Mind-Body-Spirit Wellness

Describe the exercise and assessment process. What did you discover about yourself? What area have you chosen to be a focus of growth and development? Why? What are some specific exercises or activities that you can implement to foster greater wellness in this area?

The Loving Kindness exercise reminds me of praying. While doing this exercise I found myself more in prayer than repeating the phrases. When I can give any worries or stress to God I feel a sense of peace and comfort in it and that I will be guided to helping others and myself.

I do not feel that I really learned anything new about myself and found this activity easy. The area I have chosen is Interpersonal because I feel that my family life really needs more focus. I feel that our life is so busy with work, homework, housework, and activities I feel that we are creating a distance between all of us. I do feel that my reducing some of my stress through meditation I can focus better on our needs at home and find ways to reduce our busy life. What has happened to us is we have gotten so caught up on outside activities we have not taken the time to do things that will make us grow as a family. One thing I would like to start doing is to have family time before the kids go to bed where we can read a little bit of the bible and pray together as a family. My husband and me also need to plan date nights and a time during the day where we can sit down and reconnect and discuss what is going on in our lives.

Subtle Mind

Compare and contrast the Loving Kindness exercise and the Subtle mind exercise. Explain your experience including the benefits, frustrations etc.

            I liked the Loving Kindness exercise, but it was a bit overwhelming and was hard to take on others pain or worry. It was also hard to understand fully how that would help others, but I can see how I could dissolve my pain or worry in my heart. I feel for me praying for others works the best for me instead of trying to take on their discomfort. I like the Subtle mind exercise because it reminds me of when I gave birth to my kids. I was taught how to focus on my breathing to help relieve some of the pain and discomfort of labor pains. It helped me so much and I would highly recommend it to others. I was able to learn how to stay focus on my breath. I do not do it as often in my daily life, but there are times I do feel like I need a “time out” so I feel that breathing really helps me to refocus and calm down. I also enjoyed that there was less talking in this exercise. I have a hard time when there are a lot of instructions because I feel that I have a hard time turning off my mind and it is hard to focus on the exercise.

Discuss the connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. Explain how the connection is manifested in your personal life.

            I feel that spiritual wellness is very important in order to experience the full benefits of the mental and physical wellness. I work our a lot, so I feel that my physical wellness is strong, but I feel week in the mental and spiritual area. I have a relationship with God and even though not everyone relates his or her spiritual wellness through a relationship with God that is how I see my spiritual wellness. When I feel weak in this area I have a hard feeling strong mentally and even physically. When I am praying, trusting God, and letting go of things to him I feel weak, anxious, depressed, and even mad sometimes. When I am really focused on my spiritual wellness I feel strong, happy, and peaceful.

The Mind-Body-Spirit Paradigm

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The Mind-Body-Spirit Paradigm

What is the concept of "mental workout"? What does the research indicate are the proven benefits of a mental workout? How can you implement mental workouts to foster your psychological health?

Mental training can reduce emotions that cause anger, hatred, fear, worry, confusion, and doubt. Mental training can produce positive emotions like patience, loving-kindness, openness, acceptance, and happiness. This transformation through the mind and body connection can promote well-being, limit mental distress and physical disease, and expands our healing capacities (Dacher, 2006). 

By developing a compassionate mental state I fell I would be able to live each day with very little to no stress. If I do experience any stress I feel that if my mind is trained properly I could handle stress better. I also feel tis would help with my anxiety. I would know how to turn my anxious feelings into more positive feelings.

Describe your experience. Did you find it beneficial? Difficult? Why or why not? Would you recommend this to others? Why or why not?

This exercise was a little difficult because it seemed to be overwhelming at times. I also feel that it would need to be done several times to get the benefits out of it. I really liked the idea of thinking about the negative and releasing your grip on it. I feel by doing this you are set free of the negatives things that are holding you back. I liked the idea of breathing in the suffering of a loved one, but as I did it I felt a bit overwhelmed too. I was breathing in the anxiety, stress, and depression my mom is going through and I felt overwhelmed by it because I did not want to end up taking it on too, but when she said it would dissolved in my heart it gave me a sense of comfort. I think it is important to focus on loving-kindness towards others, and us so I would recommend this to others, but would stress that it would be important to do often. I think one of the hardest things is the think of strangers and to take on their suffering.

Reflections

I have never really thought about by well-being when it comes to physical, spiritual, and psychological, so this exercise really got me thinking. For my physical well-being I would rate it as an eight, my spiritual well-being would be a five, and my psychological well-being would be a five.

I exercise 5-6 days a week, so I feel my physical well-being is almost a ten but there is always room for improvement. I could change up my routine to try something new, try new healthy foods, and to make stretching just as important as exercise. A physical goal I have is to try to work in yoga into my routine. I have been wanting to try hot yoga and there is a place that is right by my house.

I gave my spiritual well-being a five because I need to spend more time in prayer, reading my bible, and getting more involved in my church. My spiritual goal is to trade in reading Facebook and looking a Pinterest each night for reading my bible and prayer time. I have just signed up to start helping out in the nursery at and to be on the MOPS comity at my church, so that will help get me more involved in my church.

I gave my psychological goal a five because I do feel stressed out a majority of the time. I also struggle with anxiety and being hard on myself. My number one goal is to work on cutting out some of the busyness in our life. The first thing I am doing is to not feel obligated to do something every weekend with my friends. I feel that if I can cut our some of the busyness in my life I will feel less stress, which will help with my anxiety and help with me being so hard on myself.

I liked the exercise because it did make me feel relaxed and grounded. I do feel that I would have to do this exercise a few times to get the most out of it. I had a hard time really seeing the colors and trying to connect the colors with each area. I feel since there are different commands given that this relaxation exercise is hard to do for someone who is new at it. I would suggest that it be done several times to get the most out of it.

Exercise

I have finally had a chance to sit down and list to the exercise and wish I would of done it sooner. I really enjoyed the way I was able to release some of the tension I was carrying in my shoulders. Once I was able to start moving the blood from my core to my shoulders and hands I felt a sense of warmth especially in the palms of my hands. My shoulders continued to feel relaxed after the exercise was over and I felt so relaxed all over. I did not feel sleepy, but a sense of calm it helped me let go of some anxiety I was feeling through out my morning and afternoon.

I am looking forward to doing this exercise to focus on my hip pain that I am having from running. I feel a lot of tension sits in my hip and lower back on my right side, so I am going to try and focus the blood flow to that part of my body to see if that will help with the tension.

Welcome

I am a stay at home mom of four kids 14, 10, 6, and 2. I have developed a passion for health and wellness, so I decided to get my Bachelors in Health and Wellness. So many people are confused or have a lack of education when it comes to eating healthy. I love sharing information with people and I love helping them understand how easy it can actually be to eat healthy.

One statement that I love and love to share is Gain weight is hard, Being overweight is hard, and Staying fit is hard...Choose your hard.