In Unit 3 I rated my physical wellbeing at a 7. I would say that it is still at a 7. I haven't increased my workout much, but I do intend to in the future. My mental wellbeing was an 8. For the most part my mental wellbeing is good. I've traveled a long road to get to that 8. I think that it is still an 8. I continue to grow in this area and there is always room for improvement. My spiritual wellbeing was an 8. I love God and I talk to Him through out the day. I would not say that it is a 10 because this is something that always needs to be worked on. I can always grow closer to God.

My goals were to start back up on Tai Chi and Yoga. This was to help with the physical, mental and spiritual side. Connecting each one together. This is a constant goal of mine. I have started som yoga, but plan to take a class in the future. I need to have more "me" time.

This course has made me more positive and I feel like I'm a better person because of this class. I have loved getting to know each of you and wish you all the best in the future.

Final project

Final Project

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically. Without being balanced in these categories, we cannot effectively help our patients. When on category is imbalanced, it created the others to be unbalanced as well. I like what Dacher says in the very first chapter; “The moment we start to seriously invest in growing our inner like and acquiring its natural healing resources, we simultaneously set out of our ordinary ideas about health and begin the climb toward the treasures at the summit of extraordinary health.” (Dacher, p 9, 2006)I want to be extraordinary in helping people. If I’m not balanced in those categories I cannot be extraordinary. If I am not psychologically fit, how can I be able to help someone that needs a guided healing in their psychological aspect? If I’m not spiritually fit, then I cannot affectively help a patient that needs to become closer to their god. If I’m not physically fit, then I cannot expect my patients to want to be physically fit. I have always believed that you should practice what you preach. Others around you are going to think that you are a hypocrite if you are not following your own advice. If the advice is good for the patient, then it is good for me, and vice versa.

I think that each aspect can always use growing. We should continually grow and become more mature in each aspect. I need to work on the physical part more. Although I am not obese or overweight by any means, I need to be lean and tone to inspire my patients. Also this will produce a healthier happier life for me. Spiritually, I can always become closer to God. I hope I never stop growing in this category. Psychologically, I am growing. The more I practice loving-kindness and subtle mind; I will continue to grow in this area. I want to be able to pass that on to my patients.

If I were to assess my health wellness in each domain I would say that; physically I’m a 5 out of 10. Lately I have not had the motivation to work out. Altough I do go to the gym, I find that I’m not pushing myself. I think that right now I have a lot on my plate with trying to work everything out for our move to Arizona, which is 18 hours away from my family. So working out is the last thing that I want to do. My physiological domain would be 7 out of 10. I’m pretty grounded but there is always room for improvement. My spiritual domain would also be 7 out of 10. I love God and have been a witness of the awesome things he has done for me in my life. But there is always room for growth.

My main goal is to be more physically active. This will promote mental and physical wellness. It will reduce stress and make me healthier overall. I want to become leaner and have more muscle tone. Incorporating yoga along with cardio and weight training will help with this goal. Spiritually, I just need to spend more time with God. Praying more is a goal. More quiet time to just listen to Him. This has been helpful in the past, but I seem to think I don’t have enough time. If I create more time just for Him this will help. Psychologically, making more time for loving-kindness and subtle mind. This will quiet my mind and learn to just be in the moment. We are currently on vacation in Arizona, and my husband made an appointment for a massage. I found myself having to remind my mind to be still and just be in the moment. I need to practice this more in my daily life.

I plan to keep a journal to keep track of my progress or lack of progress. This will help me to see if there is any improvement in my domains. Living day to day life you may not be able to tell as easily if you are growing or not. Keeping track of this on paper may help me to stay focused. Also, keeping Dacher’s book on my table will help me to stay more focused and want to continue to grow.

Two exercises

The two exercises that i would pick would be subtle mind and loving kindness. These two have helped me out a lot. I am aware of my thoughts now, and am able to calm them down. Loving kindness has helped me to become a nicer person. I want people to have a nice day and have a nice life. When i find myself thinking negative thoughts about someone, I try to change that thought and practice loving kindness to them. This puts my mind in a better state. This is something that I would want my patients to practice. Because having a calm mind and love toward others will help their mental state.

Meeting Asciepius

1. Complete the "Meeting Asciepius" exercise on track #4 of the Dacher CD. 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?


This week has been hard to practice meditation. My mind is wondering in directions that I do not want it to go. I think that the devil is playing again and I'm finding it hard to fight against him. My husband was not feeling well yesterday and apparently I said something that hurt his feelings. In no way was i trying to hurt his feelings or make him feel that I did not care. In other circumstances my comment would not have upset him. But still today he has hostility towards me. I am trying to remain positive and meditate loving kindness to him. I explained that I was not trying to hurt him, but he still holds hositlity. I told him I don't know what else to do, now it's up to him to forgive and either move on from it or continue to hold on to it. All i can do now is to continue to practice loving kindness.

2. Describe the saying: "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” (P.477) 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?

This comment is one that I have always found to be true. I hate it when a doctor tells a patient that he/she is overweight and needs to go on a diet and exercise. Then i see that same doctor in line (who is himself/herself overweight) ordering high fat, high carb food and looks like a heart attack waiting to happen. A patient is like a child, they follow by example. If you are not living the life of health, why should they? I plan to always live to the advice I give my patients in the future.

Universal Loving-Kindness

This was a good exercise. It's a positive thing. It helps me to send kindness to others. Stop focusing on myself and wanting kindness and good health to be sent to others. I found myself doing this in my mind for others this week. When I would see someone that looked like they were having a hard day, I started to say all this in my mind. I hope that it helped that person, but I know that I felt better in the day because I was wanting someone to feel better.

My personal assessment: My eating habits are affected by my habits. If my daily schedule is so busy I tend to just grab something to eat. My priorities are my family, my dogs, our office, my schoolwork. Then lastly myself. I need to focus more on myself to balance my life. This will create less stress. This is an ongoing process.

Subtle Mind

I tried this exercise and found it to be easier than the last one. I was able to sit on my back deck and listen to the birds around while focusing on my breathing. When I noticed that my mind was chattering and not focusing on the birds I simply was able to redirect it. I found this to be so relaxing. This is something that I can do most days. My goal to to do this at least once a day. It only takes 5 minutes out of my time and this is something that I need. I loved this exercise.

Fruit of the Spirit

When I was going through my transformation, my husband said something about the Fruits of the Spirit. I had never heard of this before, so I looked them up. I wanted all of these aspects. I wanted to be Christ like. I wanted God's love to pour out through me. I copied these and to this day, I have one posted on my car, by the odometer. So evertime I get in the car I see it. I posted one on all the mirrors so that everytime I looked in the mirror I would be reminded.

love (agape);
joy (chara);
peace (eirene);
patience (makrothumia);
kindness (chrestotes);
goodness (agathosune);
faithfulness (pistis);
gentleness (prautes);
self-control (egkrateia

Loving Kindness

This exercise was a little difficult for me. I had a hard time quieting my mind and be able to really focus on the person that needed my attention. I really wanted to do this exercise. I think that it is going to take a little practice before I can really concentrate and focus on this loving-kindness. I think this could actually work as well. There's been studies that have shown that people that were prayed for recovered better then those that were not prayed for. I will definatly work on this exercise.

"Optimal Health"

I would rate my physical wellbeing at a 7. I haven't worked out very much lately. But I don't have any major health problems. I have noticed some fatigue lately, but thats probably because I haven't worked out like I'm supposed to. My mental wellbeing would be an 8. For the most part my mental wellbeing is good. I've traveled a long road to get to that 8. I continue to work on it daily. However there are times when I slack. My spiritual wellbeing is an 8. I love God and I talk to Him through out the day. I would not say that it is a 10 because this is something that always needs to be worked on. I can always grow closer to God.

My goal to to start back up on Tai Chi and Yoga. This will help with the physical, mental and spiritual side. Connecting each one together. My dad just built me a deck in our back yard, this will be a wonderful place to do these activities with all the bird chirping in the background.

I need to go to the gym more. This is a constant goal of mine. I want to do more yoga and tai chi as I said above. I need to have more "me" time.

The relaxation technique, I loved. I liked this one better than the first relaxation exercise. This exercise helps me to become more centered. To be more positive. It focused on all the chakras of the body. I absolutely loved it. It made me feel so positive.

My journey.....

I have struggled in life with low self-esteem. Because of that it once affected my marriage. I was not trusting. I had negative thoughts all the time. Negative thoughts were so part of me, that it started to play a hard role on our marriage. With the stress of my husbands school, along with my negative thoughts and reactions, we struggled. My husband tried to talk to me, but at that time my mental state was not clear. I thought that all he was talking to me about was what I was doing wrong. I took everything as an attack. Eventually it pushed my husband from me and he began to want someone else. This was the lowest time in my life. I felt nothing but dispair and loneliness.

Then I started my transformation...... For the first time in my life I fasted. I prayed not for myself, but for my husband. I also prayed for myself to be transformed. I asked God to be my sculpture, because I was his marble. I became so deep in connecting with God, I could hear him talking to me. But it wasn't just me he wanted to transform. I had to bring my husband closer to God. I was his voice to my husband.

The power of prayer is a mysterious and powerful thing. I had to change my negative thoughts, because I was worth it. I had to fight the devil. The harder I fought the devil the hard he tried to fight against me. But I won.

Changing the negative thoughts is the hardest thing to do. But it can be done. Not worrying about things that you can't change is hard. But it can be done. Knowing that you are worth so much and that you are priceless in the heart of God is empowering.

I have to work on my thoughts everyday. But my marriage is saved and is more wonderful now then it has ever been. My health is improved. I know that I am loved.

I was a catepiller and I have transformed into a butterfly.

I took this picture in 2007. I take all of our pictures.

This is Maggie (left) and Max (right). Maggie is a Cocker Spaniel and is about 5 years old. I got her when she was 6 weeks old for my birthday. She actually picked me out of the crowd. Max was found last October around my birthday walking along the road in our neighborhood. He was litterally skin and bones. He was filthy and had the biggest fleas on him I've ever seen. My husband and I stopped and I got out to befriend him and he ran right to me. I knew then he was mine. He was only 4 pounds when we found him. Now he is 6.8 pounds and very happy. Both are very spoiled. I even make their food. Because you never know what factories put in the food. :-)

Relaxation:

I've done this type of thing before. It honestly worked for me. I didn't realize that I was so tense. The funny thing is that I noticed that my very hyper dogs started to relax as well. They are actually asleep right now and they don't sleep until the absolute minute of bedtime. I would like to use this in our clinic for people that are getting acupuncture. This could help the patient to actually focus more on relaxation and recieve higher benfites from the acupuncture.

Hello everyone..

Just an introduction. My name is Tiffany. I am 29 years old. We have two spoiled dogs (and there will be pictures). This is a great outlet. I am open minded, so please be open minded with me. I want to learn new things. I'm a Christian. I have been married to the wonderful man in the picture above for almost 7 years. He's a Chiropractor and I'm very proud of him. I plan to be a Doctor in Naturopathy. I want to help people. I hope to share a lot of information about everything. So please share lots of information with me. I have been transformed within the last couple of years. That is why I chose that heading. If your interested perhaps I can share a little about the transformation. I look foward to getting to know everyone in class. This should be a great experience.