Introduction
Integral
health is achieved the development of our inner healing abilities and inner
life. As a health and wellness professional one will help lead people in
developing themselves. It would be rather hard to teach someone how to develop
psychologically, if one has not developed themselves psychologically. Part of
psychological aspect of integral health is identifying destructive emotions and
dysfunctional patterns. Once one identifies them, then one can replace them
with new healthy behaviors and attitudes. This step is referred to as the
witnessing consciousness in integral health. Psychological development leads
one to spiritual development (Dacher, 2006).
Exploring
our deeper nature we uncover peace, loving and kindness, which lead one to
develop more spiritually. In integral health this process is called developing
the calm abiding consciousness. During
this process one intention grows and develops, which causes it to become clear,
confident, focused, and unbiased. Through this one develops even future into
what integral health refers to as the subtle mind. All of this also helps one
to develop physically (Dacher, 2006).
The
mental transformation that occurs, because of mental training, which helps
develop an enhanced resistance to mental distress, physical disease, increases one’s
ability to heal, and helps promote well-being. In the 1970’s Candace Pert
discovered proteins, which are called neuropeptides. These proteins carry
messages to our entire body. Candace Pert’s follow up study discovered that
thoughts, feelings and other mental activity can produce specific neuropeptides
that alter our physiology, which means a mental change leads to a physical
change (Dacher, 2006).
Another
study by Schnall helped reinforce the finding of Pert’s study. Schnall
identified managers who suffered from job related stress and those who did not
even though they were put into similar circumstances. The results showed that
those who responded in a healthy way mentally dealt with the issues and those
who did not respond well mentally developed several health issues (Dacher,
2006). This means what one thinks does
become reality to a degree, which means perception is definitely a variable and
one can control it if they notice it first.
Assessment,
Goal Development, and Practices
It
is important to do a self-assessment, because it gives one a way of knowing
what one needs to work on. The self-assessment includes how one is doing
spiritually, physically, and psychologically. In integral health there are two
aspects of doing a self-assessment one want to identify. These are which parts of our life are the most
significant source of distress and what parts has the greatest possibility for
growth and development? One must make the distinction between short-term relief
and long term relief. This involves understanding the deeper sources of conflict.
One must also recognize the difference between immediate pleasure and long-term
flourishing. Psychological and spiritual developments are an essential part of
integral health, which should be includes as part of the assessment. The assessment
requires one to be in a mental state that is free from the bias of random
thoughts, feelings, and visualizations. The assessment addresses the parts,
levels, and development that are relevant to our current situation (Dacher,
2006).
Spiritually,
Ricky would rate himself at an eight out of ten. Ricky says this, because he
knows that he needs to vary the techniques he has been using to explore the
deeper levels of himself. Ricky does a lot of exploration and he is at peace
with himself, he has experienced love, and kindness, but he believes it is
possible to experience these at even deeper levels. Physically, Ricky says he is
at a seven out of a ten. He knows that he could eat better and exercise more. Ricky
is still finding new ways to balance himself, which he believes is the key to
help keep things together. Ricky knows he could do some more than what he
currently does in this area, but he also knows he needs to make sure the rest
of himself stays in balance as well. Psychologically, Ricky says he is at a
nine out of a ten.
Ricky
spends more energy on his psychological development currently more than
anywhere else. He is attempting to learn to be able to keep this balance
psychologically, but in less time. This will allow him to focus more on the
other areas, which hi believes will assist him psychologically as well. Ricky
believes this step is important to develop him further psychologically. This
leads on into naturally developing goals, which need to be defined in terms of
what we are going to do to solve these issues.
Ricky
believes that starting to develop himself more spiritually will have a direct
impact on him psychologically. Ricky will start this by using different forms
of meditations that he is not used to using, because his primary focus has been
solely on psychological wellbeing. For instance, Ricky has started using the
loving-kindness meditation in various forms, which he has noticed has had a
direct impact on his subjective experiences since starting them. Physically, Ricky
plans on exercising more, but by combining meditative practices with his
additional exercises. Ricky believes this will help him develop more physically
and spiritually, which will also help him develop psychologically.
For
instance, while Ricky is jogging he can use the loving-kindness meditation or
simply the subtle mind meditation. This is basically working on two issues at
once, but it does not hurt to do more than that. So, to further help himself
spiritually he plans to lean at-least one new meditation and self-hypnosis
exercise a month. This will have an effect on both his psychological and
spiritual wellness. However, without a proper way of measuring change, then one
is simply just doing different things and hoping it is making a difference in
the ways we want.
This
includes making goals that are measureable, which are specific, and can be observed
in some way. For instance, happiness can be observed and measured. Another
thing that can be measured is emotions and our health. So, Ricky plans on using
a questionnaire, which addresses the basic goals he has laid out and the
emotional aspects that are relevant as well. Ricky will do it monthly to find
out, which self-hypnosis and meditations help me develop, so Ricky can look
into finding more of them that are similar. This makes it so Ricky can see his
progress and make adjustment as necessary. Ricky believes this will also
provide himself with reinforcement for doing said things to head towards my goals.
Even some improvement is heading towards ones goals. So, as long as Ricky is
heading towards his goals, then he is maintaining a long-term practice towards
health and wellness, but he also knows how he is doing it to getting there and
developing even further.
References
Dacher,
E. (2006). Integral Health: The path to
human flourishing. Laguna Beach,CA: Basic Health Publishers, Inc.
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