HW420: Creating Wellness Course Summary (Unit 10)

1.  Review your unit 3 personal assessment of your psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being. Reflect on these areas . How did you score yourself on a scale from 1 to 10 in unit 3? How do you score yourself now? Has the score changed? Why or why not?

          This is something I actually talked about in my final project posted previously.  For unit three's assessment I scored myself an 8/10 for physical health, 5/10 for psychological health, and 9/10 for spiritual health.  Now upon reassessment of these areas I would give myself a 6/10 for physical health, 8/10 for psychological health, and 9/10 for spiritual health.  For physical health I decreased my score because my body is experiencing more stress from pregnancy-related symptoms than I was during the previous assessment.  For my psychological health I scored myself a bit higher and it is thanks to this course and the practices we have learned which have helped me increase my capacity for universal loving-kindness greatly.  My spiritual health has basically stayed the same since the previous assessment, again I did not feel it appropriate to increase this score to a 10/10 because I feel that level is unachievable since there is always room for further development.

2.  Review the goals and activities you set for yourself in each area. Have you made progress toward the goals? Explain.

          My goals for further development in unit three were as follows: physically to maintain providing a safe and healthy environment for my baby to grow, psychologically to learn how to act skillfully and with loving-kindness, and spiritually to make more time for meditation and connecting with nature.  For my physical goal I have been successful in continuing to eat a healthy diet and be physically active, go to my regular checkups, and refrain from any habits that could harm my baby.  Continuous positive reports from my prenatal care team have let me know I am succeeding in this aspect.  For my psychological goal I have made an effort to be more careful of how I react in situations by taking a few deep breaths and thinking before I speak or act.  The more I have been doing this the more I see it becoming a habit, which is awesome!  For my spiritual goal I am excited to have recently discovered a practice called grounding (which I talked about in my final project) that has given me the opportunity to embrace the outdoors through my meditations.  This is still new to me, so I am sure there will be more posts on this to come.

3.  Have you implemented the activities you chose for your well-being in each of the three areas? Explain.

           Throughout previous posts I have talked about many different integral practices which could benefit one or all areas of wellness.  These would include breathing exercises, aromatherapy, guided imagery, the universal loving-kindness practice, meditation, and grounding.  All of these I have at least tried out at some point or other.  The ones I use most regular are breathing exercises, meditation, and grounding.  Aromatherapy and guided imagery are practices that I intend to use as pain management during labor and delivery.

4.  Summarize your personal experience throughout this course. Have you developed improved well-being? What has been rewarding? What has been difficult? How will this experience improve your ability to assist others?

           I cannot say enough how much I have enjoyed this course and the interaction with Dr. D and fellow classmates.  Without a doubt I feel like my life has been changed and will continue to change with the knowledge I have gained through the course materials, seminars, sample practices, and textbooks.  I especially enjoyed Dacher's text and look forward to reading more of his publications in the future.  The most rewarding as well as difficult experience for me was on loving-kindness.  The practices were difficult for me at first, but once I found my own way and individualized them I have seen a great deal of improvement in my relationships with others be it family, friends, or strangers.  This has also led to an improvement in myself as I no longer allow others to have such a negative influence on my thoughts and feelings.  Learning to "let it go" has had such a positive impact on my happiness and in turn overall wellness.  
           This course has been quite beneficial to my future as a wellness coach also by learning the concepts of integral health and how to apply them to practice.  I have learned how to use these practices to connect with others and listen to them with an open heart and open mind which will provide me with a greater level of understanding.  I have also realized the importance of individuality when dealing with clients, that their situation and needs may be different than those of anyone else's, which will need to be considered in development of goals and plans.  Lastly, I feel that I have gained a great deal of experience through hands-on practice which is unlike any amount of education gained from reading books and sitting in a classroom.

Thank you all for such great feedback, suggestions, and encouragement along the way as we shared this journey together. Namaste!