Unit 10 Final blog! YAY!

In unit 3 I rated myself to be between 8&9 physically, I was just coming out of a show and was in pristine shape. In the last 7 weeks since I have put on some more weight which I am not comfortable with however I developed a stomach ulcer and have had extreme GI problems so my diet has certainly been off track. I am confident I will be back to my comfortable weight now that I can take care of this stomach problem and rid myself of some stress. My spiritual rating was 6 or 7, this class has actually helped me find more strength and connection and growth in my faith. I admit this class has tested me in so many ways I would not have thought about, lol. SO now I give myself a 8 or 9 in my spiritual aspect. Mentally and psychologically I had rated myself around 6 or 7, although I am confident in who I am I still see many areas I need to grow in through my life. I need to become more accepting of my body no matter what weight or size I am. My confidence in other areas are great, yet my self esteem plummets anytime I gain a few pounds and I become depressed and sad. It is very annoying actually so I intend to continue to address the issue. I still work toward building improving my physical goals, which now are to just be healthy and feel well. I am following God's path to the best of my ability and continue to grow in my faith and take more time in a day for my quiet time. Once school is over I will have ride myself of one of the major stressors in my life so I am still working towards that goal. I just want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my blogs and appreciate all the feed back. Best of luck to everyone!

Unit 9 project

Introduction: I feel it is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically in order to relate with their clientele on a more personal level. For myself I would like to develop on the psychological and spiritual aspects of health and wellness. Through the course I have realized that there are many areas of my life that I have yet to address and allow to heal fully. In a way I have been putting band-aids on wounds from my past. I feel that as I continue to grow in my spiritual faith I will find healing in my psychological state as well.

Assessment: I have done an integral assessment of my mind, body, and spirit along the lines of out text due to my personal beliefs. I have however done alternative type of assessments. Physically I score my self  on the higher end of the spectrum. I have overcome obesity and many food and eating disorders. I however score myself a little lower on the psychology side of that. I still suffer from self-esteem problems and find myself struggling with my weight fluctuations all the time. When my weight goes up after a competition when I look the best I ever have and then I gain 20 pounds within a month due to the rebound of the contest diet. I struggle mentally accepting my body when I have body fat. On stage I compete at 8% off stage in between shows I am 13% and that is very hard to not see myself as obese and ugly. These are certainly areas I need to face and heal from. Spiritually I am strong in my beliefs and continue to grow as I attend church and fellowship with other believer. My devotions are my time of “meditation” and through God I will find my healing in the other areas of my life.

 Goal Development: Physically I want to find a better balance of diet and weight. I would like to live a lifestyle where my diet is consistent and my weight is as well. I do not feel that it is healthy for someone to yo-yo as much as I do when competing and my body is starting to become unhealthy due to my diet as well. Physiologically I would like to become more comfortable in my body in any state of health. Meaning I want my self-esteem to value how much I am worth. I want to always feel that I am worth being healthy, happy, and loved. Spiritually I hope to grow more Christ like and live in a manor pleasing to God and to fulfill His divine purpose in my life. 

Practices for personal health: Physically I intend on adjusting my diet to meet my current exercise regiments. Exercise is one area I currently do on a very regular basis. I train for 2 hours 5-6 days a week. I intend on changing this around some and see how I do. I believe part of my inner struggle is I am addicted in a way to cardio and feel that if I miss a day in the gym I will gain weight. I need to change this way of thinking and in order to do this I nee to incorporate a change in life. Another physical exercise I intend on incorporating into my life is yoga. I began to take yoga in order to achieve a better balance in my workouts. I tend to focus only on cardio and heavy lifting. But physical health extends beyond just those exercises. So as I change my diet to find a better balance I also will be changing my workout routines.

Psychologically I am still am uncertain how I intend on growing. I hope by making changes in my diet and workouts I can learn to stop focusing on the constant battle to cardio myself into the ground. I intend on seeking out a more healthy approach to looking a foods and how they can balance and affect our body. I struggle mentally with this concept so for me viewing fats and carbohydrates as a necessary item is difficult. I am great to require my own client to incorporate these foods into their diet yet I struggle to take my own advice. Also I am going to incorporate 5-10 minutes every day to have quiet time alone with just myself and the Word of God. Weather I go to the beach or stay home I want to find time where I do not feel rush or pressured to achieve some sort of task in order to meditate.

Spiritually will be along the same lines as physiologically because for me they are one and the same. AS I continue to grow in my walk with the Lord I continue to grow mentally as well. Through Christ I am forgiven and my sorrows and worries are taken away. Spiritually I can be healed mentally so to speak. AS I struggle with my mental grasp on my weight and body I grow stronger in my faith that God will provide answers and a path for me to follow. I guess in a way although I struggle not to stress about my self-image I know in the back of my mind I will balance out and things will be okay because I have given it over to God.

Commitment: In six months from now my biggest way to assess my progress will be to see how my health and weight are doing. In six months I hope that my physical sickness that have developed due to lack of proper nutrients in a diet will be settled and that I will be able to maintain a healthy weight that I am comfortable at. I also will be able to assess my progress for my spiritual well being by acknowledging where I was and where I will be. My short term goals are also my long term goals. To physically be healthier and maintain a healthier diet and exercise routine, psychologically I will have abetter grasp on my self image at the weight I hope to maintain and have my binge eating and eating in general under control. Spiritually I will always be growing in my faith no matter what, when, or where.

Unit 8 Mindfulness Practices

Well I can say the most beneficial practices for me have to be vision practice and subtle mind. Although I do not follow the actual meditation itself very well I did take away a part of the meaning of the practice. For example obtaining a subtle mind helped me to calm my mind, mostly at night, and with this I have been able to separate and truly look at what my issue where and prioritize which need to be worked on first. Before this practice I always felt that it was a cluster mess in my head and I could not get a grip on reality. One specific example is my husband and I are trying to make a decision weather we want to move north or stay in Florida. It seems like the idea is such a cluster of thoughts, concerns, ideas, worries, where to start looking, how to go about moving, and so on. By practicing subtle mind I have been able to address all of my thoughts and concerns in a more organized manor. Next example is how I incorporate the vision into my life. I am a figure competitor so for me vision is everything. I focus on my vision of how I want to look on stage before the judges and while I am training, dieting, or preparing I stay focused on this vision. At times during the training process my emotions run high, I can become so fatigued I want to give up and quit, and I may question why I am doing this to myself. By having my vision n the back of my mind I can will myself to keep going and remind myself that I can do this. So out of all the exercises we have done these are the two that may stick with me in this way after the semester.