Unit 10 Final Blog

Back in Unit 5, I rated my physical health at a 5. Even though I haven't lost much weight since then, I have been eating a lot healthier than I used to. I would say that my health has gone up at least a point. I've also been a little more active since we've adopted our dog, so that has been a bit helpful. I know that I still need to work on exercising more, though.

My spirituality is still as strong as it was back then and I've been focusing more on my own spiritual needs instead of those in my Pagan group. I'm feeling a lot more connected to my Pagan practices and Frigga than when I started in this class. The biggest improvement, though, has been my mental health. I've found that I am a lot less angry than I was at the beginning and I've been a lot nicer to myself, my goals, and my mistakes. I'm starting to finally love myself and the person that I want to be. It's an amazing feeling that I've never had before. So I would say that my mental health has gone from an 8 to a 9. I've been spending a lot less time on the computer, which was a very big goal that I had for myself. My husband, daughter, and I have been spending more time together and with the animals, which is a very big goal that I've had. I'm still searching for Reiki and Tai Chi classes, but now I have my husband's support and I know that they will come in my life when the time is right.

At first, I didn't think that I would actually get anything out of this class, but I was wrong. This class taught me how to trust myself and my dreams and goals. I feel that I am getting closer to my true path and I actually have hope that things will work out for my career. Instead of trying to find a job that makes me a lot of money, I feel that I have found my real calling as a healer- and that's a much better feeling.

Unit 9 Final Project

            In order for professionals in health and wellness to be proper healers, they must first have a proper understanding of all aspects of integral healing practices. In order to do so, they must first bring integral healing practices to their own lives and find balance in their own psychological, physical, and spiritual wellness. By practicing integral healing within his or her own daily life practices, a health care practitioner can better understand the needs of their patients. In order for me to achieve the goals that I seek, the aspect of myself that I need to work on would be my own physical health. I’ve started on the path already by making nutritious food choices, but I need to work on practicing proper exercise. I feel as though I cannot be a very influential integral practitioner if my own physical needs are not met. For this, I know that I need to lose weight and increase my physical energy with proper exercise, yoga, and Tai Chi.

            The aspect of myself that is the most developed would be my spirituality. As a Pagan witch and a Reiki practitioner, spirituality is a very large part of my life. Reiki is something that is very close to my heart- even if I don’t practice it every day. Even if I haven’t practiced meditation or Reiki in a long time, I can pick it up again like it was just yesterday that I had last done it. I’m a very intuitive person and things that people may consider “New Age” come very easily for me. However, I’m sure that there is still plenty for me to learn, so I would only rank myself as an 8 or a 9.

Psychologically, I would say that I am also right around a 7 or 8. I do have some anger issues, but only towards myself. I know that I need to learn how to let go of negative emotions more than I do now. Depression is still something that I still struggle with sometimes due to resentment towards some family members that treated me very poorly while I was growing up. After so many years with my family treating me like I don’t belong in this world, there is still a lot that I have to work through to fully accept and give myself the love that I know that I deserve. Despite being very intuitive with my spiritual self, I have difficulties trusting that intuition and doubt myself a lot more than I should. This holds me back and keeps me from making decisions for myself that would actually make me happy. I’m too influenced by my desire to make others happy that I do not allow myself to make the decisions that I know would benefit me the most.

The part that I need to work on the most would be my physical health. As I stopped being so physically active after leaving Chicago almost 4 years ago, I have gained a lot of weight that I am currently in the process of losing. Even though I have no health problems from it yet, I do know that it is important to lose weight again. After I have achieved my goals with weight loss, I will then be able to focus on increasing my energy and flexibility. I know that this is important for my future patients to trust me as a health care practitioner. However, I am somewhat happy with my body as it is now because I see many other young people around my age who are not as healthy as I am.

My physical goal, as stated above, is to lose weight. I know that I may not get back to the body that I used to have before I had my daughter, but I would be happy to just lose as much as I can. From there, I can try to lose more weight and increase my flexibility and energy so that I can someday achieve the body image that I desire. My current spiritual goal is to finish my Reiki training and achieve the master/teacher level. However, it has proven difficult to find an instructor to take up where my old one had left off with my training. However, I do know that when the time is right, a teacher will enter my life.

Along with this is my psychological goal. This goal is to practice meditation every day and work on removing my self-destructive thoughts and emotions. Through daily meditation practice and the loving-kindness exercise, I can improve my self-esteem and love myself as I know I deserve. Meditation is very beneficial to reduce stress and connect one’s psychological and spiritual selves. I know that in order to be successful in my career, I need to do this more often and learn to trust and love myself.

The practices for physical health that I plan to implement in my life are exercise and proper nutrition. My plan for exercise is to be more active with my daughter both inside and outside the home. I can do this by using my exercise bike at home on days when the weather is not suitable to take my daughter outside. Now that we got a dog, a big part of my weight-loss plan is to go for walks regularly with her and my daughter. To help with that and increase flexibility and energy, I also plan to start practicing yoga and Tai Chi again. My plan for proper nutrition is already underway as I’ve been implementing fruits and vegetables into my family’s diet and we have cut down on the amount of fast food we eat. I’m proud to say that I’ve even started getting my husband to eat salads, which makes it easier for me to eat healthy as well.

With regular meditation and loving-kindness exercises, my plan for mental growth is to empower myself to be the best healer that I can be. My goal is to break down those self-defeating attitudes that I have developed from the influence of others in my life and I need to start taking my life into my own hands and stop worrying about what others think about my goals and plans. I have so much love for others that I don’t take the time to love myself as I should. In order to achieve the mental health that I want, I need to use meditation and the loving-kindness exercise to show myself that I do deserve love. I need to learn how to love and trust myself and I believe that the loving-kindness and meditation practices are an excellent start. My psychologist taught me similar practices when I was being treated for depression and I know that it’s time to pick that up again now that I am close to graduation and starting my career. Meditation can also help me with problem-solving skills and reducing stress related to starting my career.

For my spiritual growth, I plan to pray more and also practice meditation as a spiritual practice. This class has taught me that religion is powerful for spiritual growth and I know that I need to spend more time devoted to my deities, who have provided so much for my life. I would like to spend more time around nature and reconnect spiritually with it through meditation. Even though I am already very connected spiritually to nature, I know that I do not currently spend enough time outdoors like I used to. As many of the deities I worship are connected to nature, spending more time around it will also help me to reconnect with my deities. I can also go to more Pagan events and festivals to spend time around those who practice similar beliefs. I used to be more involved in the Pagan community when I lived in Chicago and now I know that I should get in touch with some groups and shops in the tri-county area. This will help me to grow both spiritually and mentally by finding others with similar interests.

I plan to assess my progress in the next 6 months by continuing my blog. I believe this class has the right idea with how important blogging is to personal growth. I plan to create a schedule for myself to plan time for exercise and meditation practices, as well as a food log to properly track my nutrition and food portions. Through my blog, I can track my progress and keep organized so that I can stay focused and prevent myself from straying from my goals. Our weekly blogs have already proven to be beneficial for me to gain insight to my goals and career choices just by allowing me to express myself. I once used to keep a journal, but my joint problems have been preventing me from writing in it regularly. I’m hoping that keeping up with my blog will allow me to keep track of my progress and inspire me to write again like I used to. I think it would be also nice to provide the link to my blog to friends and clients via my website to allow others to provide insight and advice. This class has helped me to discover my love for writing again and I feel as though blogging will help me in my future career.

My favorite exercises- Unit 8

The 2 exercises that I have found the most beneficial in this class have been the loving-kindness exercise and the Meeting Aesclepius. The loving-kindness exercise has helped me to accept and love myself and to block out the negativity caused by many of those people around me. Through this, it has helped me to reconnect with my Reiki abilities that I thought were lost since I started at Kaplan. I've been able to open myself up to divination practices again and feel pride in what I do. The Meeting Aesclepius made me realize that I need to do what I want to do with my life and not worry about what other people think about it. After I came to this realization, I found out that my sister is dating someone who's mother is into all of the New Age things that I do. Now, my family has been looking at these things in a new light and even encouraging me to go and see this woman and talk with her. This woman even gave my mother a gift to give to me and it makes me surprised that my mother actually did it. I feel as though things are finally starting to turn around with my family for once and if I just stick to my path, I can show everyone how serious I am about my chosen career. I believe that sticking to both of these practices from now on will help me to achieve mental fitness by keeping me grounded in my path in life. When a person knows where their life is going and what they want from it, stress and depression go away and I believe that is what has happened to me.

Unit 7 Post

This week's exercise was at first very difficult for me. At first, I thought of my grandmother who passed away 6 1/2 years ago and it was too much to bear thinking about her. My 2nd attempt at this practice proved to be a lot easier by thinking about my aunt Bonnie. Even though she and I haven't been in contact over the years, it feels as though we don't actually need to. When we do talk, it's as if we haven't been away. She's someone that I've always looked up to because out of all of our family, she's the one who followed her heart and pursued her dreams out in Seattle- many miles away from here. She's a very active and caring person who's very open-minded and accepting of everyone. That is how I try to live my life. She inspires me to follow my own dreams. Despite the hardships she's been through in life, she's never let them bring her down. She's survived cancer and divorce, as well as being a single mother and a full-time nurse. Instead of letting what she's been through hold her back, she's always used it to give a new perspective to her life and reach her goals and be successful. This exercise gave me that same sense of joy and determination that Aunt Bonnie has always shown. Like me, she's the outcast of the family and she doesn't let that bring her down. This exercise also made me realize that I really need to talk to her again.

"One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" means that in order to guide another person, one must have experienced that growth for themselves. You cannot encourage a person to achieve a certain level of spirituality or consciousness without having first experienced it yourself. This is why practicing integral healing in our own lives is so important. If we are to be seen as professionals by those that we want to help, we must know what it is that we are actually practicing. This is one of many reasons I find meditation such an important aspect of personal growth.

*I also want to point out that doing meditation today has been a lot easier than normal because we have a new member in our family. We just adopted a calm and loving dog who has just made the stress around our home melt away. I really couldn't be happier than sitting her in a calm state of mind in meditation with a dog to pet away at my side.*

Personal Thoughts

After some recent developments this week, I feel that I have to write something that's been bothering me for the past couple of days. This is a personal post instead of the one that I'm supposed to write this week (which I will get to once I'm able to get this bit off of my chest). I got sick this week with a sore throat, earache, and fatigue. From what I've learned in Reiki, for something like this to come upon me without any physical explanation (no one in my family got sick) means that there is a blockage in my throat chakra. Something that I'm not admitting the truth about and refusing to listen to. Combine this with the dreams and you'll understand why it's impacted me the way it has. After studying one of my dreams, I discovered that my spiritual self has been trying to tell me something that I've been choosing to ignore and it has to do with my career path. I joined at Kaplan in order to find a new career that will give me financial stability in something somewhat related to my field. I also did it to finally have a bachelor's degree to my name that everyone within a 10-mile radius will indicate that I need in order to succeed in life. I've loved my time at Kaplan and I'm glad to be earning my degree. However, I know that a career in Nutrition Science is not really what I want. I want to be an herbalist and Reiki practitioner. I thought about combining this with Nutrition and many would argue that they would go well together. This was my plan from the beginning. Then I found out that after graduation from Kaplan I will have to continue my education for a while if I am to become a Registered Dietitian. After that point, who knows if I would be able to start my business right away? I would probably have to work in a hospital for a while to build my career and experience first. I'd be lying to myself if I were to say that I would have enough time to also study herbalism. And that's exactly what I've been telling myself. My fear of a lack of a stable career has made me choose things that I really don't want out of my career. Doing this Meeting Aesclepius exercise this week has proven difficult for me. The person that I thought about was my late grandmother whom I've tried my hardest over the past 7 years to prevent thinking about. If she were alive today, she would be questioning my intentions with my career and tell me that I need to follow my calling and not what other people want from me. My dream told me that I can only reach my success and goals if I follow my spirit and my heart- rather than letting others direct me where to go. People in my life don't seem to believe that I'll make it as a Reiki therapist and herbalist and think that what's best for me is to continue my education to be a dietitian. Now I realize that if I were to do that, I would become so caught up in what the field of nutrition directs its practitioners instead of making my focus about spiritual and herbal practices. I have no doubt that going to Kaplan was a good thing for me to earn my degree because I can use that to go to a great herbal school in the future. Not surprisingly, after I came to this personal truth, my sore throat and earache have begun to heal and I can actually talk again. No one needs to comment on this post. It's just something that I felt I needed to write and this is the convenient way for me to do it. Thanks to all who read all of it.

Unit 6 Practice

The loving-kindness exercise is getting easier for me the more that I do it. One problem that I've had recently is that I've been putting so much effort into helping others that I haven't been focusing on and loving myself. Even though I love being there for my friends and my Pagan group, I've been putting my own emotional and spiritual needs aside. I know that in order to be the healer that I want to be, I must reconnect with my spiritual side. Even though I don't feel like I've let that part of me go undeveloped, my spiritual side is what has always driven my decisions in life. I know one problem with this is that I don't have as much time as I used to and with school and studying it's hard for me to switch from the academic side to the spiritual side. Even though I know earning a degree is important for my future, my healing path does not rely so much on academic study as it does spiritual connection. To be successful in my Reiki business, I know that I need to focus more on the spiritual aspects of my life instead of the material. Anymore, leading my Pagan group has been feeling more academic than spiritual and that's not where I've been meaning to go with it. The group relies on me to post information about various subjects involving Paganism and I feel that it's starting to tear up my spiritual self. This week has made me realize that the group is starting to feel more like a chore than a social group and I think that I need to step away from it and let everyone else in the group learn by themselves instead of relying on me to bring the information to them. Rather than looking to books and articles for information to share with my Pagan friends, I need to focus more on meditation and connecting with my own Gods. I hear Frigga calling to me to pick up my runes and crystal ball again and practice Reiki once more.

Unit 5 The Subtle Mind

I found this week's exercise much easier to follow than last week's Loving Kindness exercise. I found it much easier to tap into that stillness and oneness with the universe. I suppose I find it easier to find balance than it is to love and accept myself. Normally, when my daughter acts up during these exercises, I find it difficult to get back on track. This time, my daughter was getting into the cat food and my husband had to get her away from it. Normally, this would be very distracting during these exercises. However, this time I just laughed and couldn't stop laughing instead of getting upset like I normally would. I saw all of these distracting thoughts as little doors that I was able to close and set aside for later. I think this is a very useful technique for those of us who may be prone to stress or anger.

Spiritual wellness can have a profound impact on physical and mental wellness. It is my belief that the more you are connected with your spiritual self, the more in-tune you are to your mind and body. For instance, yoga and Tai Chi are both used in spiritual development. However, they make you focuse on your breath and posture. My former yoga instructor told us all about how yoga impacted her life to make changes to her health (like quitting smoking and eating right). A balance in one's spiritual health is likely to have an impact on one's mental and physical development.

Unit 4- Loving Kindness

I found the Loving Kindness exercise to be a bit more difficult than the Rainbow guided meditation. It wasn't so much that the exercise itself was difficult, but that I had a little trouble focusing. Even though I normally have no problem keeping my mind clear, I found myself thinking to much about those people that the exercise wanted me to think about. I started thinking about the problems my sister and friends are all going through and how I wish I could help, even though it's not my place with any of their problems. I'm the kind of person who feels responsible for other people's problems, even if it has nothing to do with me. I did, however, find myself instinctively sending Reiki out to all of those people. There are some people that I haven't spoken to in a long time and this exercise helped me to forgive them for whatever happened between us. I guess that when you're really close to some people for so long, no amount of petty fighting will make you stop loving them. I realized that with this exercise. I would recommend this exercise to others, but with my own changes. I found the pauses to be too long and it made the whole thing a little boring to get through. For other people, I can just see them having problems sitting still for so long in silence like that.

Our textbook states that mental workouts are essential to really build our psychospiritual self. Only through continuous practice can we really connect with that Loving Kindness. Even 5-15 minutes a day can have a profound impact. In order to love and accept others, we must first love and accept ourselves. Mental workouts can help with this by pushing out those negative thoughts that we let hinder us and our love for ourselves. For someone like me who has negative feelings toward his or her body, this is tough to get through. Yet a mental workout like this can help you to see the real person inside and not just what you think others see. This is important for spiritual acceptance. I think meditations and personal mantras are important for this. Waking up in the morning and repeat positive thoughts to yourself before the stress of the day begins can help you get through those negative feelings. I know that I need to focus on bringing loving kindness to myself so that I can learn how to accept, love, and forgive others.

Unit 3- The Mind/Body Connection

For my physical wellness, I would rate myself around a 5. I am currently overweight, but it has not become an issue and I am in the process of losing weight. I've never been diabetic or had any cardiovascular problems. The only time I've ever had high blood pressure was when I was on the Ortho Evra patch when I was younger. My body simply rejects any form of birth control- even ones without hormones. 3 months after I stopped hormonal birth control, my cholesterol and blood pressure dropped back to normal. Since then, I haven't had any sort of problems. I have glaucoma, but it is under control with eye drops, bilberry, and vitamin C. I do suffer from joint pain, however, and that is something that I really need to work on.

As for my spiritual well-being, I have to give myself a 10. Even though I don't meditate as often as I should, I feel very connected to my spiritual self and my Goddess. I also run a Pagan and Wiccan study group here in the Quad Cities and we meet every 2 weeks in person to talk about anything pertaining to our magickal practices. We also have an online forum that we talk on daily. I'm very comfortable in my spiritual beliefs and my Reiki practice. For mental well-being, I would give myself an 8. Lately I have been getting mad more than I should and taking things out on myself- even if they're not my fault. Otherwise, I don't let stress get to me as much as it does to other people.

My physical goal is still to lose weight and become more active. This means popping in a movie and working on my exercise bike if I had to. I also want to go for more walks and go for bike rides with my family to the park and the zoo. My spiritual goal is to do magick and divination readings for myself, my husband, and my friends more often. I want to reconnect with the faeries around my home and use magick to bring positive blessings to my home and those I love. Finally, my mental goal would be to take out more time for myself. I need to get off of the computer during the day and do some reading instead. I should also do some meditation before bed or when I wake up in the morning. If I can find some good videos, I think doing some Tai Chi would help with that, as well. Overall, I think just getting away from the computer and becoming more active would help me in all 3 of these areas.

This week's relaxation exercise is pretty much identical to the meditation that I was taught during my Reiki training. Even though it's a little difficult to concentrate with a baby in the room, it was very pleasant getting my chakras open again. This exercise reminded me of why I want to be a healer and what Reiki, herbalism, and nutrition mean to me. I feel as though doing this once a day when I wake up in the morning would be very beneficial to give me the energy to tackle the day- whether it be to lose weight, do the chores around the house, or play with my daughter. I also can't wait for my husband to get home from work so we can spend some quality time together.

Journey on Relaxation

I found this exercise to be very beneficial. The background music is very calming and nice and the man's voice was very easy to follow. However, it's a bit difficult to do for a long period of time when you have a baby pulling on your arm for attention. During the exercise, I noticed that my body started vibrating with my heartbeat in my chair. Also, for the past day or so, I have had a great deal of pain in my neck and shoulders that I just have not been able to get rid of. Even though the pain is not quite gone, it is a lot more tolerable. This also brings me back to my days in massage therapy school when my professor used to use meditation techniques in class. The only thing I didn't like about this exercise, however, is that it feels like more of a lecture than a meditation technique. For someone who's been doing meditation for many years, this just felt very repetitive and not really anything new for me. However, I can see how other people who may be new to meditation can benefit from it. It really makes me want to start teaching meditation classes like I've been thinking about for the past 4 months or so. Teaching people in my area stuff like this, as well as more advanced guided meditations would be a great way to get my Reiki business finally up and going.

Bringing Integral Health Into My Life

As a former massage therapist and current level 2 Reiki practitioner, I am no stranger to integral health practices. I once worked for a chiropractor/acupuncturist in Chicago when my massage career began. It's something I've always had a passion for and I believe in alternative healing methods 100%. As I've become a mother, however, I have notices that certain practices that I used to follow have fallen to the wayside. It's my goal this year to bring back the person that I used to be. This includes losing weight, meditating, growing my own herbs, and eating healthier. Not only do I wish to set a good example for my daughter, but also for my future clients. We all have the power to take our health into our own hands- with the assistance of professionals in the field, of course. Integral healing methods are so important to bring into your life for healing of the body, mind, and spirit. This blog will document my journey to bringing integral health back into my life and hopefully find the young woman I used to be once again.