I - 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?
In my opinion, it is vital that health and wellness
professionals lead by example. This is a field where incorporating integral
health practices into their own lives is integral to professionals, before
offering treatment to others. This is also a profession where people can easily
judge where you are at personally with in career that you are considered a
professional in. If you want people to follow you, you must represent your
brand.
According to (Dacher 2006. p.167), when professionals implement integral
health in to their own lives, they “will come to know that the alleviation of
suffering and the ascent to human flourishing are more than ideas.” These
professionals will than want to end needless suffering to the best of their
ability and therefore, “the soul of medicine returns.”
II - Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do
you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?
We we’re given several tools throughout this class to help us
incorporate integral health into our
Professional lives. I have been
highly evaluating and finding outside resources to get a good and semi accurate
account of where I am at in each component.
Some of the questions I asked myself dealt with which part
of my life is suffering the most, what levels to I aspire to achieve for myself
in the future, what components are most ready for the growth and will stand to
gain the most benefit, how will I form a plan to implement these changes
+ In the physical aspect of my
life, I would currently rate myself at a 7- I want to strive to be considered a
fit person, just not in shape. I believe this would help me to attain a 9 or 10
rating.
+In the spiritual aspect I would
consider myself at a 6- I am very excepting of other people’s spiritual belief
or at least believing in themselves, if nothing else. I consider myself spiritual
person, but I would like to rely on it more than I do right now.
+In the psychological aspect- I would
currently rate myself at a 7, but it fluctuates.
III - Goal Development:
Physically- In the physical aspect of my
life I want to strive to be considered a fit person, just not in shape. In the
pass couple of years I have become more in shape than I ever was in my 20s, but
knowing the health benefits that I can.
Spiritually- I feel most at home
when I am practicing yoga. I use to joke with my friends that would ask me
about church that they could always find me at the “House of yoga” before our
Sunday brunch. I want to get back in that habit instead of just using yoga as a
workout. I feel that I am more at peace and find peace in others when I really
focus on grounding myself at yoga.
Psychologically - Since stress
affects how I handle things psychologically I want to be better equipped to
handle these situations and for that number not to fluctuate, but maintain as I
am faced with things.
IV - 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.
Strategies I plan on using include entering a race that I
have to pay for and commit to doing it with others. I also plan on; keeping
documented progress via a social network. This will cause me to hold myself
more accountable.
To get back into using yoga spiritually, I need to find a
new studio to practice at on top of my current one. While Brikram yoga helps me
build mental resiliency, helps me biologically, and physically. I don’t get the
spiritual benefit that I got from my previous hot yoga studio. I will search to
find one and attend that one on Sunday mornings. I grew up going to church and
our culture generally looks at Sunday as attendance day spiritually. By adding
it to that time slot, I will go back to viewing it as my place of worship. I
also plan on talking about it to others, I feel as though this reinforces spirituality.
Psychologically- I can often sell myself on something if
my health is going to benefit. Benefits of mediation may include lower blood pressure,
restores digestive system, releases fears, reduces anxiety, relieves insomnia,
and freeing the mind from self-doubt and chatter. I’m all about mental resiliency, so “I’m
sold!”. To incorporate positive psychological growth I plan on reminding myself
to practice meditation more regularly. I have also downloaded the audio to my
mini MP3 player, which I keep on my nightstand. The constant reminder as I get
in and out of bed should get me to listen more often. I also plan on purchasing
more books to read along with the 2, I already have.
V - Commitment:
In order to hold myself accountable on achieving this goal
I plan on making a video reviewing this assignment and giving myself words of
encouragement of why I as aspire to have optimal health. By continuing to make
these video diary entries throughout my journey and documenting the process so that
I can see and hear it: I hope remain on the path to achieving my journey. I
also believe writing this all down has served as a healing tool and cleared my
mind of the chatter so I could refocus my efforts to attain full integral
health. Finally, I will make a vow to myself to complete this project.
References
Dacher,
E. S. (2006). Integral health: The path to human flourishing. Laguna
Beach,
CA:
Basic Health Publications, Inc.
