Friday, May 30, 2014

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!

6 comments:

  1. Hi Megan,

    What an excellent and thorough post! Congrats on the baby :-) I think this course sounds like it must have come at a good time. I have not had children, but I heard how the mother feels and reacts during pregnancy is essential to the baby. So if a pregnant woman is stressed out and irritable and overly emotional and not calm it effects the baby negatively, but if a pregnant woman does her best to not let emotions run wild, keeps calm loving and happy, it benefits the baby positively. Have you heard this and do you believe it? i think it's wonderful how much you've enjoyed the class and how it has helped you. Oh and I saw you mention aromatherapy, I love that! My sister is about to pop out her third child doing water birth and I think I remember her saying they use some aromatherapy in the room too :-) Hope you and her both have a wonderful quick and smooth birth <3

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    1. Heather I really appreciated your reply so much and thank you on the congrats and well wishes! This course really did come at such a great time. From the moment I found out I was pregnant I had my mind set (despite circumstances) that I would not allow any negativity from myself or anyone else about it. However, I did go through a time early on where I was very emotional and upset for about a week over a disagreement with a friend. I could tell that my emotional stress was not good for the baby and had to put an end to it, as simple as that. Ever since then I really feel I have had a positive and wonderful pregnancy so I hope it has as good of an impact as you suggest. I really do believe in it, and hope this outlook will continue to benefit me through labor and beyond. I wish your sister the best of luck as well and would love to hear how it goes!

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  2. Megan,

    You have done a superb (the only word that seems to fit here) at describing your experiences and actions in each area of wellness assessment. I personally subscribe to the thought that, the more passionate we are about certain things in life, the more likely our ability to succeed, no matter what obstacles may first stand in our way.

    You clearly have an interest or connection to nature and I do as well. It's a great place to stop and think about "where" we are in life and what steps we may desire to take in the future. I believe God's creation, in this case nature, has a very positive and maybe even restorative effect on our mental outlook the more time we spend there! You really do keep a realistic perspective on where you find yourself in each wellness aspect and in what ways you see growth is needed. I wish you the best in your future aspirations!

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    1. Thank you Neal! I really try to keep things in perspective, but it isn't always easy. Best of luck to you as well.

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  3. Excellent summary, Megan! I would love to hear how the aromatherapy and guided imagery work for you during labor and delivery. What oils will you use for your aromas? What will you be visualizing during delivery?

    You have done an amazing job with the blog posts this term keeping us all informed on your practices and progress. I wish you the very best with continuing the exercises that you found beneficial as you move toward your new career! You must be almost finished up, right? How exciting!

    Namaste

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    1. Thank You :)

      I am still looking into the oils, but I have heard that jasmine is supposed to work very well during labor. As for guided imagery, that is something that the hospital encourages, but I am not sure if I will actually use. I do know that meditation is going to play a big part in everything though and I have been really devoting a lot of time to my practices in preparation.

      I have about a year left and then I will be finished up!

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