Final Unit Assessment and Farewell to Class

For the Unit 3 Assignment :

·     On a scale of 1 to 10 for physical well-being: 5

Why? Well I think that I could have healthier life-style choices. 

Goal: I need to exercise more and stop being lazy all the time.  Make healthier eating habits. 

Personal accomplishment: I did move up from a 2 to 5 however in the last 7 weeks because I quit smoking and started making healthier choices.  Now however, I am falling back into my normal eating habits. 

Now I rate my Physical well-being at a 6

I have begun to make healthier eating chocies and have stopped gaining weight and just started losing weight again.  I have been more active and have made some more personal behavioral choices that have improved my health.  I also began to take my medicines again that can help me with my goals.  I have just begun to make progress and am proud that I have made it this far.  I hope that I can continue on this path in the future.  

          For Unit 3 Assignment:

·     On a scale of 1 to 10 for spiritual well-being: 2

Why? I feel like that is where I need the most work.  I have never been a spiritual person but can understand the idea of what it means in a different perspective.  It is more about my level of connection with the world. 

Goal: Be more open-minded and dedicate a time for practice

Now I rate my spiritual well-being at a 5

This is the area where I have grown that most.  I have learned to be more open and patient.  It has helped me look at life as an opportunity.  I have been through a rough 2 years and for awhile, was losing my faith in life.  I could not understand how pain and suffering could be so consuming to the point to where you can loose yourself.  I did for a while.  This class made me open my eyes and realize that I was not living and I needed to wake up.  I did and I am finding my connections with my surroundings are getting stronger. 

For Unit 3 Assignment:

·     On a scale of 1 to 10 for psychological well being: 6

Why?  I feel like I have a great logical mind that is based of facts and evidence that I can see and understand, also making it my possible weakest point.  I have studied so much about mental health for others, but never for my self. 

Goal:  This is where I lack experience and I see conflicts with my daily life.  I need to learn to control my own anxieties with life and keep them from interfering with my life and daily goals.  

Now I rate my psychological well-being 6

I think that I have stayed the same in this area but do feel like I am beginning to make stronger connections with the ones that I love.  I was closed off and find this part changing a little.  I am nervous and do not know how to be more interconnected but am trying and want to again. 

A well grounded health care professional is important to the stability of patient and physician relationships that care improve and enhance the level of health care quality.  This course has taught me to look at myself and reflect on my interactions with the world and what they mean.  I have also been provided with the necessary knowledge to improve all the aspects of life.  I have found them a great lesson in humanity and think that the lessons have a lot to offer to our lives. 

Farewell class and I wish you luck on your future goals. 

-Kalie Kaplan-Villanueva  

My Final Project:

A Personal Plan of Action Towards Integral Health

Ken Wilbur’s theory of integral medicine is based on all aspects of a human life and their experiences within the world.  This is the abundant knowledge of theories and practices on a multitude of fields (Integral Health, 2012).  The organization, coordination and harmonization of many different areas of focuses including  “cultural studies, anthropology, systems theory, developmental psychology, biology, and spirituality, ecology, sustainability, psychotherapy, psychiatry, education, business, medicine, politics, sports, and art” (para. 5). Western health is focused on the physical aspects of the body and medicine that works as a temporary relief of illnesses of the body.

While the focus of conventional medicine is the physicality, make-up or structures and how they functions as a unit to develop a highly advanced organism, integral healing brings three other components to add to health and healing.  The four components of the integral health model are subjectivity, objectivity, intersubjectivity, and interobjectivity.  Subjectivity is intentional and is the interior (ideas, views, feelings, etc) of an individual person; the “I” component. Objectivity is behavioral and the exterior of a person or the make-up that conventional medicine focuses on; the “it” component.  Intersubjectivity is the collection of the surrounding culture and it’s effect on an individuals mythologies; the “we” component.  Finally we have interobjectivity, which is the collection of knowledge from the surrounding environment including social; the “its” component.  Integral healing brings all four of these components together as one and treats it as one unit of health and healing. 

For physical wellness in a person’s life, I think that nutrition and exercise are important steps that an individual can take to bring such wellness.  The anatomy and physiology of our body relies on the intake of food and drinks to keep the body functioning properly.  Diet and nutrition provide the necessary components that the body cannot to keep it functioning (Thibodeau & Patton, 2010).  Psychological wellness I think can be achieved by not letting the natural stressors of life interfere with the way in which one view and acts in the world.  I think that can bring less depression, anxiety and anger, which are the pitfalls of mental health (NIMH, 2014).  For spiritual wellness, I think that a person can figure out their place in the world.  It is accepting the world in how it is and working in unison with it (Dacher, 2006) and actually living life to the fullest.  All these areas need to be developed for me to achieve the goals I have for myself. 

As a reflection on myself to measure my abilities in the three domains I used a scale of one to ten with ten being optimal wellbeing, rating myself for physical wellbeing, spiritual well-being, and psychological well-being.  On a scale of 1 to 10 for physical well-being, I rate myself a 5 because I think that I could have healthier life-style choices.  On a scale of 1 to 10 for spiritual well-being, I rate a 2.  I feel like that is where I need the most work.  I have never been a spiritual person but can understand the idea of what it means in a different perspective.  It is more about my level of connection with the world and I feel I do not have one as strong as it should be.  On a scale of 1 to 10 for psychological well being, I am a 6.  I have a great logical mind that is based of facts and evidence that I can see and understand, also making it my possible weakest point.  I have studied so much about mental health for others, but never for my self.  This is how I have measured myself to understand where I am in each domain and what areas of focus are necessary for my optimal well-being and human flourishing. 

A goal in my physical aspect is to exercise more and stop being lazy all the time.  Making healthier eating habits and taking better care of my health is important to me as well and a goal to going to the doctor on a regular basis rather than expecting problems to just go away.    My goal for psychological health is to be more open-minded and dedicate a time for practice.  With the loving-kindness, relaxation practices, subtle mind, visualization, and meditation practices, I feel like I did not get the full effect of what they can offer me.  I have been going through hard times and find myself reacting without intention.  It is important for me to be able to get a grip on all these practices to help me gain the knowledge these practices can offer me.  The spiritual goal is to become more interconnected with my world and the people in it.  This is where I lack experience and I see conflicts with my daily life.  I need to learn to control my own anxieties with life and keep them from interfering with my life and daily goals.

Meditation is a practice that I find will be most beneficial to my growth in all three domains.  “Stress management techniques and meditation can help people with anxiety disorders calm themselves and may enhance the effects of therapy” (NIMH, 2014, p. 20). The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2014), provide a bountiful amount of information on meditation and what it can do for your overall health.  The four core principles of medication include a quiet place, comfortable posture, open attitude, and a complete focus of attention.  The benefit that it can provide is the decrease is stress that adds to daily life.  This can ultimately help lead me to my goals in all three domains as long as I continue with the practices.  If I can be sure to make these practices part of my personal and professional life I can be sure that they are guiding me in the direction of Integral Health and human flourishing. 

References

Dacher, E.S. (2006). Integral health-the path to human flourishing. Basic Health              Publications, Inc. Laguna Beach: CA

Intergral Healing. (2012). Ken Wilbur. Retrieved from http://integrallife.com/contributors/ken-wilber

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Mental health information. Retrieved from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/index.shtml

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). (2009). Anxiety disorders. Retrieved          from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/anxietydisorders/nimhanxiety.pdf

The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2014). CDC features: mediation and health. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/Features/Meditation/

Thibodeau, G.A. & Patton, K.T. (2010). Structure and function of the body. Mosby: Elsevier. 13^th ed. 

Schiltz, M., Amorok, T., & Micozzi, M.S. (2005). Consciousness and healing:integral approaches to mind-body medicine. Elsevier, Inc. St. Louis: MO

Self Reflection

• Based on your reflections, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal wellbeing), where do you rate your A-physical wellbeing, B-spiritual well-being, C-psychological well-being? Why?
• Develop a goal for yourself in each area (physical, spiritual, psychological)

On a scale of 1 to 10 for physical well-being: 5

Why? Well I think that I could have healthier life-style choices. 

Goal: I need to exercise more and stop being lazy all the time.  Make healthier eating habits. 

Personal accomplishment: I did move up from a 2 to 5 however in the last 7 weeks because I quit smoking and started making healthier choices.  Now however, I am falling back into my normal eating habits. 

On a scale of 1 to 10 for spiritual well-being: 2

Why? I feel like that is where I need the most work.  I have never been a spiritual person but can understand the idea of what it means in a different perspective.  It is more about my level of connection with the world. 

Goal: Be more open-minded and dedicate a time for practice

On a scale of 1 to 10 for psychological well being: 6

Why?  I feel like I have a great logical mind that is based of facts and evidence that I can see and understand, also making it my possible weakest point.  I have studied so much about mental health for others, but never for my self. 

Goal:  This is where I lack experience and I see conflicts with my daily life.  I need to learn to control my own anxieties with life and keep them from interfering with my life and daily goals.  

Beneficial Practices

1. 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.

I would have to say that the most beneficial practices through this course have been the meditation and visualization.   The meditation exercise provides an opportunity for a person to experience mediation and what it could possibility provide to an individual.  It provides a relax full state of mind and eases stress to be carried over into the world.  The visualization practice allows for a visual learner, like me, the opportunity to experience what is generated and provides that opportunity to hold on to the feeling throughout a day.  Experiencing the feelings and carrying them over can allow for a great chance a harvesting the benefits that these practices can offer to the mind and what it can provide in a daily life.  This provides a greater mental state.  

Meditation and the Psychospiritual Aspect

The meditation exercise was a little surprising.  I started in a bad mood and overwhelmed with the day.  When I completed the exercise, I was no longer angry or stressed out.  It reminded me that stress is a choice and I can change it.  I did at the end. 

Psychospiritual is the aspect of my life that I have chosen to be my first growth and development.  I have a hard time dealing with stress and my reactions to it in the world are not who I want to be.  I am emotional, stressed and sometimes angry.  I hate that I have these tendencies and what to change them.  This takes work on myself learning to control my stress level and reactions to situation that I dislike.  I am getting better, but have a long way to progress to be whom I really am.  Meditation is a practice that I will continue to get a grasp on.  I think this will help me a lot once I learn the skill.  I might even try to mix it with yoga to help still my forever-moving mind.  I also need to work on finding the source of my anger and try and change it. 

The Subtle Mind Exercise

The subtle mind exercise was a challenge for me much like the love and kindness exercise.  Finding the still mind is not an easy task, much less exploring it.  Every time I seem get a grip on my racing thoughts and ignore the outside environment, I lose my focus because the outside environment breaks my concentration.  I have to be louder than the physical environment. Sometimes I have a hard time comprehending reading materials if there is a lot going on around me. I have to read aloud to really read and comprehend something new.  I have yet to accomplish really getting a grip on the still mind and that proves to be a little frustrating. Mental and physical wellness are closely connected and play off each other.  The spiritual wellness follows and is connected to mental and physical wellness just the same.  Each come together to create a web of interconnectedness leading to human flourishing. I think that spiritual wellness is the development of the mental and physical being.  The spirit of a person is based off the individual person and their experiences with mental and physical wellness, developing the spirit of a person.

Love and Kindness Practice

Upon completion of reading chapter 6, review the section ‘Getting Started’ (p.66). Begin practice 1: Listen to the Introduction mp3 and Loving Kindness mp3 (both located in Doc Sharing). Practice the Loving Kindness exercise this week. In your journal (blog), record your reaction to the exercise.

1.              Describe your experience. Did you find it beneficial? Difficult? Why or why not? Would you recommend this to others? Why or why not?  

I found that the experience was a little difficult.  To begin with, I kept getting interrupted and started off with a bad day today.  Because of this I believe why it was difficult for me.  I did not feel anything different and wound up falling asleep before the recording was over. 

2.              What is the concept of "mental workout"? What does the research indicate are the proven benefits of a mental workout? How can you implement mental workouts to foster your psychological health?  

The concept of mental workout I think is much like a physical.  The first time you work out, it is a little choppy and you are not quite sure what to do.  Sometimes it may even seem that you are trying too hard and tend to over work it or strain.  Continuing with the practice of the mental work out, it should seem to become much easier to begin and the session will start to smooth themselves out.  Continuing with the practice will prove to be the most difficult obstacle.