Running in the woods

Hello everyone,  Just wanted to share with you all that I did a 5K race last night through the woods on a trail. They do this race every year and it is a bit challenging with hills, roots and rocks.  I love this race. I ran it without my ipod because there is nothing more peaceful than listening to your own breath, everyones feet crunching on leaves and rocks, listening to the birds and the breeze in the trees and feeling the sun peak through the branches on the trees on you shoulders.  I finished in 22:35 min and it felt great!  There is nothing like being in the outdoors doing something that you love to do.

One of these days I am going to figure out how to get some pictures off my daughters camera and post them up on my blog.

Cheryl

UNIT 4 Discussion

Hello everyone,  I  have listened to this a couple of times now on the CD. Once in my car just to hear what it was about and then again while actually practicing it.  I found it to be a little difficult to follow.  When she says to actually take in pain and suffering of a loved one and put it into your heart, it is hard to actually do this.  I found it a bit difficult to follow without things of a hundred things. When there was long pause and the sounds of the ocean were playing my mind was wondering.  I tried to bring it back to the image of a loved ones suffering stay focused but it at times was hard to do that.  I did pick up the fact that the sounds of the ocean were the same piece played over and over. I kept hearing a faint brief stop and then the same sounds played over again it found it to be just a bit distracting.  I like the flutes a lot and I feel a sense of peace when listening to them.  I liked this meditation but, I think it is going to take a bit more practice for me to stay focused on it.

I think that mental workout is like any other workout such as in the physical body. We work out to improve our bodies on the outside to stay at a healthy weight, to gain muscle and endurance.  When we workout on our minds, we gain a sense of inner peace and health.  We rid all of the negative emotions that make us unhappy and unhealthy such as, anger, jealousy, resentment, fear, hatred confusion and doubt.  When training our minds we can then can benefit and learn to gain positive emotions such as, happiness, content, openness, acceptance and kindness.  It also, has a positive effect on memory, perception and attention.  Just like the body if it is not trained it will become weak and fatigued no longer able to function developing diseases such as physical diseases like cancer and mental diseases like depression.  I believe to implement mental work outs is to practice meditations or even just a mental break. Much like we take a vacation from the physical world of work, family and other stressors, we need to take a mental break. To go to a quiet mental place with not noise and practice a meditation that works for that person or me, rid of all the negative feelings and emotions to make the mind stronger.

I am experimenting with different sounds and meditation techniques that works best for me and I would tell my clients the same thing. Not all of them will work for everyone and they have to try out each one much like trying out a new pair of shoes or an exercise routine.  I went out and bought a cd that play meditation flutes and I listen to that in my car.  I am particularly drawn to these flutes or Indian music.  I am just a small part of Canadian Indian and perhaps this is where it comes from. I find it very calming and soothing. 

Tuesday reflection on seminar

Hello everyone,  I wanted to comment on class because as you all know I am unable to attend so the first thing I do on Tuesday mornings is listen to class. What a great great class and it actually brought some tears to my eyes. What a wonder reading professor. All of you have overcome some things in your life and it has made you stronger.  I often stuggle with a bit of confidence when it comes to following my dreams.  I have huge dreams and what I want to do in life but, when I am faced with it sometimes I back off.  I have a hard time with change sometimes and although I do make those changes it can take a while.  I have been divorced for the past 6 years now and my kids are grown, I lost my full time job because of bad economy. But, I looked at that as an oppurtunity to a new beginning to start a career doing what I love to do and that is helping people to become healthy.  But, I am often afraid of the unknown and what lies ahead of me.  I know that I must have the courage to move forward and I like to have my own personal quotes that I tell myself often to keep me motivated.  I know that there is something more for me out there!  I wish I could have participated in that class but at least I got to go back and review it.  Thank you for sharing all of your thoughts.

The biggest obstacles to our progress exist within our own lives in the form of cowardice and the tendency to give up. Breaking through these barriers will unleash a surging wave of change.
http://www.ikedaquotes.org/courage.html

Monday quote!

Hi everyone, Just wanted to post my inspirational quote for the day!  Trying to stay postive and happy.

"Even if you have a kind heart, great ideas, or wonderful aspirations, without the courage to translate them into action, you’ll be no different from someone who doesn’t have any such things at all."

 http://www.ikedaquotes.org/courage.html

TGIF!

Hello everyone,  I am looking for a bit of advice.  I am thinking about becoming a certified as a personal trainer and wanted to know if anyone is certified.  How is the process? I dont know anyone personally who is already certified so I was looking for a bit of advice. 

Thanks!

Cheryl

UNIT 3 QUESTIONS

1.       In rating my well being a few years ago it would be quite different from what it is today.  As I am learning more and more about what it means to be healthy I have achieved a lot.  I rate my reflections of health as follows.  My physical well being I would rate at a 9.  I have been a dedicated runner for the past few years and have been exercising incorporating biking, hiking and other activities for the past 10 years.  I also enjoy doing yoga and tai chi these keep my body healthy and strong and also eat a vegan diet.  My spiritual well being is a 6.  I am achieving the emotional wellness that I know is necessary to being healthy. I am practicing on being content with who I am as a person and learning to continue to grow with positive actions. Finally, I rate my psychological well being as a 7.  I am learning how to achieve my personal growth and all around being healthy as a whole.  I practice quietness and stillness on regular bases to clear my mind and thoughts as well as learning to meditate to find my inner peace and wholeness.  

2.       My goal for my physical health is to continue to move forward and learning new techniques to challenge my body as it gets older.  I want to accomplish a full marathon in the near future as a goal.  Another goal is to develop a personal confidence to help me achieve my future goals.  Being around negative people all the time can sometimes bring you down as well. I want to rid of the negative people in my life to let me experience a healthy emotional state.  Finally my goal to achieving a better psychological wellness is to practice my inner well being by meditating more and to explore what methods work best for me to clear my mind of all the chatter.  I want to be able to meditate without my mind wondering.

3.       Some of the activities that I can do to achieve these goals are as follows. To achieve my physical goal, I can engage in different activities that will challenge me in the gym.  To talk to people who have done marathons and train to prepare for this goal.  Then, for my spiritual goal, I need to not participate in any negative attitudes from the people around me and possibly keep them out of my life.  I want to embrace the positive people and energy around me to help me build my confidence on the achievements I want to accomplish. Finally, I can participate in meditation activities either on my own or find a group in my area that does this.  I think that it will  help to be around people who have these experiences and can help me with any difficulty.

4.       My experience with this exercise was positive. I like using the image of the rainbow to try and keep my mind focused on the present.  My mind is always wondering all the time.  It can be difficult for me to practice meditations and I often get frustrated with it.  My mind did wonder while doing this practice but, I kept going back to focusing on what he was saying. At one point I started it felt like I was dosing off until my cat made a noise and I jumped a mile.  I did like this experience and I will try and practice this each day to hopefully achieve a complete focus and inner concentration. 

UNIT 2

Hello everyone,  I want to share my experience with the relaxation exercises on the CD.  I wanted to just listen to them at first to see what they were all about.  I have done some relaxation exercises in the past but, I am not to faithful with it. I have been doing yoga and some tai chi in a class setting for the past couple years which has been life changing for me.  So, I listened to this cd in my car and it was very nice and quiet.  No radio just listening to the ocean and her voice on the cd.  I have done the breathing exercises and like that one a lot.  I always keep a very quiet house so I do get quietness and stillness on a regular basis.  I do find that because my mind is always going a hundred miles an hour all the time, it is hard to keep the mind chatter out of my head. My mind drifts to all sorts of things and sometimes I get fustrated with it by I do keep practicing it.  I hope to find that place of complete quietness.

Cheryl

Happy Monday!

Hello everyone. I found a great web site with nice quote.  I like to read these from time to time, they are a uplifter and they remind us that life is a wonderful things.  Here is another quote for Monday!

Buddhism teaches that nothing happens by chance. Everything has meaning. Please be convinced that your inner life is already endowed with everything you need. No matter how difficult your situation may be, you are alive now, and there is no treasure more precious than life itself. http://www.ikedaquotes.org/life-potential.html

Happy Friday

Where is happiness to be found? How can we become happy? Happiness is not a question of how you look to others. Rather it is a matter of what you yourself feel inside; it is a deep answering response in your life.

http://www.ikedaquotes.org/happiness.html

 

 

Thursday sunshine

Hello everyone,  I am trying to stay familiar with the whole blogging thing and figure I would post something new each day or at least try to.  I would love to hear any of your comments or ideas that anyone has in regards to wellness or this class.  I am find that the book Consciousness and healing a difficult to follow.  This units reading was a bit confusing.  Does anyone else agree? 

It is a great sunny day here in RI.  Not a cloud in the sky and about to take my dog for a walk along the sea wall across the street.  Have a great to everyone.

Tuesday rain

Hello  class.  Because I can not make it to the seminars because of my work schedule, I will do my best to follow along and answer questions here on the blog.  Last night professor asked a few personal questions about each of us.  So here it goes,  I live in Rhode Island on an island called aquidneck island (say that fast 3 times).  There are beautiful beaches, farms and old towns here.  I am a 40 yr old divorce mother who is changing career from the boring desk job to something that I have a passion for and that is health and wellness.  I have a 24 year boy who just moved back from San Diego he was stationed at Marimar in the Marines.  My daughter just turned 21 last week and we spend the day in NY city to celibrate. I also have 2 dogs that we rescued and 2 cats, one turtle and a frog.  Right now I work as a manger at a pizza place and recently lost my day job due to bad economy.  I am due to graduate in the fall of this year. I have been as far as San Diego clear across the country but have also been to Canada, the caribean and other states. I would love to visit Japan someday.

Final thought, I ran a 10 miler this morning with a good friend on the bike path here that runs along the water and through the woods.  I started to down pour and it was completely exhilerating.  No sounds but, the rain on the trees, birds chirping, breeze blowing and the sounds of our feet on the pavement.  I felt like a kids playing in the rain.  I told my friend, "Now this is therapy". 

Have a great day to everyone!

Monday!

Hello everyone,  I am starting to get the hang of this blog thing.  There are a lot of neat features that you can do with this.  I am off to work now.  Sorry I am going to miss everyone tonight!  Have a great class.

5k race

Hello everyone,

I had a 5k road race today and it turned out to not by my best but, I cant win them all.  It started by it down pouring and I was running late so I had to part a mile away. Then I get to the sign in station and they lost my bib number so they had to give me a new one, then the line for the bathroo was another mile long and by the time I got to the starting line I had about 30 seconds to prepare myself.  lol There were 1200 fellow runners at the annual Gaspee Day Road race.   I finished in 24.35 minutes a slow race for my average of 23.00. but, at least I was out there and I made the best of the little obsticles that came my way.  I feel great!

Everyone have a great day!

first time blogger

I have just started my new blog for class.  I am looking forward to sharing all of my thoughts, news and experiences with my classmates.  Also, get advice and ask questions.