Results Are In......

Hi All!
Can you believe we are at the end of 10 weeks!!? Time goes by too fast. I scored myself a six across the board in unit 3 because I believed every part of me was equal at the time; now I see that I am a six for awareness of what is my mind body spirit connection but that my spirit and psychological aspects are a 7 my physical is more a 4. I am healthy according to my doctor and blood panels but I am overweight and need to be active. While I was sick I was very sedentary and need to get moving. I have tons of habits they just happen to be mostly bad ones! This class has definitely made me realize some things I need to focus on and change. I have made a conscious effort to make small changes every day that stick. like for over two weeks now I have not eaten past 8pm! That is nothing short of a miracle for me. I lost five pounds for it.... FINALLY! I have not lost pounds in six years. I quit soda, I took sugar out of my coffee I tried so many things and never lost a pound. I reduced stress and stopped eating at night and lost weight so far. I know its simple science but when you add the psychological factor.... it is very complicated.. I hop my experiences with this aspect of my life will make it a good insight for potential clients later.
I wish you all a good life and good mini break from school!
Becki

Unit 9 Project

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Just Be…… My Balanced Life 9/3/2011 Rebecca Esposito

     It is important to develop all aspects of wellness when one is in the health and wellness field. People who are expecting to have someone help them with their integral health and healing would want to have that practitioner be an example of good health psychologically, spiritually, and physically. Having someone there for them that is already well and can not only tell them how to reach their goals but show them how is crucial. Everyone is always evolving in life. We all go through many different stages and learning experiences. Sometimes practitioners can grow from the experiences of their clients or patients. No one ever has all the answers but being in a healthy state in all three aspects can really make the difference for someone who is in a learning stage of their own.

     I need to improve on all aspects of integral health, mostly my physical being. I truly believe that what we look like on the outside portrays what we are on the inside. If we are not spiritually or psychologically well we cannot be physically well and sometimes biologically well. I have been working on my spirit and my mental health for about three years now and have come a long way. I feel I can incorporate physical well being at this point and be successful. I need to do it for me first but also my family and potential future clients.

     I have a second class this term in stress management and there are many labs we had to do to assess the different aspects of our lives. Although I have been working really hard on my stress levels for the past couple of years I still scored quite high for a stressful person overall. Spiritually, I have come a long way and have finally come to peace with my old enemies and most of all myself. I have been working on the psychological aspect of my life and am more than half way to my goal of being healthy and being able to catch any personality conflicts I may have with my spirituality. The physical aspect is the one I need the most work on. I was ill for a few years and am still figuring out what is going on with me. I do notice that the better my spiritual and psychological health gets the easier it gets for me to work on the physical aspect of it.

     The goals I have set for myself change order and sometimes the goals themselves may change a bit. Physically, for me is the hardest component to change. I set goals for myself to be more active than the week before. I have changed my diet significantly over the past five years. I eat many organic foods and whole foods; I rarely eat out of a can or box. I want to become stronger and healthier. My psychological wellness goals are to rid myself of any baggage I may have left from growing up in an alcoholic family. I have spent much of my adult life trying to evolve and grow into a well rounded, mature, and insightful being. Spiritually, my main goal is to calm my life down. I live with a lot of stress in life but fortunately, I cause my own stress. I can easily rid myself of much of my stressors and have a calmer spirit.

     I have decided to implement good diet, jogging, dance, yoga, weight lifting, and play time with my girls into my daily regimen. I feel that implementing these techniques will be beneficial in all aspects of growth. A good diet is important for physical, mental, and spiritual health. Eating the right foods at the right times can improve workouts, brain function, and in turn cause calmness for my spirit. Eating the wrong foods and at the wrong times can cause fatigue, irritability, depression, symptoms similar to ADHD, the list goes on and on. Processed foods are something I eliminated or rarely eat in my diet. Food definitely affects our physical wellbeing and moods but I really feel it affects the spirit as well. I have heard many saying about food feeding the soul and think that there is truth to that.

     Jogging, dance, yoga, and weight lifting are all good for the mind, body, and spirit as well. Jogging has always helped me solve problems I have been working on and makes me feel a sense of accomplishment. Dancing is something I can do in my own home with my favorite music to move to. Dancing is just a feel good, mood lifting experience. I get my heart rate up as in jogging but it is much more fun and I get my kids involved with it as well. Yoga is definitely something that calms my nerves and makes me feel empowered by improving my flexibility. Yoga massages my organs as well and makes me physically feel well. Mentally, yoga just sets my mind at ease and makes my spirit feel whole. In yoga, I can let go of everything from the day and just be. With weight lifting I feel so strong and powerful. I can get all my stress out on the heavy weights and by the end of a workout I feel spent and renewed at once. Playing with my girls gets us all moving and creates good habits for them. It makes me feel good to know that I am setting them up for health and success in life. We can dance together and do yoga poses. They both love to do tree pose and see who can hold it the longest. We usually do this before bed time to relax them and wind them down for bed time. I notice they go to sleep quicker for me when we do this.

     Over the next six months I plan on making major changes to my physical body. I have changed my diet, exercise habits, and life habits enough now that I need to focus mainly on the physical aspect but am choosing activities that I think will encourage good balance and health in all aspects of my life. I will keep track of my progress by journaling. I like to use this method because seeing what I eat and how I feel on paper gives me a truthful look at what I do daily. I like journaling because you can track your calories, moods, exercise, and all you feelings in one place. I also like to set up small term goals that lead up to bigger goals. I try to be more active than the week before by adding minutes to workouts or do some extra walking or chores around the house. If I jog a mile one day I will increase it to two miles by the next week. I also like reminding myself how important my family is to me. Raising my children differently that I was raised is very important to me. I feel as long as I set an example for them they will take some good habits into adulthood with them. Most importantly, I feel that keeping a good sense of humor and lightheartedness about themselves is what will take them far in life and happiness. Whenever I want to give up or stop moving forward I think of these things and it helps me keep going. I also believe that in the health and wellness profession we need to walk the talk and make sure that we are physically and mentally as close to balanced as possible for our clients’ sakes. We all have our own paths and journeys to follow but having good tools along the way can make it easier and more fruitful for people to be able to get where they want to be.

Loving Kindness & Subtle Mind

I really liked the loving kindness and subtle mind exercises. I was really comfortable doing these two and felt I had made good progress with them.
I think that using the loving kindness meditation practice will help me with my relationships with my kids and my husband.
I read an article about how some people are in emotional mode and some are in intellect mode and when the two converse they don't see eye to eye. I'm not telling the whole story so it doesn't make as much sense.
My point is that I think if I use the loving kindness exercise my husband and I will spend more quality time together and I won't be so wound up by the time he gets home from work. He just wants to take his boots off and relax and I can't wait to tell him how horrible the kids were and how I got nothing done that day. If I meditated I would put myself in his shoes much easier and be able to understand where he is coming from- it's not that he doesn't care I had a bad day it's just that he is tired and possibly had a rough day himself.
I would be able to see life from the point of my kids and not get so frustrated with them. In turn they may respond better to me and we would be more productive for the day.
Becki

One Breath at a Time...

I found doing the exercise to be easier than the last time. Each time I do the exercises I find it easier and easier to get into the zone. I thought of my husband who is the most patient and compassionate human I know. I always look to him to learn how to be better at both of those attributes. The relaxation I get from just taking a minute to breath a bit everyday seems to be helping me not get so wound up over things like I normally would. I am hoping to get better at meditation and keep it up for the duration.
Walking the talk is important when it comes to some professions. You can get away with not portraying or playing the part in some cases but not in health and wellness. Unfortunately, for some of us, this is a hard road to follow. Clients don't want someone who is going through the same thing they are they want someone to show them the path or at least have done it already to get them where they need to be. They need to feel reassured that they can fall back on you and know you can handle anything they throw at you. They need to know you understand it and have been there.
For me, I find this to be true, there is no way I like having a trainer in a gym who is genetically predisposed to be fit whether they are working out or not. I want a trainer who became a trainer because they were sick of being unhealthy and did something about it and now wants to preach to the world about how great it feels and that anyone can do it...
Becki

Loving Kindness and Assessment

Hi All,
Doing the loving kindness exercise was rather easy for me. I tend to try to practice this on a daily basis just in different ways. It is comforting to know that before this class started I was already on my way to becoming much more spiritual and aware of my mind and how I interact with the world around me.
On the other hand, doing the assessment made me realize that my three legged stool is constantly toppeling over.
I have a terrible habit of seeing my life as a three legged stool of mind body spirit, but only being able to make one almost perfect at a time. I concentrate all my efforts on only one aspect. My goal is to concentrate on all three aspects at once but to make sure I try to keep a balance of each to be able to grow in mind- body- spirit together at once. I think if I can meditate on a daily basis along with yoga and start lifting weights again I will be able to accomplish all three.
It is no coincidence that I am at this very place in my life right now and am taking this class along with stress management class.... I really think things fall into place the way they do for a reason.
Becki

Subtle Mind

I liked both exercises very much. I couldn't find my cd at first so I tried the Loving Kindness exercise by reading it and it didn't work as well as when I heard the voice telling me how to do it. I really liked the subtle mind exercise the best because it calmed me so much I almost fell asleep during the 18th to the 20th minute. I know we shouldnt fall asleep but that is how relaxed I was. I can't sleep at night and have trouble focusing - this will really help me calm my mind. As far as the first exercise goes I think I can progress quickly from the first stage to the second. I was able to let go of a hatred I have held for someone for over 25 years! I am so impressed with the exercises and myself.
I think the connection is simply if your spirit is healthy your mind and body will also be healthy. Our minds are very powerful and can luckily be manipulated like molding clay - we just have to decide if we want to let outside influences that are negative or positive mold our clay. If we can grow our spirits and spread the peacefulness we can create a healthier future for our children and theirs.
I love the saying " the heart is not judged by how much you love but by how much you are loved by others" {Wizard of Oz} I beilieve this, I think that it shows that if you are loved by others it is because you have loved.
Becki

ARGGG!

O.K. so I try to get into these classes so that I can better myself and because I want to have more insight for when I am ready to help others. I cannot find this CD, I dont see it in the doc sharing and wasnt sent one, I do see others of you got it because you did the exercise. I tried doing it from reading the Dacher book alone.
I hoped to really be able to spend the time to do it but I find I cannot. The only time I have is after my husband goes to bed and I put the kids to bed at 8:30. They actually will leave me be around 9:30. This is when I do all my catch up on reading and homework.
I am in such need of this class ( and my other one which is about stress management). I think I will go back and read these books when I actually have time in a day to read and comprehend it all.
I am still too young to the idea of stress relief and spiritual control. I float back and forth between the psychological and spiritual lives.
I tried the exercises and felt I had to hurry, I cant stop thinking about what I have to do right now, tomorrow, and what I need to catch up on because I didnt do it yesterday.
I am glad to read some of you found this to be peaceful and calming.
I do however do somewhat a type of this practice everyday with strangers in my presense. I walk in public with a smile as often as possible because I know it makes other people smile too; that or they wonder what the heck is wrong with that lady? Lol.
Becki