A Five Week Meditation Course for People With Diabetes
Being with Diabetes is a meditation course designed by and for people affected by diabetes that will provide you with an opportunity to explore the ways that diabetes and meditation can be interwoven to create the fabric of a more meaningful and intentionally lived life.
As a special offering for those in our Integrated Diabetes Services community, you have the opportunity to apply a 20% discount for your participation in this course. (Discount code: BREATHE-20)
Being with Diabetes will be offered in a “flipped classroom” format. During each week of the course, you will be introduced to that week’s topic through short, pre-recorded videos and readings. We will then gather live in community for one hour each Sunday to deepen our exploration of that topic through evidence-based mindfulness practices and exercises, interactive discussions, and guided reflections. The course will revisit and expand on some of the key themes covered in the 2023 offering of “Being with Diabetes” as well as provide additional opportunities to explore and expand how mindfulness can be carried into your daily life with diabetes.
This course is also about connecting, sharing, and growing together. It’s a chance to join a community of individuals who can understand your journey with diabetes in a way others may not be able to. It’s a safe and supportive space where we can learn collaboratively through our experiences, insights, and care for each other.
- Who: Being with Diabetes was created by and primarily for people impacted by type 1 diabetes and its closely related conditions. This includes both people living with T1D, caregivers, and providers. This course is designed to be accessible and relevant regardless of your prior meditation experience. Whether you have never practiced meditation or are a seasoned practitioner, Being with Diabetes will provide you with opportunities to intentionally cultivate and integrate mindfulness in and through your life with diabetes.
- What: Weekly live sessions with Brooke, Sam, YOU, and other course participants, supported by short, pre-recorded videos introducing each week’s topic and applications.
- Where: Zoom (after registering for the course, you will receive the Zoom link in your course welcome email)
- When: Live course sessions will take place from 7:00-8:00 PM (EST) on Sundays from February 11-March 10, 2024. Pre-recorded content will be released at the start of each week. Sign up as soon as you can, as spots are limited to 50 people.
- Why: Diabetes is hard. Meditation is so helpful, but it can feel like a maze at times. Brooke and Sam will focus specifically on the practical applications of mindfulness in life with Diabetes and give you a solid foundation to build from in your meditation practice. All frameworks and practices used are evidence-based and rooted in a deep understanding of modern neuroscience, psychology, and ancient foundations of mindfulness practice. Sam and Brooke each have close to a decade of personal meditation practice, including extensive meditation training and personal study, and five years each of experience in teaching these practices.
OPEN HOUSE: We will be hosting 2 open houses on January 25th @ 8 pm ET, and February 4th @ 7 pm ET.
Come learn about the course and how meditation can be so beneficial for those living with diabetes, and experience a live meditation led by course facilitators Sam Tullman and Brooke Cassoff.
join the Open house and learn more
- Week 1: Introduction to Present Moment Awareness (Awareness of Senses)
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 bringing out the liveliness of our everyday experience. - Week 2: Breathing the Mind into the Body (Awareness of Breath & Body)
During this week, we will primarily focus on awareness of our body as a medium for us to explore the part of life that we become so familiar with in living with Diabetes – that which is changing. To do this, we will dive into that alive, ever-changing, deeply informative part of our body – our breath. 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: Seeing the Mind from the Body (Awareness of Thoughts & Thinking)
In Week 3, we will turn our attention to the contents and activities of our minds – thoughts and thinking. During this session, 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 and bringing curiosity to our cognitive habits and default reactions. Together, we will seek to cultivate new ways of working with our thoughts that can support us in navigating the ongoing ups and downs of life with diabetes. - Week 4: Working with Difficulties (Mindfulness & Compassion)
In Week 4, we will explore mindfulness and self-compassion. Life, especially life with diabetes, is often not easy. Challenging moments, large and small, greet us each day and often bring up difficult emotions in us. During this session, we will build on the mindfulness we’ve begun to develop through compassion-based practices, which can support us in becoming aware of and offering ourselves what we most need in any life circumstance. Practically, this can support us in recognizing and working with challenges and stressors skillfully when they (inevitably!) arise. - Week 5: Anchoring Awareness in Daily Life with Diabetes
Our final week of “Being with Diabetes” will explore the ways that consciously cultivating mindfulness through our daily activities (particularly those related to our diabetes!) can help us flow with the stressors that come with diabetes, expand our resilience in the face of challenges, and connect us with a fundamental well-being that is available in each and every moment.
More Info & Register
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