"My Personal Experience Through the Creating Wellness Class" by Craig S Aronoff

Hi everyone

          We have finally reached Unit 10 and the final blog of the Creating Wellness class. I am going to miss you folks. Many of you have become my Friends and I consider all of you my Friends, especially Professor Mark. As I was reviewing my Unit 3 personal assessments of my psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being and reflected on these areas I realized I did make some improvements but not in all areas. Let me tell you how things have changed since the Unit 3 assessments were done.

Assessment Scores

          My score in Unit 3 for my psychological well-being was a 4 or less.  I would score myself with a 5 or higher this time around. It has changed because when I was in Unit 3, I was struggling with my ability to focus or concentrate on anything therefore I started to fall behind in the class and everything else in my life also was being affected. It became a life crisis at that point. As we come to Unit 10, things did get straightened out and started to get better over time. This was because I learned how to use contemplative practices to clear my mind of the mental chatter that was disturbing my focus and concentration. As my mind got better with daily practice I was able to do well with the school work and other things in life started working out again.

          My score in Unit 3 for my physical well-being was a 4. I would score myself with a 4 this time around also. The score has not changed because my physical well-being hasn’t changed for the better since we have been in Unit 3. I was not in good physical shape then and that is still the case. This is because of injuries I sustained to my legs in a walking routine accident earlier in the year. As we have come to Unit 10, I have not been able to engage in my walking routine since that happened. Parts of my legs and feet still have swelling in them. I have gained some weight because of that and it makes it harder for me to breathe properly. I am still battling with Type 2 Diabetes and Hypothyroidism on top of that.

          My score in Unit 3 for my spiritual well-being was a 4 also. I would score myself with a 5 this time around because there has been some improvement since we were in Unit 3. The score has changed for the better because I am going to Church more than I used to but still not as much as I think I should. As we have come to Unit 10, the thing about it is that it has become more important for me to be there. I also felt that my relationship with God and Jesus were in a disconnected mode although I now know that was not the case. Another thing was that back then I was having trouble with the higher levels of consciousness but I am able to get there at times now.

Goals

          One of my goals in the psychological area in Unit 3 was to clear my mind of all the negative thoughts and feelings that have brought me to the edge on more than one occasion. I thought if I could do that I would gain a lot more confidence in my abilities than I had at that time because it would also have helped to give me a much needed boost in my self-esteem I needed in order to move on with life. As we have come to Unit 10, I have made progress with this goal because I have learned how to relax and de-stress by using contemplative practices. This has made it possible for me to be able to go through the levels of psychospiritual flourishing and get my mind clear of mental chatter at least for a while. Another goal that I picked up is that I want to foster loving-kindness in my life. Also, as another goal, I would like to help other folks get on the integral health pathway.

          One of my goals in the physical area in Unit 3 was to go back to working out in order to lose weight. I wanted to get back in the shape I was before I got hurt.  That means that I would be able to walk two miles, twice per day, every day like before. I also wanted to go back to the gym to do cardio workouts on the machines and strength training exercises as well. As we have come to Unit 10, I find that I have picked up other goals since the last ones that were mentioned. One of the new goals was to change my eating habits to make sure I am making healthy food choices. Another goal is to get away from this sedentary life and start moving around with some daily physical activities.

          One of my goals in the spiritual area in Unit 3 was to attend Church every week. I have made progress towards this goal because I am going more than I used to even though it is not every week. Another goal was to make sure that my relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is reconnected to a point that I know we are together again. That is another goal that I am making progress in because the relationship was not really broken. I just wasn’t getting involved with spiritual things for a while. As we have come to Unit 10, one more spiritual goal I had was to reach the higher levels of consciousness in my mind and have done that so I am definitely progressing on that one.

Implemented Activities

           In the psychological aspect of Unit 3, I had talked about implementing activities such as continuing to do my school work the best I know how and to work on getting better time management skills together so that I can get all of my work done on time. As we have come to Unit 10, I have done that by setting up to-do lists and using a daily planner so I can keep track of when things need to be done.  As I have done this my grades have be very good through the term and have definitely boosted my self-esteem. I actually believe in myself now that I am able to do this work. Another thing that I have implemented is that I have been talking to people who care about me that have helped me through some hard times. That has helped me in a big way. I have also implemented contemplative practices such as the “Subtle Mind” meditation exercise to foster psychological growth on my way to integral health and human flourishing. That has helped me to go through the levels of psychospiritual flourishing. Another thing that I have implemented is the “Meeting Aesclepious” visualization exercise. This exercise made it possible for me to meet my “inner healer.” They give me the best benefits when I do them as a daily practice. These exercises have helped me work through some really bad mental problems this term.

           In the physical aspect of Unit 3, I had talked about implementing activities such as starting up my walking program again. I have not been able to implement this yet because I still have leg and foot issues I am dealing with due to the injuries sustained on my walking routine earlier in the year. I had also talked about going back to the gym to continue to do cardio work on the machines and strength training. I have not been able to implement these activities either for the same reason. As we have come to Unit 10, I thought that maybe I can implement the activity of eating the right foods.  Making the right food choices would be good for my health in light of my medical issues. I have implemented this activity partially because we don’t always get the right foods in the house. I will soon be able to implement some physical activity exercises that I thought about recently. I will be able to implement some stretching exercises pretty much right away because that will help with my flexibility. I will be able to implement the use of my exercise bike when I get done with some maintenance on it. I just have to make sure that I get at least 30 minutes of physical activity exercises daily in order to get in shape.

           In the spiritual aspect of Unit 3, I had talked about implementing activities such as going to Church every week. I have only partially implemented this activity but I still go to Church more than I did before. I will be able to go more when I cut down my time on other things that I am doing in that time slot. Another activity that I talked about implementing was to find time to pray at least once a day. I have not been able to fully implement this activity because of time constraints. I will have to implement better time management skills in order to make that happen. I had also talked about implementing the activity of working on the steps that it takes to get to the higher levels of consciousness. I have implemented that with contemplative practices.  As we have come to Unit 10, I would say that the contemplative practices that I have implemented have caused me to be able to get into the deeper layers of my mind in order to find the inherent natural wisdom, inner peace, and loving-kindness that is there and that helps me to have a continuous well-being of my body, my mind, and my spirit.

Summary of My Personal Experience in the Class

           I have to say my personal experience in this course started out with me being a self-destructive despondent person with little or no self-esteem after failing a class last term and having medical issues on top of mental issues seeking my own death. Now I have learned how to de-stress with relaxation visualizations like “Journey On” and the “Rainbow Meditation” which really helped me a lot early on in the class. I do not live on the 24 hour stress response mechanism anymore because of my being able to remember the meditations and visualizations in my mind whenever I need to. So once I learned how to do that, I was able to get into the other meditations like the “Loving-Kindness” exercise which made me have more compassion, empathy, and love for others.  Then there was the “Subtle Mind” exercise in which I was able to move through the different levels like the “witnessing mind” level where I was able to “witness” my negative disturbing thoughts come and go through my mind without reaching out to grab onto them. In that way I learned how to get rid of the mental chatter that was causing interruptions in my focus and concentration.

           After that I was able to reach the “calm-abiding mind” which came about because my mind became calm and I could enjoy the stillness that was there at the time. I was then able to get into the “unity consciousness” which is a great awareness of how things really are and not necessarily what I perceive them to be. This is where I find wisdom for myself and my life. Then came my Integral Assessment where I realized that I was making progress in my psychospiritual growth but needed to make sure my practices were being done on a daily basis. Also I was able to do the “Universal Loving-Kindness” exercise which helped me in a deeper way than the “Loving-Kindness” exercise. I have to say here that all of these exercises did not come easy for me. I had to really work through a lot to get them to happen and it has not worked the first time in every case. If anyone has a problem doing any of these exercises try again and do not give up. The last exercise that I did was the “Meeting Aesclepius” visualization. This is where I was able to meet my “inner Healer.” So, yes, I have improved in my well-being, especially in the psychological area. All that I have mentioned in these last two paragraphs were rewarding for me. The most difficult for me was when I had to fight a lot of mental chatter in order to do a lot of my mental workouts. This experience improves my ability to assist others because I have learned and have grown in many different areas on the integral health pathway. This way I believe that I should be able to assist people in overcoming a lot of mental issues, especially what I have been dealing with.  I will be adding things from time to time on my blog so feel free to check it out any time. It has been great to be in this class with such a beautiful array of Friends like you folks. Take care of yourselves and please feel free to leave comments on my blog. If you should want to speak to me personally on the phone or email me let me know through the Kaplan email system and I will give you the information on how to contact me.

Craig S Aronoff

My Unit 9 Final:"My Journey towards Integral Health and Human Flourishing"

My Journey towards Integral Health and Human Flourishing

Introduction

           My thoughts on why it is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually, and physically is that without first experiencing the knowledge and the growth on this path to integral health and human flourishing, we would be like empty bottles on a shelf somewhere.  If we are to have any effect on anyone in this life pertaining to these three aspects of their lives, that bottle has to be filled with not only the book knowledge of these aspects but with first hand experiences of how they can reach these levels of the human condition.  

           In order for us to fill that bottle with experience I would say we need to look into getting on the path to psychospiritual flourishing before anything else.  Let me tell you why I would do it this way.  Psychospiritual flourishing is the most untrained area of our lives, and it is a major cause of modern epidemics concerning psychological distress and premature disease (Dacher, 2006).  Psychospiritual flourishing is the one area of our growth that will most directly cause the full development of our lives to happen.  The development of our inner life is the most exceptional and valuable opportunity that is given to us as human beings (Dacher, 2006).  This makes sense because we then have the opportunity to alleviate needless suffering and to gain health, happiness, and wholeness (Dacher, 2006).

           So as far as psychologically, I would say it is important for us to be working on the four steps to psychospiritual flourishing.  All four of these steps relate to an increasingly more advanced level of awareness (Dacher, 2006).  We can see how psychospiritual flourishing is intricately related to the growth in this awareness. The first step is having the “sensorimotor consciousness” (Dacher, 2006).  This is the primal consciousness that we are born with.  We experience things through our senses at that point and act in response to them instinctually with slight or no awareness (Dacher, 2006).  Sensorimotor consciousness matches up with the higher level of Primal Unity.  Primal unity is lost pretty quickly in life but its loss is essential for additional growth because an unconsciously attached mind and body cannot develop any further (Dacher, 2006).  So we become entrenched in a mental existence with all of its problems.  There is a way out of that situation, though.

           For us to effectively pass through this phase of psychological growth, we must invest in our inner life (Dacher, 2006).  We have to first become mentally knowledgeable and fit.  This mental practice concentrates on pinpointing damaging feelings and dysfunctional patterns and exchanging them with new sets of healthy outlooks and conducts (Dacher, 2006).  This will call for the growth of the second level of consciousness, which is known as the “witnessing consciousness” (Dacher, 2006).  This witnessing consciousness lets us rest, perceive, understand, and then make the choices we need to about our thoughts and feelings.  At this point intention replaces unconscious reactivity (Dacher, 2006).  We can then observe these and other mental chatter passing through our mind but we don’t have to reach out and grasp them or even pay attention to them (Dacher, 2006).  We just “witness” them and then let them move on.  The witnessing consciousness matches up with the higher level of The Psychological Life (Dacher, 2006).  As soon as we have accomplished a healthy psychology, we move on from our mental concentration and begin to search the deeper nature of our mind.   It is at this point that psychological development turns out to be a launching pad for spiritual development (Dacher, 2006).

           So as far as spiritually, I would say that the practice intention is to penetrate the deeper layers of the mind to discover the natural wisdom, inner peace, and loving-kindness that are the essential causes of us having a continuous well-being of body, mind, and spirit (Dacher, 2006).  This movement into spiritual development will call for the growth of the third level of consciousness, which is the “calm-abiding consciousness.”  Our capacity for intention becomes fully grown in this area (Dacher, 2006).  It turns out to be clear, focused, unbiased, and confident.  This calm-abiding consciousness matches up with the higher level of The Spiritual Life (Dacher, 2006).

           As we move up the steps to an even more advanced inner growth, we develop the utmost subtle mind and experience once again the ease, singleness, and unity of our childhood stage of life (Dacher, 2006).  The last step I wanted to talk about concerning our psychospiritual path will call for the extensive and pure awareness of a “unity consciousness.”  There is one major difference between this level of consciousness and primal consciousness (Dacher, 2006).  This developed “purity” comes with wisdom and awareness.  This lets us know about our interconnectedness with everything; we can profoundly use it to help other folks, and it also helps in creating a better world (Dacher, 2006).  This is the area that we can see things as they really are and not necessarily as we perceive them.  This unity consciousness matches up with the higher level of Conscious Unity (Dacher, 2006).

           The way that we can use to move through the levels of psychospiritual flourishing and accomplish this complete inner flourishing is to engage in contemplative practice (Dacher, 2006).  This is the way and the device that we use to discover the inner world in us and develop our psychospiritual lives.  There are three ways that we use these contemplative practices (Dacher, 2006).  One way we use it is to tame our mind’s unending mental actions that make the higher states of our consciousness seem unclear.  Then, another way is through psychological training, where we get into to the more subtle levels of our minds, the witnessing consciousness, the spiritual state of calm-abiding, and the pure awareness of our unity consciousness that I touched on earlier (Dacher, 2006).  The last way is that our completely developed mind can be used as a specific and subtle method for inner review, mind/body self-regulation, and the cultivation of the qualities of human flourishing, which are health, happiness, and wholeness (Dacher, 2006).  As we can see, this three-step route to psychospiritual flourishing can facilitate us in knowing and experiencing our minds and the multiple levels and capacities that we have in them (Dacher, 2006).

           As far as physically, I would say that, for example, if I wanted to become a personal physical fitness trainer at a health club I would have to look and be physically fit.  Certainly if that was the case the client would be more apt to believe what I was saying.  On the other hand, if I was overweight or obese and carried around the instruction manual I don’t think they would believe much of what I was saying.  This is why we have to experience things before we can tell anyone about them.  What kind of credibility would I have with the folks if I don’t do what I instruct them to do?  I take this example right out of a real life experience I had earlier in the year when I went to a fitness club.  It just makes sense that we as health and wellness professionals lead by example and then I believe there will be many folks that would be willing to listen to us.

           I would say that I need some development in all the areas I have discussed in order to achieve the goals that I have set for myself.  The Navajo say that healing is never complete (Schlitz et al, 2005).  So that means that I will always be on the path to integral health and human flourishing, tweaking the different areas involved along the way, looking to perfect how I change things for the better for me and those that I help to get on the same path.

Assessment

           As I assess my health this time around, I would score my wellness in the domain of spirituality as a 5 on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being the lowest strength and 10 being the highest strength.  It is a step up from where I assessed my health in this domain some weeks back.  At that time I assessed my spiritual wellness in the 4 range.  I am not yet going to Church every week but I am going more often now.  I would have to say that it is becoming more important to me.  I was there this weekend and the Pastor told me that when I am not there “it leaves a hole in our fellowship.”  I still need to tighten up my relationship with Jesus Christ, although I believe He is my Lord and Savior.  My connection to Him seems to be distant but in reality He is in my spiritual heart.  The other thing about my spiritual wellness is that I am having more success with moving into the higher levels of consciousness.  I still am not able to practice everyday but I am working to change that. 

          Now, when it comes to my physical wellness I would actually score it the same as last time, which was in the 4 range because I haven’t been able to improve the situation in that area.  I continue to fight with Type 2 Diabetes and Thyroid issues.  I was injured back a while ago in my legs when I was power walking earlier in the year and wound up with “shin-splints” which don’t seem to bother me right now.  I did, however, wind up having swelling in my legs with edema.  Most of that has gone down except for by my ankles.  I am told that I need many physical therapy sessions and some lymphatic massage in those areas to make things right but they want too much money to do that so in the meantime I can do no impact exercises on my legs.  Before I got hurt I was somewhat overweight but I was working on that problem and trying to get the weight down and this is something that I will need to continue to do.  

           My psychological wellness has improved so I am going to score it as a 5.  This is because as I have been involved with the weekly mental exercises I have been able to calm down and be somewhat relaxed.  I have been able to reach all of the levels on the psychospiritual pathway at least once, if only for a few minutes at a time.  My focus and concentration have improved over the last several weeks but my physical conditions sometimes cause problems with that.  I will be realistic enough to say that even though I have improved some it will take much time and effort to get to where I want and need to be.  There is hope, though, because I have learned things in this class that can help me to get there like contemplative practices.

Goal Development

           One of the goals for my physical development is to change my eating habits to make sure my meals balance out between carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.  The carbohydrates should be the complex type, which are slow burning.  The fats should not be saturated nor should I eat any trans-fatty foods.   The protein should be from lean meat and dairy.  I want to make sure I have plenty of vegetables and some fruit.  The fruit should be limited because of the sugar content even if it is “natural” sugar because in reality sugar is sugar.  Since I deal with Type 2 Diabetes I am looking to have foods that are low on the glycemic index.

           Other goals for my physical development are to get away from this sedentary lifestyle I have been in for most of the year since I got hurt, lose some of this weight that I have gained since then, and set up a workout routine to get it done.  If it is really necessary for me to get the physical therapy and lymphatic massage I was talking about earlier that would be another goal because I want to be able to do my walking regimen again.

           In the psychological (mental health) domain, one of my goals is to continue to de-stress and push out the mental chatter from my mind so that I can lead a productive life of health, happiness, and wholeness.  Another goal I have is to foster loving-kindness in my life.  That kind of thing never came easy for me but I have no doubt that it will become part of my life.  I would say I also have the goal of wanting to help other folks get on the integral health pathway.

           As far as my spiritual goals one is definitely to be able to go to Church every week for worship services and Bible studies.  I am also making it a goal for me to get closer to God and to make sure that my relationship with Jesus becomes stronger.  One more goal I have is to reach the unity consciousness realm some more so that I can receive wisdom for myself and my life and to see things as they really are.

Practices for Personal Health

           In the physical domain, two strategies that I can implement to foster growth are to set up meal plans where I can make healthy choices concerning the foods I eat and to exercise more.  I have been working on an action plan for my physical exercise activity to happen.  Because of the issues with my legs I am not supposed to do any exercises that impact my feet.  There are some ways I can still exercise, though.  I will do different stretching exercises to work on my flexibility and I will fix my exercise bike and use that for leg workouts that don’t impact my feet.  That will also help with my cardiovascular system.  After I get through the leg issues I will start up my walking routine again and work my way back up to walking a little over two miles, twice per day most if not all days of the week like I used to do.  That will give me more stamina so I will be able to breath right again.  As like many other times when I come off my walks I am very clear minded and can study very well.  I will also see about doing strength training exercises to work on my muscular strength and my muscular endurance.  The last thing I can work on is for me to lose the 60 or so pounds extra I am carrying around.  I should be doing at least 30 minutes of physical exercise activity every day.

           The first exercise I can use is the “Subtle Mind” meditation to foster psychological growth on my way to integral health (Dacher, 2006).  Right now I can use relaxation meditations to relax and de-stress.  Then, I can go from there and get into the “Subtle Mind” meditation which will bring me through the levels of psychospiritual development (Dacher, 2006).  The witnessing mind will help me to lose the grip of mental chatter in my mind.  In that way I can see the disturbances coming my way but I just acknowledge them for a second and let them go by without grabbing onto them (Dacher, 2006).  As I witness this happening my mind becomes calm and I can then sense the still mind or the calm-abiding mind, and that eventually makes it possible to cross into the unity consciousness where all the wisdom I need for life is found (Dacher, 2006). 

           This can certainly help me grow in my psychological domain, especially if I do theses exercises every day.  Another exercise I can use is the “Meeting Aesclepious” visualization which helps me to create the vision of my inner healer (Dacher, 2006).  My inner healer helps to transform my mind, through the cleansing and refining of my thoughts, feelings and images. Then he helps me transform my speech by cleansing and refining that also (Dacher, 2006).  One more thing that he does is to transform my heart by cleansing and refining it with kindness, love, and compassion (Dacher, 2006).  This visualization can help me with my self–esteem which took a big hit earlier in the year.  It has already helped me in that area (Dacher, 2006).  The purpose of doing both of these types of exercises is to be able to daily grow towards a better integral health but for me they are going to have to be done daily because I have many mental issues that still need work.  Fortunately, some are already being worked out.

           I can implement prayer for myself as a way of fostering growth in the spiritual domain.  There have been many occasions that this method has worked to change the outcome of different things in my life.  I can also implement Church attendance because there are Biblical life lessons being taught that would help me to grow in this domain.  Another thing would be for me to get into the higher realms of consciousness (awareness) so that I may hear God impart wisdom and purpose to me for my life while I am in these areas. 

Commitment

           One thing I know I can do to assess my progress in the next six months is to write down all that I am doing in my journal.  That is one thing I can do to assist myself in maintaining my long-term practices for health and wellness.  When I write in the journal I can track any variations in what I am doing and evaluate where changes need to be made.  Another thing I can do is use a planner with schedules in it for all aspects of what I am working on. I can also use to-do lists.  That way, I can keep track because I have to follow the schedules listed and then I could check off items on the to-do list as I get them done.  To progress on this path to integral health and human flourishing, it is going to take time and effort from me in order to succeed.  It is a lifelong journey and I hope to help many folks get on the path with me.

References:

Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. (Preparing the
           Ground, pp. 56, 57, Psychospiritual Flourishing, pp.59-62) Laguna Beach, CA:
           Basic Health Publications.

Schlitz, M., Amorok, T., Micozzi, M. S. (2005).  Consciousness & healing: Integral Approaches 

           to Mind-Body Medicine: Integrating the Wisdom of the World’s Healing Systems (p. 405)  

           St Louis, MO: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone Publishers.

My Two Most Beneficial Practices - The "Subtle Mind" and "Meeting Aesclepius"

Hi everyone

           In the blog this week we had to review the exercises and practice sessions that we have completed in our course. These would include the Loving Kindness, Subtle mind, Visualization, meditation exercises, etc. We had to choose two practices that we have determined to be most beneficial for us. Also, we had to answer the question of how we can implement these practices in our personal life to foster “mental fitness”. The two exercises I determined that were the most beneficial for me are the “Subtle Mind” exercise and the “Meeting Aesclepious” exercise. I chose these two because in the past two years I have been undergoing an unbelievable amount of mental anguish and chatter in my mind to the point of not wanting to be around anymore. Thankfully these exercises are helping to get rid of those thoughts.

The Subtle Mind Meditation Exercise and Practice

           I have found that the “Subtle Mind” exercise helps me to reach a point of clearness when I am in daily practice. It is inevitable that when I try to focus my mind it always wants to go back to the mental chatter. However, when I reach the point that I get to the “Witnessing Mind” I am able to put a stop to the tendency of my mind to hold on to the random movements. This way I can step back and observe objectively and “witness” how the mental activities pass by without me having to grab on to them. This will only happen with continued practice. I found that when I am at this level the chatter disappears and I have a clearer mind where the stillness comes out. This way I can have the ability to choose where my attention goes.

           As I continue to do the practices and employ plenty of patience my active mind steadily becomes disciplined. It is always being transformed from its usual state of ongoing mental chatter to a progressively maintained and natural stillness. As this stillness becomes stable my mind becomes “Calm-Abiding.” This is quite an accomplishment for me considering what I have been going through. While I am in this calm-abiding level my mind is not being bothered by the thoughts, feelings, or images that usually try to take over my consciousness. They just move through my mind without really drawing my attention or interest. I really enjoy the stillness instead of the commotion that my mind has been used to. When I reach this level I become mentally and physically pliable. Since I am not being bothered by my mind’s activities at this stage, my mind becomes light and soft.  This way my “intention” takes over for what was reactivity. Another thing that happens is that wisdom takes over for any confusion I have been having. As this happens, peace, serenity, and loving-kindness develop my relationships and balances out my bodily processes. At this level I can now access my mind’s deeper nature and its natural healing resources.

          

           Now after the calm-abiding level I find that I may sometimes get a small glimpse of the level of “Unity Consciousness”. This is where I can get deep insight into myself and things in my life. There is an exceptional wisdom in this subtlest mind that understands directly. It shows me how things actually are and not necessarily as I perceive them. So the outcome of this is that my confusion, doubts, and misunderstandings just fall away, and needless mental issues can be healed at their source. This is the way for me to have growth in my psychospiritual development.

 

           The way for me to implement this practice into my personal life to foster “mental fitness” is to continue to practice this daily. I was doing that for a while and things started to clear up for me but I had relapsed in my mental anguish in the last couple of weeks because I had too many things to get done for me and other family members that took me away from the practices. Now like I was saying, I need to practice daily because then I will get my mind still and clear so that I can get inner wisdom as to what I need to do to help myself and others. This will help to open my mind to have an open heart to people and be able to cultivate loving kindness.  I will then be able to physically go out and do the things that help and encourage others to have better lives and to find their own inner wisdom through their subtle minds.

The “Meeting Aesclepius” Visualization Exercise and Practice

           I have found through the “Meeting Aesclepius” exercise there is a wise healer who is present in me who will help guide me through the planning and the integral process. This inner healer I am talking about is known as the “Aesclepian” inner healer. It was so good when I visited my inner healer as I continue my journey on the way to integral health. In this exercise I had to visualize the image of a very wise, loving man or woman. I chose my Church Pastor as this wise person. Then I had focused on his image that was in front of me and noticed all the details about him. As I sat in communion with him and felt his presence, I thought about his qualities and characteristics. These included peace, wisdom, compassion, love, and joy. I continued to focus on his image and let the experience get deeper.

           The next thing that happened was that when his image became constant in my mind, I let a strong beam of white light form at the top of his head.  After that, I let this dense white light that was coming from the Pastor’s mind come into my mind. The energy from this transference actually cleansed and purified everything that was in my mind. My mind was gradually being transformed into his mind. Then I let another beam of light form and come from his throat. This time the energy that was transferred cleansed and purified my speech. At that point my speech became loving, wise, and sensitive so that my speech was like his.

         

           At last I let a third beam of light come from the heart of my Pastor. I let this light come into my heart. It cleansed and purified my heart into having kindness, love, and compassion, transforming it into his heart. Then I understood the qualities of his mind, voice, and heart as I took them as my own as if I was becoming just like him. Then I allowed his whole image to melt away into a bright white light. At that point, I let this light come into my body at my forehead and gradually permeate my entire being, from my cells to my organs, so that I completely became like him. This exercise felt very powerful to me. It was great to feel like I had the wisdom and support of my wise inner healer assisting me in my integral journey. This was a great exercise and it made me able to accept myself as a wise and loving healer in my body, mind, and speech. The thing is the possibility to do this has always been within me.  It seems so much easier to see these qualities in another person externally instead of being aware that it is my essence. I found out that Aesclepius is the natural and wise essence of my heart and mind.

           This visualization can be implemented in my personal life to foster “mental fitness” by committing to daily practices. Any time that I find myself veering off the integral path and human flourishing I can do this exercise and cleanse and purify my mind, my speech, and my heart. These are two of the exercises that I thought were the ones that have the most benefit for me but I do also think that doing all of the exercises and visualizations that we have learned will help. We can do either the same exercises every day or mix them up during the week. For me, with the continued mental issues and stress I continue to deal with, I think the best thing is to do some relaxation exercises before getting into the others. That way I would enter the “Subtle Mind” exercise or the “Meeting Aesclepius” exercise or whatever one I choose to do with a de-stressed mind that will make the others more meaningful.  Thanks for reading my Blog posts all these weeks, I really appreciate it!

Craig S Aronoff

My "Meeting Aesclepius" Exercise Experience

Hi everyone

           This week I would like to talk about my “Meeting Aesclepius” Exercise experience and answer some course questions in Part One. In Part two, I will answer some course questions from the Consciousness & healing book.

Part One

My “Meeting Aesclepius” Exercise Experience      

           Before we started the exercise the narrator told us that we should “know that it is the wise healer who resides within each of us who will help guide us through the preparations and the integral process itself” Dacher (2006). The ancient Greeks called this sensible person, Aesclepius. It seemed like it was fitting for us to call on our inner healer as we started our voyage on the way to integral health. So I did as the narrator had instructed. I found a comfortable chair, closed my eyes, and I visualized the image of a very sensible, caring man. This is someone that I have respected and honored for years and I believe I can feel a special sense of connection to him. The image I had visualized was that of my Church Pastor. I steadied his image in front of me and observed all of the details about him. I sat in communion with him and felt his presence. I reflected on his qualities and characteristics, peace, wisdom, compassion, love, and joy as the narrator had instructed. I made his image become my focus and as I stayed with it, my understanding got deeper.

          When I steadied his appearance in my mind, I let a solid beam of white light form at the top of his head. Then I permitted this solid beam of white light that proceeded from his mind come into my mind. I let this energy cleanse and refine my thoughts, feelings, and images. At that point I gently altered my mind as if it was his mind. It took a little time for this alteration to completely happen. Then I permitted one more beam of light to form and proceed from the throat of this sensible person. I allowed this energy to cleanse and refine my speech. Then, I grabbed on to the abilities of loving, wise, and sensitive speech so that my speech became like his. It also took a little time for this alteration and refinement to take place. At this point, I permitted an additional beam of light to surface from the heart of this sensible man and I allowed it to come into my heart. It cleansed and refined my heart with kindness, love, and compassion, changing it into the heart of this sensible person. Of course, this alteration took some time to happen.  I understood my mind, voice, and heart as I took on the abilities of this sensible man. It’s was as if I was becoming this person.

          The next thing that happened is that I allowed the whole appearance of this sensible person dissolve into a bright white light. I permitted the light to come into my body at my forehead and little by little fill my total being, from my cells to my organs, as the narrator had said, so that it seemed like I completely turned out to be like this sensible person. The narrator asked these questions – “What does this feel like? What will it be like for me to have the wisdom and support of this sensible inner healer to help me in my integral journey” (Dacher, 2006)? I took some time after she asked those questions to understand what it would be like to be this kind of a person, to be able to accept myself as a sensible and loving healer in body, mind, and speech.

         At that point I was thinking about some of the things the narrator had mentioned. This opportunity, this nature, has always been within me. I just wondered why it seemed easier to see this sensible and pure side of myself on the outside of another person instead of being familiar with it as being my own core. I visualized this sensible and caring person I first saw outside of myself as another person who had been a great mentor to me over the years. But this exercise was not about that person. It was only at the closing moments that I came to understand that Asclepius was the normal and sensible core of my heart and mind. I continued on for few minutes more in this normal and honorable spirit. As I got to the point that I felt whole, I gradually came back to the time and place of the area in my home I chose for this experience. I couldn’t help but think of the fact that my omnipresent inner healer will always be there to support and lead me in the direction of integral health. How awesome is that?

Explain how mindfulness or meditation has fostered an increase in your psychological or spiritual wellness.

           Meditation (mindfulness) has fostered an increase in my psychological or spiritual wellness because it has been helping me to climb the steps of the psychspiritual ladder. It helps me get to the “Witnessing Mind” where I can observe the disturbing mental chatter and not reach out for it and in this way I can calm my mind. When I do that I am able to enter the “Calm-Abiding Mind” where my mind is still and serene. This is where I can get prepared to move into the “Unity Consciousness” where I can find wisdom for me and my life. I do have to say that I have a long way to go but the process is proceeding and step by step I am seeing some progress. So far I have been able to do all of the exercises, of course with plenty of mental issues to bust through. The one I had the most trouble with was the Universal Loving-Kindness exercise. I went through that one three times before I knew it went well. I went through the “Meeting Aesclepius” exercise experience twice and it was awesome.

How can you continue to apply these practices in your life to foster greater health and wellness?

           I can continue to apply these practices in my life to foster greater health and wellness by making sure to set aside time each day to go through the different practices. It seems to me like I need to do a relaxation exercise first to settle down my stress before I can actually be relaxed enough to be able to deal with all of the mental chatter before being able to get to the “Witnessing Mind” level. Another thing is that I will have to constantly read up about these exercises because I seem to have a retention problem on many occasions. All in all, I am progressing in the direction of integral health.

Part Two

Describe the saying: "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” (P.477). How does this apply to the health and wellness professional? Do you have an obligation to your clients to be developing your health psychologically, physically, and spiritually? Why or why not? How can you implement psychological and spiritual growth in your personal life?

          

           It is essential to us as providers, or, in my case as a future provider of health care to frequently evaluate and run through our personal spiritual development to truly experience what the integral model signifies. I am thinking of how I would be able to teach patients or clients things that I have never experienced myself. I believe this is what is meant by the statement "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” (Schlitz et al, 2005).

         

           This applies to the health and wellness professional because we all need to become integrally informed and engage in an integral practice. As this happens we can bring this fresh consciousness to the practice of medicine and in doing so, change the doctor in such a great way that it brings back the delight of the doctor-patient association (Schlitz et al, 2005).

            I would say that I definitely have an obligation to my future clients to be developing my health psychologically, physically, and spiritually. It comes down to the thought that if I am not following the steps to my own integral health what kind of an example can I be to them. How can I expect them to follow the action plan I am giving them if I am not even using it myself? So I have to eat right and exercise my body physically, and do the mental exercises for the psychological and spiritual part but it would not hurt for me to go to Church and worship God for those areas also (Schlitz et al, 2005).

          

           The way that I can implement psychological and spiritual growth in my personal life is to look at my integral health by taking a holistic view of my situation. I need to see my integral health through the four quadrant method that shows all aspects of human life. All of these are affected when there is an illness so when one is off I have to attend to all parts of my being to take care of the issue. I need to keep up with the mental exercises and contemplative practices to make sure I am clearing the psychological chatter from my mind so that it could become still and tranquil (witnessing mind) and I can see things as they are and not what I perceive them to be. When I get to the level of the calm-abiding mind it prepares me for the unity consciousness where the wisdom of my life can be found (Schlitz et al, 2005).

Craig S Aronoff