Happy New Year!

After listening to the "Meeting Aesclepius" exercise, I once again have to express that these sort of calm meditative exercises do not work for me the way they are intended to. I am not sure if it is an attention issue or if I just do not take it seriously enough to reap any benefits from it. I can however see where any sort of mindfulness meditation like this exercise can increase one's psychological and spiritual wellness.  Being still and calm with your own thoughts is a powerful way to re-connect with your inner self.  Weather following meditation like this one, sitting quietly in the car during your commute or taking a quiet walk outside, time "alone" with ourselves is very beneficial to cultivating a conscious mind.

That being said, the quote "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" refers basically to "practice what you preach". Health, Wellness and Nutrition are professions that need to be practiced by the practitioners in order for them to fully help clients. I would be lying if I didn't say I would be skeptical of an overweight nutritionist with McDonald’s bags in their trash, they could know every aspect of human nutrition front to back and it would not matter. If you have the passion in your craft that most are looking of in a practitioner, you should be practicing what you preach.  As a health an wellness professional, my obligation to clients would be to cultivate their minds and help their individual human flourishing. If I do not practice these things myself, I certainly cannot offer practical advice, which would sell my clients short of what they were looking for.

However, I have mentioned in many posts that certain techniques so not work for me. Does this mean I do not have a future in health and wellness as a professional? My thoughts would be if I understand all of the possible treatment avenues and can appreciate how each one can contribute to establishing a conscious mind. I can offer a more broad range of advice because I have tried and either succeeded or failed at different techniques. I would assume most clients I would have would encounter similar issues.

Thank You for reading my post, I hope everyone has a safe and happy new year! I will be working the overnight shift ….ringing in the new year with co-workers and a bottle of sparkling cider ;)

Pursue!

Michelle

Practicing Stillness

The following practice was part of my assignment this week:

Close your eyes and rest into the natural ease of your body, repeat the following phrases for 10 minutes.

1.   May all individuals gain freedom from suffering

2.   May all individuals find sustained health, happiness and wholeness

3.   May I assist all individuals in gaining freedom from suffering

4.   May I assist all individuals in finding health happiness and wholeness 

(Dacher, 2006)

The book described this exercise as powerful in expanding mind and heart. It could also be used as an antidote to anger and hatred.

I can see how reciting these phrases could calm someone down who was angry at another person, reminding them that the issue they are angry about might not be that valid and a loving-kindness state of being is much healthier.

The second exercise is one in practicing stillness. I agree with the effectiveness of these exercises. I believe it is essential for all of us to take moment’s t be still, reset our minds and focus on what is really important to us instead of worthless clutter.

Thank you for reading this week!

Pursue!

Michelle 

Oh! and I found out I am having a Baby Girl! :)

Spiritual Wellness and Overall Health

This week we were assigned two guided meditation exercises to compare, one on loving-kindness and one on the subtle mind. 

The loving kindness exercise had a lot more long pauses than the subtle mind exercise. The loving-kindness exercise focused more on expanding your heart and accepting love, kindness and forgiveness. The purpose of the exercise being to adopt a more accepting lifestyle or positive feelings and reject destructive feelings of anger or frustration. The subtle mind exercise focused more on stillness and quieting the mind for inner reflection.  The purpose being t clear the mind of “clutter” and clear the mind so there is more focus.As mention in previous reviews, I am not the guided meditation type, I do not take well to it. But maybe by the end of this course I will be used to it ;)

Spiritual wellness has a strong connection to mental and physical wellness. Loving-kindness teaches us that when we practice love, forgiveness and kindness, our mind-span is opened up to a greater sense of consciousness, the result of this is overall integral health. These are critical components of spiritual wellness because they allow a lightness to enter our life and clear our mind and body, preventing mental distress and illness, recovery from disease and all around happiness and wholeness (Dacher, 2006)..

There is no need to be a Buddhist monk, a physician or mathematician to expand your spiritual health. Even the smallest of changes can have a big impact on your psychological, spiritual and mental well being. This can be integrated into my life by simply practicing more loving-kindness in my life. Instead of complaining I have to work late, I could be thankful I have a job. Instead of getting mad at my son for getting bath water on the floor, I could be grateful I have such a beautiful little boy.

Over time you will strengthen the three goals of overall human flourishing – sustained health, happiness and wholeness (Dacher, 2006)

Thank You for reading my post this week, I hope everyone has a great holiday!

Pursue!

Michelle

Source

Dacher, E. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Chapter 4,  Laguna Beach, CA. Basic Health Publications Inc.

A Lesson in Loving / Kindness

This week the lesson is all about loving / kindness and how we “deal” with situations that make us … well … angry.

Imagine this scenario … you are in a family restaurant with your small child when he/ she decides they have had enough of the crayons and bread basket and they want OUT. An all out tantrum ensues, while you are trying to calm the child to finish your meal,  avoiding the scoop and run … the person next to you sneers “why don’t you shut your kid up?”

Pause for reaction …..

Mine? …. Call the person a colorful name along with sarcastic remark about their wonderful demeanor, take my child and leave. All while stewing on the situation for days.

Here is where the “loving / kindness” comes in. I certainly do not intend to tell you to give this person a hug say “I am so sorry we disturbed you” and pay for their meal. However, showing kindness and understanding to someone who might not deserve it is a powerful thing. It changes your mental state and helps preserve your overall health and it might just teach them a lesson in the same.

Say I said to this person “I am doing my best, how would you suggest I calm him / her down?” I have reacted kindly and put the person on the spot to do the same or to simply be quiet.

By reducing negative emotions like hate, anger, fear, confusion, and doubt, and increasing positive emotions like happiness, patience, acceptance and loving-kindness. Research indicates that we can transform the way we use our minds. Mental transformation and changing the way we view things also enhances our resistance to physical disease and mental distress while enhancing our healing capacities (Dacher, 2006). I feel as though over time you could train your brain to react in a certain way in situations. Like when your instinct might be to react negatively and get “spun up” you could possibly train yourself over time to react more calmly.

Mental Workouts are designed to “train” your brain. They could be as mentioned above where you consciously train yourself to react differently in situations training your spiritual brain or scenarios that train your cognitive brain. Believe it or not your brain actually craves learning and challenge. Ever feel so bored you can stand it? Cognitive brain training involves puzzles, games or problem solvers that incorporate memory usage and speed. Such as remembering word lists or matching. Using your brain makes you sharper, expanding your capacity to learn in all other areas.  It improves memory and recallability skills. And some research has shown that keeping your brain active may actually ward off conditions like Dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. 

This is a fun one I found for strengthening brain memory

 http://www.braintraining101.com/path-memory/

I made it to Level 7 ;)

Meditation Track - I did not find the Loving / Kindness meditation track helpful. I believe that love and kindness need to be physically implemented in someone’s life to have an impact. I think for the purposes of accepting and applying loving / kindness methods the meditation track would not help at all. It might however, help someone understand the idea of loving / kindness in order to apply it and possibly calm themselves from any anger feelings. To me this track was no different than other guided meditations.

Try to apply “loving / kindness” in one scenario in your life this week!

Thank you for reading my post, as always comments, questions and opinions are welcome!

Pursue!

Michelle

Source

 

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