Integral Health Plan

Integral Health Plan

Introduction:
Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?

As an integral practitioner you take a sacred vow to enter a personal process of self-development.  We recognize that this development is an inward turn that is supported by the necessary changes in our outer life and is grounded in regular contemplative practice.  As a health and wellness professional the same commitment should be upheld by each and every one of us.  Integral health can only be achieved through an investment in developing our inner life and our inner healing capacities.  Integral health is a mind/body approach to healing that recognizes the role of anxiety, stress, and other mental factors in the development, perpetuation, and recurrence of illness and tailors mind/body approaches to bring awareness to our own personal role in suffering and disease such as psychotherapy, relaxation techniques, yoga, and biofeedback.  These are some of the approaches that substitute internal remedies for outer ones and the result is strengthened self-reliance and personal competence.  Suffering diminishes and a broader sense of health is achieved (Dacher, 2006). 

“We know that the mind is trainable and that robust health can result from the systematic training of our mind through planned, systematic inner development” (Dacher, 2006).  Personally, I started to train my mind on a daily basis by incorporating The Subtle Mind practice.  In this practice, you use the breath as a focal point by either focusing on the rising and falling of your chest or the movement of the breath in and out of your nostrils.  This practice clears my mind of distractions and disturbing emotions and brings me stillness and clarity. 

Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

There are two aspects of our outer life: biological and worldly, and two inner aspects of our life: psychospiritual and interpersonal.  The psychospiritual and biological aspects of our lives are personal areas of development and the interpersonal and worldly aspects of our lives are developed and shared with others.  All of these aspects are interconnected and impact one another. 

This class has really opened my eyes to the fact that I have not focused on my health holistically.  I have become aware of the importance of developing each aspect of my life and the one that needs the most focus is the psychospiritual aspect of my life.  The development of our inner life is essential to all aspects of our life.  I am working on developing my consciousness and as I practice this I am amazed at what it is doing to the other aspects of my life.  By developing my consciousness each other aspect of my life is gaining health and wholeness.

The biological aspect of my life is what I put most of my focus on prior to this class.  I exercise regularly and eat a healthy diet.  I have always known that a healthy body means a healthy mind, but this class helped me realize that it goes both ways and that a healthy mind is also necessary for a healthy body.  I feel like this aspect of my life is pretty well developed, but is always a work in progress. 

The interpersonal aspect of my life is always challenging for me.  The development of our interpersonal life involves the shift from I to you to us to all of us.  I have been working consciously on this aspect of my life over the past couple of years because relationships are always a challenge and developing this aspect of our lives brings us health and joy rather than stress and suffering.  I have been working on being less selfish and thinking of others needs more often and going out of my way to care for others.  I have also been working on my communication skills and being open and honest with the people in my life.  I feel this is the most important aspect of my life to focus on and develop right now.

The worldly aspect of my life has been neglected and is also under-developed.  I do not feel I am active enough in contributing to the world.  After I graduate, I feel I will be able to participate more by helping others become improve the quality of their own lives through health education.  I would also like to volunteer so that I can give something meaningful.  When we give to the world it comes back to us as a renewed and revitalized sense of health, happiness, and wholeness.  I think this aspect of my life will really become my focus after graduation.       

Goal development:
List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.

My physical goal is to do circuit training twice a week in addition to walking my dog on a daily basis.  Osteoporosis runs in my family and I know I have to do weight-bearing exercises to keep my bones strong and healthy.My psychological goal is to do the subtle mind practice every day for 15 minutes in order to identify destructive emotions and replace them with healthier attitudes.  I want to develop a witnessing consciousness in order to stop, see, understand, and make choices about my thoughts and feelings.

My spiritual goal is to find a volunteer job this summer in order to serve others with loving-kindness and care.   

Practices for personal health:
What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example.

Two physical strategies I plan to implement are: circuit training and yoga.  Through contemplative practice I can foster psychological growth.  Two strategies I plan to implement are: the subtle mind practice and visualization. Two spiritual strategies I plan to implement are: prayer and service to others through volunteering. 

Commitment:
How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?

           

In order to track my progress over the next six months I plan to use a bar graph similar to the one that was suggested by Ken Wilbur.  The bar graph can be used to plot movement along lines of development in order to see changes over time.  Using a bar graph allows me to assess my current level of integral health, set future goals, and add further lines and levels to meet my needs and goals. 

Reference:

Dacher, E. (2006). Integral health: The path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, Inc.