Monday, June 30, 2014

Well- being


Hello everyone! This week I will be reflecting on my strengths and weaknesses physically, psychologically and spiritually. On a scale of 1-10I would rate my physical wellbeing at an 8. I have some fat on my body that could be turned into muscle. I could also make it to the gym or other exercise activities more often. I would have to rate my spiritual wellbeing at a 9. I meditate about twice a day everyday to relieve stress and gain relaxation time in a busy day schedule. Although I meditate twice a day I think that I could work on my relaxation skills more and I could find a higher energy to communicate with from time to time. Lastly I would rate my psychological wellbeing at a 7. I am getting better but I have had problems with depression and anxiety over the past 5 years although I am much happier then I was there is still some room for improvement and happiness.
If I were to set goals for myself to improve my wellbeing over all I would have to start with going to the gym at least 4 times a week. Going to the gym will help my physical well being and it would make me healthier. It would also help with my psychological well being, but in order to improve my psychological well being I would have to set a goal to turn my negatives into positives. Negative thoughts are not good for me with my history of depression. I must always keep my thoughts positive to help lower my anxiety and keep my outlook positive. To improve my spiritual well being I would have to practice a religion or find a higher energy that I can communicate with. I could improve my meditation skills and work more on my Shavasana but I think a religion would help me stay centered. Joining a meditation group, going on runs or walks, and finding a therapist whom I can talk to would help me achieve these goals.
I personally really enjoyed the relaxation exercise we practiced in unit 3. The gentleman’s voice was very calming and soothing. I found it very easy to relax and listen to what he was saying without having to put any thought into it. I enjoy focusing on my breathing and being able to get into a deeper state of relaxation while exhaling. Over all I found this exercise very helpful and I actually saved the link so that I can practice it on my own time. When he spoke about the colors of the rainbow and different prisms I found my thoughts to be very colorful and vibrant meaning I was really able to focus.

References:
TheCrimeOfTheCentury.mp3. (n.d.). Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://www.kushs.net/kaplan/HW420/TheCrimeOfTheCentury.mp3

Monday, June 23, 2014

Relaxation


Hello everyone,
This is my first blog post ever and I am very excited to see how it goes. This week we were to experiment with meditation and breathing. I practice yoga everyday so I was familiar with different types of abdominal breathing as well as Ujjayi breath. I really enjoyed this exercise because I have never really listened to a man speaking while practicing meditation. I even have a hard time relaxing to some women’s voices so I choose my yoga teacher according to their tone. This mans voice was very calming and I was able to get into a shavasana state of mind. I highly recommend others to try to listen to the Journey on Relaxation. I look forward to more exercises like this throughout the term. 
Christina