Unit 9 Project Integral Health Plan

HOLISTIC/INTEGRAL HEALTH PLAN

HW420 UNIT 9 PROJECT

 TERESSA BYRD

July 17, 2011

KAPLAN UNIVERSITY

            “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail,” (Unknown, 2011). This is an amazing quote that summarizes what a health care professional should apply to their life in order to be able to help others achieve health and wellness for their lives. I interpret this quote as telling us not just to go down the road and squander our time and efforts, taking a chance on where our health ends up. But rather take each step intentionally, as Dr. Elliott Dacher has so graciously demonstrated and taught in his book, Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing, (2006). In this writing, I will explain the importance for health care professionals to develop in all aspects of health including physically, psychologically, and spiritually, the areas I need to develop to achieve the goals I have for myself and the assessment of my health in each of these areas, the strategies and exercises I will implement to grow in these areas, how I will assess my commitment to progress in these areas and the strategies I will use to maintain my commitment.

            Because Dr. Dacher has expressed in his book the importance for health care professionals to develop and flourish physically, psychologically and spiritually, I want to implement this lifestyle to be my own. It is so important that we flourish as health professionals so that we can efficiently help others take the same walk we have worked for so long. Without experiencing this flourishing for ourselves, we cannot possibly help others to achieve the growth in health they need or seek for their own life. When I have a full understanding of how to flourish, and how to go about achieving it, then and only then can I help another experience it for themselves, (Dacher, 2006). The client, in turn has to follow through with what I teach them to be successful, the same for me as I take the trip down the road to flourishing. Developing fluency in inner health and life aspects through contemplative practice and our development psychologically will help us to move beyond our training to be competent to help others. Receiving and considering the integral approach is a must in being ready to grow and experience health, (Dacher, 2006).

            Pursuing this further, developing the physical, psychological and spiritual aspects of my life is very important. It is hard to cipher the weakest aspect of my life right now. Physically, my sinuses have been suffering from the move from Alabama to Colorado, my blood pressure has been high, and I am obese. Psychologically, I am emotionally drained, from a child who no longer wants me to claim him as a child, wondering how my family could treat me the way they have treated me over the past year, to thinking how am I going to pull myself out of this and overcome the uprooting I have done to change my life and make it better all around. Spiritually, I have went from having a daily quiet time, attending church Sunday mornings, Sunday nights and Wednesday nights, playing the piano for this church, leading several activities at church and outside the church, to an almost destitute spiritual life. Despite this fact, I feel closer to God in all I have been through. I have ultimately had to depend on God to rescue me from the thought of taking my own life, and the feeling that no one wants me around, and that some of my family doesn’t want to have a relationship with me any further. This upsets me to tears. I have been so lonely and lost without those relationships, thinking how I would never, ever treat them the way they have treated me.

            Following this further, assessing where I am in each of these aspects, taking a step outside and looking in, considering the activities I am slowly adding into my life to change it, the psychological aspect is probably the weakest right now. This area, comparing it to the others, is the area that is most disabled and locked down right now. So, focusing on the psychological aspect of my life would be most beneficial to my life right now. I would think that being right spiritually would help all of the other areas of my life just fall in place, but it is a conscious effort in each aspect that needs to be addressed and acted on. It is detrimental for every one of the aspects of integral health to be addressed and worked on for me to progress to health and wellness, not just one, but taking small steps as Dacher has suggested will help me not to become so frustrated, hopeless and stressed over doing this for myself, (2006).

            Furthermore, strategies and exercises must be implemented into my daily life for maximum development in all aspects of integral/whole health. First of all, I am a unique individual with certain beliefs, a specific personality that has to have a customized program to reach higher levels of achievement. My needs and my client’s needs may be totally different, these needs have to be taken into consideration and make decisions based on the findings, (Dacher, 2006).

Secondly, finding someone that does not necessarily have to be a professional, but has achieved a higher level of development than me to help and guide me along in the journey of integral health, would be beneficial for my growth. This type of support will give me insight to this person’s own experiences to know I am not alone in my frustrations, to have walked in the place I am walking, wherever that may be, and if not, then find another that could possibly help me in the specific stage I am in for what I am seeking, (2006).

Thirdly, I can continue in the meditations given in the class and the ones I have found online. Doing this daily, at least, and then again at times when stress is overcoming me, will help me to get into the state of awareness and consciousness that I need, (Dacher, 2006). Contemplative practice, so critical to inner development and expansion of this consciousness are essential for inner healing in all of the aspects of life. With this expansion comes a complete movement from the body to the mind to the spirit, (Dacher, 2006).  

Fourthly, learn to create the subtle mind by moving from a witnessing mind, to a calm-abiding mind, to unity consciousness. Right now, I am developing the witnessing mind. I am in the stage of irritability because I hear everything, never knowing the loudness of my inner self. I hope to move on quickly to the calm-abiding stage so that these raging waters can calm, I have better control over what I concentrate on, and life becomes intentional. Then, moving into a unity consciousness where I will be able to access deeper layers of my mind, transforming glimpses of flourishing to an actual way of life. Practice is what will make this part of growth more successful, so consistency is the key.

Fifthly, being humble enough to forgive and unconditionally accept and love others with compassion, allowing them to experience loving-kindness from me to help to strengthen and deepen these relationships, (Schlitz, Amorok & Micozzi, 2005). Our heart can heal once we realize and partake of meditation and learn communication skills and how to rationalize with a person in conversation so that they do not feel like they are being attacked. We can go to support groups that allow us to share our true feelings without judgment. Pay attention to the way we live, think, believe, eat, and relate to be taught by the world instead of a place or people that tend to punish us, (et al, 2005). Strengthening loving-kindness in our hearts will soften our mind and open our heart. This in turn will help me to control irresistible urges and passions, diminish the grip my ego has on me, and transmit a larger meaning to my life, (Dacher, 2006).

Sixthly, I must abandon the preexisting misunderstandings of wellness, disease, growing older, and death, advancing beyond my normal capacity of knowledge and abilities. I must realize the availability of the levels of human potential for each aspect of life whether it is physical, mental or psychological, (Schlitz, Amorok, & Micozzi, 2005).

            Seventhly, taking responsibility for our own personal health is up to us. Doing this, we can know when adjustments need to be made to our program and when to leave the program alone. Harmony between the body, mind and spirit will be the result, (Dacher, 2006).

            Additionally, the assessment of my commitment to progress in these areas is that I know I am serious to implement an integral and holistic way of life. I know this because I have already begun to make the necessary changes in my life to progress successfully to health. Because there are so many, I will list the changes I have made:

1)      I have forgiven my ex-husband for the neglect he caused in my life;

2)      I have forgiven my husband’s ex-wife for the hurt she has caused and still continues to cause him;

3)      I was able to purchase a chaise lounge at a yard sale to help create a quiet place to get away that belongs to me. It will contain all of the devices and materials next to it that I need to separate myself from the world to become one with it again;

4)      I was able to be available to play the piano, unexpectedly, for a Spanish Mormon Church Sunday service and a baptism on another day that I had never seen the music and did not understand hardly a word that was said, which I thought was amazing that God could and would allow me to be a part of something so special;

5)      I have began making myself more available to the church I have been attending;

6)      I have became more sociable, taking action and gumption to ask if I could be a part of an activity that was going on rather than to be asked;

7)      I have begun reading my Bible and books on the Mormon faith;

8)      I am forgiving my son and siblings, sending them simple texts of how much I love and miss them and they do the same once I have sent it. I am writing emails to my siblings, but I am also giving them the space and time they think they need to get over what hurt they think I have done to them. I am accepting that they do not understand me as well as I do not understand them. I am learning to love them unconditionally as Christ loves me, and asking God to forgive them for they do not know what they are doing to me. There is no way they can know the turmoil that has transpired in my life over the past years, so how can I expect them to understand everything and accept my actions? I just thought they would and could trust me, if they only knew me and knew I would not want a separation between me and God and me and them.

9)      I am beginning a regimen of riding a bike, cutting back on foods and adding more nutritional choices into my diet.

10)  I am working with the meditation exercises made available through our class. Sometimes during the day, I breathe in positive thoughts and breathe out negative thoughts. It is the one thing I have been able to do and be consistent.

So, considering all of this, I believe I am well on my way to ultimate health.

      Considering all of the changes I have made over the past several weeks, the strategy to follow through and maintain these newly attained habits is to create the quiet place and make an appointment with myself and with God and make it a priority to keep that appointment, even if other appointments have to be cancelled. I will have to try to get in the bed at an earlier time so that I can wake at an earlier time. I will combine the knowledge and realization drawn from the conclusions in this paper to assemble a sequence of practices. Then, implement the life-as-practice approach transitioning my daily life into integral practices. Although it will take time and skill to get it going, it has to be done to follow through successfully. Pretty soon almost every activity I undertake will be encompassed with integral practices, (Dacher, 2006).

                  In addition, my program will consist of:

1)      Spiritual practices, psychological strategies, mind training, coping skills, and ethical discipline such as:

A)    Christian-centered prayer

B)    Mindfulness meditation

C)    Focused attention

D)    Devotional reading and chanting

E)     Visualization, (Dacher, 2006)

2)      Compassionate service, practicing loving-kindness, psychological insight, interpersonal skills, and self-affirmation which may include:

A)    Being available for the Spanish church services

B)    Forgiveness

C)    Visualization

D)    Loving-Kindness Meditation

E)     Prayer

F)     Practicing communication skills, (Dacher, 2006).

3)      Somatic awareness, self-regulation, health promotion, prevention, and treatment which may involve:

A)    Tai Chi

B)    Reiki

C)    Gym work-outs

D)    Walking

E)     Biking

F)     Meal planning and preparation

G)    Meditation

H)    Medical doctor visits for laboratory screening and genetic monitoring, (Dacher, 2006).

4)      Engaged spirituality, practicing mentorship, social activism, loving-kindness and work which may include:

A)    Prayer

B)    Meditation

C)    Group therapy, one-on-one meetings whether it is to mentor or to be mentored

D)    Getting involved in the community in environmental concerns and social policy

E)     Worksite wellness activities, (Dacher, 2006).

            In conclusion, the importance of developing the physical, psychological and spiritual aspects of life has been explained, my health in each of these areas has been assessed, the goals to improve each of these areas has been pin-pointed, the strategies and exercises for growth in each of these areas has been implemented, and my commitment to growth as well as how I will maintain this commitment has been assessed. Consistency, dedication, dynamism and intention will be the keys to success in this program to be able to one day help others in their growth to health. It is time to unleash a completely new dimension to extreme and hardy health and wellness, (Dacher, 2006).

REFERENCES

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

Inc.

Schlitz, M., Amorok, T., & Micozzi, M., (2005). Consciousness & Healing. Integral Approaches

to Mind-Body Medicine. Elsevier, Inc.

Unknown, (2011). Inspirational Quotes and Quotations.Com: Your Online Source for

Inspiration. Retrieved on July 17, 2011 from the Web Site:  http://www.inspirational-quotes-and-quotations.com/inspirational-quotes.html

Unit 8 Blog Discussion: Most Beneficial Exercises

            The two practices I remember helping me the most was in Unit 4 about LovingKindness and in Unit 7 to envision a wise person, become the wise person and then be the wise person.

            In the Loving-Kindness exercise, I came to the realization that I could forgive and live with the people I encounter on a daily basis that I do not necessarily want to be around. I realized I could forgive them, I realized I did not really want something bad to happen to them. The way I can implement this exercise in my life is that on the days that I encounter the people or that I anticipate meeting these people, to make sure that I spend time meditating on giving them life. Breathe in the positive aspects about the person, the positive blessings I want to wish for this person in health, wholeness and happiness and breathe out disease and negative feelings over their lives.  I can pray to God for them. I can pray for God to give me wisdom to have discernment about how to deal with people like this.

            The second exercise in Unit 7 was the last of our meditations on “Meeting Asciepius.” At first I did not realize that Asciepius was a god of inner healing. This disturbed me greatly, because I refuse to worship or think on any other god other than the one true and Living God. During the exercise I saw my daddy, and then I saw my mother and then I saw Jesus. When it pertained to something that daddy was good at, I saw him, when it was something that fit my mother better, I saw her and asked myself the question, “Would she speak the way I have been speaking to people?” “No, she would speak kindly and lovingly and tender to people…so that is the way I will speak to people, especially my children.” Then I envisioned Jesus when neither my mother nor my father could measure up. I love my parents very much, but I cannot worship them. I can envision them as wise and loving, but I cannot envision healing without Jesus. He is my Healer. The way I will incorporate this practice is to depend on Him to do the inner healing, I will envision Him when I need healing on the inside. He is all I need. But I need to be more regular on meeting with Him and studying the scriptures and knowing what He wants me to do with my life, and then I can be on the road to healing and wellness.

            I will implement these exercises in my everyday life to foster “mental fitness” in the ways described above.

           

TeressaByrdUnit 7 Blog Discussion Initial Response

Blog Discussion:

     A week or so ago, I was experiencing deeper and deeper change. But, it seems the harder I try to get up and find time for meditation, I fail over and over again. By the time I get done with school and work, I am so desperate for a break from anything that I HAVE to do. I just attempted to do the Track #4. Once I got my daddy’s face in my visualization, and was supposed to add the light above his head to cleanse my thoughts, his face faded away. I wrote this out of frustration: “Is there no quietness for me? Not ONE minute in one day to meditate and become the person I so desire to be? The vision of my father is the one I chose to be my mentor in the visualization. As the time came for the beam of light over his head, the vision of him faded completely away. The more stress I feel around me, the less quietness it feels I have. When will I find the time during the day to be alone?

When I am trying to get work done, it seems everyone else has their own agenda….regardless of the urgency to get all of my work done. “Moma, I can’t find the glass I had all day today.” “What time is it? Tell me when it gets to be 11:15 if I happen to go to sleep.” “Moma, is daddy going to work tonight?””Moma can I sleep with you?” “Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, HA! HA! HA!” “He took my candy.” “Who took my candy?” All with the t.v. blaring in the background, no matter how many times I have turned the blasted thing off and expressed just how much it takes away from my concentration to get work done, MUCH LESS MEDITATE!! What am I going to do? Just when I get the biggest load of work in school AND work, my husband takes on another day of his children visiting who are never satisfied with what they are doing at the moment…they are ALWAYS BORED….ALWAYS looking for SOMETHING ELSE TO DO!! Them, along with mine are lively, energetic and LOUD. What am I going to do?

My life has been so chaotic over the past year, I hardly know whether I am coming or going or what to do with my life anymore. I came here in very high hopes of attaining happiness and a father for my children and a husband here for me. The latter two have been accomplished, but am I happy is the question? Will I ever be happy is the million dollar question here. How can I achieve contentedness? Will I ever listen and apply the things my wise classmates are TRYING to help me through? I apologize, I am so on edge it is unreal!! Is this normal when we are becoming more aware of our innerselves? As the speaker says, I take it he is Dacher, Noisy as a waterfall because of the awareness of our inner self? The noise is louder, annoying, but this waterfall will turn into a rushing mountain stream, then to a lazy river, then a river uniting with a deep ocean.

I have to do as he suggests and find a guide. I want them to look into my eyes. I want them to hear my experience(s). I NEED them to guide me to do what I need to do, to hold my hand through this, to keep me accountable. I thought I had a mentor, but she is gone on vacation right now and will be gone for a month, but does want to help to teach me things regarding health, acupuncture and massage.

2) I cannot help others until I reach this flourishing for myself. It is just like a person close to us has died. We cannot go to a person and tell them we know how they feel, not even if we have had a person close to us to die, because we have not walked in their shoes. But, if we go through this process of maturity and reach human flourishing, we will be able to recognize opportunities for growth in another, because we will have been through that ourselves. We do have an obligation to our clients to develop and be at our best in our psyche, our physical body and our spiritual body. Look at it like this: One day, I went to a popular doctor in town to get some diet pills that everyone else was swearing by worked. I walked into his office and he was literally hanging off the sides of his desk. He had to be over 400 pounds!! How could I believe in a miracle drug that would help me to lose weight, if the doctor who sat on the other side of the table, ready to give me a prescription (for him to get a cut of the monopoly) to lose weight….is 3 or 4 times BIGGER than I AM!!! We cannot help others in all of these areas, if we ourselves are not healthy as we preach.

Universal Loving Kindness & Integral Assessment

TeressaByrdUnit6BlogDiscussionInitialResponse

#3A: One of the hardest things for me to do is to wish no suffering, health, happiness and wholeness for people who have absolutely no remorse for hurting me or the ones, such as my husband, who is closest to me. On the other hand, as I write this, I also felt ashamed of myself for thinking such of a thing. I mean, how many times have I hurt Jesus, my Lord and Savior with all of my intentional sins, but yet He still loves me. He still wants the very best for me. So, I should follow His example, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing,” (New International Version, 2011, Luke 23:33-35).

I will forgive the people who have wronged me and the ones closest to me, so that I, too, will have freedom from suffering, health happiness and wholeness.

#3B: The area, from my interpretation, that I need to focus on right now is the Interpersonal aspect of my life. I have really been focusing on this a lot, though for about six months. Most of the things I am waiting on is dependent on other people receiving my apologies for doing any wrong to them, and then their accepting me back. They say they would not have said the harsh things they said if they did not love me, that I took their harsh words as an attack. But I just wonder how I was supposed to take their threat of taking my kids away from me for anything less than a threat. Their words to me were, “We are just worried about the kids, we could care less what you do, we just want to know the kids are taken care of,” like I was not going to take care of my kids or something. Now, it would have been different if I had abandoned my children (unforgivable in my book), if I was on drugs or gambling or drinking…but I was NOT DOING ANY of those things! When I did leave my children, they were in good hands, and if I could not make sure of that, I would not go anywhere. I was not perfect, but even in choosing jobs, my children were number one.

I believe I have applied everything I know to do from past experience, except for what I am learning to apply integral practices, with the exception of meditation breathing health and wellness to my son, who is taking my move as a total attack on him, when I hardly saw him in the last two years of our lives, anyway.

Anyone that can give any insight or advice, given the information I have provided now and in the past blogs, or if you need more information to help me to decide what path to take would be appreciated. I just need direction right now. I went from being an avid church attendee and server to almost non-existent. I am learning about the Mormon faith, but I cannot progress in it as quickly as I would like, given I have to study for college and for my massage therapy exam again. I have not decided if the Mormon faith is for me or not. I have to be careful about all of this to make sure it lines up with the Word of God before I make my final decision. I feel lost spiritually for lack of service, I feel lost emotionally because of the people that have turned their back on me for moving to Colorado from Alabama.  

New International Version, (2011). Biblegateway.com. Key Word Search: they know not what they do. Retrieved on June 26, 2011 from the web site: http://www.biblegateway.com/keyword/index.php?search=they%20know%20not%20what%20they%20do&version1=NIV&searchtype=all&limit=none&wholewordsonly=no&startnumber=26

A Subtle Mind

     Comparing the Loving-Kindness with the Subtle Mind Exercise, they both require focus, focus on breathing, they both require control of the thoughts and they both last long enough to have an impression on your stress level coming down.
     Contrasting the two exercises, Loving-kindness has a different focus than the Subtle Mind focus. Loving-kindness focuses on a significant other having a hard time with a disease or a problem. You breath in their disease or problem away from them and into the earth, you breath out happiness, peace, healthy and joy back to the significant loved one.
     In Subtle Mind your focus is either on the breath in or the breath out, or some other focal point. Then, controlling the drifting thoughts, when your mind wanders, you witness the thought and bring it back to focus on breathing in or out, whichever you choose.
     In my experience, deeper be far than any others I have experienced. The Subtle Mind relaxed me so much that the speaker startled me when she began talking after the period of quietness during the exercise. I was finally able to actually bring my wandering mind back to focusing on my breath as I breathed out since it seemed more dramatic than my breathing in, and I need all the help I can get from my own body to help to get me in the mode of real meditation and control of my thoughts.

Discussion Blog Unit 4

     The basis of the teachings was on loving-kindness and having a subtle mind and on how to better achieve them. Loving-kindness focuses on diminishing our focus on ourselves, opening our hearts to others, making way for further personal development. Subtle mind has three levels of witness, calm abiding and human consciousness.

      I disagreed with some of what Docher said. The more I give the more people take without giving back, it seems...until I am just empty from giving of myself to others. I have practiced focusing on others for a very long time now. Why? Because that was one way I dealt with depression. If I wanted to stay in depression, focusing on myself, then I could just sit at home and wait around for bad things to happen and grope and moan about the bad things happening in my life, but no, I did not want that for myself. God revealed this to me, I know HE did. If I focus on others, they get blessed, but I receive an even greater blessing by blessing them!! That is what helped me to overcome depression. I was determined not to live in a depressed state.
       The loving-kindness exercise was so relaxing, I almost went to sleep. The second exercise where we breathed in the suffering of another person was very freeing. Helping someone else, by breathing in their suffering, even doing that for an enemy, and to breath out happiness, joy and wholeness to them. That just felt great to do. I also thought of my son, all the way back in Enterprise, and his loneliness, and secret suffering he has went through with the life and death of his daddy.
I feel slow to react, like my life and mind are too busy to stop long enough. But, as Dacher explains in the subtle mind portion, breath and breathing will help. This exercise relaxed me so much, I had to lie down and rest for a while.
       The concept of a "mental workout" is to train the mind to begin thinking correctly and healthfully so that our mind can probe properly.

Unit 3 Blog Session: Self-Inventory

1.       A. I rate my physical wellbeing as an 8. I cannot seem to shake having problems with my sinuses since I moved to Colorado. The other is my blood pressure. I am diagnosed with high blood pressure. It started at the end of my pregnancy with my last child, 8 years ago. Also, I am obese and want to lose weight. I need to add more physical activity to my routine.

B. I rate my spiritual well-being as a 10. I am behaving myself, finally after some hard trials in the past several months. But I never lost sight of the love God has for me. He just wants to have a healthy relationship with me, and for me to obey Him.

C. I rate my psychological wellbeing as a 5 or 6 or even less. Right now, my family is not happy because I moved to Colorado. They think I left because of sin in my life. My answer is YES, it was, but I left so I could be MORE spiritual, not LESS spiritual, if that makes any sense at all. Some personal issues made it so it was hard to even focus on God during the worship service at church. I was tired of that. I wanted to give God my ALL, not take it away. My family still thinks I should ‘suck up’ my problems and go on about my way, happy or not….I am wrong. Plus, my son has abandoned our relationship and I want it back so desperately. He feels betrayed. He feels like I kicked him out of my house. In the heat of the moment I may have told him to leave, after one of his fits, not getting his way, and I told him if he did not want to obey me or help around the house, then he did not need to live there.

2. Goals:

A. Physically: Add more physical activity.

B. Spiritually: Find a church, find a place to serve God, and have a social network of believers that will encourage me in the way I should go.

C. Mentally: To give my family the space they need, but let them know I have not left them. Or to be open to have a relationship with them, even though they have been so unreasonable in their judgment of me.

3. Plan:

A. Use more mind/body techniques to warrant sickness away and welcome health. Ride a bike, go hiking and camping.

B. Begin visiting more churches, investigate their backgrounds and how they serve others.

C. I have no clue what to do more than I have already done. I have given them space and opportunity to communicate, to no avail.

4. The Relaxation Exercise: After being interrupted two times while doing this, I still found the relaxation exercise relaxing. The reason I would be frustrated would be trying to set aside time to actually do the exercises. Another reason would be not being able to focus on what the guide is trying to help me focus on because of my busy mind. I would like to gain greater control over this aspect of learning mind/body techniques.