Unit 4: Loving-Kindness and concept of mental workout

My Experience with the Loving-Kindness practice  

I found the Loving-Kindness practice very calming and relaxing.  I really enjoyed it.  The background noise of crashing waves reminded me of when I was laying on the beach in Maui and on the beach off Lake Michigan.  It allowed me to open my heart to others and to prime my mind for further development.        

What is the concept of “mental workout”?

The concept of mental workout is exercising specific areas of the mind where we explore our inner world and evolve our psychospiritual life.   

According to Dacher (2009), research indicates that proven benefits of a mental workout are reducing negatives emotions (anger, fear, hatred, worry, confusion and doubt) while enhancing positive emotions (patience, loving-kindness, openness, acceptance, and happiness).  Greater resistance to mental stress and physical disease are part of this mental transformation along with expanded healing abilities and promoted well-being.        

I can implement mental workouts into my daily life, such as the Loving-Kindness practice, to foster my psychological health by making the time to do it.  It would be a good idea to start out by doing this practice every morning and every night for the first week.   

References

Dacher, E. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, Inc.

Unit 3 Blog: Physical, psychological, and spiritual wellness

1.       Based on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being optimal well-being), I would rate my physical well-being, spiritual well-being, and psychological well-being as an 8.  My answer is based on that I know that there is still room for improvement in each category because I do not focus my attention to the fullest on them that I could. 

2.       A goal for my physical well-being is to make sure I am working out every day.  My goal for spiritual well-being is to make sure I attend church weekly and/or include prayer daily.  My goal for psychological goal is to take time out of each day to relax my mind by meditation.

3.       The activities or exercises that I can implement to assist in moving toward each goal is walking outside or on the treadmill more, doing the Wii Fit, doing strength training,  prayer at each meal, yoga, and meditation before going to bed and/or listening to calming cds.    

4.       The experience with The Crime of the Century exercise was very beneficial.  The “Rainbow Meditation” actually made my body feel very calm and relaxed.  It was easy to relate to with the colors and the awareness of the body parts that they are correlated with.  After listening to the exercise, I can now continue saying to myself each day the following: “I feel grounded, I feel centered, I feel loved, I choose to love, my life has a meaningful purpose, I feel balanced, and I feel connected. “

Journey On relaxation exercise

The Journey On relaxation exercise made me feel very relaxed and comfortable.  The clip explained how it could "redirect the flow of blood to any part of the body."  This autogenic training technique made my body feel better by thinking this.  Do you use the power of suggestion to control your own body? 

Reflective Statment

If the minds of my twin and I are so different, then why does it feel like we share the same brain? 

Welcome Statement

Welcome to my blog for my HW420 class. My name is Danielle Bis.  I am excited for you to follow me on my journey of learning about the mind-body-spirit.  Follow me for the weeks to come to learn more about the class and about me!