Meeting Aesclepius Exercise

The "Meeting Aesclepius" exercise is actually very similar to a meditation that I already do on a biweekly basis. I have a person that I visualize, and I merge myself with that person. Whenever I do this, I feel like there is another presence in the room with me. It does not feel like I am simply imagining it all, there is another element to it. I feel a tingling on my skin, and after the process is complete, I feel refreshed. Since I have been doing this particular exercise, which has been for several months, I have noticed physical and emotional ailments leaving me after the merging meditation

As for the other mediations, I will admit that this week I fell far short of what I should be doing. I did manage to meditate a few times, but two of those times I was so exhausted that I fell asleep. I do want to stick with this, because I have noticed improvements. Right now it's just a particular challenge because time to do it seems very hard to find.

To me, the phrase "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" means that to be able to help others, one must have firsthand experience with at least the technique being used if not the illness itself. I think that experiencing the technique helps the practicioner to have a stronger sense of its effectiveness, to have more "faith" if you will, in how well it works. It also gives the patient a greater sense of faith in the practicioner, because it fosters a sense of affinity betweent the two. It is like the practicioner is saying "I know, I've been there. But I got better and you can, too." I do feel that there is a certain level of obligation to develop ourselves while practicing healing for others. Someone who does not "practice what they preach" comes off as a hypocrite and untrustworthy. Developing ourselves also gives us the firsthand experience that allows us to better help others. Exploring different ideas and techniques in our own lives helps us to know what works for us and will gives us further modes of healing for our clients.

Loving Kindness Meditation and Integral Assessment

For this week, we had to do both a loving kindness mediation and an Integral assessment of where we're at and where we're headed.

The loving kindness meditation had different results on me than I expected. I didn't get a lot out of the meditation itself... I didn't really feel that it expanded my sense of loving kindness. However, I did find that repeating the phrases did occupy the part of my mind that normally wanders during meditation. I think that this could be an important avenue for further exploration, such as looking into mantras. Quieting my mind is often the most difficult part for me, because I try to use meditation to access deeper and/or alternate sources of information than my conscious mind. The problem is that there is often a high amount of mental noise that goes along with the signals that I'm trying to tune into. I think using a mantra may be a way to filter out that noise until the signal starts to come in clear.

As for the Integral assessment, the area that is causing me some distress is the worldly one. What I felt was that I am not currently contributing much outside of my small circle. I used to do more artistic endeavors, such as writing, painting, etc. By doing those things, I helped contribute (in an admittedly small way) to culture. By not putting effort into those activities, I have created a deficiency in the worldly aspect of my life, and it makes me sad to not be in touch with that part of myself anymore. The area that is ready for improvement is the psychospiritual. I have been developing something resembling a personal cosmology based on my spiritual experiences that has been supportive for me. However, I struggle with finding ways to incorporate this into my daily life. This class has emphasized how important and transformative daily practice is, and I think that this area of my life is ready for expansion. I think that daily practice will be easier if I focus on a few exercises, such as maybe a rotation of a few different types of meditation. I think that it will be easier to stick with it if I didn't get so frustrated, which is a common problem in both my creative attempts as well as my spiritual practices. The use of a mantra could help me to become less frustrated because it would reduce that signal to noise ratio.

Subtle Mind Exercise

This week our assignment was to do a subtle mind exercise. The point of this exercise is to achieve higher states of consciousness, namely the witnessing mind and eventually, with practice, the unity consciousness mind. This exercise was more about clearing the mind of extraneous thoughts (or in other words, allowing the thoughts to come and go without focusing on them), whereas the Loving Kindness practice was more visualization based. The subtle mind exercise would also be easy to extend by trying to hold the level of consciousness reached for longer and longer periods of time.

This exercise was more difficult for me than the Loving Kindness exercise. I often have a hard time quieting my mind, so this was a challenge. I also have a tendency to not get a lot of sleep, so it's easy to get so relaxed with this exercise that I start to nod off. I do notice a difference in my thought patterns, though. So far, it has at least made me more aware of my processes. That lets me start to pull back when I'm reacting to my own processes instead of acting with intention.

Spiritual wellness is tied to mental and physical wellness, because they are all part of a unified whole. I have been able to overcome and heal physical ailments in my body through the use of intention and spiritual practice. I was told that I would have to be on medication for my heart for the rest of my life, but instead I started taking my spiritual practices more seriously. When I did that, the heart problems left. When I'm feeling depressed, I also feel physically and spiritually unwell, but when I feel especially physically well, such as after extended exercise, I feel mentally clear and spiritually energized.

Loving Kindness Exercise

In this unit, we had to do an exercise designed to increase our capacity for loving kindness. This exercise came pretty easily to me because it's similar in idea to things that I practiced as a Buddhist and similar in execution to some guided meditations that I've done. I did notice a difference after doing it, as well. I felt like I was both more open to other people and also more understanding of them. In other words, I felt more compassionate. I also tried to turn my focus of loving kindness on myself, to show myself the same kind of compassion that I strive to show other people. I wouldn't say that I had any profound changes with this exercise, but I do think that it was effective. For that reason, I would recommend it to others, especially those who seem defensive or closed off from others, or couples who are having difficulties understanding each other.

A mental workout is a practice that is done repeatedly and consistently. The idea is to train or retrain the mental processes to be more in line with the practice's goal. Research is showing that those who practice metnal exercises have increased activity in the left prefrontal cortex, which is indicating higher levels of positive emotions (Dacher, 2006). The key to implementing mental exercises is consistent practice. Choosing a practice (or set of practices) and consistently doing them daily will increase mental health.

Reference:

Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral Health. Basic Health Publications, Inc. Laguna Beach, CA.