Deep Breathing

The past couple of days have been really hectic. I have had to really my practice my deep breathing to reduce my stress. Sometimes I just want to scream,but it would not do any good. It has been really busy at work, being short staffed has really been a struggle on all of us. I think some of nerves are becoming very raw, and will set of the kind of emotions. Hope not.
Anyway, finished my papers last night, but apparently I submitted the wrong to one of my instructors, it can really irritating when I do something so stupid. I guess that what happens when you're really tired. I am resubmitting today.

Going to do my ab work out today, taking it easy on my knee this week, I have been having some swelling after my work outs, so I am trying to rest it for week and use ice packs on it. Just so I do some exercise I am happy. The eggplant parm was great last night, tonight we will have buffalo turkey burgers-yummie......

Off to work soon, will check back in tonight.

It's a Battle

Every day it is a battle to getting healthy, though I am happy with my workouts, weight loss etc... there are days I just like to do not get things acomplished like I should. With Timmy working a lot, (believe me I am very thankful), I am left with all the housework, cooking, homework, working out and of course, the regular workday. This has been very trying on my stress factors, so I am having to meditate more often than before. It brings me back to myself and why I am doing all I do each and every day.

I have enjoyed cooking this week so far. Sunday I made grilled salmon with tomato basil sauce with seasoned egg noodles and salad. I also made a breakfast casserole for us to eat on this week. Yesterday, was a homemade pizza, yes pizza, made low calorie and low fat. Tonight is healthy eggplant parm.

Papers due tonight so I will be up late again, wait to the last minute to finish up. But I know I will get 'ur done as my husband would say.

Anyway, looking forward to a great day.
love to all.

It's been a great day

Got up this morning, normal routine of getting things together for work, worked at the HPRHS Gym was a little late getting there, but I managed to get a good 30 minutes in on the eliptical. It's great getting back to my routine, I feel a big difference in how feel. I had been a real funk the last couple of weeks because of my schedule changes and unable to get my dose of exercise each day.

The book I am reading has really brought back to myself, it really keys on the what I have been through for so many years. I have to thank Mary for letting me borrow this book.

Planning a good meal for supper, turkey tenderloin, green beans, boiled potatoes and cantaloupe. Overall, I am getting back to myself.

It's time to get real

This intended for all my facebooks friends and family. It has come an important time in my life to share with everyone my struggles with weight and what I have over come in the past year. I was in denial, I felt terrible all the time, relied on a bag of potato chips, fried foods and other items to make my stress feel better. But I learn that was not the answer. God, Faith, Jesus, and finding myself was the key to my well being.

Since then, I have lost 41 lbs, love life, enjoy swimming again, love my husband looking at me with the adoring eyes, best of all love loving myself. I love myself for whom I am, not for what someone wants me to be or thinks I should be. I may step on toes now, but I just want to share with others that being obese is not healthy. You may be healthy as far as you labwork, but what does the number on the scale show, how much fat is hiding around your heart, so this is my challenge, for everyone to be honest with themselves. Do you feel great going up steps, walking around the block, having fun on the beach or do you feel bad, tired, fatigued?

Follow me on my journey, I am still growing and learning, losing weight, finding myself again has been really great......

Hello to anyone still blogging

It was a great day for me to day. I am actually fitting in clothes I have not worn into a real long time. Still working on my stress issues. Maybe someday I will have conquered. I hope some of the folks from class are still blogging.....

Unit 10 Reflection

So, I went back to my Unit 3 post, I had stated my physical well-being was a three at point. I feel it has improved to a 6 right now. This due to recent battle with an upper respiratory infection and possible cystitis. I have been following my exercise routine until last Thursday when the infection and fever took control. I have been on total rest til next Thursday per Doctor's orders. I really miss my workout, it gives me so much energy.

My spiritual well being was an 8, so now it I would say it is about the same. Though I do feel I have improved my meditation techniques quite a bit. I hope to be at a 10 in by the end of the year.

My psychological well-being was at 5, I believe it is 8. Though I try not to let stress and other situations disturb my positive attitude, most days I can sit down at lunch and practice my deep breathing and I am able to refocus. But then there are days that aren't that easy.

This course has given the opportunity to learn new techniques to help me get to unity consciousness. It is an eye opening experience to see just how much your mental fitness really affects the rest of your fitness levels. I have implemented my exercise schedule and my relaxation techniques.

It has been great to see that there are others that are struggling with weight, spirituality and other life issues. We need to keep in tough through our blogs just a moral support. I plan to keep my blog updated.

Sorry about my unit 9 post

I just figured out what happened to this post. I posted to my old jsblog.blogspot.com by mistake. This was an old blog from 2008. Sorry, about the confusion. It can been seen on that blog if there are any doubts. Thanks

Unit 9 Project Personal Assesssment

Below you will find the paper I have submitted. The main point here is to remember to use our techniques we have learned during this term, keep journals or use our blogs as place to post our achievements. It is also good to use tools such as sparkpeople.com to track daily nutritional habits. I wish you and every one many more year of happiness, wholeness and health.

The object of this paper is to create a plan of the concepts we have learned during this term. This plan will to foster growth and health spiritually, physically and psychologically in my personal life.
It is important to for health professionals to develop themselves psychologically, spiritually and physically. The professional must be able to coach their clients on the same principles that they had been doing themselves. It is important to practice what you preach. For myself to be able to help others, I have to first get myself in shape mentally, physically and spiritually. To have what is called total wellness, happiness and wholeness you must develop you mind, body and spirit. Within in the four aspects of the human experience psychospiritual, interpersonal, biological and worldly, I need to develop unity consciousness, mind body and spiritual body, all of us, and get to the full service of the worldly quadrant.
Within in the psychospiritual quadrant to achieve unity consciousness, I plan to continue practicing the exercises learned in this term. Right now at this point in my life, I am working in the witnessing mind step of psychospiritual. The goal for this quadrant is to continue practicing various exercises such as the loving-kindness exercise until I reach the calm abiding stage. With continued practice of relaxation techniques combined with the loving kindness and the subtle mind exercises for 30 minutes a day, I hope to one ready the unity consciousness stage of the psychospiritual quadrant.
Within biological quadrant, I need to work on my physical body in regards to weight loss and being physically fit. The achieve success in this area, the goal is to continue with the eating plan I am currently following along with 45 minutes to one hour of exercise for at least four to five days per week. The exercise program will encompass the use of equipment at our employee fitness center along with walking and stretching. Along with this, getting my mind fit so these tasks can be completely will a top priority. The use of my spiritual awakening, prayer, and meditation has already improved my mental fitness and my physical fitness. Per Dacher, it is important to develop your body to mind to spirit to achieve this goal.
The interpersonal quadrant includes my growth from me to you to us to all of us. (Dacher, 2006) In accessing myself in this area, I will continue to work on the all of us. I already regard those around me as friends, I do not feel a sense of isolation or separateness instead a feel a sense of oneness. I share with my coworkers and love ones daily my experiences and growth in my spirituality and how important it is to love one another.
Within the worldly life quadrant, the area of service will be a continue process. I already have discovered how giving, caring, nurturing and mentoring can help achieve the goal of total health, happiness, and wholeness. Each day keeping a positive approach to life’s issues helps me to achieve my service goal. Within the healthcare system, we are currently practicing services excellence. Within this concept, we as employees, provides a positive experience for our patients. We treat each person how we would like to be treated. If we cannot have compassion for our patients and their patients then we should not be working in the healthcare field. It only takes one act of kindness, a smile or a small jester to will make the patient feel more comfortable. With practicing the exercises of loving kindness and relaxation techniques, I can continue to provide not only my patients with the care and compassion they need but also my family, and coworkers.
My long term plan is to continue practicing relaxation techniques and loving kindness exercise. Within my physical goals, I will plan to continue with my weight loss plan, exercise for 45 minutes to one hour for at least five days a week. I would like to learn yoga and take a zumba class to give me more balance. Within my spiritual wellness, I will continue the use of prayer and meditation daily, continue attending church services and reading scripture to help broaden my mind. It is within my Christianity I have regained control over my life. To track my progress, I will continue to journal daily what I have done, and keep my appointments each month with my physician.
In closing, to achieve total happiness, wellness and wholeness, I will practice my exercises and look for continued class to educate myself on spiritual wellness. My long term objective is to be a spiritual wellness counselor. So I will end with this final goal of reaching a flourishing body, mind and spirit, I will then realize sustained health, happiness and wholeness. (Dacher, 2006)

References
Dacher, E (2005) Integral Health, The Path to Human Flourishing, Basic Health Publications Inc.

Great work out today

Since I have started working out at the employee gym, I am beginning to see a difference in how my clothes fit. Worked out on the treadmill and bike today for 45 minutes and then did stretches to cool down. I will do my meditation exercise before bed tonight to help me sleep.

unit 8 blog post

After reviewing the exercises we have done this term, I believe my favorites are the loving kindness and meeting Asciepius. I would incorporate these exercises in my weekly routine along with relaxation techniques I already use. I have found the deep breathing exercises really work for the best for me. And believe right now, if I did not practice my relaxation techniques and my faith or spirituality, I would not be able to be as positive and up beat. I would set aside some time each day to practice my exercises, mainly in the evening hours when I really need to de-stress. The morning hours are when I try to exercise at the gym or walk outside. I would like learn about yoga. I can not take it on right now, but maybe in the future.

Life can be challenging, but it is your choice on how you will take care of it-either let the stress rule you or you rule the stress.

I am actually looking to the future and trying to find more information on wellness counseling using the relaxation techniques and spirituality. I have already information a spirituality training, that I may consider in the future. I do not want be an personal trainer that concentrates on the physical aspect side of it, but I want to do more of the wellness/spiritual counseling part.

This term has really been eye opening me. It has provides various options for the future. I hope all of you will continue to use your blog, and keep us updated on how you are progressing....

Weigh in visit February 4

Weigh in went great today. Down 9 lbs!!! that makes 26.5 total now. I think am really on track to getting healthy and being the best I can be...........

Unit 7 exercise

After performing the meeting Asciepius, I felt very relaxed and at peace. I felt like I had gotten closer to spiritual world and being with my dad. I would recommend this practice to family and friends. With all the stress that can sometimes consume our lives, it is wonderful to have these practices to follow to help us to relax.







The saying "one cannot lead another is where one has not gone himself" is telling me that if I am wanting to counsel someone on health and nutrition that I should be able to relate to my own struggles with weight loss. Since was overweight as child and now as an adult, I would be able to understand what emotions my clients has towards weight loss. It is easier to follow someone that has been through it than it is to follow someone that has no concept of what being overweight is like. If you have been physically fit all your life can you understand or be able to empathize with someone that has not been physically fit? If you walk a mile in another person's shoes, than you can experience what they are feeling.



I do feel I will have an obligation to my clients to help them spiritually, physically and psychologically. This is really the only way to achieve overall health, happiness and wholeness. We each have a responsibility to give our clients the best possible care. Though I am not in job that is in my degree area, I practice empathy, helpfullness and spiritual comfort on a daily basis. Sometimes I can associate what I have experienced before as a patient to help them be more comfortable about a procedure they are having done that done. An act of kindness and a smile can make a patient become more at ease and relaxed.

spiritual wellness master - Bing Images

spiritual wellness master - Bing Images

This is good site to get images....

Unit 6 post

After practicng the loving kindess exercise, I found I was a peace with alot the problems I have going on in my life right now. This past week really took a toll my spiritual psyche. But after this weekend of practicing the loving kindness and other relaxation techniques, I was able to get my mind back to calmness and into the positive that I had before.

The integral assessment process showed I need to grow and develop my worldly and interpersonal aspects of my life. I need to work and development my interspersonal due the troubled times my husband and I experiencing right now. These are also the areas that need healing. My biologcial area is doing great. I am having the pains that I was experiencing before and I am focused on going to lose weight and can control of my health. Continue to perform my relaxation techniques and meditation practices will help to achieve heal in these areas.

Connection of Spiritual Wellness to mental and physical wellness

This has been a real learning process for me. It is amazing how much your spiritual wellness and mental wellness can affect your physical wellness. I have over stressed for many years and it wasn't until I took my Stress Management course last fall, I begin to find my true spirituality. Even though, I rededicated my life to service of my God and Lord Jesus Christ in April of last and was re-baptized in June, it was learning the meditation and relaxation that has brought me closer than ever before. When we are stressed, anxious, and letting our negative emotions run our lives then our entire body and mind suffers. You can high blood pressure, diabetes, bowel and bladder troubles. When we train our mind to channel the blood flow to the areas of the immune system, it will help to reduce much of these problems. I can witness to this, because I was having much trouble with lower leg and back pain, I was taking pain medications and ibuprofen like it was candy. When I started practicing the relaxation techniques to relieve stress, I saw much of this problem go away. I am not saying that do still have pain, I do sometimes, but it usually go insides with a day of tremendous stress or anxiety.
I am going to end this with a quote from our text "An ease and lightness enter our life and cleanse our mind and body. In this manner, biological development progressively extends our ability to prevent mental distress and physical illness, enhances recovery from disease, and promotes integral health, happiness and wholeness. " (Dacher, 2006)

Reference:

Dacher, E (2006) Integral Health, The Path to Human Flourishing, Basic Health Publication, Inc.

Subtle Mind Exercise/Visualization Exercise

I completed the subtle mind exercise yesterday and I found it did not help me at all. I could not trully get the spiritual state with all the static sounds. I did go ahead do the last exercise which was visualization. I choose my father as my focal point for great respect and inspiration. He passed away 23 years ago and still it feels like yesterday. While performing this visualization, I also visited with my spiritual father, God. It is through all the exercises that we are performing and my continued growth in my faith that I am finding true peace even these difficult times.

The loving kindess practice is still beneficial, I would use it over the subtle mind any day. By they way, if you find you can not concentrate, I actually did the whole CD while relaxing in a wonderfully hot bubble bath yesterday afternoon. It really helps to promote the relaxation processs.

Have a great week

Unit 4 Blog exercise

As part of our weekly exercises we needed to listen to Practice 1: Loving-Kindness as well as track 2 the subtle mind. Within the loving kindness practice, I found it gave me peace and tranquility. I pictured my husband as my love in which I focused on and at the part we took in breathes to help someone close to us that was not feeling well, he weighed heavily on my mind. I came to more peace about what is happening in our lives right and I hope this exercise will help my husband also. The second part of the exercise I used a fellow co worker that has a family member that is terminally ill. I would recommend this practice to anyone, I think after doing this over a period of time you could really achieve the love happiness and subtle mind state.

The concept of "Mental Workout" refers to a daily commitment to practice human flourishing exercises. It takes dedicating time each day to achieve the appropriate results. It is suggested by Dacher to start by doing at least 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon until you work up to one hour per day. According to Dacher, after you dedicate yourself to theses exercises it will you to achieve "the progressive development of an expanded consciousness and its healing capabilities." (Dacher, 2006)

Reference:
Dacher, E (2006) Integral Health, The Path to Human Publishing, Basis Health Publications, Inc.

Realization

I have just realized that sometimes I tend to procrastinate on projects. I just completed a project for my other class, Mapping the Mind-Body Divide, and I do not feel as if I did the best possible job on it. With this week, my life has experience some changes in finances with my husband losing his unemployment benefits, thus putting me as the soul provider for the two of us. Okay this is a first, I have never gave out this much detail on my personal life. But I feel that with my spirituality and beliefs in the good Lord up above we will overcome this situation. God always has a plan for us, now it is his time to find the plan.

Thanks for letting my get this great frustration on my chest.

Crime of the Century Exercise

Well, I tried this relaxation exercise, it started out okay, but by the end I did not feel as relaxed as I have with other ones. I had a little trouble the visualization. I do not think I would use this one to relax by.

My Reflections on Physical, Spiritual and psycholoigcal well being

My reflections for the past year can be one of great turmoil and unrest until the later part of the year when I found the art of relaxation and the true meaning of spirituality. If I have to rate my physical well being it would be a 3. Though I am on the road of gaining a more physical image. I will add in more indoor type exercises such as a treadmill or elliptical to my routine. I have gotten off during the month of December when the weather turned cold and walking outside was not in the available. My goal would be to work out at the gym at work and continue on my weight loss plan.

My spiritual well being would be a 8, because I rededicated my life to service of God and the Lord, Jesus Christ during 2010. I was re baptized in June 2010. Each day is a new day in becoming closer and closer to my spiritual well being. I also use relaxation techniques to help me DE -stress after a long day at work. My goal will be to implement a daily devotional time and continue practicing the relaxation techniques.

My psychological well being is a 5 right now. I am working on getting myself in the right frame of mind. We have experienced a lot of tough situations in our personal and financial life during 2010 that it is taking me a while to get my psyche back on track. I feel by putting myself in a more spiritual state that I can overcome the mind-body divide. My goal here is to mind relaxing techiniques, lean on my spiritual beliefs to find peace and continue to work hard each and every day to overcome adversities.

The activities I will implement this year will going the employee gym and working out on the treadmill or elliptical, add on strength training. I will continue to do the relaxation techniques to get me more in tuned with my spiritual and psychological well being. I will also be implementing a daily devotional time.

Weigh in visit December 30

My weight loss for the month of December was 6 lbs. It brings to my total to 18 lbs since the end of October. I am trying to remember I need to lose this weight slowly so it will become a permanent change but as most people do I had hoped to have more off. Looking forward to a new year with more weight loss and more spiritual healing....