Unit 6

With this weeks first exercise and saying the four phrases over and over again for ten minutes, which by the way I didn't last ten minutes was helpful. It almost makes you feel at peace with whatever is related to with these phrases. I think to myself that I can help people as long as they want help. You can attempt to help others with freedom from suffering and with health, happiness and wholeness but if they don't truly seek this then your efforts will come on deaf ears.
For the assessment I chose to focus on interpersonal life, because I just recently went through a tough breakup and need to focus on myself and my views of the people around me. I wouldn't say this is the most essential but it is the one that light is being shinned on the most currently. I hope to aim for trust within myself and with others. I hope to gain confidence in my decisions once again and only wish good things for others. The area that I need growth and development in is the same as what I need growth in. Waiting to spend my life with someone on a personal basis who is right in every way for me. I hope with time and healing this will happen for me. Until then I will wish nothing but good wishes for others.
Jenni

Unit 5 Blog

I have really embraced these exercises and started to really enjoy this peaceful self reflecting time. There is really no comparison to unit 4 Loving Kindness and this weeks Subtle Mind practice. The part that said to bring your self to your thoughts and visual images I did not do, I tried to only concentrate on my breathing and my eyes were closed. I really zoned into the sounds. They were both enjoyable to me and I'm really loving the waves in the background. I'm starting to wonder if they changed the background sound would I feel as relaxed and enjoy these exercises as I have. The concentration on breathing was very useful to me and this brings me into the physical fitness side of things. Whenever I exercise I have to make sure that I'm breathing, it helps bring oxygen to the muscles and improves your performance. When doing kick boxing its especially important to breath out and in during kicks and punches. Hope everyone is enjoying this as much as I am.
Jenni

Feeling Relaxed

I don't know if it was the stress of this weeks events or if I'm just so overtired that I was looking forward to this exercise today. There was an enormous amount of focus I had today during the Loving Kindness exercise, I felt very heavy when done and relaxed. I actually took a nap when I completed it.
For a mental exercise or any exercise it is important to do it on a constant basis. Just like any muscle there needs to be strength building, rest and nutrition. If you have been following my posts to this point, I make a very big effort to exercise my body and realize that it needs to be often to stay in shape and build the muscle I wish to build. Because of this class and learning about wholeness I have taken it upon myself to take time for my brain, emotions and self at different periods of my day. I don't put as much time as I do my physical strength but its a starts.
With mind exercising it is possible to focus on the inner self and have concentration in the direct tasks at hand. If properly trained there is an ability to have an overall happiness and self worth that only comes from within. Research shows that if this is done on a normal basis then there could be long term effects on you inner self and future life as well as short term effects. This can reduce stress as well as find inner peace.
My goal is to let these exercises effect my life in this positive manner by completing this exercise once a day.

Try to relax...not quite

I have always been able to rate my physical fitness at a high rate, there is always room for improvement in that department but I would put myself at about an 8. The reason why is I work out at least six days a week for about 30-60 minutes each time sometimes more. If there is something that can be done physically I do try and take my body to the next level to achieve that. I love to run and always think there is an improvement in this department that I can do. Longevity with speed is always a goal and even though I try to improve that, its a slow process. To continue this improvement I will workout the same as I do with the goal of increasing my speed and longevity. There is a need to push myself to run harder and to continue to push myself to my limits to achieve this goal. Spiritual health has always been something I haven't taken time to advance. There isn't much time for me personally and relaxing is me sitting on my coach while I write this blog, because I'm sitting. To gain a more spiritual self I think I would need to speak to someone who is more knowledgeable then I am in this subject and learn how this would benefit me and my life. Psychological health is something that comes in waves, overall I would rate myself at about a 6 but can dip down to a 4 and can rise to about a 7. To improve this I am honest, loyal and morally sound. I stay on the right track with that and hope for the best. Things that would improve this is to have comfort in my life, have a personal relationship with a life partner and have support from a constant source. Personal relationships help keep me together, knowing that others care and support me and my decisions is a good feeling.
For some reason this relaxation exercise was not as enjoyable as the previous one. The rays of light that I was to imagine I found myself doing an eye roll at. I don't want to imagine the rays of lights coming from different areas of my body, I guess I didn't get the point of the colors and why I was being instructed to do that part. I couldn't fully relax like I did with the previous exercise.