Choose a mind-body discipline that you have never done before (this may be Biofeedback, Hypnosis, Yoga, Meditation, Hemi-sync., etc.). you will practice this discipline first hand and blog about your experiences with it. There are a lot of things that are freely available on the internet (e.g., via youtube) and and other classes available in Carrollton (if you are local). Another thing to think about is to do a walking meditation (take a walk on the greenbelt or ), or a labyrinth meditation (we have a labyrinth at the Nursing school on campus!) or do some mindful coloring (there are many adult coloring books available both online and in bookshops).
Set up a blogThere should be 4 components to your blog. Make sure you label each subsection. You can write the different components at different times, as blog entries. The final submission should include a link to your blog site AND a word version of the content of your blog (copy and paste the words and save as a word document). Upload both the link and the word document into the assignment folder.
The first part should explore the reasons you chose the particular discipline, a good definition of the discipline and its claims in terms of the mind-body relationship. You can write from a personal perspective (i.e., use “I”). This should be 1-2 paragraphs in length.
Reflect on the nature of the experience; i.e., what your experience is like for you when you practiced your chosen mind-body practice. When you engaged in the practice, did you experience a different state of consciousness to your usual waking state? What about your sense of self in relation to your body? Did you find it easy to stick to the practice? Was it generally pleasant or unpleasant? Did you find that you were able to relax and follow instructions or become easily involved in the practice? This should be 1-2 paragraphs in length
Reflect on the impact of your experience with the mind-body practice. This might include reflections on how you felt following the practice, whether you noticed any impact of doing this practice in terms of your social relationships, whether there was any impact on your emotions and your mood, or your thoughts or ability to control your thoughts or feelings, your sleep, or other aspects of your life (e.g., your spirituality). This should be 1-2 paragraphs in length
Explore how prior research and theory fits with your observations. For this part, you will need to find at least 4 primary source materials to include. These should be articles that discuss or propose theories or which describe the results of a research study relevant to your own experiences with your chosen mind-body The sources should NOT be internet sources/blogs/Wikipedia or opinion pieces, but rather peer-reviewed articles that you locate by using library searching resources – for example, Psychiinfo or ProQuest Psychology in Galileo (see links to library searching resources in the resources folder). You should apply theory and research findings to your own observations. For example, if you noticed that yoga had a positive impact on your social relationships, you should do a search for articles that previously explored yoga and relationships or yoga and empathy or yoga and communication style (as some examples). If you noticed that yoga helped to reduce pain, you should search for articles that have previously explored yoga and pain. Etc. You should also think more about how the theories we have been exploring in class might apply to your observations. For example, did the mind-body practice help to make you think more positively, thus putting your mind-body system into a less stressful place and thus facilitating rather than hindering immune responses and promoting healing (e.g., after Candace Pert). This should be 1-2 paragraphs in length
The blog should be presented in clearly written and well-organized and illustrated with images, photographs (e.g., of you engaging in the mind-body practice) and some links, where possible (NB. Higher grades will be awarded for creativity in your blog). ALL of your sources should be clearly cited, ideally in APA style.
