Integral Health for Humanity

Two practices that have been most beneficial to me have been The Loving-Kindness Meditation and the Subtle Mind. I can implement these practices in my personal life to foster mental fitness because of how the subtle mind will help me find peace and calmness when there is chaos all around me. The Loving-Kindness Meditation can help me help others find peace, health, joy and happiness, as well as myself. All of this can help bring a taste of human flourishing into our world.

"If humanity is to evolve to integral health, it is imperative to create a healthcare system that encourages and supports our efforts. We also need a community of trained professionals and like-minded friends who support our efforts. We cannot do this work alone in an unsympathetic culture.” (Dacher 2006 pp147-148).

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

The Hubble Telescope- "The Eye of God"

If all hands that reach could touch...............

Expand your consciousness for a moment, to a universal consciousness in a Loving-Kindness meditation, and you have the ability to have a spiritual union with the universe. As our consciousness expands, so does our reach. Our capacity for empathic listening, seeing, and caring for one another with open heartedness, sensitivity, generosity and emotional intimacy can spread to all of our relationships. You can see others, acknowledge others, hear others and be present with others whether that other person is in the next room or across the globe.

Close your eyes and for a minute, rest into the natural ease of your mind and body, and repeat the following phrases. It is recommended you do this for 10 minutes:

May all individuals gain freedom from suffering.

May all individuals find sustained health, happiness and wholeness.

May I assist all individuals gain freedom from suffering.

May I assist all individuals find sustained health, happiness and wholeness.

What did you discover about yourself? I discovered that it gives me a high that can’t be compared to. I find this meditative practice to give me a sense of unity and euphoria as I gain freedom from suffering and find sustained health, happiness and wholeness, and assist others do the same.

Do an Integral Assessment of yourself at this time in your life. To flourish in this area, you must understand that your development is broken down into four categories:

1. Psychospiritual

2. Biological

3. Interpersonal

4. Worldly

Psychospiritual and biological flourishing involve personal areas of growth and development. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “Become the change you want to see happen in the world.” Psychospiritual flourishing is our most undeveloped part in Western history and it involves mental suffering and premature disease and is the greatest obstacle to human flourishing. When this area is developed, we gain the most for our effort, and is done through meditating.

Biological flourishing includes the anatomical and physiological body, and the mind/body/spiritual body.

Interpersonal influence is how you share your life with others. This is a shift from I, to you, to us, to all of us.

Worldly living is dependent upon a healthy inner life and healthy personal relationships. From mere survival to creative expression, to fulfillment in your life and work to service for others, worldly living is our creation of our world. “Become the change you want to see happen in the world.” - Mahatma Gandhi.

My Integral Assessment is generally pretty lopsided. The way it is today may be different tomorrow, as this assessment is done regularly because it is a dynamic area. Today, my fitness and nutrition (biological) are areas I need to work on as I have been working on my psychospiritual, interpersonal and worldly health quite a bit this past year.

To foster greater wellness in my biological life, I intend to eat better (no more sweets and simple carbs) and get at least 30 minutes, preferably 60 minutes of cardio daily, along with 30-60 minutes of toning and stretching exercises, pilates and yoga. I have begun the meditative practices and along with prayer, begin my day in this way. Whenever I find myself faltering or waning in courage, tenacity, strength, desire or ambition, I go back to my meditative practice and recharge myself.

This is the path to Human Flourishing. And if I reach out my hand and touch you, then I have done my job in spreading the word and opening the path to a better world. Please visit my website at http://NutriTech12.com.

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

The Subtle Mind

This is Part 1 of 2 for this Blog. Please be sure to read about Sensei Charles in my next post.....

Meditation can help lower stress levels, thus help improve the quality of life and health. Previously, I wrote about a "Loving Kindness" meditative exercise and today I am writing about the "Subtle Mind" exercise.

The Loving-Kindness meditation practice gradually diminishes self-centeredness, and opens our heart to others, priming our mind for further development, while the Subtle Mind meditation is a basic daily practice that can progress one to the three levels of the subtle mind, which are:

1) The witnessing mind
2) Calm abiding, and
3) Unity consciousness

The subtle mind evolves over time and gives one a stable mind, less reactivity, greater patience and inner calm. The breath is used to obtain a subtle mind, and is used for two reasons: There is direct relationship between the breath and the mind. A peaceful breathing pattern will lead to a peaceful mind. Still the breath and the mind is stilled. Second, the breath is always with us.

Using the breath, one can learn how to tame and stabilize the mind by developing a witnessing consciousness. As witnessing consciousness replaces grasping and clinging, we progressively experience calm abiding and that eventually evolves into unity consciousness.

As you practice the subtle mind meditation, you will feel such a sense of comfort and peace, that you may not want to come back to the present. This is a technique that I was very happy to learn and one that I will utilize any time, especially in times of stress and anxiety. I feel blessed that I know of this technique because there is a limited culturally learned understanding of our body that is linked to our narrow outer view of our mental and spiritual aspects of our biological body. Most people in the United States are currently in that paradigm.

Science, aka: "traditional medicine," arrives at its understandings by reducing the body to its most physical elements. Traditional medicine has the physical facts of our biology mapped out quite well. But there is a connection of spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness when we stop looking at the body in segments, such as the cardiologist, the gastroenterologist, the gynecologist, or the oncologist would. The profound mystery of life is encoded into our physical nature. (Dacher, E 2006).

Our biology is no longer a problem to be solved but rather a mystery to be lived and explored first-hand. It is in this way that we discover the higher levels of our biology - the mind/body and the spiritual body.

Relax at the Rainbow's End - for your health

Physical well-being involves taking care of the body and that is done through good nutrition, hygiene, and exercise. As a wellness consultant, I have developed a nutrition and exercise program that works well for me to help my body function at optimal level. I watch my simple carbs, eat 5-6 servings of fruits and vegetables daily and always eat a breakfast with protein within one hour of awakening, and I drink ample pure water. I eat very little sugar and I do not use artificial sweeteners. I did smoke for 35 years, but gave that up for good 10 years ago, and I exercise 60-120 minutes per day at least three times per week, and get in at least 30-60 minutes of physical activity other days of the week. I also take quality vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and essential fatty acids. If I had to rate myself on a scale of 1 to 10, my physical well-being would be at around an 8. I still like ice cream and other foods that aren’t good for me, and I love my coffee in the morning, but I don’t think I want to give up everything I enjoy, even if it isn’t healthy for me. I just moderate it and eat healthy 95% of the time.

I have always been in touch with my spiritual side, but my ability to tap into it ebbs and flows at times when I am in a hectic cycle. My goal is to be able to tap into my spiritual side at any time, where ever I am, and no matter what circumstance I am in so that I will be able to reach my goals and handle stressers in the best possible way. On a scale of 1 to 10, my spiritual side is probably at a 7.

Psychologically, I like to look at the world through a set of rose colored glasses and always see the glass as half full, and it frustrates, saddens and bores me when I am around negative people. Negative people drain my energy. My goal is to strengthen my inner resources so that when I am around those who are negative, I am able to persuade them to at least consider letting go of their negative insight and looking at the situation from another angle. On the other hand, I try to be around only those that are like-minded and uplifting. When I was a teenager, almost 40 years ago, I was content to be alone for I knew of no one that thought as I did. I wasn’t lonely, I was self-made. I was accused of being aloof, but my mother saw me for who I was, and said that I was “shy.” On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate myself psychologically around a 7.

One activity or exercise that I have implemented in my life to assist in moving me toward my goal to help make this world a better place is meditation. Letting go of the “chatter” that goes on in the mind, and letting go of worry and the ego is necessary to allow a more calm and peaceful existence in that will allow healing to begin. There are many ways to meditate, but my favorites include listening to a CD of someone with a calm voice taking me through the relaxation steps. Often that calm voice is accompanied by the sound of waves at the beach and other sounds of nature. One of my favorite exercises is the Rainbow Meditation.

If you would like to go to a different level, you know - have "Scotty beam you up," then go ahead and click here to complete the Rainbow Meditation relaxation exercise I am talking about.

It is said that the rainbow is a sign from God of renewed hope. I can tell you, when you go within and draw from your inner resources instead of rely on external sources, you will feel renewed. Go ahead and click here. Below is a condensed transcript of the meditation………

Rainbow Meditation –

Start out by breathing in and out, the relaxation is the best part of breathing. As I take a nice slow deep breath, I imagine that my body is a beam of light, and as light goes through my body, it is a prism and seven colors separate out. There are seven colors in a rainbow, and these are the colors that are generated through my body now.

I now focus on seven different body regions, one for each color of the rainbow. With each body region and with each color, there is a meditative thought.

I am grounded by a red light that emanates from the base of my spine. From this area is a small window and deep rich red comes from this window. This beam of light shoots down past my feet. I feel safe, comfortable and secure in my environment. I can sway in the wind but still feel stable and I am grounded to the earth. As I exhale, I say, “I feel grounded.”

From my lower stomach a bright orange comes out of my body; this symbolizes the feeling of being centered. To feel centered means to feel very confident and self worthy. As I take my next deep breath, I say, “I feel centered.”

Above that from my stomach is an intense bright yellow, which shoots out from in front of me symbolizing the feeling of love from people and from my environment. I think, “I feel loved,” as I take my next deep breath.

As I move my awareness to my upper chest from above my heart, there emerges an emerald green color, which parallels the yellow and orange colors. The heart is symbolic of the ability “to love.” To love means to share any positive feelings with anyone I choose. I think to send a positive thought to say hello and to wish someone good luck. I think that I have the ability to share love, and I think to myself as I breathe deeply, “I choose to love.”

Now I come to my throat area. There is a small circular shaped window that begins to emit a beautiful aqua blue from my throat. A light projects out from here and is parallel with the orange, yellow and green beams of light. This color aqua blue and this region, my throat, represents my ability to feel I have a meaningful purpose in my life, willpower and creativity. As I use my willpower and creativity, I begin to accomplish those things which have meaning in my life. I take a moment to think of a goal, whether it is just for today, or a life goal, and I see this image of aqua blue light and I think that I have the ability to accomplish that goal. As I take a deep breath, I think, “my life has a meaningful purpose.”

My awareness now comes to my forehead, right above my nose, between my eyes. A very rich, deep Indigo blue comes from my forehead. This color and body region of my forehead is symbolic of finding balance within myself. My sense of balance comes from the right and left brain functions being used together, as well as tapping into the conscious and unconscious mind to find balance there as well. My sense of balance also comes from the ability to tap into my body wisdom. I think, “I feel balanced,” as I exhale.

Now, I go to the crown of my head. There is a big circular shaped window. From this window comes the color violet. This beam of light projects off the top of my head, and this color and body region is symbolic of feeling connected to a bigger part of the universe. I think how good I feel inside when I feel connected with friends and family, with nature, and with the universe. I am not alone, and I am very much at peace. As I exhale, I say, “I feel connected.”

These seven colors of the rainbow separate out when light hits a prism. Now, I bring these colors all together and I am now surrounded by a brilliant white light. As my body becomes surrounded by this white light, I think how calm and relaxed my body is. I take one more deep breath, and I think, “my body is calm and relaxed.”

This is locked into my memory banks and when I am stressed or nervous, I can bring this back into my life. This restores me and calms me. I don’t feel tired or sleepy or fatigue. I feel energized. I have found the proverbial pot of gold at the rainbow’s end……..