http://ann-cooper.blogspot.com Unit 3 post

Hello Everyone,
Before I get into my responses for this week post I would just like to wish everyone a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  Hope that everyone had a joyful and relaxing holiday. 
Also I would like to thank God for allowing me the ability to find the time daily for incorporating physical exercise into my daily schedule.  Before now, I always had excuses for not making this time for myself and now I see what I have been missing.  My first week of going to the gym 6 days I lost 1/2 a pound.  I know that is not a lot but I was very pleased and mentally and physically I feel so much better off.  Thank God for the eye opening that I had to do this for myself.
Based on my reflections I rate my spiritual well being a 7, psychological well being a 5, and physical well being a 7.  This is much higher than I would have ranked it 2 weeks ago.
Spiritually with a 7 I would like to continue with my growth in the Lord and start trusting him more with my life.  I know that when I am able to do this that I will see the benefits that have been there for me all along if I just believed, trusted, and followed his guidance. 
Psychologically with a 5 I intend to take more time for the relaxation exercises, pilates, and possibly yoga so that I can experience the calming of the mind that comes from all of these activities.  I still have a constant battle with myself everyday to go to the gym and not feel guilty for taking the time away from other areas of my life.  This has been a battle for me to allow this time to take care of myself and know that I am worth it.  I am still trying to get over the eating out of boredom, frustration, depression, and all the time so pray for me while I continue on my journey towards a healthier well being.
Physically at a 7 I want to continue going to the gym 6 days a week so that I can see the results.  This includes not having to worry about illness, disease, and other conditions due to the abdominal fat that I have been carrying around for the longest time that leads to depression, CAD, diabetes, high blood pressure, and other conditions.  I am going to start adding weight training into my schedule of physical exercise once a week so think of me as this is not something that I look forward to but I know the benefits will be worth it. 
The relaxation exercise Crime of the Century was a wonderful experience for me. 
Some of the benefits included:
Focusing on my breathing, phrases that were encouraging to hear, the music and voice of the speaker were very calming and relaxing, and I felt calm and relaxed following the exercise.
I only had one frustrating thing for me with this exercise unless you count the fact that it ended to soon:
The visualizations of the colors was very difficult for me.  I am a very concrete person so I had a hard time trying to visualize the colors and the beams of light that they put out. 
May God bless each and everyone and let each of us experience a healthier and happier new year.

http://ann-cooper.blogspot.com. Unit 2 post

Hello Everyone,
I really enjoyed the Journey on Relaxation exercise as today was a very stressful day for me.  It is my brothers birthday and tomorrow is my moms and they both live in Indiana and I am here in NM for work and do not get to be with them to celebrate. 
The voice on the relaxation exercise was very calming and I really liked the design on the page.  I found myself getting lost in it.  When it came to the part on trying to lift your arms I found that my hands started tingling when I raised them.  I also found it very interesting that we have the control over our blood flow to redirect it to others parts simply by verbalizing and thinking about the flow of the blood. 
Myself, I love anytime that I am able to take a few minutes and relax.  The good thing about this exercise is that it can be practiced anywhere and at anytime.  This is something that is easy to teach to others who may be dealing with stress, anxiety, or even tense  muscles.  I look forward to more ideas of relaxation techniques and being able to apply them to my personal and professional life.
Hope everyone has a great week and god luck on the quiz.  Go Vikings!!!

Unit 1

Hello Everyone,
My name is Ann Cooper and I look forward to blogging with each of you.  I have had a little experience with blogging in another class and I loved it.  It was nice to be able to post what you were feeling for the week and any experiences that you had on your blog and receive responses from others in the class.  I also felt like it made the class more personal for everyone.  Good luck with your blogs and I look forward to hearing from everyone soon.