Unit 9

Unit 9 Final Project

HW420-03

Heather Jenkins

9/27/2010 

The unit nine projects is an opportunity for you to create a plan that applies concepts you have learned regarding holistic/integral health. The plan is created to foster growth and health spiritually, physically, and psychologically in your personal life.



Complete each of the five sections below and post the project in your blog, also submit it as a single Word document in your drop box.



I Introduction:



Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?

For wellness and healthcare professionals to be truly successful in their field, a true understanding and participation of spiritual, physical and psychological practices is necessary to completely understand and identify with their patients to make them feel as if the practitioner is not only knowledgeable but empathetic as well.

The areas where I would feel I need the most work as for integral health would be psychologically. I do have some self-confidence and self-love issues to deal with. I understand the importance of loving yourself and that is something that I would need to definitely apply to my daily growth.





II Assessment:



How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

My growth in my spiritual, physical and psychological arenas have grown at different paces. Physically I have for the most part, always been very active and educated in how to take care of my body and keeping my motivated on growing and staying healthy. Spiritually I feel that my trust in my Creator and where I feel I need to be is slowly coming to a balance. I have been praying more and growing my faith which has been a great help. Psychologically, even though there has been growth as far as my ability to control stress, I am still creating a block mentally towards allowing myself to love myself. This is an area that will need to be constantly addressed. Out of a scale from 1-10 I would rate my physical wellness at about an 8, I do very well form myself but there is always room for improvement. Spiritually, I would give myself a 7, much better than at the beginning of class but there is still a lot of growth left to work on. Psychologically, I would put myself at a 4, loving myself is a necessity that I am not currently allowing myself to experience.



III Goal development:



List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.



• Physically- one goal I currently have set for myself would be; to compete in a biking marathon. I have grown a love for bike riding and have implemented it into my weekly exercise routine. How I plan on accomplishing my goal would be to, first find a race that I plan on doing, researching training schedules for routines that will allow me to build conditioning in order to complete the race and then coinciding the two to come to a feasible time schedule for this goal.

• Spiritually- to become more active physically in my spiritual life, by attending church and or a bible study. In order for me to accomplish this goal, I will first need to learn to trust in God and in myself. To apply this trust I have planned on selecting a date and time of a church service and going with a support system (some friends), so that I do not feel alone. I plan to start going at least once a month for the first month or two then moving up to every two weeks for the next two months then finally every Sunday. I believe by implementing this plan in this way I will not feel overwhelmed or intimidated and can let the trust come back naturally.

• Psychologically- this area is the hardest for me to tackle, due to my inner reluctance. I plan to start with a small goal, one that will be a little easier to accomplish and that is not to overwhelming, I will tell myself something positive about myself every day. When I wake up in the morning before I enter the shower I will look myself in the mirror and tell myself that “I am beautiful and God made me in his own image, so that makes me perfect in Gods eyes.” By allowing myself to start talking to me in a positive way will hopefully allow my mental process to see myself in that light.



IV Practices for personal health:



What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example.

• Physically- I plan to continue increasing in speed and distance on my bike or in the gym on the spinning bikes in order to reach my goal of completing a marathon. By going to the gym at least 3-5 days a week and committing to increasing in performance each time will be a way of showing growth. Another area of growth for my physical wellbeing would be; stretching and improving flexibility in my joints. By increasing flexibility and range of motion will keep my joints and muscles from getting overly fatigued and prevent the overabundance of lactic acid build up, which in turn will help with the goal of increasing my speed and distance on my rides.

• Spiritually- a way I can measure growth spiritually would be by reading every day and keeping the “word” in my mind and heart. By reiterating this daily, will bring my spiritual wellness more consistent and allow the fostering of growth and trust. By fellowshipping more with fellow believers will also allow a consistent degree of spiritually and oneness with God and his people.

• Psychologically-scheduling a time each day in the morning when I first wake up to meditate and clear my mind so that I can focus on positive aspects instead of the stressors of the day, will help to train my mind to become quieter instead of being chaotic with all the things of the day. Learning to speak positively to myself in all areas will assist in my overall outlook upon myself which will help with my self-image.



V Commitment:



How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?

Physically I am always motivated and passionate to grown physically, so accomplishing my physical goals I am very confident in. Spiritually I feel meditation allows me to feel closer to God and puts me in a spiritual state. Visualization techniques I believe will help me with accomplishing my spiritual goals. Psychologically, the exercise that would be the most beneficial would be, the loving-kindness exercise. By showing myself the love I already have for others and allowing myself to feel that way about me, would help in my quest to become more balance psychologically.