Unit 6 Loving Kindness and Integral Assessment Exercise

For this unit, we were to complete the universal loving kindness meditation exercise and the integral assessment exercise. The universal loving kindness meditation exercise was something similar to one that I have completed or tried to complete in the past. Previously, I was unable to get the right feeling for the exercise. In this attempt, I was able to do the exercise with no problem.  The only difficulty I had with this exercise was remembering what I was to say. Once I got over this difficulty, I had no problems with this exercise. I think the difference between the two attempts was with the wording and not the actual exercises. In the beginning of this exercise, my mind was wandering all over the place. It wasn’t until I started repeating the phrases that I was able to focus on the task at hand. When I began to focus on other individuals, I began to feel a warmness come over my body. It made me feel caring thoughts about people in places that I didn’t even know. I had a helping and compassionate feeling come over me and this lasted for the rest of the day.

With the second exercise – the integral assessment – I identified several areas that I needed to work on. One area that I needed to focus on was my interpersonal area. The conflict I have in this area revolves around some of my co-workers. My conflict in this area has to deal with trying to help people that don’t want my help. For me, I am looking at the future, but they are looking at the present. Through the assessment, I learned that I no longer have anger towards these individuals, but rather a sense of sorrow.  With a sense of sorrow, I think I can be able to help these individuals more with out the aspect of anger towards them.

Another area that I identified through my assessment was my psychospiritual area. In this area, I have realized that I have never developed an oneness with myself. My mind and body have always been two separate sectors. Although I go through the motions of being a very spiritual person, I haven’t felt it within my body as I once did. Without feeling this, my spirituality means nothing to me when in fact it really does.

I think by concentrating on developing these two areas of my life, I will begin to develop wholeness within my mind and body. Although these areas are different, they actually are inter-related. If I develop psychospiritual flourishing, my interpersonal relationships will flourish. If my interpersonal relationships are mended, I will be able to develop my psychospiritual area, as well. To start to repair these areas, I will begin to work on my mind-body-spirit connections with various exercises that I have learned in class. I plan to use yoga and meditation to develop these areas. The reason I chose these two was because they were very portable exercises for me. I can do them in my hotel room at any hour of the day or night. I can also meditate in various areas (like airports) by blocking out the chatter. By the use of yoga and meditation, I can start to develop my psychospiritual area of my life. For me, this seems the most critical area at this time. Once I begin to develop this area, the interpersonal area of my life should start to resolve.

This has been an eye opening unit for me. I normally just read the exercises and do them, but with this one, I really got to assess the problem areas in my life. I would suggest to anyone to try these if they have never done them. I would also suggest that if you have done them in the past that you should take some time and do them again.