Dacher states To transform health and life we must shift our gaze inward, where we will find the ever-present source of exceptional health and healing (Dacher, 2006 p1).  In just the past couple of years we have all heard of medical mishaps that have taken the lives many people.  To be specific we have heard of many celebrities who have died as a result of a problem with prescription medication.  Many people in Western Society are getting fed up with band-aid type solutions that address only the symptoms of illnesses.  As practices such as yoga and tai-chi are becoming more common, mainstream informative programs such as The Dr. Oz show have been stressing the importance of integral health and inner development and the positve impact it can have on our overall health.  Integral health is best taught by example and that is why it is so important that the wellness professionals have reached such a level of inner development that will make people want to follow the example they have set.  One area of health that I would like to improve is my spiritual health.  I feel like my psychological health has been put to the test in the recent years and while I have not had the time to dwell on it, I have had to keep on moving forward.  Fortunately for me, my physical health has always been there for me and I have used fitness for much more than just staying in shape. 

     I will use a point system from one to ten, ten being the best to rate my psychological, spiritual, and physical health.  As I stated before my spiritual health is the lowest in these three domains.  I rate my spiritual health to be at about a four.  I often look at spiritual health and faith as being the same thing.  I do not consider going to church and having faith as the

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same thing.  While I have all the faith in myself, my faith in a higher being is under question.  I think the reason why my spiritual health is the lowest is also the same reason my psychological health is so strong.  My two daughters ages 8 and 6 have been diagnosed with a rare mitochondria disease.  The girls have had this since they were born and has left them severly handicapped from spending their life in wheelchairs, to not being able to speak or even support their body weight.  Basically they are 100% dependent on my wife and I for every need they have.  This has made me question my faith in higher beings or whatever you want to call it but not the faith in myself.  Their disease has taught me not to take anything for granted like the simple ability to walk and talk.  Still, this has made me question my spirituality.  I would rate my psychological health at a seven.  It is devastating for a parent to see their children suffer, which I have seen for many years and this experience has been nothing short of both a mental and emotional ultra-marathon but this experience has had to keep me on top of my psychological game just to deal with all the extened hospital stays and other downfalls  that with come with a situation like this.  Do not get me wrong, these girls are a blessing.  Physcial health has never been a problem for me, I would rate my current physical health to be an eight.  Although I have been more fit in the past, I am happy with my current fitness and the health of my physical body.  Getting in shape was always lower on the list of why I have been consistant with my fitness over the years.  I would use fitness as a means of moving meditation, the staying in shape part is a nice side effect.  Although, if I did not use fitness as a means of meditation, I would still recognize the importance of exercise and would engage in it to stay healthy, luckily for me it´s like a hobby and the good part is that I am not compulsive about it because too much has its dangers just like too little has its dangers. 

 

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     There are many benefits to having goals in your life.  Goals give you something to strive for, they keep you on track and motivated.  A goal that I have for my psychological health is to keep my mind sharp.  I know that is pretty general, so to be specific, my goal is to be able to speak and understand an Icelandic conversation by Christmas 2012.  Learning a language is a great way to keep the mind activated and sharp.  It seems like I have been going to school for so long that it is just normal, I can´t wait for it to be done, so that all this information has a chance to sink in.  I want or need to learn Icelandic because I am living here with my family who speaks Icelandic and I am tired of my wife or son having to do all the speaking for me.  I guess this goal will serve a couple of different purposes.  One goal that I have for my spiritual health would be to be more understanding and patient of people who might not be as physically fit as myself.  To reach this goal, I will need to be able to get more in touch with the practice of loving-kindness.  Because my daughters were never given the opportunity to walk, play, run or do anything normal, I have lost some compassion in a sense because I do not feel sorry for people who do not use their able body to it´s fullest.  I know it might sound cold but I do not feel sorry for people who are diagnosed with lifestyle related conditions when the fact is that they could have prevented it.  My goal is to gain some of that compassion back and help people get on track or back on track.  I often wonder if gaining some compassion back in my life if it would help with my spirtitual health.  I think that it would, although I do not feel bad for people who get out of shape and all that, I do love to help them get back on track.  I currently have two physical goals that I am working on.  One is a program called Convict Conditioning which involves mastering the six big body weight movements.  I would say that I am really good and strong in three of these but every movement has a progression of ten steps starting from easier to more advanced.  My goal is to start at the bottom of every movement and work through the progressions.     

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Although very few people ever reach to final step of the 10th progression, my goal is to work through each progression, even if I can easily do most of the first four to five progressions of every movement.  My second fitness goal is to run at least three days every week.  Running used to be my favorite thing and I would run about 6 miles every day and about 15 miles on a Saturday.  The past few years I have not done any running until just a couple of weeks ago.  As I started again, I asked myself why I ever stopped in the first place.  My goal is to run at least three days per week and work up to four miles per day. 

     To foster growth into my fitness regime I can focus more on my weaknesses.  I would say my greatest weakness is my flexibility.  Two ways that I can achieve this is by becoming more consistant with yoga which I will do every so often but not enough.  The second way to obtain greater flexibility is to use my foam roller everynight before I go to sleep.  Rolling on a foam roller will help workout any adhesions in the tissue and help to lengthen the muscle.  To implement these practices into my day I will participate in the joga that is offered to the guest at the hotel where I work and will do this two times per week.  To implement the foam rolling I will finish and put aside any activities or homework that I am working on about 10 to 15 minutes earlier than what I normally would do and I will use this extra time to roll on the roller which will help improve the quality of my sleep.  To foster growth into my psychological health I can better open up to my wife and tell her how I feel more often.  Because the situation with my daughters I have become a little reserved and have not opened up about how I feel as much as I should.  One thing that I can do to change this is to set up a time with my wife where the purpose would be to talk about how we are feeling.  I feel that another area of my psychological wellness that could use some growth is for me to laugh more often.  Between work, school, and children, my brain seems like there is no opportunity

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for it to just have fun and laugh a little more.  Although I would say that I am very laid back, I still need this down time to just to help bring more balance into my life. 

     The area of spiritual health that I could foster growth is to understand and have more compassion for somebody who has gotten off track.  At this moment I am more concerned with someone and the state they are currently in and not so much as to how they might have come to this state of being.  What I´m trying to say is that I really do love helping people get back on track, helping them fell better and help them put a plan into place to continue the progress that has been made.  I want to be more caring and understanding as to why they fell off track or never got on in the first place.  The health hotel where I work is a great place to work with people in this regard.  I get to spend a lot of time with the clients who come to the hotel and I lead them in morning walks and joint mobility exercises.  I also have a lecture on fitness.  One way I can add more compassion to what I do is to remember that fitness does not come easy for everyone and also that not everyone has had a major life altering event like sick children to put things into perspective.  By keeping this in mind, I can practice loving-kindness which will also help me remember that no two people are the same and that everyone needs individual attention. 

     An easy way to assess my progress for most of what I talked about here is to put my goals into the S.M.A.R.T goal format.  By using this format I will be able to see if I am still on track and what I need to do to attain the goal.  As far as my fitness goals are concerned, I will continue to log my workouts into my journal as I have in the past.  It was through trial and error that I realized that keeping a workout journal is crucial to keep advancing and also to avoid mistakes from the past.  My work at the health hotel is another means that keep me true

 

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to myself.  Because I spend a lot of time working and educating the clients, I must stay true to myself so that I can continue to preach what I practice.  Another stategy that I can use to keep these areas of health to stay strong is to keep my copy of Integral Health in my pile of books that I will frequently look through.  I have a pile of books that I have found to be very helpful and I have a place in my house where I leave these books so that I can access them on a regular basis and read through the highlighted sections to help remember key terms and practices.

 

Unit 8

Looking back at all we have learned this course, I could say that this is probably the most useful class that I have taken here.  After this course, I only have 5 more classes to go, so I have had lots to pick from.  While I thought that every exercise we did had its benefits, the two that I enjoyed the most was loving-kindness and meeting Aesclepius.  Have you ever met someone who was genuinely a loving-kindness person?  Just being in their presence has a certain peace about it.  On the other hand, when we practice loving-kindness, it´s like doing that good deed for your neighbor who is 90 years old and lives alone.  One of the qualities of loving-kindness that I really enjoy is that of being laid back.  Anyone in this state of mind is never rushed or do they let stress get the better of them.  Being in this state of mind is also beneficial for our physical health because of this anti-stress demeanor that comes with it. 

     Meeting Aesclepius is another favorite of mine.  When we did this exercise, I would see images of all four of my grandparents.  There is a certain wisdom that comes from living a full life.  We often take elderly for granted and they can teach us a lot if we just let them.  It reminds me of my ten year old son, I keep telling him that I have lived over three times his lifetime and that I have picked up a few things during that time.  I think this last example is a continuous cycle and it´s not til we grow up a little that we can finally realize this.  One way that I can practice loving-kindness in my life is to treat people like I would want to be treated.  One way that I can practice the meeting Aesclepius exercise, is to really work on my listening skills and try to find the wisdom in what people are telling me, especially when it comes to life experiences. 

Unit 7

Wow, just about done with class.  I think I am going to miss these audio exercises that we are doing.  I enjoyed this one very much, I would get a little startled when the female voice would chime in after many minutes of listening to the beach environment.  Maybe my volume was a little too high or maybe I was a little tired.  The person I saw was actually all four of my grandparents.  It was like a revolving door as I was getting their long life wisdom.  Each of them are unique in their own way but yet they are so similar.  There wisdom put a lot of perspective on everything that I have learned in this class because their wisdom is coming from many years of living and also from a time that is pretty different than the world of today.  My grandparents seem to have a certain patience about them that I guess can only come from knowing that there is not  a whole lot of time left.  I don´t think enough of our elders get the respect that they deserve or are given the chance to let people know who they really are. 

     I really like the saying that ''one cannot lead another where one has not gone himself''.  I work at this hotel where people come for 14 days to complete a fast or detox their body.  I get to spend a lot of time with the group, having a few lectures and lead them on exercises and I really get to show them a lot of stuff that they don´t know just because where I am coming from and what I have done in my life that they have not had the opportunity to do.   I tell every group that I practice what I preach, I preach what I practice and I never have you do anything that I have not done myself.   It´s not hard for people to see through bullshit.  I have had a lot of different leaders in my life and some were good and others were a joke.  There is nothing wrong with not knowing something but don´t try to pretend that you do know it and then try to sell it to people.  It´s not fair to them and it makes you look like a jerk. 

     I totally have an obligation to my clients with these health disciplines.  I would say the hotel or I guess you could call it a wellness center is a pretty unique place because you get to spend two weeks with a group of people who are trying to improve the quality of their life.  Many people come there and their first and only concern is to lose some weight but as program goes on they start to see these other styles of health and how important they are to their overall health. 

unit 6

What no audio exercise! That´s fine, variety is the spice of life.  I actually liked the loving-kindness exercise.  I know it was only four lines to repeat but it was fun to find ways to memorize the lines that had to be repeated.  The thing or image that kept popping into my mind while repeating these lines was ego.  If everybody could just let go of their image and the way they want to be perceived by others than obtaining the desired results of this exercise would be easier.  I think that I say this because I live in a country of 300,000 people and I get this sense of competition from people here to have the best cars, clothes, gadgets or whatever they can show to represent an image of wealth or I´m better than you.  I hope what I´m trying to say is coming out right.  There has been many times in my life when I think that if we lived in a tribe type setting with no money and everybody was treated equal and everybody would have their role in the tribe or community than I feel we would be much happier in general.   By making our health (not an image of being in shape) and wellness a priority in our own life, than it will have no choice but to radiate to others.

     The integral assessment was a little more difficult for me.  Anytime that you have a question with the words, psychospiritual, biological, interpersonal, or worldly all in the same sentence, you know it´s going to be difficult to answer.  The one area I feel that needs the most focus right now is psychospiritual.  I feel this area gets paid the least attention in my overall wellness.  This course has really brought this to my attention.  The concept that I have found most meaningful in this course is ''the witnessing mind''.  If I can learn to just witness thoughts that come to mind and not grasp them than this will open up deeper levels and put me more in touch with the psycospiritual aspect of wellness. 

Unit 5

Of all the audio exercises we have done so far, I would have to say that this one has been the most enjoyable.  I still think there is too much down time between instruction but I realize that is when we are to grasp the idea of the different mind levels.  I have said this before, because this is an assignment, I don´t think that I totally let myself get lost in the exercise.  If I did not have to provide feedback than I would listen a little different.  I guess I should listen twice, once for the assignment and once for the benefit of what they are trying to get across.  The reason that I liked this one the best so far is because this is something that we have all tried before, to silence the mind that is.  I think by listening to this a couple of times per week and then lengthening the time like the guy suggested, I can see this being very productive.  I am still trying to achieve the witnessing mind and this is the best exercise I have listened to yet in hopes of achieving this. 

     This is the order that I believe these three wellness's fall into.  First is physical, then mental, then spiritual.  If we do not have physical wellness then we cannot focus fully on mental wellness.  By physical wellness, I don´t mean being the most fit person out there, I mean taking care of our body with the proper stimulation, proper rest, proper nutrients and being pain free.  By reaching these we can then focus on our mental wellness and once we can train our mind to be a witnessing mind then we can reach our deeper conscious and then be open to what spirituality really is.  I believe this is the order in how to obtain these but all three of these work together as one.  The way this is manifested in my life is that I view myself  on all three of these levels, although I have my strong points as well as my weak points, I know these three different wellness's are equal and bring me closer to having complete health and wellness from the inside out and not just in front of a mirror or what I try and tell myself. 

Unit 4

The first time I did this exercise was after massaging for 8 hours.  After my last client, I got the massage table ready for myself.  The room has a relaxing atmosphere, perfect for this type of exercise.  By the way, my table is very comfortable.  I started the exercise and I guess that I must have made it for maybe a couple of minutes before falling asleep.  Maybe, I should not do this after 8 hours of massage, and also not while laying on a great table.  A few days later, I tried this again with better results.  I would say this is not your typical guided imagery but I enjoyed it very much.  I´m a big believer in it is better to give than receive and it held true with this exercise.  I found it was easier to give my love to others than to give to myself.  I feel that I take care of myself pretty well and I pay attention to all aspects of my health.  By paying attention to my health, I feel that, that is the love I give myself.  I feel it´s hard for me to accept love more times than not and I think this is because I feel that I am a very self sufficient person.  I don´t feel comfortable if people have to go out their way to give me love or do something for me, but I do appreciate it very much but it´s still tough.  I guess that I can be a little stubborn.

     The way I view a mental workout is not necessarily the same as I view a physical workout.  Mental workouts keep your brain challenged and sharp.  I believe having an active brain speaks so much about how we carry ourselves.  Try talking with someone who basically shut their brain off a long time ago, it´s a dull conversation.  Of my grandparents, I am left with both of my grandma´s still alive.  One is as sharp as a knife but her physical body is not holding up well and my other grandma has Alzheimer's but her body is holding up great.  As we age I think it is very crucial to keep our mind activated and stimulated and doing things like tai-chi, learning something new, reading, crosswords, brain teasers are all great way to keep the brain and mind stimulated,and in good working condition.