My Universal Loving-Kindness Exercise and Integral Assessment Experience

Hi everyone

           In this week’s blog I would like to talk to you about my Universal Loving-Kindness Exercise experience and the Integral Assessment process. First, let me tell you a little about Universal Loving-Kindness and then I will tell you about my exercise experience. It may seem like Universal Loving-Kindness is simply about close passionate relations, but I can tell you that is not the truth. When we develop our awareness we are increasing our range also. Our ability is enhanced for listening with attentive ears, understanding folks, and being concerned for them as well. That means we need to have open hearts, compassion, kindness, and emotional closeness which can extend out to all of our relationships.

          We need to understand others, recognize others, listen to others, be there for others, and feel like we are one with others. They might be a lover, a companion, a pal, a visitor, or maybe even an enemy; this is a deep healing gift for us and the world. Integral health calls for us to spread out these abilities further than our close group of loved ones to all of humanity. The expansion of universal loving-kindness is the final jump in our interpersonal growth. This exercise I am going to tell you about can be pretty influential in growing your mind and heart. It can function as a solution to anger and hatred. It can help to move our concentration from private love to widespread loving-kindness.

           So as Dacher (2006) instructed us to do, I closed my eyes for a short time while focusing on my breathing until I came into the natural ease of my mind and body. Then I repeated the following phrases for a little while as he had instructed us to do also.

May all individuals gain freedom from suffering.

May all individuals find sustained health, happiness, and wholeness.

May I assist all individuals in gaining freedom from suffering.

May I assist all individuals in finding health, happiness, and wholeness.

           After I repeated the phrases for a while my mind went back to the Loving-Kindness exercise we had done earlier in Unit 4 of our class. As I kept on I could “see” in my mind’s eye that I was just standing there by myself and I could actually witness my separation from folks. After a few minutes I was able to see some people who are really significant to me so I extended some understanding and concern to them. I witnessed the sense of association. Now, after a few moments, all of my friends and family were in my consciousness. I made sure I touched them with loving-kindness, care, and commitment. I witnessed what it was like to be vulnerable and generous to other folks. At last, my consciousness was brought to the attendance of all humanity, which included all races, religions, and cultures. I was able to see that this area of consciousness can reach out for an indefinite period. I remember reaching out my arms and opening my heart to all of them. So, I did the same as was in the original Loving-Kindness exercise and I took in their suffering and gave health and joy out to them. I let myself melt into a solitary worldwide heart. I witnessed and felt this worldwide and interrelated embrace. It was such a joy for me to see the folks find the health, happiness, and wholeness in their lives.

          Now, I wanted to tell you a little bit about the process of the Integral Assessment before actually getting into mine. When we don’t know which areas of our life to work on we can’t successfully choose the right exercises or competently progress in the direction of integral health and healing. We usually put our efforts into what is important in our lives, what lines up with our capabilities, and what is really conceivable given our situations. However, it is essential for us to remember, that sickness and healthiness have their origins in each of the four areas of our lives. This means that we have to be holistic in our assessment despite the fact at any time we may decide to act in only one area of life. So if we use our knowledge concerning the four quadrants, lines, and levels of growth, we can find it helpful to initiate a proper assessment of ourselves while we are in a meditative state. I would say the first thing we should do is to develop a still and silent mind. After that, I would focus my complete attention on the four quadrants of the integral map. We can then take a good look into the four aspects of our lives and decide which area needs consideration.

          We actually have to take notice of our lives and see what is happening when we are ready to do an integral assessment. We may decide to look at any of the four quadrants and then fine-tune them by pinpointing the exact lines of growth that we would like to work on. This could be individual connections, emotional growth, fitness, work, or any additional concern. Probably by this time, we may be able to see in our mind's eye the jump to the next level of growth. We have to see which exercises will be called for. We have to look at what issues will be taken care of. We have to see what kind of new skills will be cultivated. Another thing is we have to think of how this is going to add to our integral health. Let’s take a look at a different approach and that is to pinpoint any pressing area of suffering. It is imperative that we look at that concern in all the related quadrants, lines, and levels. We have to see which level of growth we are stuck in or out of balance in. At the point that we find that out we can then look into it through practice.

          I closed my eyes and started the Integral Assessment by concentrating on my breathing until I was able to ease into the stillness of my mind and body, as I released all my psychological movement. Believe me it was very difficult for me to get this done. While it was quiet I pondered what area or areas of my life, meaning psychospiritual, biological, interpersonal, or worldly, is the cause of my trouble and distress. In my mind, I could see that for me the answer to that question was that I needed to work on the psychospiritual area of my life. I saw that all three lines of development in the psychospiritual area (conative, cognitive, and emotional) of the Integral Assessment are the most important for me right now. I need to revisit the original line of development in the psychospiritual area also. That is as far as I was able to get in this Integral Assessment because I have had psychological interference that was hard to get through this week.

           In doing this Integral Assessment, I am not really happy about what I discovered about myself. I really do need to work on every aspect of my life. However, the area that came up mostly in the practice was the psychospiritual part of my life. That is the area I have chosen to be a focus of growth and development. The reason I chose this area is because I need to be able to get a clear mind in order to be able to do these practices and have development so that I can continue to go to the next levels. If I can’t get straight mentally, or should I say in the context of the mind-body-spirit realm, than I really can’t help anyone else. Some of the specific exercises or activities that I can implement to foster greater wellness in this area would be any relaxation exercise that can help get me focused. The next exercises can be the Loving-Kindness practice and the Subtle Mind practice. After that the Universal Loving-Kindness exercise and then I can go ahead to another Integral Assessment until I grow and progress through the levels of the psychospiritual area.

           One other thing I wanted to bring up was that the complete blossoming of these levels of accomplishment, which are sustained health, happiness, and wholeness, won’t happen until we prepare the ground and sensibly develop our lives. When we do that, the outcomes will be enduring and permanent like when you engrave a stone. A precise and truthful assessment of our genuine level of growth will let us plan for the future. We will be capable of selecting and applying the most suitable integral practice in the direction of our goal of ending unnecessary distress, improving recovery from illness, and supporting genuine well-being. This means that an integral assessment aids us in getting from one level of growth to another, gradually moving us en route to our valuable goal of human flourishing.

Craig S Aronoff

My "Subtle Mind" Exercise Experience

Hi everyone

           In this week’s blog, I would like to share my experience with the “Subtle Mind” Exercise. Before I share the “experience” let me give you a little antipasto before the meal. This particular exercise has acquainted me with the three stages of the subtle mind which are the witnessing mind, calm-abiding, and unity consciousness. This is an exercise that should be our basic every day exercise, helping us to develop in the direction of psychospiritual flourishing. It is going to take time to develop this as a regular exercise for us. We had to start with a modest yet thoughtful early preparation linked to our breathing. We had to practice our breathing for a couple of reasons. The first reason is because there is a straight association between our breathing and our mind.

          Our mind shadows our breathing as our breathing comes to be more relaxed and regular. When we have serene breathing patterns this brings us a serene mind. When we still our breath we make our mind tranquil. The second reason we practice our breathing is that our breathing is with us at all times so we can practice with it anytime or anywhere that we may be. When we practice our breathing, we pick up how to discipline and calm down the mind by developing our witnessing consciousness. This witnessing consciousness supplants any clutching and adhering, and we increasingly experience calm-abiding. Then calm-abiding slowly but surely develops into unity consciousness. Next, I will share my experience…

My “Subtle Mind” Experience

           At the start of the exercise I used my breathing as a central point to focus on. The exercise narrator said that “we can either focus on the rising and falling of our chest in the breathing cycle or the movement of our breath in and out of our nostrils with each inhalation and exhalation.” I chose to use the former choice rather than the latter one. I started by taking my attention to my breathing choice. Then I took ten deep in-breaths and ten deep out-breaths. At that point I had considerations, outlooks, perceptions, and imaginings that diverted my attention.  Then I just observed them without grabbing onto them and quietly returned my attention to my breathing.  After that I was able to calm down into easiness within my mind and my body. I was able to breathe easily while I kept up a strong focus on my chosen breathing choice.

          This particular exercise was an extremely deliberate, attentive, and to some degree powerful process. This is what was needed for us to do in order to discipline our busy mind. As my mind reacted and the psychological commotion became quiet, I was slowly able to let up on the grasp I had on my breathing. I was now spending more time witnessing my psychological movements and not as much time overwhelmingly submerged in them. I experienced this intensive focusing practice for a while. I was able to take the chance to see how my mind works. I looked at its psychological activities. I was able to see how I was reluctantly drawn in the direction of indiscriminate psychological activities. It is amazing to see how my mind has been educated to hold onto and adhere to them.

           I was wondering what comes about when we drop our concern for our psychological activities and let go of them. The thought came to my mind about where the psychological actions go at that point. I saw the variance in my mind and my body between grasping and observing. I did see how it is possible to convert the adhering and fastening mind to an observing mind. I was able to see how an idea, emotion, or illustration as expected increases, takes, and melts away if you leave it alone. I witnessed my mind and acquired the knowledge of how it truly works. I remember thinking that my development is going to call for perseverance. Irrespective of anything I did, it has always been possible for me to be unable to find my concentration at different times during any of my sessions and that’s alright.

          Whenever that happened I just had to remain with the exercise and I had to take my awareness back to my breathing. I did this for a while until I was able to calm down and search my mind. When my mind got to the point where it was not as suitable to grab on to psychological activities, I was gradually able to let go of the hold on my breathing. I still kept up my concentration but it was with a smaller amount of energy. The narrator mentioned that “it is like holding a piece of paper very tightly between your fingers and then slowly releasing your grip while still holding on.” My concentration had to be sufficiently snug so that my mind couldn’t become absent and it was free enough so that I wouldn’t be stressed. I am acquiring the knowledge I need in order to develop this stability as I progress in my exercise.

           During this exercise my mind was able to get decisively calmed down into tranquility. I am aware that this may happen during some of my practices and not in others. I do realize, though, that when this happens, I can gradually let go of my grasp and move my awareness from my breathing sequence to the calmness itself. I was able to make the calmness my new point of focus. This is definitely a “subtle” and significant change. There is a little area of my mind that sustains my awareness to my mind’s calmness, which is a less noticeable point of focus. This is when I started to travel around my still mind.

          My mind wanted to wander at different points during the exercise and so I went back to my breathing until it stabilized again. Then I was able to let up again, moving my awareness to the calmness, and I stayed in the calmness as I carried on my analysis. It didn’t take me long to figure out that this was going to be a “back-and-forth process” that is going to change during every exercise session. I kept up the exercise for a while, putting together variable intensities of exertion as I experienced the taming of my mind, witnessing its mechanisms, and stabilizing it in calm-abiding.

          When calm-abiding is constant, it naturally develops into unity consciousness. It’s like the openness and calmness of calm-abiding magnifies and magnifies until it surrounds us on all sides. This is when unity consciousness and unobstructed awareness make themselves known. This is also when our inmost core comes out. At this point our mind will be clear, quiet, stable, open, alert, and all-knowing. This is also when “the mind drops into the heart.”  The separation, isolation, disturbed emotions, confusion, doubt, and our imbalanced physiology that we were dealing with are all healed by our deepest source. I found out about my inmost nature and the natural healing properties of an open mind and an open heart. I let my mind go and I permitted it to float free. I experienced the whole thing with a clearness and brilliance, but I didn’t grab on to anything. I observed the quality of this consciousness.

         

          Unity consciousness and pure awareness are the result of the subtle mind exercise. This apparently simple state of mind is an extraordinary level of accomplishment, and so it will take time to achieve. Even though, the first entrance to unity consciousness may last only a little while, our exercise will develop with practice. It is very significant for us to know that we can experience this innate natural home. Even if we don’t remember it in our daily life, we can’t lose it. We need to take some time each day to stop, look to our innermost, and rest in this innermost home. In doing this, we will always train our mind to recenter itself in its deepest core. I stayed with the exercise until it was completed.

           It seemed to me that the “Subtle Mind” exercise was more difficult to get through the different levels than the “Loving-Kindness” exercise. I will be honest and say it was not easy in either one because I had to fight through much negative mental and physical issues. That is where my frustrations showed up. But once I was able to calm down and get to the level of the “Witnessing mind” things got better because those areas that would normally distract me were just floating by and I noticed them and didn’t attach to them and then they dissipated. I also thought it was a benefit to have a soft spoken narrator and some serene music along with the crashing of ocean waves.

 

           We know that in the last twenty-five years, there has been a lot of hard work to increase physical health that has gone further than the diagnosis and treatment of disease. There is now a concern for physical fitness, nutrition, preventive measures, and health promotion. The thing is that they expand but do not in essence alter Western medicine’s limited focus on anatomy and physiology. So the result is that we continue to be unaware of other areas of our biology, areas that can only be learned through an integral approach. This method calls for us to move further than the singular focus on the physical and go beyond anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, microbiology, and genetics, into the mental and spiritual.

           Developing these areas of our biology will help us advance the full potential of our biological life. The major levels of biological development are anatomical, physiological, mind/body, and spiritual body. As we climb each step up the developmental ladder, we change our focus and enlarge our horizon. This growth on the way to an increasingly higher level of development, complexity, and capacity is in essence a movement from body to mind to spirit, which is a method of development that applies to each of the four aspects of life. This is the common design for the evolutionary explaining of our human potential and integral health. This growing movement from body to mind to spirit is a change in understanding and distinctiveness from the realm of the physical with its emphasis on survival, instinct, and self to the more subtle and intangible realm of the mental with its focus on ideas, intention, and interconnectedness to the most subtle spiritual realm of awareness, wisdom, and oneness. This same growth system is also a move from outer to inner to innermost. This will unfold as we move from the most physical levels of our biology, the anatomical and physiological, to the more subtle mind/body and spiritual body.

           As far as how the connection of spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness goes, it has manifested mostly in the negative in my personal life.  Before I started learning about the different levels of psychospiritual flourishing, the physical (medical) issues were causing stress in my life along with all the other nonmedical stressors. At some point I developed mental issues that increased over time to where I didn’t want to be around any more. I have had those thoughts many times recently. So when the physical and mental have issues eventually the spiritual will also have them. The thing is that we have it backwards because these issues start in the spiritual side and then go through the mental and end up manifesting through physical symptoms. I have to say that since I started the first mental exercise it seems that there is some progress in my mental state and as I have been going through the other exercises I have been able to get through them even if I have to repeat them a few times. Thanks for reading my blog!

Craig S Aronoff

      

My "Loving-Kindness" Exercise Experience

Hi everyone

           This week I want to tell you about my experience with the “Loving-Kindness” Exercise. The one thing that we have to remember is that as Dacher (2006) says in his book “Integral Health” that “the most meaningful aim of contemplative practice is not rest and relaxation but rather the progressive development of an expanded consciousness and its healing capacities.” While I was resting as the narrator had said, I thought about my wife, Sheryl, with unlimited love and sensitivity. As I continued to think about her with this “intention” I felt as if my heart opened up in a big way with loving-kindness towards her because my heart was being packed with these feelings.

           After I completely came into contact with these feelings for a few minutes, I turned them inward towards myself as was suggested.  It really did take some effort to do this because I had so much negative interference to get through. But I did intently concentrate on my body and its sensations. I had tried to give each of them my love, kindness, and a sense of ease, spaciousness, and care as the narrator had said but my mind wandered.  I was able to bring back my focus to where it belonged. After that I took some time to be at harmony with my body and its impressions and was then able to complete that part of the exercise.

           When I tried to change to the contemplations, outlooks, and images that traveled in and out of my consciousness, I was going through some issues. I guess I got too relaxed and was fighting sleep although that was not what this exercise was about. So after bringing my focus back I was able to give all of these feelings equal care, love, and kindness as was suggested.

           Then I turned to my internal awareness, precisely to the quietness, harmony, and kindness that are my natural home. At that point I presented this deeper side of my mind (my soul and spirit) with all the loving-kindness that was in my heart and received it into my life. As the narrator had suggested, I completely embraced myself for the exceptional and valuable manifestation of life that I am supposed to be. The narrator had said that “loving ourselves is a preamble to spreading this love out to others.” I took a little extra time to do this part of the exercise.

           The next thing we had to do was to envision a loved one who was now in distress. The loved one I was using was my youngest daughter. I let my daughter’s distress come into my body with an “in-breath” and then I let it totally dissolve in my heart. Then, when I took an “out-breath” I sent out to her health, happiness, and wholeness. I did this for a little while, continuing to take in my daughter’s distress with the in-breath, and sending health and joy out to her with the out-breath. I contemplated how I could be of particular help to her. I knew I could suggest a long term strategy that will help her with pinpointing and eradicating the causes of her distress. So with another out-breath I presented what I knew would be the most helpful.

           The narrator suggested that we increase our emphasis to include a circle of strangers beyond our immediate loved ones. As before I took in their distress with my in-breath and let it dissolve in my heart. When I took my out-breath, I sent out the harmony and wellness that has been developing within me. I also took some extra time to do this part of the exercise.  Then I included all living beings, as well as those whom I think of as adversaries. I envisioned this whole field of folks in front of me as I sustained this exercise of taking and being generous. I kept this up in this way for the rest of my practice session. I certainly experienced the changes that had taken place in my mind and heart. This has been an internal exercise whose principal goal has been to produce profound loving-kindness that reduces my self-centeredness and stills my mind. After I was done I stayed for a moment in the harmony and easiness of my mind and body, and reflected on the exercise. After that, I gradually and calmly resumed my regular routine.

           Now, I have to tell you that this experience was definitely beneficial for me in that it helped me to reach deeper into my awareness to find things out about my life I didn’t even know existed. As I continue to go through these contemplative practices, I should be able to train my mind, practice the subtle stages of psychospiritual growth, and gain entrance to these properties and abilities. By being present to my inner capability, there can be a transformation from what is now ordinary health into integral health.  It was difficult at first for me to get through all the steps because of all the mental and physical issues I have been dealing with. But because I would not stop trying I was able to successfully complete each part of the exercise.

            I would surely recommend this exercise to other folks because if they can successfully get through this exercise they will find out things about their inner selves that they didn’t know existed as in Loving-Kindness where they can take in other folk’s distress and let it dissolve in their hearts and send them out health, happiness, and wholeness.

           The concept of a “Mental Workout” consists of a daily commitment to practice the mental exercises on a daily basis. This way we can progress in our psychospiritual life and access its capabilities and assets. Even though it may involve a great concentration of work and preparation to get to the peak of human flourishing, we can still be on the road to health, happiness, and wholeness when we work with a more sensible and sustained effort. If we practice the mental exercises for one hour every day that will add up and it won’t take long for us to see some results.

          

           The research we see that indicates there are proven benefits of a “Mental Workout” are like this: Let’s say we are talking about physical training, it doesn’t matter if we are an expert or a beginner, if we don’t consistently keep up our practicing, we will see our conditioning go down. This is the case whether we are talking about physical or mental workouts, so the research is showing that persistence is essential. For us to gain the full benefit from contemplative practice, it is important to plainly understand the practices and approaches that we will be using.                        

Another thing for us to think about is that the most important intention of contemplative practice is not rest and relaxation but instead it is the advanced growth of an extended awareness and its healing capabilities.

          Now, when we think about how we can implement mental workouts to foster our psychological health, according to Dacher (2006) there is an all-encompassing record of thousands of tested methods for this. They are available from the East where much of this work was initiated. So there is a track record in place that we can rely on. According to Dacher (2006) there are two types of contemplative practices we can implement. The first one is loving-kindness. This reveals our heart to others and steadily reduces self-centeredness, preparing our mind for further development. The second one is about the three levels of the subtle mind: witnessing, calm-abiding, and unity consciousness. This unlocks our minds and reveals a powerful understanding that knows the truth of our life and of existence. Loving-kindness and wisdom are the crucial elements that heal at the source and drive human flourishing.

Craig S Aronoff

My Rainbow Meditation Experience

Hi everyone

           So we meet again in this, the third week of our class: Creating Wellness. The time just seems to fly by.  In two weeks we will be at the halfway point in this term. I wanted to share with you my reflections concerning where I rate myself in terms of my physical well-being, spiritual well-being, and psychological well-being on a scale from 1-10. Then I want to tell you what my goals are in these areas, and then mention some things I can do to facilitate my goals in them also.

A. Physical Well-being – I rate my physical well-being at probably a 4. I rate it this way because I am nowhere in the shape that I used to be because of certain medical issues I have been dealing with along with some leg and foot things that occurred earlier in the year. Before that I was somewhat overweight but I was working on getting the weight down. I will need to continue to do that. In this area my goal is to get back to at least the shape I was in before I got the leg injuries. That means that I would be at least 10 pounds lighter than I am now and I would be able to breathe better because I would have more stamina to go along with my loss of weight. Something that I could implement in my life to assist me in moving towards that goal would be to start up my walking program again. That way I can build up to what I was doing before, which was walking a little over two miles, twice every day.  I also can go back to the gym and continue to do more cardio work and strength training like before and then I would be able to lose the weight that I need to.

B. Spiritual Well-Being – I am going to say I rate my spiritual well-being at a 4 also.  This is because I used to go to Church every week and I was very active in ministry items. I used to be a Deacon back in the day in the church I usually attend but I haven’t been that active for quite some time in that regard. I guess I am still thought of as a Deacon but I certainly don’t feel like one. I still believe deep within my heart that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior but my connection to Him seems to have some issues. It is something that needs my attention in the very near future. In this area my first goal is to make sure that my relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is completely restored to a point that I feel the total connection that I used to feel. It is totally something that I need to take steps with because He is always there waiting to be in my life. The second goal is for me to be able to reach the levels in my mind of higher consciousness. I think that would be a great thing to be involved in. Something that I could implement in my life to assist me in moving towards these goals are to make sure that I don’t miss going to church because then I would have at least one day that I would be devoting a good chunk of time towards keeping my lines of communication open to Jesus plus it would be a very good idea to go back to praying at least once a day.  As far as the second goal, I will have to continue to learn how to work on the steps that it takes to get to those higher levels of consciousness and experience these exercises with mental imagery that help to do that.

C. Psychological Well-Being – I am going to say I rate my psychological well-being at a 4 or less. This is because I have been struggling with issues of not being able to concentrate or focus on anything to where it has been affecting my schoolwork. You have to know that schoolwork is very important to me because I just don’t want to pass with a “C” in my classes. This and other issues were really getting to me earlier in the week and it became a life crisis Monday night.  While we were in seminar a dear classmate picked up on something I said and realized I was about to do some harm to myself and emailed me asking certain questions about it.  She called me on the phone and we spoke for about an hour and cleared some things up. I am still struggling to a point but I want to publically thank Natasja Theriot for caring enough to get involved which averted a bad situation thus far.  So my goal is to clear my mind of all the negative thoughts and feelings that have brought me to the edge on more than one occasion. This goal also means that I have to gain much more confidence in my abilities than I have now because this will give me the self-esteem boost that I need to move on. Something that I could implement in my life to assist me in moving towards these goals are to continue to work on the schoolwork to the best I know how and to make sure I use better time management skills so I can get everything done in a timely manner. As I implement this I will do better and get good grades which in turn will boost my self-esteem. Talking to people who care is also something that I can do to help me get through these things that are holding me back in life. One other thing that would help is if I was finally able to work again after almost three years of hardly any work.

          Now, let me tell you about my reflections concerning the “Rainbow Meditation” Exercise.  It was a great experience for me once I was able to get through it all the way. It was frustrating because I tried seven times to do it and six different times I was interrupted in various stages of the exercise. At the beginning I had to focus my attention on my breathing. Slowly inhaling and exhaling made me feel pretty relaxed. It was very cool because the narrator told me to imagine that my body was like a prism and I had a beam of light that was shining on it with seven colors that separated out. These seven colors were supposed to correspond with seven different body regions. The narrator asked me to imagine that at each different body region that I had a small round window where colored beams of light were supposed to shoot out from. I thought about the base of my spine where a beam of light that is the color red shoots out and this body region symbolizes my ability to feel grounded, which means that I feel safe and secure in my environment. He asked me to take a couple of deep breaths and tell myself that “I feel grounded” a couple of times. I then focused on the spot that was a little under my belly button where there was a beam of light that was the color orange that shoots out and this body region symbolizes the feeling of being centered. This is the actual center of my body. This feeling of being centered means that I feel confident and self-worthy. When I took a couple of deep breaths, I said to myself “I feel centered” a couple of times. Then I moved my awareness to my upper stomach area where there was a beam of light that was the color yellow that shoots out and this body region symbolizes feeling love from people and friends in my environment. As I took a couple of deep breaths, I told myself that “I feel loved” a couple of times.  I moved my awareness up to my upper chest right above my heart where there was a beam of light that was the color emerald green that shoots out and parallels all the other colors. This body region in the area of the heart symbolizes my ability to love. This love means that I can share any of my positive feelings with anyone I want to.  I took a couple more deep breaths and told myself that “I choose to love” a couple of times. Then I moved my awareness to my throat area where there was a beam of light that was the color aqua blue that shoots out and also parallels the other colors. This body region represents my ability to feel that I have a meaningful purpose in my life. It also represents my willpower and creativity.  I couldn’t help but think about the fact that when I use my willpower and creativity that I begin to accomplish those things that have meaning in my life. I took a couple of deep breaths and told myself that “My life has a meaningful purpose” a couple of times. Then I brought my awareness to my forehead area where there was another beam of light and this one was the color indigo blue that shoots out and this body region symbolizes that I find balance within myself.  This sense of balance comes from the right-brain and left-brain being used together. It also comes from my ability to tap into my unconscious mind as well as my conscious mind. This sense of balance also comes from my being able to tap into my body wisdom.  I took a couple of deep breaths and told myself that “I feel balanced” a couple of times.  Then I focused my attention to the top of my head where there was a window that was bigger than the others. The beam of light that was there was violet and this color and body region is symbolic of being connected to a bigger part of the universe.  I thought to myself of how I would feel if I was connected, how I would feel being bonded with friends and family, with nature and the earth and the universe.  I thought to myself that I am not alone and when I feel connected that I would be at peace.  I took a couple of deep breaths and said to myself that “I feel connected” a couple of times. As I was getting to the end of the meditation I reminded myself of the colors and where they are in my body areas. The top of my head was the violet color, my forehead was the color indigo blue, my throat was the color aqua blue, my upper chest that is right over my heart is emerald green, my upper stomach was the color yellow, my lower stomach was the color orange and the base of my spine was the color red. I thought to myself that these are all the colors of the rainbow that separate out when a bright light shines through a prism. I was thinking that I wanted to bring all of these colors back together again and have my body surrounded by a brilliant white light. I imagined that my body was surrounded in this brilliant white light and how calm and relaxed my body had become. I took a slow deep breath and when I exhaled I told myself “My body is calm and relaxed”. My body had become very calm and peaceful and I thought that it would be great to be able to store this feeling in my memory. Now I know when times come when I feel tense, stressed or nervous, I could just reach into my memory and remember the phrase I was saying “My body is calm and relaxed” and again feel the sensation of relaxation throughout my whole body.  As I was feeling calm and relaxed, my body was able to restore its sense of calmness and sense of homeostasis. I really felt energized when this experience ended. I have to say that it was beautiful and I would do it again and recommend it for anyone who wants to de-stress and relax.

Craig S Aronoff

My "Journey On" Relaxation Exercise Reflection

Hi everyone,

          Welcome to my blog, Mr. Explorer of Life.  This blog was set up for the purpose of my new class at Kaplan University called Creating Wellness: Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing.  This blog will start out with my reflections about a relaxation exercise that I had to listen to for the class.  As I get more accustomed to how this works I may add things that are not necessarily involved with only the class.  Take a look and let me know what you think.    

          

            Part of our work in the class this week was that we had to listen to a relaxation exercise called "Journey On" which turned out to be a very nice experience for me.  These are my reflections about it: It started out with nice relaxing music and that was the case throughout the exercise.  The man that was narrating the exercise suggested that we get into a comfortable position.  So after taking off my watch and shoes, I sat down in my favorite chair with my hands on my lap because there was not a good place for me to lie down at the time.  Then he said to take a slow deep breath and when I exhaled I should think of the word "relax", which I did.  He told us that this technique that we were about to get into is an autogenic training technique.  He told us that with this technique we should be able to make any part of our body feel very comfortable just by suggestion and thinking about it.  He said the way it would be done is that we would "move the blood flow" from our core to our arms, legs, etc., or any area of our body that we want to relax.  He mentioned to us that in a resting state the majority of the blood in our body is in our abdominal cavity and GI tract which is about 80%.  The other 20% circulates through our body in a resting state to carry a certain level of nutrients and oxygen for maintenance of the brain, muscles, and all of our organs.  The narrator said that if we decrease the tension in our muscles we would be more relaxed.  He said that our arms, and legs, etc. carry tension and that muscle tension was the number one cause of stress. 

            I thought about "moving the blood" to my arms and hands and that they would begin to feel very warm and very heavy.  That is exactly what happened as the narrator said it would!  This warmth and heaviness is because of the redistribution of the flow of blood down to the muscles, which saturates them.  So I thought about sending the blood "internally" from the body's core up into my shoulders and down into my arms and hands.  Just the thought of it began to let the blood vessels in my arms and hands dilate enough to receive more blood and as this was happening, the blood vessels in my body’s core in the GI tract area were beginning to constrict and were forcing the blood to go to these places.  With each breath that I took and with every heartbeat that I had, I got a sense of warmth and heaviness in my arms and hands and I continued to allow the movement of blood from my body’s core up into my shoulders and down into my arms and hands.  The parts of my hands that felt the most warmth were the palms and fingers because they contain the most receptors for temperature change.  I felt the sense of warmth increase in my whole arm and my hands and a profound heaviness in my arms and hands.  The narrator suggested that we should raise our arms and that it would be hard because they are content to be where they are due to being saturated with blood.  I took a comfortably slow and comfortably deep breath and as I did I thought to myself that my arms and hands felt warm and heavy. Then I took one more slow deep breath and this time as I exhaled I was thinking to allow the flow of blood to return to the stomach area where it came from.  I was going to let it return from my arms and hands and as I thinking about this I actually felt the sense of dilation in the GI tract area to receive the blood that is returning from the arms and hands. 

           

             I did repeat this process a few times until the blood was back to where it came from.  With each successive breath and heartbeat I felt my arms and hands getting lighter.  The warmth lingered for a while but the heaviness wasn’t so much at this point.  I rotated my arms towards my waist and then out again and I didn’t have any problem doing it because my arms were not as heavy as before.  Then I took one more final slow, deep breath and thought to myself that I would like to return all the remaining blood that was brought down to my arms and hands and place it back in the stomach from where it came.   Then I took one more, comfortable, slow, deep breath and as I exhaled I thought to myself all the blood is back now and even though my arms and hands felt lighter, I still felt a sense of warmth but at that moment the muscles were relaxed and my whole body felt relaxed.  The narrator reminded me that the mere thought about making a body part feel warm and heavy and more relaxed can happen just by thinking about it and the power of suggestion to control my own body is very helpful to create a sense of relaxation.  When I have times that I am tense, frustrated, nervous and stressed and I want to create a sense of relaxation all I have to do is suggest to myself to make my arms and hands or my legs and feet warm and heavy and this will begin to decrease the neuro stimulation to those muscles and allow the muscles in my body to feel relaxed. Even though I felt more relaxed, I felt very calm and very peaceful.  I didn’t feel tired or sleepy, and I didn’t feel fatigued at all and I actually I felt energized. Now as I was thinking about this I was becoming aware of my surroundings. I was opening my eyes to a soft gaze in front of me and also beginning to stretch my arms, shoulders, and hands and brought myself back to a full awareness of my environment.  It was definitely a relaxing experience and I would highly recommend it for those that are stressed out.

Craig