4. 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?
My experience has been very challenging, but successful. I have made major improvements in mood and overall wellness. I have enjoyed each person in this class and all of your stories. The thing that has been the most rewarding has been my new relaxed and mental awareness. I love how I cope with things much more positivity and don't sweat the small stuff. This has improved my personal life and professional life in many aspects. I have more patience for my clients needs and dilemmas. I also don't get as angry at things people do. Overall I would say that this class has changed me for the better. Thanks :)

Unit 10 blog #3

3. Have you implemented the activities you chose for your well-being in each of the three areas? Explain. I have implemented all of the activities that I stated in the previous blogs and have been very successful at accomplishing what I said that I was going to do. I just need to make a little more time to meditate and workout a little more each week. I have upped my cardio to 5 times per week and weights 5 times per week for an hour-hour and 1/2. I feel wonderful about what I have accomplished in this class.

Unit 10 Blog #2

2. Review the goals and activities you set for yourself in each area. Have you made progress toward the goals? Explain.
Throughout the course I have assessed myself in each domain. For my physical wellness I exercise on a regular basis. I participate in weight training 5-6 days per week for about 11/2-2 hours. I also do cardiovascular exercise 4-5 times per week for 30 minutes-60 minutes at a time. I eat a healthy diet consisting of all the major food groups, drink about 64 ounces of water a day, and take a few vitamins. Overall I would rate my physical wellness at a 9. There is always room to improve physically so I would not rate myself at a 10.
My psychological wellness I have tried to maintain a positive attitude for a few years now. I always try to turn a bad situation into a positive one. I seem to be less stressed than I used to be. I take yoga as a part of my regular workout routine and this has helped me cope with things much easier. However, I still have my bad days and sometimes find it impossible to think happy thoughts. I am working on improving this by my positive outlook and meditation practices. I would rate my psychological wellness at a 7. I am striving for 10 and I feel it will come after I graduate and start my career.
My spiritual wellness has improved since taking this class. I realize that I am not the most spiritual person, but I feel that this is what works best for me. I have made remarkable changes by doing meditation on a regular basis. I love how it has made me more aware of myself. This has helped me work on loving myself and others much more. I would rate my spiritual wellness at a 7. I still need to work on mediation more often. I feel sometimes I could try to make more time for this.

Unit 10 blog #1

1. 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?
For my physical goal I could try to prioritize my time better so that I could make more time to work on my physical goals. In unit three I would score my physical as a 9 and now as a nine. I will never give up on fitness and nutrition. For my psychological goal I could keep pushing even when things are very mental challenging such as mental Olympic training. This would be my biggest challenge since I have so much going on in my life. I try my best to keep pushing, but sometimes I don't have the energy. In unit 3 I gave myself a 6 and now I give it a 7. I still need to make more time, but I have made improvements. For my spiritual goal I will make time to meditate. This is something that I have wanted to do for a while, but sometimes get side tracked when I am busy. In unit 3 I gave myself a 6 and now I give myself a 7. I have made more time and have improved, but still have a long way to go.

Unit 9 Final Project

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?

When we develop mental and physical wellness, we can further our minds into a more spiritual side. This happens when we explore a deeper state of mind. Our mental ability progresses when we become more connected with others. "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, E.S 2006) This has helped me to get to know who I really am and where I need to be in all aspects of wellness.  As health and wellness professionals it is imperative that we develop ourselves physically, spiritually, and psychologically.  When we develop ourselves psychologically, we can keep track of the slightest changes in ourselves.  This will promote a sense of confidence within us.  When we develop ourselves physically, we can do all other things much easier in life.  When I am physically fit, I can do things more efficiently, my mind is clearer, and day to day life seems to be easier.  This is important for health and wellness professionals because we must practice what we preach to our clients and loved ones.  We must experience what it takes to have total wellness.  I need to develop myself spiritually so that I can have inner peace.  This will help me to flourish in all other aspects of wellness and provide a since of security that I can pass on to others.   
Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically? 
Throughout the course I have assessed myself in each domain.  For my physical wellness I exercise on a regular basis.  I participate in weight training 5-6 days per week for about 11/2-2 hours.  I also do cardiovascular exercise 4-5 times per week for 30 minutes-60 minutes at a time.  I eat a healthy diet consisting of all the major food groups, drink about 64 ounces of water a day, and take a few vitamins.  Overall I would rate my physical wellness at a 9.  There is always room to improve physically so I would not rate myself at a 10. 

My psychological wellness I have tried to maintain a positive attitude for a few years now.  I always try to turn a bad situation into a positive one.  I seem to be less stressed than I used to be.  I take yoga as a part of my regular workout routine and this has helped me cope with things much easier.  However, I still have my bad days and sometimes find it impossible to think happy thoughts.  I am working on improving this by my positive outlook and meditation practices.  I would rate my psychological wellness at a 7.  I am striving for 10 and I feel it will come after I graduate and start my career. 

My spiritual wellness has improved since taking this class.  I realize that I am not the most spiritual person, but I feel that this is what works best for me.  I have made remarkable changes by doing meditation on a regular basis.  I love how it has made me more aware of myself.  This has helped me work on loving myself and others much more.  I would rate my spiritual wellness at a 7.  I still need to work on mediation more often.  I feel sometimes I could try to make more time for this.   
Goal development:

List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.

My goal physically would be add one more day of weight training per week.  I also want to add 1 or 2 more days of cardiovascular exercise per week.  I feel that this would get me to my fitness goals more quickly.  I would like to have 18% body fat and loose 3-4 more inches in my total body.  Eventually when I graduate I am going to compete in a fitness competition.  If I start now with doing these exercises more times per week, I feel that this will prepare me for competing.  I will also become stricter about processes foods and try to eliminate them completely. 

My goal psychologically is to stay as positive as I can even when I feel that nothing is going right.  I must admit that this is something I thought I could never do before this class.  I have realized that I can do many things if I practice it for long enough. 

My goal spiritually is to practice meditation everyday for 10 minutes.  On the days I meditate now I feel more calm and ready to face anything.  I have a better attitude and respect others differences more often.  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 growth in my physical domain I plan on doing many different types of resistance training.  These would include high repetitions with little to no weights.  I will also incorporate heavy weights with about 10-12 reps to failure.  I can also incorporate polymeric exercises when my joints feel good.  These exercises will improve my strength, stamina, and muscular development.  I will also incorporate aerobic activities such as walking intervals on the treadmill, elliptical intervals, and cycling intervals.  I will improve my speed and distance by incorporating a little more each week.  I also want to eliminate or lessen my intake of processed foods.  I have to do this for the competition.  If I start now, I can do this more strictly during the training phase of the competition.  I have done this once before and it was the best I have ever felt and I want that feeling again. 

To foster spiritual growth I will incorporate meditation into my everyday routine.  I will try to meditate when I wake up and before I go to sleep for at least 10 minutes.  I can do this by setting time aside everyday and planning to make this part of my everyday routine. 

To foster mental growth I will participate in yoga twice a week.  This will help me to deal with everyday life much easier.  This in turn will help my stress level and I will become at peace with myself.  Breathing exercises have helped me through many stressful times.  I just stop for about a minute and do deep breathing exercises. I always feel calmer when I am done.   
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?

To assess my physical wellness I will work toward goals each week to incorporate more time for fitness.  I will do this by planning ahead and waking up a little earlier.  I will do BMI tests, body fat analysis, and circumference measurements every 2 months to determine my fitness level.  I will also keep a fitness log to track my progress each week.

To assess my spiritual development I will keep a log of my meditation practices.  In this log I will state how long I meditated, how many times a day, and how I felt when I was finished.  I will also keep track of my attitude for the rest of the day and log it at the end of the day. 

To assess my mental development I will keep a journal everyday of what happened and how I felt.  I will record all feelings and keep track of how positive my attitude was during the day.  I will also keep my stress levels low by planning ahead of time for things such as homework, working out, and meditation.  This will ensure that my mental wellness can only improve.   

Unit 8 Blog

1. Review the exercises and practice sessions you have completed in this course. (Loving Kindness, Subtle mind, Visualization, meditation etc.) Choose two practices that you have determined to be most beneficial. How can you implement these practices in your personal life to foster �mental fitness�? Provide specific examples.
I have found rainbow meditation and subtle mind to be the most beneficial in my life.  I practice the rainbow meditation every night before I go to bed.  This seems to be the most relaxing thing that I do to help me fall asleep.  I picture all of the colors of the rainbow in my body and this has a very calming affect on my mind and body.  I really love all colors of the rainbow, so I feel that this is why I find this exercise to be the most beneficial to me.  The subtle mind exercise is helpful to me when I am really stressed out.  I do this to calm down and think about the ocean waves crashing on the shore. This has helped me tremendously throughout this course. 

Unit 7 # 2 blog

"One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" is a great phrase.  I feel that a person must practice what they preach to another person.  If a health and wellness professional doesn't truly live a healthy lifestyle, how can they help others?  If I hadn't studied fitness and nutrition for about 12 years, I couldn't possibly teach it to my clients on a daily basis.  When we become health and wellness professionals, it is our duty to learn and live it as much as we can so that we can pass on to our clients what it takes to make the appropriate changes to their health.  In my life I can grow psychologically and spiritually by practicing a healthy lifestyle of a healthy diet, exercising on a daily basis, and meditating many times per week.  By doing this, I have grown tremendously in my life.  It has helped give me the proper knowledge to pass on to others. 

Meeting Asciepius

I didn't find this exercise very beneficial.  I already respect my grandma in every way that she was explaining in the exercise.  I think about her on a daily basis and how she has impacted my life.  I don't feel that I need an exercise to concentrate on her.  I think the exercise should be about a person a little less significant than the biggest role model in my life.  I again loved the ocean waves in the back ground, but I didn't find any benefit to this exercise. 

Unit 6 exercise and assessment

I found the loving-kindness exercise hard to repeat for 10 minutes.  I had to do it many times throughout the week before it became easier.  I really enjoyed it though.  I like what the exercise meant and to focus on helping others.  I participate in this almost everyday with my job.  I love helping others with their fitness goals.  I have changed many lives and that is why I wanted to become a personal trainer.  So in a way I practice loving-kindness all of the time.  With the assessment, I need to work on my psycho spiritual aspect of life.  I have been doing this through meditation and it has helped tremendously.  I feel that this has gotten much easier for me the more I do it.  I love how I feel when I am done meditating.  Thanks to the subtle mind exercise we did last time, I have become calmer and can sleep much more soundly.  I really enjoy this class and all that i have learned from it. 

Spiritual, mental, and physical wellness

Discuss the connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. Explain how the connection is manifested in your personal life. When we have good mental and physical wellness, we can further our minds into a more spiritual side. This happens when we explore a deeper state of mind. Our mental ability progresses when we become more connected with others. "The spiritual process aims at penttrating the deeper layers of the mind to uncover the natural wisdom, inner peace, and loving-kindness tha are the pivitoal causes of a sustained well-being of body, mind, and spirit." (Dacher, E.S 2006) This has helped me to get to know who I really am and where I need to be in all aspects of wellness. I realize that it can be a long process, but one worth every minute.

Subtle Mind vs Loving Kindness

I found this to be a wonderful experience. I love the deep breathing as apposed to trying to concentrate on another person. This is my favorite one now. I love the ocean waves and the silence to just breathe. The loving kindness exercise was beneficial to me, but it was too long and it was hard to concentrate sometimes. I do breathing exercises regularly to calm me down. The music in the background was very soothing and refreshing. I think that I like this more than the rainbow exercise. I didn't find this to be long at all. I would recommend this to anyone wanting to relieve stress. I think that this is also a great way to just concentrate on breathe instead of other things that we always think about.

Mental Work out

What is the concept of �Mental Workout? What does the research indicate are the proven benefits of a Mental Work Out? How can you implement mental workouts to foster your psychological health? A person must practice what they want to learn and obtain. You have to persevere if you want to accomplish anything. The book stated that we should do two types of practices. The first one is loving-kindness. This not to focus entirely on ourselves, but to enhance concern and compassion for others. We have loving kindness we get it back. Its almost like karma. The second one is subtle mind. This practice requires wisdom. This can happen when we tame our minds by exploring the nature of mind and our experiences. After mastering this we can still the mind and progress toward a more stable and peaceful self. I will implement this by trying this little by little most days of the week until they become second nature. These mental workouts will give me the ability to overcome many obstacles in my life.

Loving Kindness

I found this exercise to be very beneficial. I loved the woman's voice and the background of the waves. I feel that to have loving kindness we must focus on our emotions , whether negative or positive, and then we can project positive energy onto others. This is a great exercise to experience all of our emotions and deal with them so that we can create a more positive outlook on life. I honestly can say that when I have a negative outlook, I feel that no one wants to be around me. I have learned to change my outlook in the past few years. It took a lot of soul searching to do this. People want to be around me more often now than not. I always want to show compassion and love for others. I feel that my job also helps my outlook. Being a personal trainer, I have to always look out for the best interest of my client. This involves listening and accepting all the differences of my clients. Loving kindness happens when you have true compassion for who a person is.

Relaxation exercise.

I really enjoy this exercise. It has become my favorite way to meditate. I love how all of the colors mean something different and positive. I feel that color is a really great way to relax in my mind. It makes me think of flowers and their beauty.

Assisting my goals

3. What activities or exercise can you implement in your life to assist in moving toward each goal? For my physical goal I could try to prioritize my time better so that I could make more time to work on my physical goals. For my psychological goal I could keep pushing even when things are very mental challenging such as mental Olympic training. This would be my biggest challenge since I have so much going on in my life. I try my best to keep pushing, but sometimes I don't have the energy. For my spiritual goal I will make time to meditate. This is something that I have wanted to do for a while, but sometimes get side tracked when I am busy.

Goals for self.

2. Develop a goal for yourself in each area (physical, spiritual, psychological). My physical goal is to do cardio 5 times per week for 30 min-1 hour with a variety of exercises. I also want to lift weights 4-5 times per week for 1 hour-1&1/2 hours with a variety of exercises. My spiritual goal is to meditate everyday for at least 10 minutes. This will take place when I wake up, after exercise, or before going to bed. My psychological goal is to become more calm, happier, and stop worrying about small things.

Reflections of well-being

1. Based on your reflections, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal well-being), where do you rate your A-physical well-being, B-spiritual well-being, C-psychological well-being? Why? My physical well-being is at 9. I want it to become a 10. I work very hard on my physical well-being. I do 3-4 days of cardio per week along with 4-5 days of resistance training. I also practice yoga once a week. I think that there can always be improvement on physical well-being. My spiritual well-being is about a 5. I don't practice this often enough. Sometimes I feel like I don't have much time. I meditate about 3-4 times per week and do yoga once a week. My psychological well-being is at about 6-7. There are many things that I need to work on for this to be higher.

Reflection on relaxation exercise

I was very pleased with this exercise. I had no idea that 80% of our blood stayed in our abdominal cavity. When doing this exercise, I was surprised that my body felt the way he was describing in the exercise. My arms did feel warm and heavy and they were hard to move when he asked us to move them. This goes to show how powerful the mind is and how it affects our bodies with each thought we have.