Alexa Norton

HLTH 1240
Blake Casson
8 Dec 2016

ePortfolio Assignment
For my ePortfolio assignment I choose to do the first one which was to share four or five
experiences from my wellness journey over the course of the semester. I loved this one the most
because I feel like it was the one that I related to the most because I truly to feel like I have a
better understanding of myself through the better understanding of meditation that I have
received over the course of the semester. I have felt it benefit me as we have done it in class, out
of class for specific assignments as well as on my own. My understanding of meditation is
completely different than it used to be. Im super glad that my understanding of it has changed
and I now know that I can do it anywhere I am if needed.
1. I have become better at not being so busy
I have always been known to my family and friends as a busy body, someone who is
always on the go and always trying to get things done. My friends in high school even made fun
of me for never taking naps like they did. I didn't have time for that. I have now been able to
learn that making time for me and being able to say no to some things has actually made me a
better person. In fact it has almost made more time for me and allowed me to get more things
done than I thought. It has helped me calm down and take a second to realize what is really
important and what I need to do, instead of filling my day with things that aren't necessarily
important just so I can be busy. It has taken me some time and I am still working on saying no
to things and giving myself time to sit and think about my day other than running around trying
to cross of certain things on my to do list. It has really allowed me to be the type of person that I
want to be and that I want to become. I want to be calm and patient with others and not so caught
up in what I have to do but what I might be able to do for someone else. I love the time where I
can stop and think and breath and relax my body.
2. Became less anxious
This is a big one for me. I am a very anxious person and someone who gets stressed out
over the tiniest thing. This is something that hasn't completely gone away but it has become
something that I am able to understand more of and understand the best coping skills that I can
have for myself specifically. I remember one time I was rushing into class and I felt like that day
I had so much to do and I didn't have enough time, and I was a little late to class. All of those
things made me very anxious and I could feel like my heart was beating very fast. We then were
able to get right into our stretches which I could tell started to calm my whole body down. After
that we got right into our meditation and it was one of the first times that I actually let me
thoughts and to do list past me by just like a river. It was very empowering and felt really good
to calm by body down. We just did a body scan that day but I loved that I was able to check in

with how I was feeling and feel calm but also ready to rock the world. It was calming as well as
energizing to mediate for me that day. Now whenever I began or start to feel any bit of anxious
come on or feel anxious at all I check in with myself. I do my very own little self body scan
whether I am sitting in class, eating lunch, about to go to work or whatever it is that I might be
doing. I would say that was a very aha moment while taking this class, just as my teacher Blake
Casson once said in a meditation that she felt like her cells were alive I too am able to feel like.
Which in turn is able to relieve me of all the stress and worries that might be occupying my brain
and allowing me to feel any sort of tension. Meditation is that special thing that I have now
created in my life to calm me down and make me more aware of myself.
3. More aware of surroundings
Just as I talked about previously and how meditation is able to make me more aware of
myself it is also able to make me more aware of my surroundings. I wanted to just focus on
walking meditation and how it has allowed me to become more aware of things that I would
have otherwise never been able to notice or just simply wouldn't. I have always been a lover of
going on walks or hikes and just being outside. So I really loved being able to do the walking
meditation but it was a little difficult for me at first because I was always so used to walking
quickly and getting from point a to point b. Walking meditation has really allowed me to look at
things and not just pass them by like I have previously. It has given me the opportunity to
actually think about the things that I need to in a healthy way and look at the beauty that
surrounds me that I didn't know I had been missing because of my focus and constantly hurrying.
I love now being able to go for a walk on my own but walk slowly and look at the things that I
am surrounded with.
4. Feel better inside and out
Lastly, meditation has really allowed my body to feel better on the inside and out. I feel
like I am alot kinder to myself than I once used to be and I would say that is all thanks to
meditation and more specifically all the loving kindness meditations that we were able to do
throughout the course. I didn't realize how truly powerful my word is and the things that I say to
myself are, but they are very powerful. They really do matter and they really can have an effect
on myself. So I can tell that when I am taking care of my body by giving myself me time time
to relax, time to think, and time to focus on what needs to be focused on I really do feel alot
better than I thought I would. I love how alive and truly regenerating meditation has been able to
be for me and how it has been able to give me the energy that I need throughout the day, or the
relaxation I need right before I go to bed so that I can shut my body and my brain off to allow
myself a good night's rest. This speaks to me because I can tell the difference when I am taking
care of this body that I have been given and I can tell when I am not. I feel alot better when I am
taking care of it and doing all that I can to do better and to be a better human in this crazy world
of chaos.