My Plan for Fostering Integral Health

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually, and physically so that they can be the picture of human flourishing that they want their patients/clients to be. It is very difficult to teach what you have not experienced. It is important for a health and wellness professional to be able to focus on their patients so that they can pick up on important clues that the patient will provide in talking about their conditions and what they want for themselves so that they can develop a holistic, integral program that addresses the patient’s concerns and addresses some of the underlying issues that are contributory to the patient’s condition. Of these three areas of development, I need to work on the physical the most to achieve the goal that I have for my integral health. My psychological and spiritual areas are feed most often and the physical is the area that is screaming for attention. 

I have assessed my health in each of these areas by looking at how I feel at this point in my life about each of them. As I stated earlier, my spirit and psyche are feed all the time but my physical has been left starved and wanting. I have made some small nutritional changes that will be beneficial in the long term but I need to address exercise as a short term goal and I need to establish a way to track my progress so that I know that I am intentionally choosing to develop this area. I would score my spiritual and my psychological areas an 8 or 9 and my physical a 5. Having assessed each area, it is time to develop some goals to drastically develop my physical and to keep my spiritual and psychological on a steady pace. 

One goal that I have for my physical is to find fifteen minutes a day to exercise. I find time to do all of the other things that I want to do so there is no excuse. I am looking for some 15 minute workouts that will work my entire body and I shooting to do the 15 minutes at night as I am not a morning person. Any help you all can provide will be greatly appreciated. I need to get started like yesterday. One goal that I have for my spiritual area is to attend Sunday school on a regular basis like I used to do. I find that when I am spiritually strong, I tend to be stronger in other areas as well. I will use my spiritual to help me with my physical goal. One goal that I have for the psychological area is to take more time each day to let it all go for a few minutes and just enjoy being in the moment to allow the stress of the day to melt away and empty my mind of all of the distractions. I find a few minutes a day to do this but I would love to find more time. Maybe I can incorporate this into my exercise routine. 

Practices for personal health will include using strategies like visualization and meditation. To obtain my physical goals I will use visualization to get me started and to keep me going. I need to see myself exercising for those 15 minutes and enjoying the experience, rather than focusing on the negative aspects like the soreness that I know will come until my body has gotten used to exercising again. I will also try to incorporate yoga classes to aid in my physical health. I have taken yoga classes before and I was much more centered and focused when I attended on a regular basis. For my psychological health, I am looking to use yoga and meditation. This is an area of strength of me so I just need to maintain course. Using one of my physical goals for psychological development also will ensure that I don’t neglect this area as I focus on the physical. Meditation will allow me to focus on the psychological and spiritual both at the same time. I have found that when I meditate I am closer to God because my mind is open to hear from Him when it is not distracted and is calmness will help to reduce the stress as well as keep my blood pressure under control or lower it, enhancing my physical health, the area that currently requires the most attention. The two practices that I will focus on for my spiritual health are the contemplative practices of Meeting Asclepius and the loving kindness practice. The Meeting Asclepius visualization practice was the practice that truly meets me where I am. I was engrossed in this practice that I lost myself for a few minutes before I was able to return to the room. Spending time in the space where I found myself will surely keep me on track spiritually. The loving kindness practice will benefit my spiritual and psychological health as well. When we are focused on others and not self, we can give from a place of love and sincerity. Remaining in this frame of mind will further develop not only my spiritual health but my physical and psychological health as well. 

To assess my commit, progress, or lack thereof, I will set both short and long term goals for the next six months. I will set goals for two months, four months, and six months for each area. I will develop one or two specific goal for each area and interval. I will assess my progress at each interval and make the necessary adjustments to do better or improve on what I have been able to accomplish in each area. For my life long goals, I will try to keep this practice of assessment and adjustment going, as well as learning new contemplative practices that cater to who I am and who I desire to be. I will be sure to keep the text books from this class as reference materials and expand my knowledge and practices along the way. To ensue I stay the course, will remember to continue to prepare the ground as Dacher instructed; faith for motivation; cultivating an attitude of loving-kindness, using speech and actions to minimize disturbing outer experiences that cause distress for others and similarly agitate our own mind; and creating an oasis of silence and solitude that will allow for contemplative practice.