Unit #5

                I truly enjoy the subtle mind exercise over the loving-kindness exercise.  It gives the feeling of great peace and calming.  I can get through the whole meditation.  I love using the blockage part of the exercise.  It helps me to get rid of any issues which seem to be preventing me from moving through my day with ease.  If I’m having a particularly hard day, I use this meditation to get me back on track.

                The benefit to the subtle mind exercise compared to the loving-kindness exercise is I can use it daily with results.  I tend to get frustrated with the loving-kindness exercise because of some imagery issues.  They tend to block my ability to get through it sometimes.  I like to finish things so not being able to get through a meditation causes stress.

                If your spiritual wellness is not doing well, it will affect your mental and physical wellness as well because they are all connected.  I know with me personally that if my physical wellness is off, my mind and spirit feels disconnected.  I found the best way to improve aspects of my life is to start with my mind and the rest tends to fall into place.  We can change our health and life by making sure we take care of our mental, spiritual and physical wellness.  We can determine our destiny instead of just letting it happen with the use of our mind.

Unit #4

                The Loving-Kindness exercise has proven beneficial for me since I first started this class.  I have learned how to let go of past bad feelings toward enemies as I continue to use the exercise.  Life has taken a different turn since I have let go of the terrible feelings I harbored against people who I saw as enemies.  I no longer see them as enemies.  They may still harbor bad feelings toward me, but my spirit is much lighter since I have used this exercise to rid myself of the negativity.  It truly is a unique feeling to finally be free of such a heavy weight.

                I would highly recommend this exercise to anyone who needs to get rid of past negative feelings toward someone.  This is an exercise that can be used over and over again.  I found it took me more than once to start really feeling the benefits of this exercise.  It has been well worth the effort for the results I have seen.

                A mental workout is daily exercises to evolve our lives and develop our minds.  An hour a day will condition our minds and physical body to develop our lives.  This also creates the ability to heal and flourish our own mind, body and spirit.  Meditation is a great tool to use for mental workouts since it is proven we don’t always use our whole mind.  Meditation will help develop the mind and unconsciousness.  It can also make you feel calm and centered.  Life could be quite different if everyone could learn to give their minds a mental workout every day.

Unit #3

Physical wellbeing – 4

                I have no illusions that my physical wellbeing is at its best.  I have a great deal of work to do to reach a score of 10.  There are days I truly struggle to get the motivation to work on my physical wellbeing.

                Goal:  Increase my physical activity by 15 minutes each day starting immediately.  Attend a few dance classes by June to add something new to keep me interested in useful physical activities.

Spiritual wellbeing – 7

                I have made wonderful gains on my spiritual wellbeing.  I had a few slumps here and there, but many improvements have occurred.  I’m still not at optimal spiritual wellness, but still working hard to achieve it.

                Goal:  Attend the next two classes of Reiki so I can get in touch with my spirit to understand myself on a completely different level.

Psychological wellbeing – 5

                I’m really in the middle here.  I’m in a better psychological state than I was about six months ago.  I have good days and bad so I do require more work in this area.

                Goal:  Learning how to visualize and go to a happy place during severe times of stress is my new goal to improve my psychological wellbeing.  I haven’t reached my previous goal yet with meditation to control my stress so it’s time to try something new.

               I struggled greatly with the Crime of the Century exercise when I first experienced it.  I struggled with the image of a prison.  I just couldn’t see any relaxation associated with a prison.  I did find great relaxation with the colors associated with my body.  It is a soothing effect.  It seems to add warmth to the body, mind, and spirit while doing this exercise.

Unit #2

Hello Everyone!  I am currently a licensed massage therapist, notary public, BeautiControl consultant, mother of 3, grandmother of 1, part-time delivery driver, friend, partner, etc.  I know the list of hats can continue for a while, but I will spare you all.

I will tell you that I am the president of the SNAK Club here at Kaplan.  It stands for the Student Nutrition Association at Kaplan.  We are currently looking for a secretary for the club and more members from the nutrition programs.  If anyone would like more information, send an e-mail to clubsnak@gmail.com.

I am taking this class for the second time because my dad suffered a heart attack and needed emergency heart surgery toward the end of my term.  Unfortunately, my final project was late and didn’t count.  I feel this gives me a chance to revisit areas I struggled with the first time around.  It should be interesting to see if there is a big change or not.

The Journey on Reflection exercise has not changed my belief when I first listened to it.  I still believe we should be able to focus our minds to move diseases or viruses out of our bodies.  I think it is quite a rush to be able to experience the feeling of moving our blood around in our bodies.  I also think it would be amazing to visualize diseased cells and move them throughout the body to our systems that cleanse.  I know I will be experimenting with this idea to see what might come out of it.  I really like this meditation.