Welcome to the “Being with Diabetes as Medicine” course page
Below you will find each week’s live session recording, practice instructions, and additional resources
Week 1: Introduction to Present Moment Awareness
During Week 1, we will orient ourselves to the practice of mindfulness - a quality necessary for all forms of meditation. Through guided activities and in conversation, we will explore the utility of bringing mindful awareness to our senses (smell, sight, touch, taste, and hearing) for the purpose of cultivating connection and drawing valuable insight from our moment-to-moment experiences.
Week 2: Experiencing Coming & Going Coming & Going
During this week, we will primarily work with sound and breath as mediums for us to explore the part of life that we become so familiar with in living with Diabetes – that which is changing. Through practice, we get to learn how to not only be comfortable with change, but be comforted by change – the change that’s happening all the time. We’ll explore some of the science of and methods for working with the body through changes.
Week 3: A Body, with Diabetes
Week 3 will focus on awareness of the body – the core of a transformative meditation practice. We learn how to pay careful attention in a few different ways to what’s happening in the body and how it impacts everything else in our life – both while sitting and in motion!
Week 4: Mindfulness of the Mind
In Week 4, we will turn our attention to the contents and activities of our minds - thoughts and thinking. We will explore how different mindfulness techniques and practices can be used to build awareness of the constant, ever-changing flow of our mind-stuff; while becoming familiar with our cognitive habits and default-settings.
Week 5: Recognizing & Responding to Difficulties
In Week 5, we will explore mindfulness and self-compassion. Life, particularly life with diabetes, is not easy. Challenging situations of all kinds show up on our doorstep each day and often bring with them difficult emotions. During this session, we will explore and experience how compassion-based practices can support us in recognizing and working with challenges and stressors skillfully when they (inevitably!) arise.
Week 6: Cultivating Protective Factors
Our final week of “Being with Diabetes” will delve into the ways that consciously practicing and cultivating ‘beneficial mind-states,’ such as gratitude, savoring, appreciation, and loving-kindness, can can help buffer us against our day-to-day stressors as individuals navigating life with diabetes, expand our resilience in the face of challenges, and connect with the fundamental well-being that is available to us in each and every moment.