Today I performed the relaxation practices that were required for class this week in my dining room while sitting in a chair. After reading Chapter 6 of Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing, I listened the tracks 1 and 2 of The Path to Human Flourishing CD and completed the Loving Kindness exercise.
Upon completion of the exercise, I felt completely exhausted as though the exercise took every part of me to complete. I felt like a needed a cat nap just to recoup. Overall, I found the experience did relax me…go figure! But that was just in the beginning of the CD.
In the beginning I felt my body growing limp and my head rolling…I had to open my eyes to make sure I was still in my dining room.…lol, But after about 7 minutes or so, I felt my Adult ADD kicking in and could not focus or concentrate on the woman that was instructing the exercise. At one point I heard myself say huh? out loud...i needed her to repeat and break down exactly what she wanted me to do because I was thoroughly confused!
I would recommend this exercise to others but will advise that it takes patience in order to get the best results. It’s a great relation exercise because you couldn’t tell me that I was not on a desert island with just me and my thoughts…..o the memories….maybe I’ll do it again when the kids stress me out….lol
After reflecting on my experience with this Loving Kindness Exercise I realize that it was truly a mental workout, it exercised my mind and allowed me to practice and reinforce mental concepts such as relaxation and happiness. Research indicates that there are proven benefits of a mental workout. Some of those benefits of regular mental workouts are: boosted reasoning skills, increased mental processing and increased memory speed (Fleming, 2011) . In an effort to foster my psychological health, I can increase the amount of “brain games” that I play such as Sudoku, puzzles, and word games.
We'll see....
-OLP
Reference:
Fleming, V. (2011, January 06). Mental Workout Benefits Validated. Retrieved January 06, 2011, from http://memphisdailynews.com: http://memphisdailynews.com/editorial/Article.aspx?id=55354
Mikel,
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to go into detail but I felt the same way. I guess we need practice letting go of reality and just relax. If you have an IPhone try Bejeweled, I'm hooked on that game...
Mikel,
ReplyDeleteBesides finding the exercise relaxing did you feel more positive and loving toward others after the exercise? I have done this exercise a few times now and I think focusing on "radiating" love in the first part, then absorbing it like a light when I was to turn it back inward helped me. I am still having trouble with the last part though. We just need to practice!
Hi Mikel,
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean it is hard to try shut everything out to focus on our inner self. Those voices in my head won't shut up long enough for me to focus on anything! lol. It is something that takes discipline just like anything else worth the effort, it's just a matter of setting some time aside and not give up. Like I say about anything that should be done consistently, some is better than none.
I guess that's why it takes years for those Zen type people to reach that peaceful level, I imagine they started like us but had enough dedication to keep going.
I guess we will just do our little bit and hope for the best.
When I went into this whole exercise I was ready to get mentally challenged! But as you said about getting tired. Wow I was almost asleep because her breaks were so long and you could hear the waves crashing. Afterward, I then tried to do some discussion questions for another class and was thoroughly frustrated because all my mind wanted to do is sleep. Oh well it is nice to hear that I was not the only one. lol :D
ReplyDelete