Practicing the "Subtle Mind" exercise

1. Compare and contrast the Loving Kindness exercise and the Subtle mind exercise. Explain your experience including the benefits, frustrations etc.

Similar to the “loving kindness” guided audio clip I was assigned to listen to in last week’s class, the “subtle mind” exercise given in this unit also drifted me off to sleep.  I began the exercise by employing Dacher's instructions in advance by consciously took ten deep breaths in and out before playing the audio. As I played the audio and it guided me through the same breathing pattern I had just practiced, I felt confident that staying aware of my breath would be beneficial to the success of the assignment.  However, when the sounds of the waves kicked in I knew I was in for trouble. As mentioned in my last blog, the sound of the ocean is something I have inadvertently trained my mind to associate with sleep. For fear of falling asleep, I forced myself to stay focused on my breathing. The female voice coming in and out of the audio with contemplative questions such as “what happens when I lose interest in and let go of mental movements?” was quit distracting. Whenever the voice asked a question my mind would become startled and instantly start search for the answers which would break my concentration on the breath. I found the speaking voice to be abrupt and incredibly off-putting. Wanting this activity to be successful, yet realizing it had built a mental struggle in me as I was trying to simultaneously stay awake, follow my breath and ignoring the voice that jutted in and out expectantly, I finally surrender to just doing my best. Unfortunately, my best ended with me waking up after hearing the voice tell me to come back into the room. It is hard to no experience feeling of frustration around this particular exercise as I am not sure if I received it true benefits.

2. Discuss the connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. Explain how the connection is manifested in your personal life.

The connection of the mind, body and spirit is a system in which health can either flourish or fail in any three of the categories. Dacher explains this system as being one that “shifts from outer to inner to innermost” (Dacher, 2006). For example, if some spirit is trouble by the death of a loved one, it will cause mental stress which can manifest as erratic sleeping patterns, poor diet, stomach problems, anxiety, and/or depression. Although the loss has seemingly only affected the person’s spirit, the effect of the spiritual system being disturbed can result in a physiological and psychological break down. Treatment of this particular patient would need to be holistic so that all three dimensions of the person are addressed for the success of true health and wellness. 

As most people, when I experience an unbalance in my spirit, mind or body it tends to affect all that I do. When I take the time to mindfully connect with my innermost self, I find the answers to questions I have been struggling with that address both my physical and mental health. For instance, recently when I worked on a high profile event staring Deepak Chopra, I experienced an intense amount of mental anxiety while think of the many “what if” scenarios in an effort to make things work out just perfect. Physically what manifest from these worries were headaches that only subsided after some deep breathing exercises. However, the moment I began contemplating the worse, my headaches would reappear as if they had been looming in the background waiting for me to take the same pattern that brought them on in the first place. These headaches continued until the day of the event. Coincidentally the headaches subsided during Dr. Chopra’s lecture about being in the moment because thoughts of future will either lead to worries or expectations took my headaches away.  Once my headaches stopped, I could not help wonder how I can avoid disturbing my spirit so that it does not affect my mind and body adversely.