My
Integral Health Plan
Unit
9 Project
HW420-01
February
7, 2012
Manisha
Brahmbhatt
I.
Introduction:
Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to
develop psychologically, spiritually and physically? What areas do you need to
develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?
I feel it is very important for
health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and
physically because only then can they provide the true guidance to their
patients. If the practitioners have not
gone through the experience of integral health themselves, how could they
possibly understand their patients’ needs?
How can they support their patients’ healing without having their own knowledge
and experience? It basically boils down to…practice what you preach. If the practitioner has not walked the path
to integral health, he/she will not know how to take the steps to develop integral
health for their patients. It is a loss for the health and wellness professionals…and
for their patients.
I need to develop in all areas to
achieve the goals I have for myself. If
I must prioritize, I would say that physical development is first and foremost for
me. I have physical issues due to my health, which I am receiving my course of
treatment; and I feel that my physical wellness is imperative to my psychological
and spiritual well-being. “The qualities
of human flourishing can be fully and permanently experienced only if we
prepare the proper foundation and steadily progress in our development from
body to mind to spirit” (Dacher, p. 131).
II.
Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in
each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and
psychologically? 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest.
Taking inventory of my wellness in each domain, I would
assess my health as follows:
Physical domain I would give myself 6 out of 10, even though
I’m dealing with a serious medical condition.
The reason why I’ve given myself a higher score is because my physical
ailment has not stopped me from retaining an active life. With a personal
trainer (who is aware of my medical issues), I work out at least 4 times a
week. This has helped me to increase my energy and deal with my treatments with
a stronger determination. I am all about
healthy eating…organic foods and natural remedies (of course, in combination
with traditional medicine). I hope to
change this assessment from 6 to 9 by year’s end…God willing.
Psychological domain I give myself 7 out of 10. Though my
assessment in this domain has increased somewhat from Unit 3 (I had given
myself 6.5 at that time); this area still needs work. I need to manage stress better and not allow
outside factors to affect my inner well-being.
I need to focus on identifying destructive emotions and dysfunctional
patterns I follow and replace those with a set of new healthy attitudes and
behaviors. During this course, I’ve come to recognize certain dysfunctional
patterns I tend to follow and make conscious decisions not to follow them…however,
I sometimes still fall into that trap. So, I still have work to do…
In the spiritual domain, I would give myself 6.5 out of
10. “The spiritual process aims at
penetrating the deeper layers of the mind to uncover the natural wisdom, inner
peace and loving-kindness that are the pivotal causes of a sustained well-being
of body, mind and spirit” (Dacher, p. 61).
I am not there yet. I do not have the inner peace I seek; nor do I have
the natural wisdom to understand the deeper nature of my mind. I have started
to acknowledge the existence of my mental chatter; and I try to stop, see and
understand this chatter and make choices with intention and not with
unconscious reactivity. But this is not always the case, as such; I still have a
lot of work to do in this domain.
III.
Goal development:
List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical,
Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.
In my physical domain, my goal is to
do all I can to heal my body and increase my strength and energy. In my
psychological domain, my goal is to have a positive outlook regardless of outer
circumstances; not to allow the mental chatter to rule my thoughts and
feelings, but instead focus on becoming psychologically literate and healthy. In my spiritual domain, my goal is to attain
an inner peace, finding a sustained balance of the mind, body and spirit; and
to gain focus and understanding of my conscious self.
IV.
Practices for personal health:
What strategies can you implement to
foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and
Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each
domain. Explain how you will implement each example.
To foster the growth and attain the
goals I’ve set for myself in each domain, I would implement the following
strategies:
Physical domain: I will continue my medical treatments to heal
my body’s ailment, but in addition to this I continue my exercise sessions with
my personal trainer to increase my energy and strength. After my workout sessions, I have always felt
refreshed and energized. Also, I will continue my healthy eating regime, but
also incorporate natural remedies to strengthen my immune system (which has
been compromised significantly due to my treatments).
Psychological
domain: I will use the Subtle Mind and Aesclepius
meditative practice exercises to foster growth in my psychological domain. Subtle Mind exercise consists of three steps,
witnessing mind, calm abiding mind and unity consciousness. Subtle Mind exercise will allow me to
acknowledge my thoughts and mental chatter and let them pass without attachment
(witnessing mind). Just witnessing the
mental chatter, will allow it to dissolve naturally into the background it came
from…revealing a clear and still mind.
After my active mind is gradually tamed and subdued, I will be able to
abide in the “stillness rather than in the turmoil of my mind’s movement.” (Calm
abiding) Here I can to replace reactivity with intention and gain peace,
serenity and loving-kindness which would deepen my relationships and balance my
physiology. Then one day, ultimately be
able to reach unity consciousness where I can feel the connectedness to all of
life. The subtle mind exercise has been one that has helped me to calm my mind
to a degree…and I hope to continue this exercise to achieve a sustained calm
abiding mind.
The
Aesclepius meditative practice instructs you to envision someone you found to
be very wise and loving…to feel their wisdom in your mind…to feel their love in
your heart…to connect to that person. I
found this exercise quite useful because I was able to focus my mind and open
my heart…I feel that this exercise will be one that I will implement into my
daily meditation practices along with subtle mind because they will allow me to
grow spiritually as well as psychologically. I feel that to attain greater
health and wellness these contemplative practices are necessary...and only
through practice can I achieve my connection with my inner being and oneness
with all.
Spiritual
domain: Meditation practices and
volunteering are two practices I will use to foster growth in my spiritual
domain. Meditation allows us to take our
focus inward and overcome the barriers that limit our ways of thinking about
health, happiness and wholeness. It
allows us to understand ourselves and help us to reach who we truly are…our
inner essence. Volunteering is something
I greatly enjoy doing; it allows me to be of service to others and brings a
sense of wholeness. Being able to help others brings joy and reinforces my
belief that we are all one. Meditation
and volunteering will help me greatly in my spiritual development.
V.
Commitment:
How will you assess your progress or
lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist
in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?
The only way I feel I can
assess my progress or lack of progress in the next six months is by keeping a
journal. The journal would keep track of my contemplative practices…recording
how I did in my practices, whether I was able focus and quiet my mind. I would
also write down the thoughts and feelings I experienced during the practices,
during my days and any issues that come up that cause an imbalance. This journal will allow me to see how I
handle life’s adversaries and assess my progress. The strategy I will use to assist in
maintaining my long term practices for health and wellness will be the blog I
created during this class. It will be a
way to connect to people that are looking for the same path to human
flourishing…people that I can share my experiences and start a dialogue that
will help me in my quest and maybe even be able to help others in theirs. The combination of the blog and my journal
will allow me to gauge my progress and help me to stay on the path to attain
health, happiness and wholeness. I look
forward to the journey that lies ahead…we are all a work in progress.
References
Dacher, E.
(2006). Integral Health: The Path to
Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA; Basic Health Publications Inc.
