I. Introduction
It is extremely important for health and wellness practitioners to develop
themselves in every aspect including: physically, psychologically and spiritually.
Those who commit themselves to serve others by teaching and promoting
health and wellness practices owe it to their students to develop their own lives
so that they can effectively lead others. I believe that within myself, there is
room for improvement in each of those aspects. Of those three aspects, the
spiritual aspect is what I feel needs to be developed the most.
II. Assessment
Using aspects of the integral assessment helped me to assess the aspects of my
life. Physically, I am more developed than the other areas. I have dedicated time
in my life for fitness and have become more in tune with the foods that are
better for my body and have eliminated those that are not. The psychological and
spiritual aspects need more work in my case. It has not been until taking this
course that I have realized my lack of true consciousness or awareness and the
lack of connection between my body and my mind and spirit. I would say that if
I were to score each aspect on a scale of 0-10, 10 being the best, I would say that
my physical aspect is at a 5 or 6 and both psychological and spiritual are at 2.
Holding onto anger especially when someone has done wrong by me is something
that holds back my spiritual wellness. Practicing the loving-kindness practice has
helped me in this aspect but I know that I need continued work.
III. Goal Development
Physical aspect: my goal is to incorporate more mind/body activities like yoga
and tai chi into my life to promote the mind/body connection.
Psychological aspect: my goal is to explore new meditation practices and possibly
a retreat, and that more time in my daily life will be dedicated to the practice.
Spiritual aspect: my goal is to incorporate my spiritual aspect into my everyday
life and continue the loving-kindness practice. Another goal is to live by the
words of the great Ghandi, “Become the change you want to see happen in the
world.”
IV. Practices for personal health:
It is important to make sure that you are truly dedicated to achieving integral
health and committed to the practices in order to really achieve those goals.
Physical aspect: continue to assess my diet and become more aware of how
certain foods affect my body, incorporate more mind/body activities like yoga
instead of activities focus only on the physical aspect.
Psychological aspect: continue the loving-kindness activity and live daily with
the intention to spread loving-kindness to everyone I interact with.
Spiritual aspect: my goal (which may be the hardest) is to give forgiveness where
it is due. It does more damage to me not forgiving those people who have hurt me.
Another practice is to show those who do hurt me in the future loving-kindness
and be more readily to forgive.
V. Commitment
I think that the ability to assess myself will be quite easy because the results will
be noticeable in my life. I know that I will feel better overall in each of those
aspects. Physically, not only will I have visible results but notice a difference in
the decrease of my anxiety symptoms including GI symptoms. Psychologically
and spiritually, I believe that I will be more at peace and that things that would
normally bother me will not. I will also have a more loving outlook and share
that outlook with people by giving them loving-kindness as well.
References:
Dacher, E. (2006). Integral health: the path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach,
CA: Basic Health Publications
Schlitz, M., et al. (2005). Consciousness and healing: integral approaches to
mind-body medicine. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone
