Module Three: IMTTA Postgraduate Certificate in Meditation for Women in Transition and Women’s
Mid-life Health and Wellbeing
IMTTA Postgraduate Certificate in Meditation for Women in Transition and
Women’s Mid-life Health and Wellbeing
Practitioner Training Course
© IMTTA 2016
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Module Three: IMTTA Postgraduate Certificate in Meditation for Women in Transition and Women’s
Mid-life Health and Wellbeing
Module Contents
Positive Health Habits for the Mature Woman
Tools and Exercises
Diet and Nutrition
He
s
Defining and meeting needs
Hormones Research Project
Instructions
Please work through your lesson pack in the required sequence. While it may be tempting to
ush ahead, it is important that you receive information in the integrated way it is intended.
1. As you read through this module, make notes of any points you find particularly interesting,
do not understand, wish to discuss with your teacher or that you would like to research
further.
2. Complete all the exercises and assignments as you come to them in the module. Activity
oxes refer to tasks such as watching videos, listening to audio files, or writing exercises.
3. When you have finished reading this module and completed all the activities and
assignments, you will be ready to submit your assessments.
4. Complete the Module Submission Form.
This module contains:
Module Three lecture
Submission Form
Positive health habits for the mature woman
Feeling (and being) healthy, strong and active is something that can certainly be sustained and even
evitalized in the mature years of life. Popular media and western culture can provide us with a belief
that aging means getting sick or becoming weak. Many people feel that aging means fading away or a
time of loss. This does not have to be true and there are many older people providing very good
examples of how the “golden years” can be enjoyed in excellent health and mobility. As well as with a
sound mind.
It is very difficult, if not impossible, to cultivate optimum health when our diets and lifestyle habits are
not in alignment with good health.
When people are committed to improving the way they look and feel along with their standard of health
and fitness, they are willing to make changes in the way live. When people are not willing to let go of
Module Three: IMTTA Postgraduate Certificate in Meditation for Women in Transition and Women’s
Mid-life Health and Wellbeing
negative health habits and are not prepared to develop new, healthier habits, they are not really ready
to make changes to improve their health of fitness.
Often the reluctance to change, discard or introduce new lifestyle habits is attached to fear. The person
might really want to feel better and be healthier and truly believe that the amount of sugar (for
example) they consume is not working for them in a positive way, but they may be unwilling, or feel
unable to eat less chocolate or other sweets. This mind set is not only counterproductive in helping the
person achieve their goal (of being healthier) it also
eeds a sense of failure and sometimes even self-
contempt. The person will start to think “I know what I want. I know what I need to do. Why don’t I just
do it? What is wrong with me?
There are deep psychological reasons associated with the pre-programmed belief systems about
ourselves, about life and about the world which come into play when we attempt to change a long held
habit. For example, any deep seated beliefs about not being good enough, being a failure, being weak or
stupid may rise to the surface.
Congruence occurs when the person we ‘really’ are (our developed beliefs and ideals) is in perfect
alignment with the way we behave. So if we believe that a healthy diet is important for good health and
we also practice healthy eating habits, then we are living congruently.
If we believe something to be true or important but we don’t live in accordance with, or in line with that
elief, we are living incongruently. People are not happy (or healthy) when they are living incongruently.
All people have a deep innate desire to live authentic lives and be true to who they really are.
This can be difficult for most people in the early stages of their personal development because often the
ideas about how we ‘should’ act and who we are ‘expected’ to be, which have been ingrained in us by
significant authorities in our life (like our parents and teachers), is not in alignment with who we truly
see ourselves as being, or how we feel naturally compelled to act; the way we truly want to be and know
we can be…our best possible selves.
Some examples:
A little girl who is raised to believe women should not join in conversations about politics. The mentality
of the home might have been that women know about cooking and sewing but don’t have the mind for
politics. A woman raised within this environment would have developed a belief that she has no right (or
even mental capacity) for having political opinions. However, she may actually have some very strong
political opinions and a clear understanding of political policy. She may even have a deep desire to be
ecome involved in politics in some way.
Three things could happen.
1/ She is trapped in her pre-programed belief system and never develops any self-confidence when it
comes to the topic of politics. She may occasionally, tentatively, express an opinion or ask questions but
with little confidence. She is living incongruently and will most likely have some level of frustration.
2/ She leads a sort of double life. Perhaps she develops relationships with other people with whom she
can openly give opinions or discuss ideas about politics. She might study politics, read political books
and watch documentary’s about politics. So, partly she is living congruently but when she goes home to
her family, she may adapt her conversation and avoid being outspoken about politics. Because she
knows, her discussing politics, will not be accepted and therefor she will not be acceptable in that
Module Three: IMTTA Postgraduate Certificate in Meditation for Women in Transition and Women’s
Mid-life Health and Wellbeing
environment and with those people. Generally this inability to behave congruently in family situations
causes people to eventually detach from their families or attend to family responsibilities purely through
a sense of duty. They do not feel recognized or accepted for who they truly are within their families.
The desire to be accepted is very deep for human beings and in particular we seek acceptance and
approval from our original families; the people who taught us what it means to be a human on earth. So
this incongruence the person will experience when they are with their family can cause deep emotional
issues that affect the person’s life even when they are not with their families.
Take a moment here to consider if there are any modifications you make to your own behavior
(or the way you project your personality) when you are with your family
or any other significant people in your life.
3/ She develops the understanding that her worth is not dependent on being considered acceptable by
others, no matter how significant in her life they are. She understands that the most important thing is
for her is to live true to herself. She chooses to live congruently. This may cause some people to choose
not to be in her life, it may also cause others to criticize her and it may make her decide to end some
elationships where people don’t accept her for who she is. So making the choice to live congruently can
e a huge step and also very scary.
Living congruently is an essential step in living a happy healthy life. When we are living congruently we
feel acceptable to ourselves and no longer seek to gain approval from outside of ourselves. This means
we are able to meet our own needs and do not to try and control the actions (or thoughts or emotions)
of others. We feel safe and we feel strong. This feeling of personal power helps us to make decisions
about what we want, with confidence and also provides us with the motivation to initiate changes in our
lives. It also allows us to judge ourselves less harshly and to see not achieving the goals we set as part of
the growth process rather than as failure. People who feel congruent are kinder to themselves.
In order to incorporate a new habit into our lives, it must be congruent with how we genuinely view
ourselves and what we really want for ourselves.
Tools and exercises
Holistic counselling seeks to provide education and motivation to assist clients in achieving their own
goals. Sometimes this includes assisting clients to accurately identify what the goals they want to
achieve really are. It always includes providing a safe, non-judgmental, supportive and empowering
environment.
ACTIVITY 1
Please create a flyer with 101 tips for living a healthy happy life for mature aged women.
Please include a list of places you sourced your tips from on your submission form.
Module Three: IMTTA Postgraduate Certificate in Meditation for Women in Transition and Women’s
Mid-life Health and Wellbeing
Clients who choose Holistic Counselling are seeking to be pro-active in their own healing. One of the
ways we can assist our clients to achieve their desired outcomes is to provide them with practical tools
and hands-on exercises to support their journey of self-discovery.
Just meeting with a counsellor or attending a group once a week is not usually enough to facilitate
significant change in a person’s life. The process of change needs to be incorporated into their daily life,
every day. When we provide our clients with tools and exercises to take home and use or practice, they
are able to take control of their own growth or healing experience and continue on with the process