Greetings to all during this wonderfully busy time of year. I hope that everyone is in good health and spirits as they read these words. I quite enjoyed the universal loving kindness practice this week and feel like it will be a part of my daily activities. I loved the simplicity of the words and that there was not a whole of complicated stuff involved. I think a mini practice is something that most people can do regularly and once it is memorized, it becomes second nature. I loved what the words said. I felt like they were words from my heart because I really do want the best for everyone. I think starting the day and even ending the day with a practice like this would be great! I personally liked using the word people instead of individuals and appreciated that I could do this whenever, where-ever because it was not pre-recorded.
Integral assessment
The aspect of my life that is a source of difficulty/suffering would be the biological aspect. In this area I am weak in the fitness department and would love to have a daily regimen that I want to do! Currently I do not exercise and this is very hard for me to admit. The self regulation area is also the area of my life that is ready for growth and development. Incorporating a regular spiritual practice would be a nice addition to my life. What I can do and truly want to do is to work to do a regular yoga practice that would give me fitness and self regulation improvement by giving me fitness and spirituality at the same time. I would love to teach yoga one day because I really believe in the wonderful benefits of this activity.
Wishing all the very best
Nychelle:)
Friday, December 16, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
unit 5
Greetings All!
I have to say that I am silly for not realizing that the last post I did was supposed to be just a loving kindness exercise and not the subtle mind. None the less, I did take some time and did the subtle mind exercise again and was much happy with my outcome. Granted I was interrupted by my children, I still was able to get way more into this than before. I did not feel like the pauses were too long this time. I just let myself "be". I was not anticipating someone to talk like before. I really tried to focus on what I was instructed to do and so during those times when there was no talking I allowed my mind to focus on my breath. This time there was no anxiety or anticipation but rather a raw relaxation and complete acceptance of the situation and that felt really good. I think that doing this exercise with no distractions would really be beneficial to me and that I could really reached some deeper mind states. I actually look forward to doing this again. I the subtle mind after working and I was not tired but engaged in the activity. In a house where a lot is always going on, taking the time to quiet my mind is a very good thing.
As I stated last week, I did not enjoy the loving kindness activity. I am not sure why that exercise is such a challenge for me but I just can't seem to connect with the instructions. I think that I do need to try the exercise again and maybe at different times/locations to get a better outcome from it. With the subtle mind I was able to get my mind into it and follow the instructions better than the loving kindness. What frustrates me is that I totally have a loving kindness mentality and have for some time now. I know that everything doesn't work for everyone but I would like to do better with the loving kindness exercise, but why? I think I feel like if I don't do good with that activity then my loving kindness heart/mind is not good enough and I know that is not true.
The connection between spiritual to mental to physical wellness
To some spiritual is before mental and to others mental is before spiritual. None the less getting the spiritual and mental aspects of wellness in order is necessary and can be done by incorporating physical activities/wellness hence mind body activities like yoga. I think that any physical activity has the potential to be a mind body activity depending on the individual. If your engaging in a physical activity like walking, that can be made into walking meditation and therefore connecting the mental, spiritual and physical areas of wellness. It is all in what the person puts into it. The deliberate effects of what the individual wants to get out of the activity.
Best wishes to all! Good night:)
Oh yes remember to be good to yourself and be good to others
I have to say that I am silly for not realizing that the last post I did was supposed to be just a loving kindness exercise and not the subtle mind. None the less, I did take some time and did the subtle mind exercise again and was much happy with my outcome. Granted I was interrupted by my children, I still was able to get way more into this than before. I did not feel like the pauses were too long this time. I just let myself "be". I was not anticipating someone to talk like before. I really tried to focus on what I was instructed to do and so during those times when there was no talking I allowed my mind to focus on my breath. This time there was no anxiety or anticipation but rather a raw relaxation and complete acceptance of the situation and that felt really good. I think that doing this exercise with no distractions would really be beneficial to me and that I could really reached some deeper mind states. I actually look forward to doing this again. I the subtle mind after working and I was not tired but engaged in the activity. In a house where a lot is always going on, taking the time to quiet my mind is a very good thing.
As I stated last week, I did not enjoy the loving kindness activity. I am not sure why that exercise is such a challenge for me but I just can't seem to connect with the instructions. I think that I do need to try the exercise again and maybe at different times/locations to get a better outcome from it. With the subtle mind I was able to get my mind into it and follow the instructions better than the loving kindness. What frustrates me is that I totally have a loving kindness mentality and have for some time now. I know that everything doesn't work for everyone but I would like to do better with the loving kindness exercise, but why? I think I feel like if I don't do good with that activity then my loving kindness heart/mind is not good enough and I know that is not true.
The connection between spiritual to mental to physical wellness
To some spiritual is before mental and to others mental is before spiritual. None the less getting the spiritual and mental aspects of wellness in order is necessary and can be done by incorporating physical activities/wellness hence mind body activities like yoga. I think that any physical activity has the potential to be a mind body activity depending on the individual. If your engaging in a physical activity like walking, that can be made into walking meditation and therefore connecting the mental, spiritual and physical areas of wellness. It is all in what the person puts into it. The deliberate effects of what the individual wants to get out of the activity.
Best wishes to all! Good night:)
Oh yes remember to be good to yourself and be good to others
Friday, December 2, 2011
unit 4
In this week's work on increasing my psychospiritual health, the exercise to practice were a Loving Kindness and Subtle mind practice. At first I thought that the practice was going to be a challenge because I did not like the author's (Dacher) voice. Luckily though once Dacher explained what we were going to be doing a pleasant woman's voice came on and was easy to follow. I felt during the Loving Kindness exercise that a lot of love felt like pressure to me and I had to breath very deep. I liked the Subtle mind practice a little better than the Loving Kindness activity but found the long ocean sounding pauses to be a bit too long for me and that I was anticipating when the woman's voice was going to come back on. During the Subtle mind activity I felt a sense of lightness throughout and though my mind wandered (not a lot) I could easily come back to my instructions. I think on a day to day basis I would not mind doing the Subtle mind exercise and occasionally doing the Loving Kindness one. I very much like the concept of the Loving Kindness but would do it a little differently for my own personal liking. I definitely plan on trying these exercises again when I haven't worked a 12 hour shift!
A mental workout is the same as a physical workout but of course we are using our mind/conscious. Just as it is important to move our bodies the same holds true for other aspects of our being to have the holistic centered wellness. If we want to be good at something we must practice and if we want to be good at creating a healthy mind and spirit then a daily practice with mind centered activities is necessary to facilitate that! Ya just gotta keep trying until it becomes a habit and the mind gets trained!
As always I wish everyone greatness and during this holiday season remember to breath and enjoy the simple beauty of life!
A mental workout is the same as a physical workout but of course we are using our mind/conscious. Just as it is important to move our bodies the same holds true for other aspects of our being to have the holistic centered wellness. If we want to be good at something we must practice and if we want to be good at creating a healthy mind and spirit then a daily practice with mind centered activities is necessary to facilitate that! Ya just gotta keep trying until it becomes a habit and the mind gets trained!
As always I wish everyone greatness and during this holiday season remember to breath and enjoy the simple beauty of life!
Friday, November 25, 2011
Levels of wellnes!
Good Evening and welcome! I am hoping that everyone's day was pleasant. This evening I have spent some time reflecting on my levels of wellness. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being optimal and 1 being very low) I have rated how my physical, spiritual and psychological wellbeing is.
Physical-3/4 I do not exercise regularly :(
Spiritual-7/8 I feel very spiritually connected and content
Psychological-7/8 I feel psychologically healthy but could use some improvement
Goals and activities
Physical-give myself permission to actively move my body daily with exercise like walking and yoga
Spiritual-spend a little time daily in meditation and spiritual reading (preferably morning)
Psychological-I think working on the spiritual will positively affect this area so it's really important to work on my spiritual area.
I think that by doing these activities I will enrich other areas of my life like work and family because I have feed my soul by taking time to exercise and spiritually feeding myself.
Finally, I took the time to do a guided meditation that work on the chakra system of the body. Each of these energy centers of the body is represented by a color and was given a statement to say like "I feel grounded" or "I chose to love". I enjoyed this meditation as much as the last. I would however like to try and do this meditation on a regular basis to get into a routine. I will try to memorize the areas of the body that correspond to the colors and learn the accompanying statements. Something like this would not take long and I felt very connected to myself and the universe from this activity. It was calming and yet energizing! I would recommend anyone to try this and if they don't like to listen to someone give the meditation directions then learn it well and do it on their own-make it work for you:)
I wish everyone a beautifully quiet moment in each day that gives them clarity and the ability to see something wonderful in the world.
Always remember to be kind to yourself and others
Nychelle
Physical-3/4 I do not exercise regularly :(
Spiritual-7/8 I feel very spiritually connected and content
Psychological-7/8 I feel psychologically healthy but could use some improvement
Goals and activities
Physical-give myself permission to actively move my body daily with exercise like walking and yoga
Spiritual-spend a little time daily in meditation and spiritual reading (preferably morning)
Psychological-I think working on the spiritual will positively affect this area so it's really important to work on my spiritual area.
I think that by doing these activities I will enrich other areas of my life like work and family because I have feed my soul by taking time to exercise and spiritually feeding myself.
Finally, I took the time to do a guided meditation that work on the chakra system of the body. Each of these energy centers of the body is represented by a color and was given a statement to say like "I feel grounded" or "I chose to love". I enjoyed this meditation as much as the last. I would however like to try and do this meditation on a regular basis to get into a routine. I will try to memorize the areas of the body that correspond to the colors and learn the accompanying statements. Something like this would not take long and I felt very connected to myself and the universe from this activity. It was calming and yet energizing! I would recommend anyone to try this and if they don't like to listen to someone give the meditation directions then learn it well and do it on their own-make it work for you:)
I wish everyone a beautifully quiet moment in each day that gives them clarity and the ability to see something wonderful in the world.
Always remember to be kind to yourself and others
Nychelle
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Hello again!
I hope this message reaches everyone in good spirits. It has been a wonderfully long day with rain showers and clouds but even in the wetness of the day there is a bright feeling in my heart. After work and dinner before coming to Thoughts for wellness, I took a peaceful moment to experience " a journey of relaxation". This was like a guided relaxation technique with a soothing male voice and soft musical tones in the background. I found the experience to be very pleasant and quite relaxing. Focusing on a periodic deep breath and guiding my mind to have the blood flow of my body (specifically abdominal area) to go to my arms and hands was interesting to experience. I really could feel the heaviness of my arms and tingling in my fingers while doing this exercise. Twice I felt myself kind of jolt a little because I had relaxed too much (it was a long day) and I did this all very comfortably in a chair with headphones on. I think something like this would be good to do daily if not several times a day. It didn't take long but helped to clear my mind because I was focused on listening to the instructions I was given. I have meditated before and I like something like this because I am able to relax and better clear my mind because I felt the voice, music and instructions that were given were all done in a manner that I liked. I would do this again for sure.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Here we begin!
Welcome to thoughts for wellness and thank you for stopping by:)
In today's times we are often busy living and forget to stop and look at life in its' simple form. There is beauty everywhere (though sometimes it seems like it's hiding). In this journey of now I wish everyone their very best. Live and love each moment of your special life!
*Nychelle*
In today's times we are often busy living and forget to stop and look at life in its' simple form. There is beauty everywhere (though sometimes it seems like it's hiding). In this journey of now I wish everyone their very best. Live and love each moment of your special life!
*Nychelle*
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