Its not the end, but merely the beginning of something great.

Hello Professor,

“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 rated myself pretty well, 9-Physical, 8-Spiritual, 7/8-Psycological. Looking back on those scores now, I would have to say that I was a little too ambiguous maybe when referring to spiritual and psychological. Thinking about it again now I would have to say that I am a 7- Spiritually, and Psychologically. This is because now I know what to do and what to look for, I still sometimes get caught in a stressful environment and act off of emotion instead of thinking and acting clearly, however I am working on it and getting steadily better with it. I have noticed that when I have a clear head my day is worlds better than when I’m stressed out. Visualizing loving kindness is much more effective spiritually now then when I previously did it, when you really concentrate on those specific feelings its amazing how you feel during and afterwards. I would have to say that my score changed because I began to have a better understanding of the exercises and techniques and how to perform them correctly really noticing how I feel.

“Review the goals and activities you set for yourself in each area. Have you made progress toward the goals? Explain.”

I have made significant progress with my physical goal, I do cardio multiple times a week, and not to mention my daily nutrition is so much better than it was. As for Spiritually, I have been meditating a little more than before, but not as much as I would like, so I still have to work a little harder for that. Lastly Psychologically, is one of the harder goals to complete, I am doing better with not letting certain stress waves get me, but I still occasionally find myself drowning in it. I have to practice yoga and meditation more so that my mind is clear and ready to coast over the stress and manage it effectively.

“Have you implemented the activities you chose for your well-being in each of the three areas? Explain.”

I have implemented all activities for each area except for yoga, I am still in the process of making the time to be able to attend a class. While yoga also helps with meditation, that is also an area that I need to work on more in the mornings. Visualizing my days is also an activity that I have to preform more readily, I find that when I perform the visualization exercise before my day it tends to go a lot better consistently than not.

“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?”

This class has been awesome; I love learning ways to promote health and happiness. Integral health is definitely that, I can’t wait to start being able to help my future clients not only through nutrition and exercise biologically, but internally as well, food for the mind so to speak. Realizing the feelings that come from the exercises is rewarding, the difficulty is being able to truly clear your mind so that you may perform the exercise the way it was intended. I will be able to assist others during their path to well-being because I know what it takes to get minimal results and how hard it is, and results speak louder than anything.

Jr Woolson

Unit 9 Project

Unit 9 Final Project

Path to Holistic/Integral Health

Jr Woolson

HW420- Creating Wellness

Professor Hart

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?”

            It is imperative for health and wellness professionals to develop spiritual, physical, and psychological domains daily because they are always constantly changing their goals as they develop throughout their lives. The number one aspect with becoming a health and wellness professional is maintaining a holistic health, which requires all three domains listed above. In order to be successful in your specific career, a person needs to practice what he or she does in his or her own life. The Mind controls the body; this also means that a person can only flourish physically if the mind (psychological) pushes the body to maintain proper fitness and nutrition. As shallow as this seems everything these days is based off looks, and if a person does not look the part of a health and wellness professional, he or she will not be successful. However, that should not be the only reason to motivate a person to stay healthy biologically. One can only be happy if they are happy with themselves. That being said, how can a professional that is unhappy expect to be able to help someone else achieve happiness? If you yourself are unable to maintain holistic health, how are you able to help another person attain it; do not teach what you do not practice. In order for me to achieve my goals, I need to increase all three domains, some more than others, for right now at this point and time in my life. Those areas I believe are Psychological/Interpersonal, Physically/Biologically. I am going to put spiritual on here as well because its not a priority, but will be once I reach one of my goals.

Assessment:

“How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?”

           

            In order to meet my current goals, I need to focus on Physical and Psychological, as I mentioned earlier. I need to improve my Nutrition by no longer having the “survival hunger,” meaning that when I am incredibly hungry, I eat whatever I can get my hands on. I do not do this a lot, but I should not do it at all. Psychologically, I want to achieve unlimited motivation, and increase my positive thinking. Right now I currently am an Executive Chef working about 60-65 hours a week, go to school, the gym, martial arts class, and I also am in a relationship, and have a 5 year old German shepherd. I am a very busy person and it tends to feel overwhelming, but I have a lot of confidence in myself and I know this is only temporary so that I can get to where I want to be. However, sometimes my motivation lacks, and to attain an even higher level of motivation would be well accepted. I also love motivating other people as well; it is an amazing feeling.

Goal Development:

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

Physical - I want to gain weight and improve my nutrition. I am currently not eating enough to gain weight because I am burning more calories than I am eating. Make it through school now and for my masters, get out of the kitchen since it creates an unhappy environment.

Psychological - Improved motivation, relentless motivation. Stay positive; maintain a level head and surf through stressful situations by keeping a cool mind.

Spiritual - Be grateful, use loving kindness exercise, improve my relationships with the people in my life. Help someone, somehow, each and every day.

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.”

Physical - Stick to my current regimen at the gym, as long as I keep changing my workout routines, smarter meal preparation by providing myself with enough time to make my meals ahead of time, I can reach this goal by making meals at the beginning and end of the week (this will also help me with ideas on how to help my future clients as a nutritionist and eventually a dietician on how to eat properly when very busy).  Achieve a black belt in Hapkido and start yoga. By taking 3 hours a week and dedicating those hours to Hapkido class I can reach this goal in a year. Yoga will be down in the morning on my days off with a friend of mine who is an instructor (mentor/helper). 

Psychological - In order to achieve a higher degree of motivation I need to meditate more often, 1-2 times a day for 10 min each, preferably morning and night. I also want to incorporate visualization into my life by doing it while I am in the shower or eating, Hapkido will help me with meditation and visualization.

Spiritual - These practices include listening to my favorite songs, which then reminds me of great moments throughout my life like, being at the beach, playing sports, or my winter vacation (snowcation) where a bunch of friends and me went snowboarding for 5 days (one of my favorite vacations ever). I also met my girlfriend on that trip, so when I think of the trip not only does it bring happiness but it also brings the loving kindness exercise. Visualization can also work with promoting spiritual growth.

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?”

            In order to track my progression or regression throughout my health and wellness plan, I need to incorporate a program like the one I use at the gym. By creating a bar graph chart that has my current assessment numbers on it as a starting point, and as time progresses, day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month. Each domain will have their specific exercise, and the amount of times I am required to do that exercise (like sets and reps). For every completion the line will get higher on the graph by 1 spot, I will assess my progress at the end of each month to maintain my integral growth.

           

             

Jr Woolson,

Dacher, S. (2006). Integral health the path to human flourishing. (pp. 105-129). Laguna Beach: Basic health publications.