"Meeting Aesclepius"

The Meeting Aesclepius Practice was a very interesting exercise.  I admit I struggled with keeping my mind focused on the image I created. I found myself over and over trying to get back to the image, therefore I had little time to really spend on what the exercise said focus on.  My mind is extremely busy right now and I cannot complain, my thoughts are good thoughts. I have so many wonderful things going on right now.  Which is a turn around from all of the medical issues that have been going on for the last 90 days are so.  

I am going to have to go over this exercise again and again because I realize that it really takes time. Integral health, mindfulness practices, a subtle mind, calm abiding all of these things take time to develop.  I am impulsive and move quickly at times but I realize that those practices that have been successful in my life have taken me a lifetime to get right and I am still working on some.  I think once I realized this I was able to calm down and make the most of it. Mind was no longer asking am I doing this right, I begin to accept what I saw in my mind what I felt in my heart and I was able to flow with the exercise.

I believe like any other practice, once we make them habit we can benefit from them, mindfulness exercises as well as meditation can help develop the inner person. It helps us to reduce stress, relax, give thought to the important things, discard the negative things. It helps to calm our minds and allows us to have mental clarity. We have a heighten consciousness. The simplest thing sometimes is the hardest thing.  In order to continue toward the goal of Integral health, these exercises have to become daily habits, its the only way to get to the place that we want to be. The practice only enriches us and allows us to more and more be strengthen, then and only then can we teach others how to obtain Integral Health.


The statement "one cannot lead another where one has not gone himself". Is a very good statement. Sure we can have information and share it with others and they can benefit from the information if they choose to, however, when one has experienced something and shares the information from their experience, it always is more helpful because it becomes real to the hearer.  
When health and wellness practitioners share their personal experiences of different practices, clients and patients are more apt to want to take part in the practice because they believe they see the actual results. I think when when physicians and others show they live the life that they advise others to live, it validates them.  When they teach something and don't follow the teaching themselves, it is easy to discard the information as this must not be true because he or she does not follow the information themselves... For example a physician telling a patient that he should not smoke, it is bad for his health and is effecting him negatively but has the smell of cigarette smoke on him as well as a package of cigarettes in his shirt pocket.  That patient may focus so hard on what he sees and not what he hears. The information does not benefit him because he is looking at that physician's practice.  It is hypocritical I think.
I personally think that it is essential for me to do all I can to better my health if I am to be an example to my clients. It is my testimony of how my health has changed that has allowed me to help so many. I continue this journey of learning and sharing because not only am I concerned for my health but for the health of all I come in contact with. I believe knowing that others depend on me for advice and information health me keep going, helps me to keep working at it and finding the best solutions for health and wellness.

Universal Loving Kindness and the Integral Assessment

The Universal Loving Kindness exercise was a wonderful opportunity to put in words what I feel. I was able to say what I really feel in an intelligent way and put that in my spirit.  I am a helper, a healer, a nurturer, my concern is generally and usually for the health and well-being of another.  This exercise was and intelligent way for me to express my feelings in fewer words that are profound and powerful.  The interest thing about the next exercise or assessment was it makes me see how out of balance I am.  I am concerned about my health and well-being. I put everybody and everything above me, myself and I.  Although that can be seen as a good thing, it is not a balanced thing, therefore allowing myself to suffer in many areas, only keeps me from being all I can be to others.  I am learning that I have got to be at my best , to uplift, encourage, help others make the changes in their lives that I have made. It is very hard to convince someone that they can be healthy when they see you may be suffering in that area. 
I have come to know the root of my issues and I think that I must work on balancing the interpersonal and worldly parts of my life more so.  As much as I have learned about health, I believe that the root of some of my problems lies not in the biological but in these two quadrants.  I have not problem with either of the loving kindness practices, where I believe I can devote my attention is in the subtle mind practice. Learning how to tame the mind and regain my focus on how to fix some of the issues in my life.  I have already begin to think and meditate on them and how I have set goals for myself to take care of much needed task.  I have gone through a fierce battle with myself over taking care of some of my needs and stepping a way from helping others for a while. I remembered something I taught my church; it is hard to be a blessing to others when you are not blessed yourself. Meaning that if I do not take care of my immediate needs I will not be in a position to help others. I am going to have to take a little time an reacquaint myself with a few things that really are essential to my success.  I think I am headed in the right direction and it will not take me long to get in balance.

The Subtle Mind

I think this exercise is a very good exercise but it requires some work.  It is easy to become so relaxed that you just fall a sleep.  That defeats the purpose I think, it was very hard for me because I am currently dealing with pneumonia and trying to quiet the coughing is extremely hard and makes it hard to tame your mind when all on your mind is Please Stop Coughing!!!
I expected to get more out of this exercise than the Loving Kindness Exercise, I think because I practice Loving Kindness on a daily bases and although the exercise was profitable and allowed me to see some things, I believe this one would be more beneficial to me, to get me to the place I want to go.  Until I can learn to quiet my mind any and every where, I realize that I have to have the atmosphere for it. In a house with four girls ranging from 8 to 14 who love to talk and watch television with the volume up as loud as possible, does make it a little challenging.  Trying the exercise again when nobody but me was available, I found myself very in tuned for minutes and then wondering am I really doing this right? Am I fooling myself into thinking this is working an am I doing the exercise properly.  I am not sure but my challenge was with me this morning and I spent too much time dwelling on my thoughts.  For a brief moment I do remember the thoughts rising, hovering and then dissolving, only for  my mind to say, Am I doing this right?  I am a bit frustrated however I do believe it is beneficial and I must say it will require some time and effort and I will continue after it.

Loving kindness Exercise

This was an interesting exercise. I consider myself to be a loving kind person. I always try to show others love and kindness, it is easy for me and just natural. What was interesting about this exercise was my focus on an individual that I loved. I almost became emotional because I was flooded with how much I love this person and even though they know I love them, our relationships seems difficult sometimes.  This person just does not have the confidence in knowing how much they are loved.  I believe if she knew how unconditional love really is; she would have a whole new outlook on life.  This exercise cause me to flood my mind with the love I have for her and hoping that one day I will be able to show her just how much without having to go through all the hooplah we go through. I believe it was beneficial because it reminded me not to begin to put my feelings for her on the back burner to continue to show loving kindness at all cost.
This is an exercise I would recommend, I believe I know many people who could benefit from it, if no more but to change the direction of their thoughts. I think the suffering part of the exercise require a little more from me and it took a moment for it to penetrate, however with practice it will get better.

Mental workout is more than just putting in a tape, closing your eyes, relaxing, breathing and fifteen or twenty minutes later you feel less stressed. Mental work out is just like working your body there are a series of exercises to incorporate the whole body. It is the same thing with a mental workout; we have to put in the time, be dedicated to spend the time doing the exercises that will help us achieve the goal of integral health. It is important to understand the practice and not just merely go through the exercises.  Having an understanding better conditions us for success. Spending a few minutes a day a couple times a day can help us move toward our goal.  These exercises like any other requires a discipline. Time and practice can bring about change.

Reflection of my own level of wellness

When I sit back and take a look at my physical, spiritual and psychological well being I will have to rate my physical about a five.  My first thought is a one but I have been changing for the better for the last six years, I am no longer in the shape I was, I am not in the shape that I desire but I press on toward that place.  I had to really look at the strides, the changes I have made.  I am half way there and I cannot complain about that I still have my journey in perspective and I am still focused on winning the prize in the physical well being area.
Spiritually, I think I am about an eight.  I spend a lot of time thinking from a spiritual perspective and watching how spiritually healing has come to me physically, I am very grateful, could I do better, yes I can I strive to be better spiritually.
Psychologically, about a 7, I am working with a head injury actually two, so this is an area that i have really worked hard in, I can see my results through my schoolwork and the fact that I can pretty much keep up with everything, can I be better, yes, absolutely and I am striving for that. All in all I believe that there is so much room for growth but 5 years ago 7 years ago I would have had the worst scores in all categories. I can see my progress.
Goals to reach....I would like to achieve my weight loss so I can have all of this skin removed. It is the loose fat and skin that keeps me from enjoying so many things that I would like to do. Like running and biking I am unable to do it at this time. I am working on getting to the desired weight to have reconstruction surgery.  This will help me feel better and look better but it will help me lose a lot of the pain I suffer from, from having this hanging pannus.
Spiritually, I would like to be more focused, less distracted.  I sometimes still have the moments I cannot get past certains thoughts that I believe come to hinder my destiny and purpose. I would like to nip this in the bud.
Thirdly, I would like to have less distractions from noise. Psychologically my biggest issues right now, trying to stay focused when someone is talking directly to me and there is so much background noise.  I cannot always control these situations. When I hear back ground noise my thoughts get lost in the sounds.  This has not gone away yet,  I believe I do not have to live with this.  While I like complete quiet but there are some circumstances that you cannot have what you want; i want to be able to function in such situations.
I am constantly working on my weight loss goal with much success I must say, I work on my spiritual goal just as well. I have been trying different things to handle the psychological issues.  I have not watched television in two years so I have started turning it on and trying to do other things to see if I can keep my focus. I do well sometimes and somedays not so well.  When I go out to dinner with others I try to keep my mind clear so when I engage in a conversation I will not get lost and frustrated, my friends are patient with me.  I think I see results in all 3 areas.

As far as the exercise the Crime of the Century, I do not understand why it was named that, The exercise I got was a relaxation exercise and I enjoyed it.  I have an uncontrollable cough right now and even through all of that I found the exercise very beneficial I was able to envision the prisms of light in each of the 7 areas of my body I was able to identify each color and match them up with the region and I felt very relaxed. It was a good exercise.

Reflection of Relaxation Exercise

It's absolutely amazing how the body can react to what the mind suggest.  I was listening to the relaxation exercise and oh yes, I was still filled with some tension from the day, so I was ready to let it go. I was comfortable and busy allowing my mind to suggest to my body how to let go.  I listened to the exercise and immediately my mind was on the thing that was bugging me. More than tired, tense muscles needing to be relaxed, I have been bothered by a cough that I started a couple of weeks ago.  It has been six years since I was bothered by a cold, a sinus infection or allergy.  This cough was driving me nuts.  There was no reason for it.  I am not congested, no drainage.  My environment has change and I had begun coming into contact with cigarette smoke or the aftermath of it and it was choking me.  I realized yesterday that it was an allergy and I began seeking relief.  Interestingly enough, the cough was what was irritating me, I decided that I would suggest to myself that I would suppress the cough, I would use this opportunity to get relief I stopped focusing on my hands and arms and began to focus on my lungs and my respiratory system. I am happy to say that I have not coughed since I did the exercise and that made me feel great.  It is a wonderful opportunity to begin to practice things you believed but was not sure about how to begin.  I just needed to start and I just needed the confidence to know that I could do it.  I am excited, I feel better right now than I have felt in 3 weeks all because of the power of suggestion in a little taped message that only took minutes.

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