Mental Fitness Unit 5

1.Compare and contrast the Loving Kindness exercise and the Subtle mind exercise. Explain your experience including the benefits, frustrations etc. 

The difference between the loving-kindness exercise and subtle mind is that in loving-kindness you have to use your mind where the subtle mind exercises you get to to relax your mind as well as your body experiences including benefits and frustrations are trying to focus on my thoughts and actions can be difficult for me because my mind starts to wander. I did not  have trouble in expressing my love and kindness towards others and myself. According to Dacher through loving-kindness one matures through the mind. The subtle mind exercise was a bit more challenging for me as my thoughts started to wander. I didn't have any trouble in the loving kindness exercise because I felt better once I was finished doing the exercise.

2. Discuss the connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. Explain how the connection is manifested in your personal life.

The connection between spiritual, mental, and physical wellness is that they all lead to integral health also known as holistic health, happiness, and wholeness. In order to achieve health, happiness, and wholeness we need to mentally focus on calm-abiding consciousness as well unity consciousness.
I feel that I am able to connect the spiritual, physical, and mental wellness into my persona life by praying, meditating, and understanding the feelings of others.

Unit 4: The Mind-Body-Spirit Paradigm Blog

1. Describe your experience. (Did you find it beneficial? Difficult?) Why or Why not? Would you recommend this to others? Why or Why not? 

I found this exercise to be beneficial as it was relaxing and calming. Focusing on the sound was so peaceful and felt a form of serenity when taking deep breaths. The words helped you meditate and focus on yourself. The only area I did not agree with was taking in the pain from those of the ones I love. I feel that working on yourself is a good start and have the ones you love do the exercise so they can work on themselves is a better idea. This exercise minus the part of taking in the pain of others would bring love and wholeness to your true inner self. I would definitely recommend this exercise to others as it would also help them relax and find true peace within themselves. 

1. What is the concept of “Mental Workout? What does the research indicate are the proven benefits of a Mental Work Out? How can you implement mental workouts to foster your psychological health? 

The concept of “Mental Workout” is to train the mind so that the mind can work at a higher level of consciousness. By training our minds we become better people in showing love, kindness, and consciousness. I can implement mental workouts to foster my psychological health by staying positive and analyzing situations before coming to conclusions as well as doing the meditation and breathing exercises.  

The Mind Body Connection to Wellness Unit 3

1. Based on your reflections, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal wellbeing), where do you rate your A-physical wellbeing, B-spiritual well-being, C-psychological well-being? Why?

1. Physical well-being- at this current moment in time I rate myself at a 7 because of a minor setback I had when I slipped and fell at work causing my herniated disc to become aggravated. I have been having pain down my leg, numbing behind my knee, and stabbing pain in my lower back. I have been on pain medication, anti-inflammatory medication, and finally just had my epidural in which I am starting to feel better. 
2. Spiritual well-being- I rate my spiritual well being at a 7 because of my minor set back. I was doing so great before my accident. I just wish that people would put up wet signs after mopping maybe then I wouldn’t have fallen. I think I was just stressed out at the fact that I had to start all over again when it took me a while to get better from the last time. When I fell and was in the emergency I felt like my spiritual well being went down the drain because I knew it was going to take me a while to get better and back into shape. 
3. Psychological well-being- I rate my psychological well being to be a 8. I feel that I am completely and mentally intact however, could use improvement. For example, taking better care of myself like I do for others.      

2. Develop a goal for yourself in each area (physical, spiritual, psychological).

1. My goal in making my physical well-being better and where I want it to be is by staying focused and positive in getting better so that I can get back to my workouts and making myself stronger physically, mentally, and spiritually. 
2. My goal in making my spiritual well-being better is to let go of everything that is causing me to stress out. I also need to pray more along with incorporating meditation into my daily life. 
3. My goal in making my psychological well being better is just focusing on myself for once rather than focusing on everyone else. Sometimes, you can get so caught up in helping everyone else that you forget about taking yourself and the things you need.  

3. What activities or exercise can you implement in your life to assist in moving toward each goal?  

  Some exercises that I would incorporate in my life so that I can reach my goals would be meditation, exercise, eating healthy, prayer, and breathing exercises so that I can clear my mind.

4. Complete the relaxation exercise The Crime of the Century.  To hear this exercise, click here. Describe your experience. (What it beneficial? Frustrating? etc.)

I feel that it is beneficial because the sound is very tranquil and relaxing however, for me it is a bit frustrating because I couldn’t fully get relaxed because of the voice on the relaxation exercise. This time I was in a quiet dimmed room with no distractions and could not fully relax. 

Heidi Fuentes 

Reflective Statement

Hello Everyone,

          This is the first time ever doing a blog which is kind of interesting and different. My experience with Journey on Relaxation exercise was really interesting because I kind of felt like I was at the spa minus the voice talking on the CD. However, I wasn't able to fully relax which is something I definitely need to work on in order to get into that deep relaxation mode. However, I did enjoy the peace and quietness for about 15 minutes.

Welcome Statement

Hello Everyone and welcome to my blog. My name is Heidi and live in New Jersey however, on the weekends you can find me somewhere in NYC. I like to explore new things which sometimes to me feel like an adventure. I like to spend my time with family because I like to create new memories where I can later in life look back on the good times I have shared with my family. I love to read interesting books, take pictures, work on my car with my better half (Kenny), watch movies, and cook.