Review your unit 3 personal assessment of your psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being. Reflect on these areas . How did you score yourself on a scale from 1 to 10 in unit 3? How do you score yourself now? Has the score changed? Why or why not?
In Unit 3 I gave myself the following ratings:
Physical Well-Being- 7 out of 10
Spritual Well-Being- 6 out of 10
Psychological Well-Being- 8.5 out of 10
Now I would give myself these ratings:
Physical- 7.5
Spiritual- 7
Psychological- 8.5
The score has changed in the physical and spiritual arenas. I believe it has come from making a concerted effort and focusing on those areas over the last month and a half. I hope that these numbers will continue to climb over time. I would love to be FLOURISHING in all areas of my life.
Review the goals and activities you set for yourself in each area. Have you made progress toward the goals? Explain.
I would say that I have made progress in each area. This has been because I have made the focus to return to church and pray. I am also making a concerted effort to exercise on a regular basis. As I return to school, this will continue to be of utmost importance.
Have you implemented the activities you chose for your well-being in each of the three areas? Explain.
I have begun to implement these things as I've stated before. I am going to the gym, getting exercise, working on attending church more regularly, and spending time in prayer. One thing I definitely want to do is schedule time for meditation.
Summarize your personal experience throughout this course. Have you developed improved well-being? What has been rewarding? What has been difficult? How will this experience improve your ability to assist others?
I have thoroughly enjoyed this class. I found the research data interesting. I also appreciated learning new exercises and gaining knowledge in the area of integral health. I would say that I have experienced improved well-being and that comes from the choices I am making. Nothing in this class was particularly difficult unless you consider the hard time I had focusing in some of the meditation exercises. I most definitely plan on using this experience to help others. And, I honestly feel like a broken record, but I will be doing this by sharing my newfound skills with my athletes. I look forward to expanding my knowledge in the area of integral health.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
Unit 9 Project- Hope you all enjoy
Introduction
Health and Wellness professionals spend their lives helping others become the healthiest they can be. In order to do this, it is essential for the health and wellness professional to practice what she preaches and teaches. This is important for a number of reasons. To be the best health care professional, the first step is to be working on your own personal health. If you are not healthy yourself, how can you help someone else? I believe there are many reasons why this is important, and I would like to focus on two of them. It is essential to be a role model in this profession and in maintaining your own health; you are better able to help your clientele.
In the health and wellness realm, we will have many clients coming to us seeking assistance in living a better, more whole life. Whether we like it or not, from the time we meet our client, he or she is judging us too. The client wants to make sure that they are going to someone who is living and modeling a healthy lifestyle too. How can we ask someone to do something we aren’t doing ourselves? The reality is we can’t. So, in order to help our client fully, we need to model the lifestyle for our client. It enhances our credibility.
Along with enhancing our credibility, practicing what we know in all three areas of health, we are able to take care of ourselves. Working with other people is a stressful thing. Sometimes we take their problems on ourselves and try to fix them for the client. Reality is that this will not help anyone involved. Having the knowledge base to not allow this to happen is important. On top of that, the everyday stress of our jobs can catch up to us. I believe practicing Integral Health skills will allow me to become a better professional by enhancing my personal life. When I am performing at my optimum level, I am better prepared to help my clients. This becomes a win-win situation for both sides.
I can always work to improve myself. Over my time in school, I have learned many skills that will allow me to enhance my own health and life while helping others at the same time. Yet, I know that I am far from perfect. I have goals in all three areas of my health and wellness. I want to continue losing weight and improving my physical fitness level. I want to learn and incorporate more mind-body techniques such as meditation. And, I want to grow closer to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. A little bit later, I will go into detail about how I plan to do this.
Assessment
I know that in order to improve and meet my goals, I must first assess where I am. By doing so, I will be able to set a plan in place that will allow me the opportunity for maximum growth.
For my physical health, I have weighed myself, looked at my eating habits, and assessed my exercise habits. I am nowhere near my goal weight. Over the summer, I have had moments where I have eaten well, and there have been times when I have completely splurged. As for my exercise level, it has gone in spurts over the summer as well. One of the areas that really held me back was getting a tattoo on my foot and not getting the exercise I needed while it was healing. My cardiovascular health allows me to participate in an hour-long Zumba class without getting winded or overly tired. My strength is average to above average of women my age when I compare it on charts from a former class that I took. Right now, I would rate my physical fitness at a seven out of ten.
To assess my mental health, I utilize past blog and journal entries to see where my thoughts have been and where I am now. I ask myself if I feel hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. I look at my relationships with the people around me such as my husband, co-workers, athletes, and friends. I use meditation exercises and analyze how well I am able to focus. And, I take the time to ask myself if I feel stressed or overwhelmed. Right now, I feel pretty good about this area of my life. I have reduced a lot of stress in my life, and I am taking more time to focus on making myself mentally fit. I would say that my mental fitness is at an eight right now.
Spiritual fitness is an area that I struggle with assessing. Do I feel connected to the earth and people around me? Do I feel close to God? These are the two main areas that I think of when assessing my spiritual health. At this moment in time, I would say that I am drawing closer to those around me, and I absolutely love to be in nature. It is where I feel most at ease (other than at a gym). Today I found this especially true as we hosted friends for a get together. As for feeling close to God, I go in and out. I know that is because I do not take the time I need to, nor do I make it a priority. As I start the new school year (work), I am planning on making this a part of my change. My spiritual health is currently around 6.5.
Goal development:
My goal this year in the area of physical fitness is to eat a more balanced diet, lose at least twenty pounds, and to get to the gym, or do something active, four days of the week. My psychological goal is to use meditation or visualization exercises twice to three times a week. And, my spiritual goal is to spend at least ten minutes a day in concentrated prayer.
Practices for personal health
The two strategies that I will implement to grow in the area of physical fitness are to plan my meals and activities for the week. I currently spend every waking hour doing something that is planned. In order to ensure that I eat properly and get the exercise I need, I have to put them into a plan. What I will do is take the time on Sunday of each week to create a plan of action. This will include meal planning and implementing a schedule that will allow me to get my exercise in. By taking the time each week to sit down and put it in an actual plan, I am much more likely to carry it out throughout the week.
For my psychological health, I am going to research meditation and visualization practices that I can do. I will also plan when I will do these throughout the week, and I will have them on hand to do when I feel that I need them as well. Another thing that I plan on doing to improve my psychological health is make a concentrated effort to cultivate positive relationships in my life. This could be by having conversations with friends or family by phone, inviting someone over for a meal, or developing appropriate relationships at work.
For my Spiritual health, I am going attend church each Sunday and take the time to truly apply what I learned there. This includes prayer, benevolent practice, and more. I will also take the time each week to get out into nature or to find the moment to look at my pictures of nature. By doing this, I will be opening my mind and being quiet to find my center and focus.
Commitment
Although I have set up a plan to begin developing my health and wellness over the next few months and year, I hope that I continue to be dynamic and evolutionary. I know that it will be important to ensure that I am growing and not standing still. In order to do this, I will take the time on the last Sunday of each month to see where I stand. I will ask myself whether I have achieved my goals set out, stayed where I am, or if I have fallen back. From there, I will make a plan of action for the upcoming month.
I believe it is essential as a professional and a person to never stop growing. I have learned so much from the classes that I have taken at Kaplan, and I will continue to use all of the resources at my fingertips. I will also take the time to seek out new sources, whether they are on the Internet, at the library, by taking a new class, or asking other professionals and friends. What I do know is that every class I have taken at Kaplan has been beneficial. I have learned something that I can use both personally and professionally. I already had an interest in holistic health and the mind-body connection, and I want to keep on learning and applying. I truly want to flourish, and in doing so help others do the same.
Health and Wellness professionals spend their lives helping others become the healthiest they can be. In order to do this, it is essential for the health and wellness professional to practice what she preaches and teaches. This is important for a number of reasons. To be the best health care professional, the first step is to be working on your own personal health. If you are not healthy yourself, how can you help someone else? I believe there are many reasons why this is important, and I would like to focus on two of them. It is essential to be a role model in this profession and in maintaining your own health; you are better able to help your clientele.
In the health and wellness realm, we will have many clients coming to us seeking assistance in living a better, more whole life. Whether we like it or not, from the time we meet our client, he or she is judging us too. The client wants to make sure that they are going to someone who is living and modeling a healthy lifestyle too. How can we ask someone to do something we aren’t doing ourselves? The reality is we can’t. So, in order to help our client fully, we need to model the lifestyle for our client. It enhances our credibility.
Along with enhancing our credibility, practicing what we know in all three areas of health, we are able to take care of ourselves. Working with other people is a stressful thing. Sometimes we take their problems on ourselves and try to fix them for the client. Reality is that this will not help anyone involved. Having the knowledge base to not allow this to happen is important. On top of that, the everyday stress of our jobs can catch up to us. I believe practicing Integral Health skills will allow me to become a better professional by enhancing my personal life. When I am performing at my optimum level, I am better prepared to help my clients. This becomes a win-win situation for both sides.
I can always work to improve myself. Over my time in school, I have learned many skills that will allow me to enhance my own health and life while helping others at the same time. Yet, I know that I am far from perfect. I have goals in all three areas of my health and wellness. I want to continue losing weight and improving my physical fitness level. I want to learn and incorporate more mind-body techniques such as meditation. And, I want to grow closer to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. A little bit later, I will go into detail about how I plan to do this.
Assessment
I know that in order to improve and meet my goals, I must first assess where I am. By doing so, I will be able to set a plan in place that will allow me the opportunity for maximum growth.
For my physical health, I have weighed myself, looked at my eating habits, and assessed my exercise habits. I am nowhere near my goal weight. Over the summer, I have had moments where I have eaten well, and there have been times when I have completely splurged. As for my exercise level, it has gone in spurts over the summer as well. One of the areas that really held me back was getting a tattoo on my foot and not getting the exercise I needed while it was healing. My cardiovascular health allows me to participate in an hour-long Zumba class without getting winded or overly tired. My strength is average to above average of women my age when I compare it on charts from a former class that I took. Right now, I would rate my physical fitness at a seven out of ten.
To assess my mental health, I utilize past blog and journal entries to see where my thoughts have been and where I am now. I ask myself if I feel hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. I look at my relationships with the people around me such as my husband, co-workers, athletes, and friends. I use meditation exercises and analyze how well I am able to focus. And, I take the time to ask myself if I feel stressed or overwhelmed. Right now, I feel pretty good about this area of my life. I have reduced a lot of stress in my life, and I am taking more time to focus on making myself mentally fit. I would say that my mental fitness is at an eight right now.
Spiritual fitness is an area that I struggle with assessing. Do I feel connected to the earth and people around me? Do I feel close to God? These are the two main areas that I think of when assessing my spiritual health. At this moment in time, I would say that I am drawing closer to those around me, and I absolutely love to be in nature. It is where I feel most at ease (other than at a gym). Today I found this especially true as we hosted friends for a get together. As for feeling close to God, I go in and out. I know that is because I do not take the time I need to, nor do I make it a priority. As I start the new school year (work), I am planning on making this a part of my change. My spiritual health is currently around 6.5.
Goal development:
My goal this year in the area of physical fitness is to eat a more balanced diet, lose at least twenty pounds, and to get to the gym, or do something active, four days of the week. My psychological goal is to use meditation or visualization exercises twice to three times a week. And, my spiritual goal is to spend at least ten minutes a day in concentrated prayer.
Practices for personal health
The two strategies that I will implement to grow in the area of physical fitness are to plan my meals and activities for the week. I currently spend every waking hour doing something that is planned. In order to ensure that I eat properly and get the exercise I need, I have to put them into a plan. What I will do is take the time on Sunday of each week to create a plan of action. This will include meal planning and implementing a schedule that will allow me to get my exercise in. By taking the time each week to sit down and put it in an actual plan, I am much more likely to carry it out throughout the week.
For my psychological health, I am going to research meditation and visualization practices that I can do. I will also plan when I will do these throughout the week, and I will have them on hand to do when I feel that I need them as well. Another thing that I plan on doing to improve my psychological health is make a concentrated effort to cultivate positive relationships in my life. This could be by having conversations with friends or family by phone, inviting someone over for a meal, or developing appropriate relationships at work.
For my Spiritual health, I am going attend church each Sunday and take the time to truly apply what I learned there. This includes prayer, benevolent practice, and more. I will also take the time each week to get out into nature or to find the moment to look at my pictures of nature. By doing this, I will be opening my mind and being quiet to find my center and focus.
Commitment
Although I have set up a plan to begin developing my health and wellness over the next few months and year, I hope that I continue to be dynamic and evolutionary. I know that it will be important to ensure that I am growing and not standing still. In order to do this, I will take the time on the last Sunday of each month to see where I stand. I will ask myself whether I have achieved my goals set out, stayed where I am, or if I have fallen back. From there, I will make a plan of action for the upcoming month.
I believe it is essential as a professional and a person to never stop growing. I have learned so much from the classes that I have taken at Kaplan, and I will continue to use all of the resources at my fingertips. I will also take the time to seek out new sources, whether they are on the Internet, at the library, by taking a new class, or asking other professionals and friends. What I do know is that every class I have taken at Kaplan has been beneficial. I have learned something that I can use both personally and professionally. I already had an interest in holistic health and the mind-body connection, and I want to keep on learning and applying. I truly want to flourish, and in doing so help others do the same.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Mental Fitness
Looking at mental fitness, I believe the activities that would work best for me personally are visualization and meditation. Meditation would allow me the chance to focus my mind and relax my body. Visualization would make me a better coach and help me in improving my physical fitness. Both would improve my overall health and allow me the chance to have a more holistic focus.
As for professionally, I would use these exercises with my team. Visualization would help them with their performance and meditation would help them control their anxiety in certain situations. Of course, I don't know how relaxed I would want them to be going into a competition. But, I know it would be helpful.
As for professionally, I would use these exercises with my team. Visualization would help them with their performance and meditation would help them control their anxiety in certain situations. Of course, I don't know how relaxed I would want them to be going into a competition. But, I know it would be helpful.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Unit 7 Seminar
While I am thankful for the many activities and things I get to do, I am so sad that I have not been to many actual seminars this term. And, I won't lie, I'm kind of tired of doing option 2. I would much rather sit in "class" for an hour and interact with my instructor and classmates. Since I was on a plane while seminar was occurring yesterday, here are my responses to the following questions.
1. Upon reviewing your journal/blog and the blogs of others; evaluate which practices may be most beneficial for the population you seek to serve in your profession. (Select at least two exercise)How can you professionally apply these concepts? For example: Who you are targeting? How you will implement the exercise? Why you think it would be beneficial? What are the exercise?
The exercises that I believe will be most beneficial to my clients will be something like Skillful Action and visualization exercises like Meeting Asclepius. Since my clients are teenage athletes, I believe giving them the tools to create inner peace and strength and the ability to visualize positive thoughts can be very beneficial on so many levels. Our young people today have so much negativity bombarding their lives, and giving them the skills to have positive interactions is essential. I can apply these concepts by teaching my athletes how to use these types of activities to begin training and preparing their minds for success and health. In order to implement the exercise, I would take the time during my practices on a weekly basis to walk them through these exercises. I believe it will benefit them as athletes but also as people. And, ultimately, that is my goal.
2. Choose and article you discussed in the exercise assignment, that you believe is valuable for your profession. Introduce the article and discuss how it can be integrated in a health and wellness program.
An article that I chose is Physical Fitness and Enhanced Psychological Health by Thomas Plante and Judith Rodin. This article speaks about the benefits physical fitness brings to our lives as a whole. According to research, physical fitness improves our psychological functioning. However, it does not change our personalities. It is shown to reduce stress and more. One thing the article did say is that more studies need to be conducted. I believe an article like this can be implemented into a health and wellness program because it shows the correlation between the two areas and verifies the importance of both in overall health. In my profession, it backs the reason why participation in physical activity is important. I believe this is especially so for adolescents who are going through so much anyway. And, this is a way for them to release the stress in their lives.
1. Upon reviewing your journal/blog and the blogs of others; evaluate which practices may be most beneficial for the population you seek to serve in your profession. (Select at least two exercise)How can you professionally apply these concepts? For example: Who you are targeting? How you will implement the exercise? Why you think it would be beneficial? What are the exercise?
The exercises that I believe will be most beneficial to my clients will be something like Skillful Action and visualization exercises like Meeting Asclepius. Since my clients are teenage athletes, I believe giving them the tools to create inner peace and strength and the ability to visualize positive thoughts can be very beneficial on so many levels. Our young people today have so much negativity bombarding their lives, and giving them the skills to have positive interactions is essential. I can apply these concepts by teaching my athletes how to use these types of activities to begin training and preparing their minds for success and health. In order to implement the exercise, I would take the time during my practices on a weekly basis to walk them through these exercises. I believe it will benefit them as athletes but also as people. And, ultimately, that is my goal.
2. Choose and article you discussed in the exercise assignment, that you believe is valuable for your profession. Introduce the article and discuss how it can be integrated in a health and wellness program.
An article that I chose is Physical Fitness and Enhanced Psychological Health by Thomas Plante and Judith Rodin. This article speaks about the benefits physical fitness brings to our lives as a whole. According to research, physical fitness improves our psychological functioning. However, it does not change our personalities. It is shown to reduce stress and more. One thing the article did say is that more studies need to be conducted. I believe an article like this can be implemented into a health and wellness program because it shows the correlation between the two areas and verifies the importance of both in overall health. In my profession, it backs the reason why participation in physical activity is important. I believe this is especially so for adolescents who are going through so much anyway. And, this is a way for them to release the stress in their lives.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
I love visualization exercises! Lately, I am getting better at being able to find my focus. When I was practicing this exercise, I thought of my friend Leon. He and I are in the same field of coaching. I appreciate his ability to remain calm in all situations and his ability to talk to and with others. I hope that over time I can learn many things from him.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Unit 6 Seminar
Considering yesterday was my husband's and my 13th wedding anniversary, I did not attend seminar. Here is my response for Option 2. I can't wait to get back to class next week because I love seminar.
Also, I am attaching a picture of my husband and I are on our two week trip to Alaska to this. We had a blast!
1. Upon reviewing your journal/blog and the blogs of others regarding assessment, loving kindness exercise and autogenic exercise, evaluate and discuss which practices may be the most difficult for your future clients to integrate into their lives. Why? How can you prepare to assist your clients in developing regular practices that foster psychological and spiritual growth?
Knowing that my clients will be athletes and their coaches, I believe the activity that will be most difficult at first will be the Loving Kindness activity. I believe that they will not be open at first. But, over time and with development of interpersonal and psychospiritual aspects, they will become more accepting of the activity. Some will say that it is not needed for athletes, but I totally disagree. I believe that I can prepare my clients in small steps through team bonding and other activities that take them away from the skills focus to the mental and connection focus.
2. What information in the blogs of others was helpful in answering this question?
I especially appreciated April's blog. Like me, she found her focus on one person. And, she mentioned the development and process that interpersonal connectedness go through. I believe this is and will be true for my clients.
3. Discuss how you can professionally apply the following concepts: Who you are targeting? How you will assist them? Why do you think it would be beneficial?
My target, as I said before, will be cheer and dance athletes and coaches. I will assist them by developing relationships with them. We will do activities that take them away from focusing solely on the technical skills to be successful, and we will focus on other aspects as well. By doing this, I believe the athletes will perform and compete better. They will feel more successful and accomplished at the end whether they win or lose because the ultimate lesson is in training and getting optimal performance out of their bodies and team. My goal is that they will also feel more relaxed, comfortable, and at ease during the process. As for coaches, I believe it will help them feel balance in their lives, and it will make them better coaches able to focus on the whole athlete. And, I believe that is essential.
Also, I am attaching a picture of my husband and I are on our two week trip to Alaska to this. We had a blast!
1. Upon reviewing your journal/blog and the blogs of others regarding assessment, loving kindness exercise and autogenic exercise, evaluate and discuss which practices may be the most difficult for your future clients to integrate into their lives. Why? How can you prepare to assist your clients in developing regular practices that foster psychological and spiritual growth?
Knowing that my clients will be athletes and their coaches, I believe the activity that will be most difficult at first will be the Loving Kindness activity. I believe that they will not be open at first. But, over time and with development of interpersonal and psychospiritual aspects, they will become more accepting of the activity. Some will say that it is not needed for athletes, but I totally disagree. I believe that I can prepare my clients in small steps through team bonding and other activities that take them away from the skills focus to the mental and connection focus.
2. What information in the blogs of others was helpful in answering this question?
I especially appreciated April's blog. Like me, she found her focus on one person. And, she mentioned the development and process that interpersonal connectedness go through. I believe this is and will be true for my clients.
3. Discuss how you can professionally apply the following concepts: Who you are targeting? How you will assist them? Why do you think it would be beneficial?
My target, as I said before, will be cheer and dance athletes and coaches. I will assist them by developing relationships with them. We will do activities that take them away from focusing solely on the technical skills to be successful, and we will focus on other aspects as well. By doing this, I believe the athletes will perform and compete better. They will feel more successful and accomplished at the end whether they win or lose because the ultimate lesson is in training and getting optimal performance out of their bodies and team. My goal is that they will also feel more relaxed, comfortable, and at ease during the process. As for coaches, I believe it will help them feel balance in their lives, and it will make them better coaches able to focus on the whole athlete. And, I believe that is essential.
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