My Stress Guide

Introduction

Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically?

When incorporating the integral process into our own lives we discover the profound possibilities of integral health and healing (Dacher, 2006). What starts out as professional training soon becomes a personal lifestyle. We begin to acknowledge firsthand how we can flourish and teach others how to do the same. If we need physical healing today we would know where to go and how to see. If we were looking for someone that practices integral healing we would have to do our research. Finding those resources you might just get lucky and find a daily, weekend, or week spa that may offer some healing. To find such places, person or things could range from massages, to yoga, meditation classes, relaxation techniques, and many other techniques available. I started the martial arts at the age of 10 and was fortunate enough to have had great instructors. Anyone can kick and punch, but to do it right is the key. Without even knowing it I was already on my way to an integral lifestyle where today I can say I see the benefits.

I am 50 years old and have three children, two sons and my daughter that I have raised as a single father. My one son is a correction officer the other is a drill sergeant, and my daughter is still in school. I speak of them because they are the age of most college students the oldest being 25 years old. My twin boy and girl are 23 years old. So I can say that by living a healthy lifestyle throughout my life I can see how it was passed on to my children. I can truly say that I got it from my step-father who  is 81 years old today and getting a clean bill of health from his doctors every year. We not only have a responsibility to ourselves, but we also have the responsibility to teach our offspring about  living healthy and becoming whole in their own rights.

Without the knowledge and abilities in moving forward  towards integral healing and health we could not get the benefits it has to offer. My step-father worked on staying healthy by working out and doing things that where unconventional in getting there. My work outs are different as are my children’s. The martial arts has taught  me all aspects of human flourishing by working on the mind, body, and spirit making the connection between all three aspects of human flourishing.

We all need tools to release stress, escape from our everyday stressors and flourish as humans. These are the benefits I have gotten from the martial arts

Psychologically: Many people are finding solace in the ability to protect oneself.  With those abilities comes improved psychological confidence and well-being.  If people can protect themselves they feel less vulnerable in a time of unrest and uncertainty. If an individual is provided with the means of protecting oneself decreased anxieties about one’s safety will follow with positive outcomes. The psychological benefits of martial arts include increased self-esteem and self-confidence as well as decreased tension, stress, anxiety and depression. The individual total well being, both psychological and physical can be improved simultaneously. While the physical aspects of exercise improve your general health, it likewise improves one’s emotional health. It has been found that martial arts are one viable treatment option for depression and other mental disorder. It’s utilization of meditative principles allows the participant to utilize self-evaluation and self-introspection as a means to practice martial arts.  It has been stated in the literature that martial arts and psychotherapy utilize the same principles to achieve wholeness.  The pursuit of self-improvement is the theme that martial arts and psychotherapy purports as the ultimate goal of the practice.

Spiritually:  An important part of the martial arts is meditation as you can also use it in fighting like Tai Chi incorporates in their fighting techniques. When you practice martial arts, your mind is emptied and you concentrate on the motion and movement of the body. After a martial arts work out, both your mind and spirit get refreshed as they are used in your training. You feel a sense of reward that you feel every time you are done training. You feel relaxed, tranquil, and renewed all at the same time while you train. Martial arts help us accept circumstances in life that would require patience. The virtue of acceptance and patience are cultivated during martial arts training.

Physically: Martial arts have always been known to have physical benefits. This fighting technique can strengthen muscles, improve flexibility, and empower one’s health. It can even reduce risks to certain types of health problems such as heart diseases, high blood pressure, and many more. The martial arts gives you more than physical power it equips you with stronger and more powerful mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing that will help you succeed in your endeavors you go through in life.

What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?

I know that human flourishing is a lifetime of work. I found the one tool that can give me the most positive outcomes when I train in the martial arts. Life throws stressors our way every day and dealing with those stressors can be difficult from time to time. Having the tools that are at my disposal is something that I can work on as my goal to flourish as a human. I know that I am very lucky because throughout the years not only have I developed techniques, but I have built a business that I can help others. A big part of my goal is to continue learning to maximize the tools I have to flourish in becoming whole.

My diet is one area that can use improvement because with all I do I still have to worry about high cholesterol that I inherited genetically as a family trait. As I continue learning better ways in taking care of myself I want to stop taking the cholesterol medication. With a better diet and botanical medicine I know I could control my cholesterol. Integral healing makes the connection in all aspects of life and we are what we eat is true in many ways. I am not out of shape nor is my diet bad, but to achieve our maximum potential we have to do everything we can.   

Assessment

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

I find that assessing yourself is hard to do as you always see yourself differently than others do. My lifestyle has changed throughout the years allowing me to grow and flourish in the forty years of training out of the fifty in this world. Human development takes discipline, consistency, and responsibility as we can only take care of ourselves. Human development is a never ending battle that we cannot give up on. I have tried throughout my life to find peace, strength, integrity, and humility in trying to have balance and flourish. The integral assessment is the tool we need to choose in transform our health and life from conventional to integral, from ordinary to precious (Dacher, 2006). The six principles of integral assessment will help guide us and flourish as humans these principles are as fallowed:

1.      The goal of integral health is to alleviate needless suffering and promote human flourishing. There are two criteria to use when identifying the aspects of our life and need attention.

a)      Which aspects of our life are the most significant sources of distress?

b)      Where is our greatest possibility for growth and development?

2.      Integral health recognizes the distinction between short-term relief of needless suffering and permanent relief.

3.      Integral health recognizes the distinction between immediate pleasure and long-term flourishing.

4.      Psychospiritual development is an essential component of integral health.

5.      Integral assessment relies on deep listening and guidance.

6.      Integral assessment addresses the aspects, levels, and lines of development that are relevant to our current circumstance. 

Psychologically: My score in this area is (8.5) as I find myself in a better place than ever before in my life and the lifestyle I live. My children are now young adults and on their own, well educated and starting their professional careers. I have gone through life’s adversities and have come out on top. I know my place in life as well as myself and believe that I have a high self-esteem and love to live life. When I have problems I have my support system that consists of family, friends, and professionals where I can find guidance, support, and knowledge. Marriage, children, friends, jobs, and other factors of everyday life can also create stress. I go to the professionals to find answers such as psychologist, psychiatrist, or counselor to help me stay controlled and balanced. Perfection, we all try to achieve, but we all know that it is hard if not impossible to be perfect. Every day I try to learn, grow, give back, and love in exercising my inner soul.  

Exercises that I do to stay psychologically balance by meditating 5 hours per week both in the studio with my students or on my own time. I talk to my father and have discussions about different subjects. He is has his PhD in psychology and as a child I would sit in his classes at the University of Puerto Rico when he was a professor. My social network is very good and has many avenues of communication to get me back to balance and give me feedback. I have a full gym that allows me to get away when things get stressful as well as my martial arts studio. In both areas I am able to get work outs in that allow me to relieve stress.      

Spiritually: My score in this area is (8) as I found that the martial arts and cultural back ground has me well connected with my higher power. Every night before I go to bed and everyday when I wake up I say my prayer. Prayer is one of the oldest and most commonly used coping mechanisms known to humankind. In its simplest form prayer is thought: a desire of the heart, and often a call for help in what can best be described as a plea for divine intervention (Seaward, 2009).

The church I belong to is four blocks from my house. During Christmas the family goes to midnight mass and has been a tradition my children and I have done since the divorce back in 1998. Finding the good in people and circumstances is something I try to practice through loving kindness. By looking at how my self-absorption denied me any opportunity to know my partner separate from myself (Dacher, 2006). We cannot love others unless we love ourselves first (Dacher, 2006). Religion is man made, but humans are created by a higher power that is yet to be explained or will ever be.

We begin with ourselves in areas of development the psychospiritual and the biological, because in general and there are exceptions, our personal growth and development allow us to most effectively evolve our interpersonal and worldly life (Dacher, 2006). Just like a car needs a driver so does our life (Dacher, 2006). When it comes to prayer, the styles are countless. Perhaps most common to many people is a recited prayer (much like a poem) that draws our attention from the self to the higher self (Seaward, 2009).

Physically: I score myself a (9) as I’ve been taking care of my body since the age of 10 when I started in the martial arts. The martial arts physical work outs are like no other as you focus on your  physical, spiritual, mental aspects all at once. Exercise is just not going to a gym and working out. Although I love to work out in my gym I know that muscle does not know poundage it knows resistance so you can get a work out anywhere. You can do isometric exercises, weight lift, calisthenics, and other things that can target the muscles. I work out anywhere from 5 to 6 days per week allowing Sunday as my rest day.

   

 You might assume that fitness means tight abs and nothing about the condition of the heart. People’s lifestyles have changed dramatically over the past few decades, and with these changes health have spiraled down even further (Seaward, 2009). Diseases such cancer, diabetes, and scores of stress-related illnesses have increased in the US. Sadly, there is no quick fix for optimal health, but there is physical exercise (Seaward, 2009). Not only does physical exercise utilize the stress hormones for their intended purpose, the cathartic release of stress is nearly unbeatable (Seaward, 2009). People need to take responsibility for their health and  there is a reason why exercise is called “work” (Seaward, 2009).

The human body adapts either negatively or positively to the stress put on it very day. Proper physical exercise will cause many adaptations that in the long term are thought to be effective in reducing the deleterious effects of stress by returning the body to a profound state of homeostasis (Seaward, 2009).

Goal development

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

Goal setting is very important when it comes to accomplishing things in life. The practice of integral health and healing take goal setting to reach wholeness and flourish as a human. 

Psychological: My goal mentally, emotionally, intellectually, and as a professional is to continue to grow and flourish. I was very fortunate as a child to have found the martial arts as some find religion. I want to continue to develop spiritually to have the connection between my higher power and me. I want to make a more profound connection through prayer and meditation. I know that practice makes perfect and after 40 years of practice I know I still have work to do. At 50 years of age I feel more at peace with myself and my lifestyle. With everything that is going on with our economy, world matters, and government I don’t stress as I did as a young man. I know today that I can only control the things that are within my control.     

Spiritual: My goal is to continue to develop ways to give back when I can as today’s economy keeps everybody on a tight budget. Once again the practice of prayer is something that comes within ourselves. Meditation is another way I have found in getting balance and getting my psychospiritual in line with natures. Maintenance is the key for me by keeping balance and flourishing achieving quality of life as I age.

Physical: I cannot imagine a life without having the ability to work out. I have seen just about every work out you can imagine. After 40 years trying to keep balance with all three aspects it seems like when one aspect is balance the other is off keeping us on our toes at all times. I work out 5 to 6 days per week and not all my workout are the same so my goal there is to stay healthy so I can continue doing what I enjoy doing today.

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.

Psychological: To foster my mental growth I am taking time to meditate as that will allow me to empty my mind and focus on my inner self. The one tool I’ll use is the CD “The Path to Human Flourishing” to allow the mind to flow free.  

I will also use the beauty around my community such as the beach, boardwalk, rivers, lakes, sunsets, and sunrises to visualize outcomes as I walk and enjoy the beauty.

Spiritual: Take time to give back to my community as loving kindness always gets positive effects in return. I give to my community by offering ways in getting healthy at a reasonable price and sometimes free. That gift of giving is priceless and has elevated me into a higher consciousness in my life.

The other thing I am doing to foster my spirituality is praying as the power of prayer is unexplainable unless you have faith. My faith has once again elevated me into a relationship with my higher power giving me the strength needed to give unselfishly.

Physical: I’ve been fostering my physical body for quite some time. I exercise 5 to 6 time per week doing different activities in getting me in shape. I weight lift, work my cardiovascular system and focus on having both muscle and cardiovascular endurance.

The other way I’ve been fostering my physical abilities is through the martial arts that touchs all three aspects of flourishing as we work out the mind, body, and spirit. We fight for endurance, meditate to strengthen the mind, and I pray to strengthen my soul.

Commitment

How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months?

When I weight train I keep a diary and keep track of my progress as well as the journal I keep about my life. I have been training for a very long time and exercise, health and wellness has been a part of my life that I have been working on flourishing in becoming whole. 

 What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?

I have worked on my house to have things close to me enough that you can’t use any excuses in not getting a work out. I have a full gym in my basement just like a storefront gym. I have a karate studio right outside my living room door that I use for more than just a karate studio. I use the space to teach exercise classes, Zumba, boot camp training, and other exercise routines for people to enjoy. I have spent money to have everything right in my home for my convenience and it has worked out great for me as I use the space for personal fitness and wellness as well as it my business. 

References

Dacher, E. (2006). Integral Health: The Pathway to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA:

             Basic Health Publications, Inc.

Seaward, B.L., (2009). Managing Stress, 6^th Ed. Principals and Strategies for Health and Well-Being. Paramount Wellness Institute. Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Sudbury, MA

Mental Fitness

“Mental Fitness & Flourishing”

Review the exercises and practice sessions you have completed in this course. (Loving Kindness, Subtle mind, Visualization, meditation etc.) Choose two practices that you have determined to be most beneficial. How can you implement these practices in your personal life to foster “mental fitness”?

As everybody knows I have being in the martial arts for some time now. I have used visualization as well as subtle mind to help me throughout my life in trying to flourish, grow and benefit both physically and mentally. Many metaphors can help us understand the mind (Dacher, 2006). A still and clear mind is usually obscured by the moving mind the mental activity of feeling, thought, and images (Dacher, 2006). The practice of not allowing other thought in while trying to meditate and clear you mind takes practice and years to master. I am not a master yet but I also know that my practice of clearing my mind has helped me throughout the years. The health benefits are many because we all know what stress can do to our health. Having a subtle mind is one of the best ways I know in how to keep myself stress free and healthy in many ways. To achieving a subtle mind you need to practice the witnessing mind, calm- abiding, and unity consciousness as well as they are important aspects of flourishing in wholeness.

The martial art also introduced me to breathing techniques that has helped me in relaxing as well as calming in times of stress. By learning to use rhythmic breathing I have learned to subtle the mind. Breathing as well as meditation takes practice to master and get the benefits that they have to offer. When meditating before class we try to empty the mind and visualize our training for the day. When we train with the focus pads we’ll take a technique as we use the breathing as our focal point. In many studios they have belt as promotion not out of achievement but to make money. In my studio to get promoted you have to earn it and each belt has a story as we develop the mind, body and spirit. The first bet is white (the seed) then comes yellow (the seed seeing the sun), then orange (the sun allowing growth) then green (the leaves in the begging of the tree) the red (the tree giving fruit), then black belt (the fruits falling to make new seeds for new tree growth) making it full circle. Inner peace comes with knowing and loving yourself as you love others.

I can remember when working in the casino in a dead game (game not opened for business) because business was slow I would visualize myself doing my forms (Katas) some consisting of 52 movements almost like Tia Chi movements. When I would go to the studio to practice the forms I would do better with them. When it came time for tournaments I would do the same thing and in most cases I would place in the medial podium. When fighting I would see myself fighting different types of opponents and when fighting it was like I had fought them before. In most cases I won first place in all the tournaments I entered. To be able to flourish spiritually you have to believe visualize the higher power and feel the loving kindness he has to offer as Jesus did while walking the earth. Know we believe in him as he left a legacy of loving kindness that most have forgotten.

Some of the things I do in the practice of subtle mind are meditation at least 5 days per week as well as going to church on Sunday. I give back to my community by offering exercise classes for $2.00 per class trying to keep seniors active and healthier. I have karate students that only pay me what they can but without my training sessions they would be out in the community starting problems. Teaching them that there are other choices we can do to release stress or our inner pain than to go out and hurt others. Giving back is hard to explain if you’re selfish because you have to be able to give without expecting back regardless of the outcome of the receiving your generosity.

Exercising is part of my lifestyle and has been for many years. I know that the benefits will create human flourishing in combination with the rest of my training. I do weight training, cardiovascular training, calisthenics, judo, Jiu jit su, kickboxing, and that’s just scratching the surface. The mental part of my training I’ll meditate, pray, walk, go to the beach and sit at the jetty and listen to the waves hit the rocks as the wind sprays the ocean water into your face. Waking up early to see a sun rise as the sky as the multi colors of blues, purples, oranges, and the ocean meet. As well as the sun sets seeing the sun melt into the ocean yet the colors get richer and deeper.

I live in the area I do by choice because of the beauty and how close the beach is to my house. When I walk the dogs I go right to the bay that’s 4 blocks from the house where are can see out the skyline all the Atlantic City casinos. Mental health is something we need to learn as it helps us flourish.

Artemio

Reference:

Dacher, E. (2006). Integral Health: The Pathway to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, Inc.

"Meeting Asciepius"

Describe your meditative practice(s) for the week and discuss the experience. Explain how mindfulness or meditation has fostered an increase in your psychological or spiritual wellness. How can you continue to apply these practices in your life to foster greater health and wellness?

I used the subtle mind when meditating as I’ve been meditating for quite some time. I focused on the light as it was Jesus crown and he sat next to me as we speak about tomorrow and the good I tried to do today. I know that when I can’t see right he guides me and when I stumble he helps me up and when I feel I can’t go on he carries me as I look back and see his foot prints. I am a believer in destiny and we all have a purpose in the life with the body we have. Jesus preach loving kindness and as I see the world turning into a world of evil, greed, unfaithfulness, and unholy. One of the reasons why I am taking the courses that I am taking is so that I can continue to flourish as I age. Knowledge is power (Bacon) and having the ability to go back to school is a blessing as not everyone has that opportunity to attend school. To teach people to stay healthy I have to be healthy and to stay healthy you need the knowledge to flourish. If I can flourish then I can give the tools to someone else to have them flourish. Because someone took the time to show me a different way and direction than the one I was leading. Now I am paying that forward and helping other make a better choice. Life is promised to no one and we should make the better of the one we have. I started the martial arts at the age of 10 and now at 50 years old I feel like I am in a better place than most people. One never stops developing but to feel good about your accomplishments is a great place to be in.

Describe the saying: "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” 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?

I feel that you should practice what you preach and unless you know what you’re talking about you should not speak but just listen. Most people have maps with no direction or knowledge of the territory they are speaking about. The sad part is that without knowing yourself you will be taken advantage of because you won’t know truth from fiction. How can you tell someone to be healthy if you’re not healthy yourself? I know that with all the injuries I have when telling other about the benefits of exercising I make it hard for them to give me excuses of pain and injuries. I always do a Par-Q assessment on all my client’s and if there is issues with the assessment I will do a full health assessment to protect the client and me. We have a responsibility not just to our client’s but to ourselves in maintaining your health. As professionals we have to flourish ourselves as integral healing and health is a never ending lesson of flourishing. I have my studio that I use as my escape place to go when I want to grow. As I flourish my emotions also grow and flourish giving me the balance that we all seek for in our life. To be where I am today has taken me time and hardship, but like anything else we have the choice to learn and flourish or stay still and stagnant.

Artemio

Universal Loving-Kindness & Integral Assessment

Universal Loving-Kindness & Integral Assessment

The aspect of difficulty and suffering happening today in my life is interpersonal. Life always through curve balls at you that if you don't step out of home plate the curve ball will strike you out. I always say that I can only control things that are within my control. When you love someone you tend to feel their pain and there is those time that you are causing the pain. The perception of circumstances can create stresses that through communication can be resolved. When you can control your emotions it allows you to look at the whole picture allowing you to think clearer. Practicing loving-kindness has giving me the loving-kindness back resolving the issues that were stressing the situation. I am also practicing the subtle mind has helped me stay in control at handle the issues that are in front on me today. By allowing my mind to be at eases and not allowing the stress to get to me the stress has become less. Knowing my abilities has kept me stress free. Continuing the development of my subtle mind and loving-kindness practices I find myself more at peace and whole.
I feel like I am in control of my stress the down side is that I can only have control of my stress. Explaining to others the importance of staying stress free takes time as they have to feel comfortable with their decisions. By focusing on the exercises and the four quadrants of integral health I am finding new doors opening as others are closing. What I find refreshing is that the new doors opening are coming with less toxicity and the ones closing the toxic elements are staying behind.  To take care of outer stress you have to know yourself and your inner abilities in staying balance.
The CD exercise has given me the ability of allowing the mind to escape the body as we know it. It’s almost like being in a dream that you have control over as you can see things clearly. I have been taking time to say the phrase in the universal loving kindness in different places like the beach while listening to the wing and waves. In the Catskills while walking up the mountain trails listening to nature. I have added the phrases while meditating before putting my mind at eases. I want to also make a correction to the post because I said the CD exercise when I met the exercise in the text. When doing some of my work I'll listen to the CD and relax and if the exercises requires me to meditate I do it both with the CD and without.
Taking the time to say the phrase has expanded my mind and body and has help me find new direction.
May all individuals gain freedom from suffering.
May all individuals find sustained health, happiness, and wholeness.
May I assist individuals in gaining freedom from suffering.
May I assist all individuals in finding health, happiness, and wholeness.

Artemio

Subtle Mind is Mine

The Subtle Mind Not 2 Stress

Discuss the connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. Explain how the connection is manifested in your personal life.

Cross training is a great description explaining the connection of spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. As a martial artist I can relate to these aspects of well being. I must train my mind to deal with the pain sometimes inflicted as a result of my training. Pain may originate in our peripheral nerves, but our experience of pain takes place in the mind (Dacher, 2006). Pain varies for everyone according to the mental attitude of the individual. The mental training offers various techniques for relaxing which reduces the perception of pain. I have used meditation for relaxing the body allowing the reduction of my pain. Because I started the martial arts at a young age I learned how to stay focus on the task at hand and multi-task without losing focus. I use my children also as examples.

My youngest son was just awarded the Ironman award at drill sergeant school as I said before. He started training in the martial arts with me at 4 years old. I truly believe that the training was what got him where he has gotten so far in his young life. It’s not the physical training of the martial arts that got him there it’s the mental training that got him there. Without the mind the body won’t function to its best. My oldest son also started with me at age 5 and he has also accomplished so much at 25 years old. He’s a correction officer today, but has been a police officer for the city of Avalon New Jersey. He is waiting for the state police application to open because that is his dream and he is one step closer in getting there. My daughter is working in Florida and getting ready to go back to school. She is in Florida hoping to find something different than New Jersey has to offer. After a year if thing don’t go as planned then she’ll come back home to work for me. Allowing my children to go out into the world with the training they’ve had has giving them the edge I see them having. I know they will do find as the martial arts has done for me.

Artemio

Loving Kindness N No Stress 2 Me

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Refllections of yesterday 2 make 2morrow better than 2Day

Hello everybody and hope that all is well as I am recovering from being under the weather. Once per year when I push myself I get like the way I did for the last two weeks. I thank that my knowledge in the field of health and wellness allows me to get well quicker than if I depended on the doctors. I believe in Western medicine when it comes to research and the technology it has to offer. But just because you have the tools it does not mine you know how to use them as in most cases today when you go to the doctors office. Health care providers and health care in general is dictated by insurances so maintaining you health is your responsibility.

My optimal well being as taken my 40 plus years to figure out what is best for me and how best to maintain balance and quality of life. My physical well being I rate at a 8 or 9 because of how I maintain my body and work out at least 5 days per week. I would say a 10 but because of injuries that I have sustained throughout my martial arts fighting I do pay a price. Thanks to my exercising and other activities that I do I keep my body in excellent shape. I believe that a strong body make a great foundation for all the other parts of health to have quality of life.

My spiritual well being I also believe in keeping up with as as go to church when able. The important thing to me is that my heart there is a temple that I don't need to go to a building to believe that there is a higher power. I pray every day and don't believe in hating people or things as I believe everything has a purpose and thing happen for a reason. I teach martial arts in my studio that I have been working on since the 90's putting the pieces together one piece of equipment at a time always looking for a bargain. I meditate everyday as well as I am physically active always doing something from bike riding, to kicking and punching, lifting weight, walking or running with the dogs, and taking time out with the wife for a walk on the beach. Being in touch with your inner soul is important and knowing that there is a higher power that we can go to. I rate my spiritual health and well being as a 10 as I am where I am because i believe in spiritual balance to go with my physical wellness.

The psychological well being is something that we all as humans have choices over how well our health is knowing that life's ever changing ways can and will created stressful situations that we have to deal with. I still believe because of time and age I would put my rating at a 8 or 9 because I try to handle thing from different perspectives. I will look at things from my view point as well as the other persons points and will listen to others advice to make sure I have better outcomes when it come to different situations. As they say when it comes to conflict there is three sides to the story your side, their side, and the truth and the truth always come out so I never really stress. When there is situations that I fell stress me and I cannot get answer to on my own or the support system I have around me I go to a professional such as a concern or psychiatrist to talk on a one on one level.

My goals today when it come to my physical well being is to go back to the training I was doing before school started because it allowed my to distress and take my bodies physical abilities to the edge. Training with professional fighters and law enforcement people I feel gives me knowledge giving my students the edge when it come to physical ability for better health and wellness. My spiritual wellness I just have to maintain I meditate everyday knowing the health benefits it brings in mental health. I been training in the martial arts for 40 years and understanding how to meditate is a art within a art. How to get the most out of your meditation time or re-energizing time takes practice and time. Psychological health and well being is good right now because stress is what will play with allot of your emotional being. Stress is a killer will all have to got through some kind of it if it's good or bad stress dealing with it is a personal choice.

To achieve my physical goal I have to take and find the time to get back with the boys and allowing my stress out. Financial set backs have also taken its toll but once again it's about choices so that's why it is what it is and to stress is not going to change anything. Like I said it is about choices and I don't regret any of the choices I have made to date and would not change any one of them. I know that many of the thing I have done have made a difference in peoples lives and sometimes it takes one persons scarifies to make a difference. My spiritual health plan and goals are to continue my meditation time, church time as well as personal prayier time, and my nature time such as walking the beach, boating, and other things that we can done in nature. The best thing that I can say for my psychological health is that I can control it and no one else. How I chose to deal with stress and stressors is my choice and I know that I can only control what's within my control.

The relaxation exercise will only be as good as you allow your mind to open its abilities. Religion, meditation, mind over matter and other things that people have a hard time believing in will only work if you have a open mind. I have relaxation tapes as well as other equipment to allow you to destess. I liked how the pitch of his voice and the smooth tone of the music allowed me to get into my zone and I was able to find myself very relaxed and at peace. The one thing about knowing yourself is that it doesn't take much to relax you or get you in the zone. is like anything else the more you practice the better you get at it.

Here are some of the places I go to destress.
Artemio

This is my studio

The Bike path that stretches 10 miles one way soon to be stretched to over 50 miles and two bridges along the way.

The bay just down the street fro my house and close to the bike path.

What is stress? It is what you MAKE it!

Life is to short to worry about things that are out of our control. The one thing that I say to myself is "If you always do what you've always done, You'll always get what you've always gotten" and if stress use to get to me and i don't change then I'll continue getting the negative effects from the stress that is by choice something I can help.
Luv live and live will LOVE you back!

Artemio

NoStRess4Me2dAy

What days have come my way since my son graduation and the trip back. I drove 17 hours to get home from Florida and I guess I am not as young as I use to be because I am still feeling the effects of the drive. Life does not stop so my daily routine is till the same and has not skip a beat it actually has gotten more hectic. Time never stops and to rest is to stress that is way I am trying to keep up with lives everyday stuff without stressing out.

NoStress2C

I know that stress kills and can have such negative effects to our health I chose to be stress free this week with my son. He graduated from drill sergeant school on October 27, 2011 winning the Ironman award knowing the odds he faced. It had been 13 cycles since a male cadet won the award that was incredible what he did. Doing the blog was a bit different because I had done one before under my e-mail address and it was such a long time ago that I forgot the password. I did a blog for my one writing class and it was very interesting to do even though I am a private person. The trip to South Carolina was great, but allot of driving I most of done 40 hours of driving living my house on Wednesday morning at 1 am and getting to Fort Jackson at 11:40 am to be at orientation by 12:30 pm. I did not get to see my son until 7:30 pm because they were drilling in preparation for graduation. For there we did dinner and bed as I was dead in my feet knowing I had a early morning the next day. On Thursday got up early for breakfast and got to Fort Jackson early enough to get the seats I liked so I could get great pictures. After graduation we all went to lunch and my daughter stayed with me as my son drove with mom to Florida. The next day my daughter and me went and met my son in Florida that was another 5 hour drive from South Carolina to Florida. We stopped at Jacksonville FL. that's about 1 hour from Palw Coast to get a room and then drove to Palm Coast FL. After dropping her off I drove back that day to do school work but drove the hours back so that 10 hours in one day of just driving the open highway not including just to getting from place to place driving. Next morning I was up early after posting on the DB and getting some reading done getting to bed by 2:30 am and up by 6:30 am to start the next day Saturday. Left Jacksonville FL. at 1130 am and got back home Sunday morning at 6:30 am driving all night to get home. So to say the least I got some work to catch up with both school and personal.