Anybody in membership have direct experience? How would the techniques directly effect coping with ones diabetes specifically???
Anyone know of any program(s) first hand in this area?
Hello Helen:
Done some kindergarten level VERY prelim research on the topic. Now hoping for more depth.
Costs here are obscene. Availability, weirdly limited. before signing up. Having no direct experience, quite unclear whether it is a scalpel, a stick of dynamite, or snow blower, or a warm blanket in terms of being a diabetic tool? What does it do for our disease directly?
Does it effect cholesterol? Change BP? Can it be used on hammer toes -wg- ? Not being an exclusive group of diabetic participants, how do we use it for our very specific needs? Like mental tools a great deal but doubt I know my own illusions, issues to address them simply.
Hopefully you will comprehend the challenges I am not expressing well??? Your thoughts...
Hi Stuart: I have practiced mindfulness meditation for years. I have taken classes with Sharon Salzberg (and she has some great books, CDs and "how to's"), Jon Kabat-Zinn (his book Full Catastrophe Living is a classic), and Kelly McGonigal. So for an inexpensive option, I would go with books and CDs, or see if you can find an intro class. For me, I believe that my yoga and meditation practice (going on 19 years) has made a huge difference in my ability to cope with having Type 1 diabetes. Our lives are filled with a lot of daily drudgery, and it helps to have a way to calm down and stay focused. I'd be glad to share more resources if you are interested.
There is a program called "Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction' that is very popular here in Minneapolis. As Melitta said, it is based on the book Full Catastrophe Living. I think it is offered all over the country and the teachers have to be certified from a special school.
I took the course. It was 2 hours for 8 weeks and quite expensive. Since I'd been a meditator for many years, I didn't learn much of anything new, but that was okay.
I just Googled MBSR and there are several books on it, and workbooks to if you choose to do it yourself.
Like many things of value, you might not see results right away. Sometimes people stop just before they are about to have a breakthrough. It requires a commitment and a bit of selfdiscipline. But I think it helps one to stay calm and resilient.
I personally prefer tai chi and chi gong. There's gotta be some classes in your area.
uch, I love her to pieces. "When Things Fall Apart" and her affirmations book have helped me immensely
Hey Stuart,
I don't know how far into New Jesey you live but if you find yourself in the NYC area, these guys do free guided meditations a couple of times a week followed by a brief lecture
Hello Melitta:
I'm interested!
And Can we kick this around a bit?!?!?! Having been diabetic my entire life, I cannot tell what pieces are the diabetes and which pieces are the "other parts". Can the pieces be separated you think? Love to figure out how the disease has effected me beyond the physical aspects... how its effected my outlook, the way any of us processes things... think about stuff, if, if it can be determined of course??? Want to learn what can be learned... change what can be changed.
In your experiences what won't the meditation do?
Been a while since Ive formally practiced the Yoga, but do teach an activity which works some with "focus" -ggg-. Love to detach some more find thought processes I was not aware of?
Would love to directly effect some deeper muscles, if I can isolate em, unlock em directly; Rhomboids minor, psoas, minimus, TFL, IT band see what can be done with shortened/shortening tendons... Biofeedback would likely be even better even the degree I'm looking to isolate, but too expensive (: z
Looking to re-stoke the internal fires... "clear burn" the stuff which is not helpful to hold onto. Make some new space for healthy growth, you know?
Hello Kathy:
A SPECIFIC flavor of Tai Chi Ch'uan, aka "Neijia" address the mellitius best in your experience? Have dozens of teachers within spitting distance, not many are very good. Caucasians imitating fortune cookies... ridiculous artificial?
Complex game...
Hi Stuart: I always say, yoga is easy, meditation is hard. Meaning, doing physical postures is easy compared to trying to keep my monkey mind focused. But I persist, because I really believe that mindfulness is a huge part of the answer to many questions. For me, the whole process has been very slow, and it would be difficult to say "oh this is how my life is better with yoga/meditation." But I will also say that yoga and meditation make my life better. Some good resources I have are an audio learning course by Kelly McGonigal entitled "The Neuroscience of Change" (Kelly interviewed Jon Kabat-Zinn at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco, and I was fortunate enough to attend in person(you can hear it on NPR)); another good resource is Insight Meditation: A Step-by-Step Course on How to Meditate by Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein. Sharon teaches often in NY and she is simply amazing. My suggestion would be to start small, if you are not currently meditating. Sit for 5 minutes each morning, practice mindfulness, and see what happens. As Kathy says, it does require a commitment. For me, I find books and audio learning to be enormously helpful. And of course that can be quite inexpensive, especially if you can find some of the resources at your library.
Hello Melitta:
A diabetic THIS @(#@&@& long, I agree, the mind is the critical tool for all of us. Far MORE critical than tests, or intake will ever be.
Dispassion, re: our efforts & their results, challenging our own beliefs, internal journey(ies) are a necessity and completely mandatory. A tool acknowledged by tragically few "white coats", contemptible really.
Solo practices are more challenging, than borrowing the group dynamics, the group intensity? Studied hatha-yoga for some years, but too few great teachers. Most were too busy chasing bliss, encouraging the "kundilini" rising but forgot to read the small print!!! I'll work with the hormones, ligaments, tendons, muscles... do NOT want what Gopi_Krishna described. Have enough agony thanks...
I would entirely agree that there is a great variation in quality of teachers - trust your gut. See if anyone you know can give you a referral.
I feel the same way about acupuncturists - For 2 years of night school you can become certified here in Minnesota. All it is is learning the "cookbook recipes" for ailments based on western diagnosis. I think a good acupuncturist should be about 80 years old with 70 years of experience, and a good sense of intuition.
If you decide to take a class, give it a good 3 months to see how it's working for you. Please let us know how this evolves. Good luck and best wishes.
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The founder of Dharmapunx, Noah Levine, is the sone of Stephen Levine who has written many many books on meditation.
Hello Kathy:
Acupuncture:
I have two friends whom I trained with since they were children. One is now on the state board of acupuncture licenses (trusted implicitly), the other was a new graduate of a "prestigious" NYC program. At a dinner several of us attended celebrating a unrelated promotion, the younger one informed me, he could regulate my blood sugar and cure me.
A swallowed my chopsticks when he came out with that one. He was deadly earnest. I heard him out, and listened to his struggle with 5 elements theory (aka very modern template of much older Chinese cosmology badly superimposed on western neural pathways, anatomy).
I explained with my utmost patience he was confused, the physiology was entirely different between a destroyed/dead pancreas and one which was failing.
He contemptuously dismissed them as being the same thing. In his universe, I/we could be cured. SIGH.... Apparently he was asleep that day in class. Last time i checked the CDC, the ADA, the JDRF have never been told. Heck, somebody forgot to tell the Health Ministry in the PRC. Who knew!
Myself I prefer the weekend teacher Yoga certificates, or my personal favorites the Black Belt at home earners. -Shivering-.
I like to observe a few times, ask a question or two before I commit to things. Better matches long term that way. Know the goal, the tools used before there is a pile-up teacher and student having very different intentions & routes.
Thank you for helping me explore... anything occurs to you, please chime in more!!!!
My oh my. I'm still gasping. Your calmness and restraint should win a medal -- I would have torn his head off and fed it to him, publicly, which would have been inappropriate and not done anyone any good. My hat's off to you.
Darn. Who knew??? All those billions being spent on technology and bio research, when all we really need is this guy . . .
ROFLMAO
i hear this kind of thing ALL THE TIME. we should just print up a business card that says "nope" or provides a website with pertinent info when people start babbling on about curing diabetes easily or with crazy stuff like goat urine or whatever. SHUT UP
Hahaha
Hello DNS:
Your "entree" would not have been possible, among those scallywags. It was a dinner and at a table of my martial arts "peers". Most far younger, and faster than me...
A skeptic is a disbeliever of commonly held beliefs, assumptions. They ALL drank his Kool-Aid. I quietly refused and was very shortly expelled from the group.
How do the specific techniques of ANY meditation practice(s) DIRECTLY effect our specific and very particular diabetic "needs"?
Meditation reduces BP (systolic ? diastolic ?), but a generic effect. Fine. Increases capillary blood flow? Improves it?
How else will meditation, any meditation technique(s) directly effect or change our diabetes specific goals/needs?