Saturday, March 17, 2012

Unit 7: Current Trends and Research Supporting the Mind-Body-Spirit Paradigm


1.      MEETING ASCLEPIUS

The wise healer within each of us that guides us through the integral process is who the ancient Greeks called Asclepius. This week we were asked to complete the meeting Asclepius visualization. It provided access to our inner healer that is at the source of our being. This practice entailed picturing a wise person and transforming ourselves into that person. Beams of light radiating from their mind, speech, and heart transferred to us and consumed our being. Our inner essence heals our body, mind, and spirit, and is always available to support and guide us toward integral health (Dacher, 2006). I actually felt calm and wiser after this exercise. During the week I have done all of the practices that we have learned this far on various days of the week. I generally do one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening. I break them up so that I make sure I do them each at least 5 times in a week. I also took a look at my inner being through another integral assessment. I wanted to make sure I was on the right path to start working on first. These exercises have fostered an increase in my psychological and spiritual awareness. I am more at peace with myself and all situations. Stress no longer bothers me. I plan on working on these exercises daily to improve my inner being. I recently found a healer living 30 miles from me and I will be meeting with her very soon regarding mentoring me in my journey.

2.      “One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” (Schlitz, Amorok, & Micozzi, 2005).

Providers need to be educated about the integral model to be integrally informed in order to bring some awareness to each patient. Spiritual evolution must be worked on by providers to experience the representation of the model. The practitioner can be transformed to bring back the doctor-patient relationship in addition to empowerment to make sociocultural problem changes seen in medicine (Sclitz, Amorok, & Micozzi, 2005). Health and wellness professionals need to be informed of the integral process in order to effectively mentor patients. I feel it is my obligation to my clients to develop my own health psychologically, physically, and spiritually to effectively help my clients. I feel a professional should practice what they preach and teach to be experienced and knowledgeable regarding care to others. To implement psychological and spiritual growth in my personal life, I will practice a path toward human flourishing. Integral assessments, exercises, studies, and assistance from fellow followers can assist me in implementing these things in my own life.



References:



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

Schlitz, M., Amorok, T., & Micozzi, M. (2005). Consciousness & healing: Integral approaches to mind-body medicine. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Churchill Livingston.  


4 comments:

  1. Hi Cindy

    I really enjoyed reading through your blog. Your summary of the Asclepius visualization was very thorough and to the point. If someone had never heard of it before, then he or she would know exactly you’re you are talking about. Your daily exercises would be beneficial for me, but I tend to be a very busy person each day. I just need to make the time to fit them in and not make any excuses. My suggestion to you is keep doing the practices daily because it obviously seems to be working for you along with meeting up with that healer. It sounds like it will be a great experience. I also agree with you in that we should all practice what we preach in order to be credible to our clients. The exercises would also work for my clientele because it is would help heal their mind, body, and spirit.

    DanielleBis2

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  2. Hi Cindy, very informative blog post for this week. You made some very interesting points, for example, the inner essence heals our body, mind, and spirit, and is always available to support and guide us toward integral health and how the beams of light radiating from our mind, speech, and heart transferred to us and consumed our being. These two concepts made me see things in a whole new light. Thanks for sharing this information. Keep up the good work.
    Rizk

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  3. Hello Cindy,
    you seemed to have a good grasp on things, and it looks as though you are utilizing the exercises to your benefit. You have a nice transformation coming along. So, are you excited about a possible mentor? you are doing well right now with the tools and the direction the class has to offer, one can only imagine...what you will accomplish with one on one focus....Nice.
    One thing that many successful people will tell you is: if you want to succeed.. you should put yourself around the people with the same goals. not so much in a competitive format, but on a quest for enlightenment, this applies.
    That means people will want to be around you too, so they can learn and share. Your view on leading another where one has not gone himself... applies.
    Thank you for sharing and I wish you well on you endeavors .
    Kevin W.

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  4. Hi Cindy,
    Thats great to hear that your found a healer close by, I feel that when undergoing the integral process there should be some guidance along the way by an outside source to help you hone your energy and give you new ways of meditative practice. I too have been doing the practices we learned throughout the semester and I have also seen some significant changes-one biggie being my overall stress level has decreased substantially. I think it is great that yours has too.
    I also feel you have a good idea of breaking up the many meditative practices to ensure they each get their right amount of attention. This would be a great starting point for future clients just starting the art of meditation and integral path.
    Take care,
    Stacey Smith

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