Unit 6: Loving Kindness and Integral Assessment Exercises

I really enjoyed the loving kindness exercise. I performed this during my lunch at work and I found that when I returned to work (medical assistant) I had an overwhelming desire to be extra kind to coworkers and show sincere compassion to patients. I even felt compelled to show loving kindness to a collogue who has been especially…..well…bitchy lately. Sorry could think of another description.

The Integral Assessment was also interesting. The areas I determined as sources of suffering were not the areas I determined were ready for growth and development. Although I am considered healthy by “regular” assessment s (healthy BMI, blood pressure, cholesterol, ect) I chose fitness and nutrition as areas for growth at this point.  I feel that I am a very kinesthetic person, biological health is something I understand, and I feel that higher levels of fitness, nutrition, and self-regulation is my gateway into higher levels of integral  health.  My social activism is where I consider myself the lowest level.  Between working full time, full time school, and doctors visits to deal with infertility I do not have the time to be giving back to society in the way I would like. However, I feel that I can easily improve worldly flourishing, but making by work meaningful and by sharing the knowledge I am learning with colleagues and patients.  One of my sources of suffering may be in the interpersonal quadrant as is too personal to share and one of my sources of suffering may be in the psychospiritual quadrant  having to do with searching for meaning and life purpose. These are areas however that I am prepared to put the necessary work into at this time.

Unit 5: Reflections on Subtle Mind Exercise

I really enjoyed the subtle mind practice. Although I also enjoyed the loving kindness exercise, they felt very different. The loving kindness felt expansive; taking an emotion and expanding it to the universe. While the subtle mind exercise felt more narrow. I understand that once your “mind is tamed” you can relax your grip on the breath and that if you reach the unity consciousness phase the feeling of expansion may exist, but I am not at this stage.

I like the explanation about witnessing replacing gasping.  I was able to practice this later in the day after listening to the tape in the morning. I felt angry over a certain situation and I caught myself being invaded by that anger. As soon as I recognized this, I felt that I was able to observe the anger instead and then figure out why that situation provoked anger inside me.

One very clear connection between spirit, mind, and body for me centers around stress. When I am regularly practicing meditation and tai chi (spirit), I feel that my mind is more clear and I am less stressed (mental and emotional), which makes my body feel healthy and relaxed. On the other hand when I let my spiritual practiced go, I am less focused (mind) and then am actually more clumsy (body). I am also more stressed (emotional) and then have tension in my body and increased cholesterol.

Reflections on Loving Kindness Exercise

I enjoyed this exercise more than the previous two relaxation tapes we listened to. I think the reason is that I like less talk. With the previous two exercises my mind was thinking “ok, shut up so I can start relaxing”.  This time it was the perfect combination between guided imagery and relaxing white noise.

I found that when I pictured someone I cared about into order to expand my love, I choose family members….my Dad, Mom, brother, niece.  I tried to do this exercise thinking about my husband and I was challenged. This of course disturbed me. Why can I expand my love for family, but not my spouse? And my spouse is a good person, maybe a little controlling sometimes, but a very good person with a kind heart. And it is not just him; I tried to picture previous men I was in love with and the same thing happened.  It’s as if I have a blockage to truly open up in that kind of a way. It is definitely a more vulnerable kind of love than family.

Anyways, I found excepting someone’s pain actually easy. And not in a martyr kind of a way. I felt it was healthy. I know that I was capable of letting their pain into my heart without it lingering and doing damage. It felt good. I felt that I was able to use my feelings of loving kindness to heal someone else’s pain. This is definitely something to experiment with in patient care.

This exercise is an example of mental work-out.  Working out your brain, your mind, and your body all have similarities. Through effort and perseverance you are strengthening a part of you and making yourself more capable. More capable of lifting something or running fast, more capable of solving a mathematical problems, or more capable of practicing love and compassion.  There have been numerous studies showing that practicing mindfulness has physical  benefits such as increased clarity, reduces stress and stress-associated disease, and faster healing  (Carmody and Bear 2008). According to Dacher (2006),there  have also been studies showing structural changes in the brain with contemplative practice. 

Carmody, James; Baer, Ruth (2008) Relationships between mindfulness practice and levels of mindfulness, medical and psychological symptoms and well-being in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program.. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Vol. 31 Issue 1. DOI: 10.1007/s10865-007-9130-7

Dacher, E.S. (2006) Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing.  Basic Health Publications; Laguna Beach, Ca

Reflections of Relaxation Exercise

Hmmm, this relaxation exercise didn’t work for me as well. Although I feel like I am a very open and warm person, sometimes the intensely gooey lovey stuff turns me off a little. This is probably an issue that I should explore. I do like the idea of examining the different body parts and using colors to represent emotions, but it just seemed too detailed and a little exhausting. The main benefit of this meditation is that is showed me the emotions and ideas I am comfortable with and those that made me felt awkward and weird or just were not developed.

Ratings and Goals of Personal Health and Wellness

I rate my physical condition as a 7. I am considered a healthy weight, but I would like to loose 10 to 12 pounds.  I have a job that is more active than a computer job, but not nearly as active as the ski patrol/rafting/field geologist career I once had.  I have good blood pressure and borderline cholesterol. I manage to get to the gym about two days a week for ½ hr or so of moderate activity and I tend to be fairly active doing house and yard work on the weekends.  My new goal is to get at least 1 hour of exercise/ per day with a total accumulation of 3 hrs of moderate activity, 1 hr of intense activity, 2 hrs of strength, and 1 hour of stretching. I just got a new watch with a heart monitor that will help me keep track of my heart rate.  I will make a schedule of days and times that I go to the gym, will monitor my heart rate at work so that I can count some of that time,  and will spend some time in the morning stretching and lifting weight before I go to work.  I will also reduce my alcohol and dairy intake.

I rate my spiritual health as a 6. In the past I regularly meditated and did tai chi In addition I had a period of time where I communicated regularly with a trusted source and was working towards finding my “life purpose” At the moment I am not doing any of this.  I need to begin by actually setting some realistic goals. So I’m going to go with 15 minutes a day of spiritual practice, which could be meditation, tai chi, or communicating with trusted source. This will also be best completed in the morning before I go to work.

I rate my psychological health as an 8. I am fairly good at controlling my emotions; however I could probably stand to express myself more often. I recently changed careers and I feel good about this decision. I am also enjoying my online courses. So although I am extremely busy these days and do not have the tie do a lot of things I would like, I am actually happy and content in the direction I am heading.  I feel that I could improve my health by not repressing negative emotions. This is probably most important in my marriage. I tend to let things roll off y back instead of face issues. This is something I would like to change, but I honestly have to think more about my exact goals and how to approach them.

Reflection on Journey on Relaxation Exercise

I find it amusing that I usually get impatient at the beginning of medication and relaxation exercises such as these.  At first I had thoughts such as “I’m comfortable, my shoes are off! Come on, let get on with this thing. I’m ready to relax”. However I did shortly settle into the exercise and thoroughly enjoy it. I loved the dry sponge analogy. I have a tight shoulder muscle causing a pinched nerve and a lot of pain right now. I used this exercise to try and bring blood to that muscle.  It actually really helped. I felt my muscle relax and the spasm that comes from the pinched nerve reduce.  Internal versus external healing at work!

Welcome Statment

Welcome classmates and Professor Aguilar to my blog. I will be posting my reflections and responses to questions posed in class in this space over the next 10 weeks. I look forward to your feedback, responses and questions.