Unit 8 the practices that help me

I feel that the subtle mind practice and the loving-kindness practice are the most beneficial to me. These practices allow me to separate me from my wants, needs, and expectations. I can experience things that feel illusory and unobtainable any other way.

I use the loving kindness practice every morning before work to extend good health and happiness on an individual I work with. This has changed how I see these people when I first get to work every day. It has improved my outlook toward them and the work I do with them. It has also changed a rocky relationship I have had with an individual that I thought never to see eye to eye. In the evening I use the loving-kindness practice for those that I love, wishing them health and happiness.

 

I use the subtle mind practice to counter the stresses of the world. I do this every night when lying in bed before sleep and when day to day events become overwhelming. By using the subtle mind practice I can become calm and centered and be ready for the task at hand or whatever challenge is around the bend.

Unit7 Meeting Aesclepius

The contemplative practice this week is Meeting Aesclepius. The power of this practice shows us that there is always a wise, loving, calm teacher inside of us. We just have to take the time to go in there and listen.

1.        Complete the Meeting Aesclepius mp3 (located in the Doc Sharing area). Describe your meditative practices for the week and discuss the experience. Explain how mindfulness or meditation has fostered an increase in your psychological or spiritual wellness. How can you continue to apply these practices in your life to foster greater health and wellness?

2.        Describe the saying: "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" (p.477). How does this apply to the health and wellness professional? Do you have an obligation to your clients to be developing your health psychologically, physically, and spiritually? Why or why not? How can you implement psychological and spiritual growth in your personal life?

The Meeting Aesclepius exercise was relatively easy for me to get into. The visualizations help me get “into it”. I used mu biological mother for the wise entity in the practice. She passed on when I was 11 years old and I have yet to find a kinder soul. She gave birth to eight children but there were always dozens that called her “mom”. By using her as an example for this exercise I found a way of remembering her totally without pain. I hope to be able to use this to help me understand others around me and in so doing help me to see their good points instead of their negative ones. By practicing this it will make all of my relationships better and help to spread joy rather than the distrust that I have fostered in some relationships.

The saying “one cannot lead where one has not gone before” means that the leader is just as lost as the pupil if they are both in new territory. Even if someone has “been” to somewhere before how can they teach someone else how to get there if they have not made the trip there before. An important part of teaching is the route one takes to obtain the knowledge. I am an x-ray tech at a small hospital in Iowa. In this setting I have the opportunity to teach “safe practices” to my patients. My teachings have much more weight to the patients if I practice them myself. In showing that there is a proper way to move and lift as well as showing loving-kindness I give value to my words when I am moving patients that are already hurt.

Self Assessment Unit6

The loving-kindness exercise gets easier each time I do it. This time it took me only 2-3 minutes to find the calm inside and be able to observe my thoughts. At this time I began to ask where my strengths and weaknesses are and my weakest is in the biological arena of self-regulation. I am still at the level of homeostasis and wish to work on the mind-body practices so I can better know myself. I choose to start with the subtle mind practice and walking for exercise (combining them) for greater physical health and to have opportunity to practice in public. This allows me to remove the obstructions of a familiar environment (common distractions) and replace them with random distractions such as fellow travelers, animals, and plants that I usually do not come across during meditation. I will use dedicated running paths for safety in case I am not paying attention to my surroundings.

The Subtle Mind

This week’s exercise is meditating on the subtle mind. This teaches us to be an observer in our own mind so that we might learn about ourselves and be able to come to an abiding calm.

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

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

The loving kindness exercise was all about how I perceive the world. This exercise was about self-perception. It is to help me understand my inner workings. With this knowledge of my inner workings I will eventually be able to calm my inner self and truly be in control of my thoughts. The loving-kindness exercise opened my inner door to peace. Peace must be first attained before an inner calm can be possible. This exercise was much easier for me than the loving-kindness because of the focus of the exercise. It is much easier for me to become an un biased observer than is it to open up to strong emotions. I also find it more enjoyable because I can see the results right away where the loving-kindness results are almost secondary to the exercise.

Physical wellness is the health and happiness of the body. This is the easiest to measure and perceive. This has been the focus of western medicine for centuries. Mental wellness is the fitness and health of the mind. In the last few decades mental health has been becoming more prominent. This area is much more difficult to measure and perceive. Spiritual wellness is they fitness and health of the spirit. Where the mind and body are basically tools, the spirit is the driving force to use those tools. Where the spirit is strong the rest will follow. Olympians are amazing physically but to get there each and every on them needs a driving force. While some are pushed by outside forces, most are driven from within. This indefatigable spirit is who really make them who they are and pushes them to greatness. The opposite is also true. Those with weak spirits rarely ever move forward in life. Their life is stagnant and undefined.