Unit 8

The two exercises I choose to focus on are calm abiding and visualization.
I practiced calm abiding tonight.  My two year old grand-daughter was at my house.  She was tired and cranky and generally being very uncooperative.  She didn't want to behave and was getting fairly sassy.  Her mother who is young and pregnant again - and had already had a long day was not fairing well with the situation - none of us really were.  Her mom and my son were trying to get her to listen and do as she was told, but she was going to have none of that.  She was put in time out and still was trying to fuss with the adults.  Finally, I turned her away from everyone and I sat behind her.  I kept my hands gently on her shoulders and I closed my eyes and focused my mind, I thought thoughts of peace, calmness and love towards her.  Almost instantly she calmed.  She sat still, no longer fussing with anyone.  She sat calmly and quiet the rest of her time out.  Afterwards she got up and got some toys to play with, asked me if I would play blocks with her and everything was good.  The adults also became more peaceful because they no longer had to deal with her tantruming. It was awesome to send peace and love out to her and instantly see the calming effect it had on her behavior.  I will continue to try this same calm abiding exercise in other situations where peace and calmness will have a positive effect.

Visualization will be very important to me right now.  Having lost a large part of my income from a job lay off, breaking up with my fiance' and having many other changes going on in my family right now, it would be very easy to feel overwhelmed and drop into a depression. But I deliberately choose not to take that path.  I will focus on the positive things that are happening in my life, the things that I can be thankful for (this, I believe is very important), and to build up an excitement in my psyche for new beginnings. I will seek out these thoughts and expand on them with visualization exercises.  One of my very favorite sayings is "...this too shall pass" I am not stuck in this part of my life indefinately.  The one constant in life is change, so I choose to visualize a different tomorrow, a better tomorrow.  So be it  :-)

~Helen

Unit 7

Wow, I really do enjoy these meditations.
It took me sometime to focus in on a wise person in my life.  Finally, I settled on someone I have never met. 
My birth mother (I was adopted) lived on the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.  I was adopted when I was 6 weeks old.  I have never met my mother or grandmother.  In this meditation I imagined my grandmother as my wise person.  An old Alaskan Indian that practiced the ways of her ancestors.  I imagined that she knew many things and was a respected person in her community.  That she was loving and kind and was willing to impart her knowledge to me, as her granddaughter.  It was great.  The sounds of the flutes in the background made it even easier to imagine.  Feeling her essence become my own was awesome.  I will certainly be doing this exercise again.

I definitely believe that a profession should "practice what they preach".  Otherwise how can they have any empathy for what their clients are going though?  I do have an obligation to my patients to develop myself psychologicaly, spiritually, and physically.  If I don't it will be difficult for them to believe what I am trying to help them with.

~Helen

Unit 6 - Mediation & Assessment

                                    Describe the exercise and assessment process.

The universal loving kindness exercise was simple in that you just close your eyes and repeat the four phrases over and over for ten minutes.

May all individuals gain freedom from suffering

May all individuals find sustained health, happiness, and wholeness

May I assist all individuals in gaining freedom from suffering

May I assist all individuals in finding health, happiness, and wholeness

What powerful, loving words.

The assessment requires that we look at each of the four aspects of human experience.  We also consider three separate lines of development within each of the aspects.  When assessing each of these aspects and lines of development it becomes clear that there are some areas that are better developed and some that are weaker.  We can then use this information to ascertain the weaker areas to begin to strengthen.

What did you discover about yourself?

It is very good to look at all these areas as a whole picture.  To see which ones are stronger and which ones could use some work.

What area have you chosen to be a focus of growth and development? Why?

Biological/fitness, because I would really like to develop a mind/body exercise program using yoga that I can really enjoy and benefit from.

Also, I would like to focus on interpersonal/community, because it is very important to me to feel connected and give back to my community.  I really enjoy doing volunteer work and would like to develop that aspect of myself further.

What are some specific exercises or activities that you can implement to foster greater wellness in this area?

I have found that there are many yoga, tai chi classes in my community, I plan to attend these and hopefully make some new friends with people who are seeking the same experiences I am.

I will also activity seek out and participate in more volunteer activities in my area.

Unit 5 - The Subtle Mind

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

I really, really enjoyed the Subtle Mind exercise.  It certainly did take intention and effort to quiet my mind.  Initially, I felt slightly light-headed from the deep breathing.  But as I felt my mind calm and I focused on my breath I became very comfortable and relaxed.  The Loving Kindness exercise began focused on a love directed towards the self, then the remainder turned the focus to others.  This focus on others I really appreciated and felt much benefit from sending healing and wholeness out to my daughter and others.  But, the Subtle Mind turned the mind sharply off and completely quieted it.  I felt about four completely quiet and empty moments that were total bliss for my mind.  I hope as I continue this exercise I will experience more and more of these moments.  I have enjoyed both of these exercises and will continue them both.

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

When we obtain spiritual wellness we have found a connection to something larger than ourselves.  Tapping into this force encourages mental and physical wellness and to have a balance in our lives.  I feel the strongest connection to my spiritual self when I am in nature, when I deprive myself of this spiritual connection, I can see the affects on my mental wellness in depression, frustration, and anxiety.  Physically I will become lazy and sedentary if I become imbalanced in the other areas of wellness.  It is important to acknowledge all of our aspects of wellness in order to achieve integral health.

Unit 5 - Powerpoint Project

Here is my Powerpoint project for Unit Five

Unit Four

I enjoyed the loving kindness track.  It was a bit long to be able to stay with it for that length of time.  But I enjoyed what it guided me to do.  I guided my thoughts to my daughter who is having a terrible time getting thru her teenage years....she has been suffering.  I have recently been visualizing good thoughts and ideals for her, because she certainly isn't going to take any advice from me right now :-)  I saw great results from engaging in things like this on her behalf, it appears she is appoaching a turning point in her life, we'll see.  So I was really on board doing this exercise.  I liked the idea of the suffering dissolving in the heart.  I will most definitely be doing this and other similar exercises more.

My perception of a mental workout is intentional, purposeful activities that train the mind to calm, to quiet, and to turn inward.  Reflective thoughtwork as well as thinking loving thoughts to those around you are postitive ways we can redirect our thoughts away from the selfish ego.