Unit 9 Final Project

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?

The world is always evolving as are people and medicine. Health and wellness professionals have to develop their understanding and capacity just to keep up. The more a practitioner knows and actually practices, the more they can lead the change instead of becoming followers to change (Dacher, 2006). The development needs to come from within-psychologically, spiritually, and physically. Professionals need to develop and continue to develop to be able to effectively lead, teach, and practice. When practitioners experience things for themselves they can appreciate the possibilities integral healing allows and professional training becomes personal ensuing that each client becomes a connection or story rather than simply a diagnosis. When work becomes personal it takes on a whole new meaning and responsibility instead of being just a job, and confidence is gained for the professional which passes on to the client. To truly understand a patient and where their suffering is coming from, health care professionals must know what aspect of the patient’s life to look at for the source of the problem (Schlitz, Amorok, & Micozzi, 2005). The practitioner will also be able to share empathy with the patient seeing as they have been through the process of integral healing and understand, forming a healing partnership between practitioner and client.

Assessment:

How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

My health assessments pretty much stayed the same as Unit 3 when we previously completed the exercises. Physically I am always working toward what I feel is the best for my body and soul, but overall I feel like I have a good practice in place that only needs a little tweaking, and not a complete overhaul. I think my physical well-being has improved from a 7.5 to an 8 because I am really focused on making it to the gym each day. I try to work out and try new activities throughout the week and take care of myself so I would say I am considered healthy. I could always work out more often, harder, and lose a little bit of weight while really cracking down on my diet to improve my physical wellbeing.

My spiritual well-being was previously rated a 5...but since going through this class and really learning I think I would rate myself a 3. Right now I am just kind of confused as to where to go and what to do because as I get older I realize there are so many beliefs that have changed since I was a child and I cannot seem to group myself into one certain religion or organization until I know as much as I possibly can to make the right choice for myself. Spiritually I am lagging behind because I do not have a plan; I am really just floating right now, waiting. I have the “you have to see it to believe it” mentality so faith is a difficult concept for me to grasp.

Psychologically I feel I have improved because of practice as I have gotten older. My temper is much more under control than when I was younger. I utilize different strategies to deal with stress like yoga, exercise, and meditation instead of bottling everything up until I felt like I would explode, and did. I also try not to let the small things get to me because I realize there are so many other things bigger in the world than my problems. I would say my psychological wellbeing is a 7. Overall, I am generally happy and do not have too many mixed emotions, but I can still improve on how to express my anger and frustration.

Goal development:

List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, physical, psychological, and spiritual.

My physical goal is to complete a half marathon race in the year 2011. My husband will be running a marathon and I would like to at least be there for him as much as I can while achieving something that will take physical training as well as mental focus.

My spiritual goal is to find a religion or organization I can understand and relate to. I really want to find this on my own since I am extremely independent and do not want to be swayed by outside people.

My psychological goal is to figure out the best way for me to express my anger and frustration.

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 practice.

My physical strategy is to work out 6 times a week at least an hour each time doing long runs, interval training, hill repeats, light weight training, and yoga. Not eating as many sweets throughout the day will help with nutrition. I also hope to lose 20 pounds by following these rules. It is very important to me to stay in good physical shape because my husband is very active as well and I want to make him proud. I also want to be as healthy as possible since I will be graduating soon and hope to find a job in my field where people will want to follow by my example.

For my spiritual goal I want to read books on all different religions and talk to people who belong to each and find which one suits me. I can also attend different services from all religions. I think this will help me find balance in my life because some of the questions I have that cannot be answered will not need to be once I can connect spiritually. If I find the spiritual connection I am searching for then I would like to incorporate prayer into my life.

For my psychological goal I need to find out what really angers and frustrates me and try to avoid these things if possible. If avoidance is not possible I want to practice more at stilling my mind and practicing loving kindness because these can help dissolve the feelings of anger and hostility of possessed. I also need to focus on visualization exercises and seeing what I want out of the situation or understand why the situation led to where it did.

Commitment:

How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?

For my physical progress I use a daily food log and exercise log. Both of these things help me to realize what I am doing at the time but they also help so that I can refer back to them and check my progress or lack of. I can also utilize online programs to help get more detailed results of nutrient assessments, dietary recommendations, and heart rate.

For my spiritual progress I will need to first do research and then start to really decide on where to visit and who to talk to. Once that is done I can get pamphlets and save important information from books. After a few months I will begin to pray and take time out of my day to devote to spiritual enrichment and practice. As I progress who, what, and when to pray will just come to me instead of having to set aside time.

For my psychological growth I think a journal will be very handy. Writing down thoughts and feelings as they occur is a great way to really let those feelings out as well as serving as a way to revert back to them later and see how I handled myself both good and bad. By checking I it will be apparent which things are working for me and which are not and I can change my approaches accordingly.



References

Dacher, E.S. (2006). Integral health: The path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic

Health Publications, Inc.

Schlitz, M., Amorok, T., & Micozzi, M.S. (2005). Consciousness & healing: Integral

Approaches to mind-body medicines. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone.