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.