Developing a personal integral life practice

PRIME – March 2015 By Victor Acquista, MD Author Pathways to Health: An Integral Guidebook Readers of this column should no doubt recognize that I am a student of Integral Theory, which provides a lens through which to understand the world around us and how we relate to it. Because I view health in a way that encompasses our perspectives and relationships with the world, it is difficult for me to discuss health and well-being without discussing the Integral framework. In this column, I would like to explore with you Integral Life Practice. What is an Integral Life Practice? In the words of Ken Wilber, one of the founders of the Integral movement, “Integral Life Practice is a new approach to well-being, awareness, and transformation.” The major areas of an Integral Life Practice (ILP) are to work on fitness at four particular areas – body, mind, spirit, and shadow. The fundamental idea behind ILP is that simultaneous efforts in all of these four areas of health act to cross train and enhance our well-being in ways that singular efforts cannot. Let’s look at each of these areas separately while at the same time recognizing that all operate simultaneously in each of us in unique and individual ways. Body This is relatively straightforward. Your body is the vehicle carrying your self. All the physical aspects of health fall under this category. Proper nutrition, taking good care of your body with regular exercise and good sleep habits, personal hygiene and so on are ways we attend to the body. Of course, avoiding unhealthy foods, beverages, tobacco, etc. are also important aspects to caring for our physical selves. Usually, our body is pretty good at letting us know when we are not doing a very good job at self-care. We might have aches, pains, feel tired, or fatigue easily and question whether our physical self is getting the care and nurturing it needs. Part of an Integral Life Practice includes regular exercise, attention to proper weight, nutrition, and rest. Mind If we think of our body as a vehicle, we can imagine our mind as the pilot and navigator. In many respects our mind is complex with emotional, rational, and volitional aspects. Our emotional selves experience an array of different feelings such as sadness, joy, anger, love, fear, excitement, etc. There is a very real, at-the-moment aspect to this emotional part of our self. The rational part of our mind tends to weigh things out, looks at the pros and the cons, and tries to make sense of things by thinking them through. When we are healthy the emotional part of our mind tends to feel happy and the rational part of our mind is thinking clearly. Often the emotional and rational parts of our brains are in conflict. A somewhat trivial example is when we want to eat chocolate to satisfy an emotional craving, but our rational mind reminds us that we are trying to lose weight. The part of our mind mediating this conflict is our volitional brain, the seat of willpower. When we are healthy from a mind or mental perspective, our willpower is directed towards self-actualization and making progress on this journey we call life. In a sense, this volitional part of our brains is less concerned with mediating conflicts between our emotional and rational brains and more focused on directing i.e. piloting and navigating our way to optimum health, well-being, and realization of our full capacity as human beings. An ILP includes daily practice to exercise our volitional brain while simultaneously attending to the emotional and rational aspects of our minds. Spirit There is no need to superimpose religious beliefs, concepts, or labels in discussing spirituality. If we accept that there is something larger than ourselves (I like to refer to this as source), then we have a relationship to this source to a lesser or greater sense. The deeper our connection to source, the more we are in touch with the spirit aspect of ourselves. Some people like to think of this in terms of being more heart centered. Much of this is beyond concepts of mind, body, physical and mental. This falls more in the realm of metaphysical. An Integral Life Practice includes regular efforts to connect to this aspect of self. Mindfulness, meditation, prayer (especially centering and contemplative prayer) are good ways of exercising and developing the spiritual aspect of our being. Shadow While many of us are, no doubt, familiar with fitness concepts that relate to body, mind, and spirit, this fourth element of “shadow” needs further explanation. We all have disowned or dissociated parts of our psyche. These represent psychological traumas, repressed or suppressed parts of ourselves Collectively we can think of these as our damaged self. Shadow work helps us to examine and identify these aspects of ourselves so that we can heal them. I find it interesting that the word health share roots with the words whole and holy. Reclaiming these disidentified parts of ourselves is important as we progress in restoring health by once again becoming whole. In an ILP, shadow work requires us to go internally and shine light on these dark areas within. In this sense, shadow work represents an important way to achieve better health. As I mentioned earlier ILP represents a kind of cross training program to develop all these areas at the same time, which accelerates the rate of progress we achieve in each area individually. It bears repeating to state that the fundamental idea behind ILP is that a simultaneous effort in all of these four areas of health enhances our well-being in ways that singular efforts cannot. Readers who are interested in learning more or starting an Integral Life Practice are encouraged to explore: Integral Life Practice A 21st-Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening. You can download the first two chapters for free at www.integral-life-practice.com/. Integrally yours, – Victor Victor Acquista MD is an international speaker, author, teacher. For information on his writings, presentations, and workshops: http://victoracquista.com/.