Spiritual Health for Holistic Health
Posted by admin in Holistic Health on November 10, 2011
The key to holistic health is to start with spiritual health. There are no short-cuts to this. Often, the tendency is to see only our physical fitness needs, not realizing that overall fitness starts with the spirit. Begin with spiritual health for holistic health.
What is spiritual health?
Spiritual health is when your spirit dominates soul and body. Think of the spirit, soul, and body as being in a constant tug-of-war. The soul is in the middle waiting to be pulled either by the spirit or the flesh (or body)–whichever is stronger. The soul (mind and awareness) is always neutral.
If the body (or flesh) is stronger than the spirit, we are dictated by the cravings or desires of our fleshly or carnal inclinations. What the flesh wants, it gets. The soul just obeys the flesh. You begin to have a mindset that supports whatever the body wants and often compromises what it knows to be truth. The spirit, being outnumbered (two against one), easily succumbs and goes with the flow. Thus, the flesh leads, the soul obeys, and the spirit is merely carried along.
For instance, if our body doesn’t feel like working out, the mind will just agree, even if it knows the need for exercise. The spirit will just be pulled along by the flesh and soul. Often, in this case, it is dead. If the body craves for fatty food–and the spirit is weak (or dead) to oppose it–the mind will just obey the flesh and think of ways how to feed the craving, though it knows the disadvantages of fats.
Spiritual health is when the spirit has power to command the mind and discipline the body. The spirit feeds and controls the mind, directing its value system, preferences, and propensities (mindset). Together, they discipline and even command the body accordingly, and the body obeys no matter what. Thus, great athletes are able to reach their full potentials when their spirits, through rigid training, see the possibilities of great feats being achieved. Read the rest of this entry »
Meditation and City Living: How Meditation Can Relieve Stress
Posted by admin in Meditation on November 10, 2011
Stress is a word we commonly hear in today’s society. It seems that almost everyone is stressed. You may have also heard about the benefits of meditation for stress reduction and long-term health. But what exactly is stress? What is meditation? How can meditation relieve stress?
Stress is anything that throws your body out of balance. The causes can vary greatly and can be anything from environmental toxins to famine to running from something that is chasing you to relationships, divorce, a demanding boss or even public speaking. The effects of stress are cumulative and if ignored, over time, can lead to health problems.
The body responds to stress by increasing the production of hormones, increasing blood pressure and muscle tension among many other things. The only way to undo this is to relax. So how do we relax? One way is through meditation. It can reverse your stress response.
To relax, the mind needs to focus on something repetitive such as sound, breath or movement. There must be an attempt or conscious effort to let go of other thoughts. This is where meditation comes in. It is one very effective way to quiet the mind and take full conscious breaths. With repetition and a constant redirecting of the mind away from intrusive thoughts we can begin to relax and completely change our energy. Not only is breath awareness a meditative practice in itself but once focus is put on the breath, breathing begins to slow and the other involuntary functions also change. Blood pressure lowers, heart rate slows, and stress hormones are reduced. Breath is the only involuntary function of the body that we can control. One we learn to lengthen the breath and breathe consciously, the other functions follow. Read the rest of this entry »
Effective Case Management
Posted by admin in Case Management on November 8, 2011
As much as 50% of hospital emergency department visits may be due to untreated illnesses or situations for patients with multiple, complex, “co-occurring” conditions such as someone who is an addict, mentally ill and homeless. Case management has emerged to guide the development and management of comprehensive, integrated treatment plans that significantly reduce these demands on emergency departments. However, there are not yet standards or training classes offered to enable hospitals and social service agencies to develop great case managers so each healthcare organization has to reinvent case management.
Fortunately, recent scientific breakthroughs about human behavior and the importance of modeling best practices after star case managers are changing this scenario for hospitals and social service organizations big and small. Instead of implementing new case management programs only to find very few organizations adopt the desired behavior, hospitals and social service organizations can leverage their best case managers to drive the development of critical attitudinal and behavior development in new personnel. Using this approach, patients get better treatment while hospitals reduce their costs. Read the rest of this entry »