Who's In YOUR Circle? Diabetes Discussion & Meditation

My name is Patricia Daker and I'm the owner of Better Diabetes Life.

I am a registered nurse and a board-certified nurse coach and I live with type 1 diabetes.

The purpose of my company is to provide support and services for what you really need to live with diabetes.

We all know we have to take care of our body but it's not as easy as they might lead you to believe.

We have a lot of emotions and coping and all kinds of other things that get thrown in the mix.

So for me,

Even though I was a nurse and knew all the clinical stuff,

I wasn't getting the support I needed so that's what we do.

If you're interested in learning more about me or my services,

There's a link to my website in my bio.

If you follow me on Insight Timer on this platform,

You'll get updates when I'm live and if I post any new recordings.

We often think about just blood sugars,

Right?

It's a disease,

It's something you gotta do,

You gotta manage your blood sugars.

Focusing on what we have to do,

Right?

There's a lot of things we have to do and things we need to change.

It seems like everybody focuses on the end result,

Which is the number that you get on your meter and we don't have a lot of focus on how you get there,

Right?

So I think that's the hard part.

So often as you hear me talk and what we do,

I don't focus hardly at all on glucose management or diet exercise.

You'll figure all that out for you once you get some of these roadblocks and barriers in the way.

So the roadblock and barrier and topic for tonight is who's in your circle?

And last week we created a circle on Insight Timer and if you'd like to join that,

It's called Better Diabetes Life.

You can look it up that way.

And again,

It's just a place to connect with each other,

Share stories,

Be supportive.

And so since we did this circle last week,

I thought it would be kind of fun this week to actually talk about a circle because in my course that I offer,

We have a topic that I touch on called person-centered care.

And so again,

That's clinical and how you do it,

But we're going to weave all that together tonight.

So we're going to talk about who's in your circle,

Exploring connectedness.

So we do the talk first and then we do a meditation at the end and I try to always kind of align it with what we're doing in the talk.

So tonight's going to be about connectedness.

If you're watching and you're not sure what's going on,

We're doing a talk and a meditation related to diabetes.

Even though it's about diabetes,

It really applies to anyone living with a chronic illness.

So if you know anyone who could use support or services or just a new perspective and different way of approaching their disease or their condition,

Please use the little white arrow and give them a text or send them a link to this and ask them to join.

I would appreciate it very much.

And Insight Timer always asks as part of doing these live sessions that we invite you to make a donation.

There's a little donate button somewhere on the screen and I think you're prompted later.

So if you feel called to do that.

Now that we've got some folks in here,

Let's gather.

I think that's really important,

Especially as we're talking about who's in your circle as we gather.

I just want us to come together spiritually,

Mentally,

Imagine ourselves linked,

Connected.

I always picture everybody in a cloud over my head.

People that understand,

People that get it,

People that know what it's like to have to manually be a part of one of your organs and control a substance in your blood that is almost impossible to control and somehow we do it,

We persevere.

So as we come together,

We're connected,

We're joined,

We're among friends.

This is a safe space.

If you need to ask for help or say something,

Pray something,

Whichever way that makes you feel safe and secure,

Know that we are connected,

Again,

Mentally,

Spiritually,

If not physically,

Even though we're not all together in one room.

So with that deep,

With that connection,

Let's just take a breath.

Relax,

Maybe close your eyes just for a minute.

I feel like I need to transition the dogs or have me all hyped up.

Okay.

So another good thing about gathering and being in circles and I'm going to take an aside too.

I don't know why I feel like chatty tonight,

But you know,

Back 200 years ago,

However long,

Women got together,

People got together and did really mundane chores like make butter or quilt or,

You know,

Hoe a row in a field or maybe out fishing,

Whatever they did.

People had a lot of kind of downtime and time to be with others and maybe not necessarily doing a lot,

But maybe having idle chat,

Small talk.

We've lost a lot of that,

Right?

So we've lost some of this inner time,

Quiet time,

Easy connection where it's not a meeting and an agenda.

It seems like in our busy world today,

We don't often have that.

So again,

As we gather and we circle,

That's that kind of,

This is,

This can be a replacement for that.

So I would like to start after we gather and connect with an intention.

And so my intention tonight for us is that you may remember that you are connected.

May you remember you are of this world and may you remember your strength.

Okay,

So whatever was going on,

The busy and hopefully the barking dogs,

We're going to set all that aside.

We're going to turn inward.

We're going to listen,

We're going to share.

We're going to think about new ways of being,

Challenging what we believe to be the only way or the true way and see if we can't find some newness that makes sense,

Provides comfort and helps us manage to move forward.

So who's in your circle?

You know,

When we talk about being in a circle,

That's connection.

We're connected to others.

And I think a very common trait with diabetes is we feel disconnected.

People don't understand.

They don't know what it's like.

There's a lot of concerns,

Sometimes too much,

Sometimes they're dismissive.

They don't realize how hard you try,

How difficult it is.

You know,

So there's a lot of,

And I've experienced,

We all do at different times,

Sometimes more than others,

This feeling of nobody understands me.

I'm in this alone.

Nobody can really help.

I'm,

You know,

I have to do this every day.

And so we kind of feel different and it creates this sense of disjointedness.

The human condition,

We have that anyway.

That's our ego.

So the ego part of our brain is panicked all the time.

It's worried.

It's worried about all the bad things.

And it seems to want to isolate you.

You're different than everybody else.

No one understands.

So just know when you're thinking some of those thoughts that happens is probably the part of your brain that is your ego.

So everybody has it.

It's not just with diabetes.

Look at a teenager,

Right?

They all feel weird and different.

If you've ever walked into a room and not known someone,

We all have these feelings.

So it's not unique to diabetes,

But diabetes can certainly exacerbate it or bring it up,

Make it feel worse.

I think the medical system also does a great job at this.

And so when you think of relationships with providers,

Those people that we engage to help us manage to get the right medicine,

Treatment,

All that stuff,

When we think about a doctor-patient relationship,

It's usually out of balance.

So the medical system,

And these are generalities,

And I'm hoping your doctors aren't that happy,

But I've had some in the past,

The doctors up here and we are the patient.

Even the words,

Doctors' orders,

They're giving directives,

They're giving you something to do.

You're the patient.

The patient receives care.

They're passive.

So it's kind of an out of balance place.

Nobody wants to be passive in their own life,

Right?

And so the medical system can certainly make us even feel more disjointed,

Imperfect,

Not able to meet the mark,

Right?

All that stuff.

It just feels like everybody's over there and you're here on this island.

So the truth is you are not at the bottom of the doctor-patient relationship.

You are not disconnected.

We're going to talk about that.

So as we talk about a circle,

I'll start with that.

There's many metaphors I can go and I hope I can tie them all together.

But when we think about circle,

You know,

Who's in your circle?

So if there's a circle,

You're in the middle,

Right?

So that's the metaphor I want you to think about is you're in the middle of the circle,

Whether that's the circle of life,

The circle of these people.

If you're in the middle,

Everyone's kind of equal around you versus being on the edge where you're just connected to the two beside.

And also when you think of a circle,

I want you to think of a sphere or an orb.

So it's just not a row around you.

It's three-dimensional.

You are in the center,

Right?

It's your universe.

And so when we think of this,

And this is this term that's called,

In clinical speak,

They call it patient-centered care.

I like to call it person-centered care because I don't like feeling like a patient.

I'm not sick.

Yes,

I have to deal with this,

But I don't feel like I'm in the system.

So that's just my little thing,

But I don't like the word patient.

I like person.

So person-centered care,

Where you're at the middle,

It's all about you and it's what you need,

Right?

It's a shift of balance,

A shift of a way of thinking.

So we can talk about that first as clinically,

But then I want to also talk about it spiritually and kind of on a larger scope because it all fits together.

We often think as individuals,

It is us and we're in this world.

So I'll start with this,

And this was one of the intentions tonight that we are of this world.

We are not in the world.

We are of it.

We are part of it,

Right?

And because of that truth,

We aren't disconnected.

So let's go back to the clinical part a little bit.

So we'll get that out of the way.

So when you think of your diabetes and your world and all the people that are influenced and help you manage it,

Consider this sphere of influence,

The people that are around you.

Just mentally in your mind,

Think about who those are.

So I'm going to list some just that,

And they're not just people,

Right?

So they can be different things,

But your providers,

Obviously.

So your doctor,

Your nurse practitioner,

Your diabetes educator,

Your podiatrist,

Your cardiologist,

Your primary care guy,

Whoever the people,

Your nurse coach,

If you have a nurse coach.

Those people who are around you that help you kind of with the nuts and bolts and mechanics of diabetes.

And we have family and friends,

Those people who care about you,

Can get on your nerves,

Can be nosy,

Can be helpful.

All the people,

You know,

Clergy,

Friends,

Neighbors,

Old high school classmates,

Whatever it is,

They're people,

Right?

They're these other people that are in your world and either you impact them because of your diabetes or they get into your diabetes,

Whatever the relationship is.

It doesn't matter.

They're in this person-centered care because they are part of your world.

Part of your world is also your mind,

Right?

So in that sphere of influence,

In this person-centered care,

As we think about all the things your mind is there.

Your thoughts,

Right?

Your wants,

All the ideas that go on your head,

Wanting to do this way,

Wanting to do that way,

Questioning,

All those things.

Those influence your sphere as well.

You have your spirit,

Right?

Your spirit means many things to many people,

But it's central around your beliefs,

Right?

Your passions,

Your higher purpose,

Your higher self.

That plays into the mix as well.

Then you have your environment.

So your environment can be where you live,

It can be the weather,

It can be your activity,

It could be resources that you have,

It could be finances,

It could be medication,

It could be technology.

It's the things in the world around you,

Right?

So there's all this stuff swirling around you.

And again,

Often we think that it's controlling us,

But I want you to put yourself in the middle because it's influencing you that no matter what,

At the middle of it,

You get to decide how you connect with it and what sort of relationship you want to have.

Even if you don't like the relationship,

And we've talked about that before with this unwanted roommate,

You still get to decide how you manage the relationship.

So we think about these relationships and maybe as I've been talking,

Some people,

Some characters came to mind,

Right?

Who's in there?

Excuse me.

Who are these relationships?

So here you are in the middle,

There's all this stuff,

Your mind,

Your environment,

Your spirit,

All these things,

And you are in relationship with each of those pieces.

Some relationships are personal,

But some are just geographical,

And some are spiritual,

Whatever way,

But that's a connection,

Right?

So in this sphere,

You are connected in all these different ways.

So connection and relationships,

And it doesn't have to be,

Again,

Not a relationship like a romantic relationship,

Not a relationship because these two things relate to each other.

The goal is to put you in the middle,

Right?

To get you balanced in the center so you're not being tossed around or you're not at the bottom,

Right?

So we don't want a pyramid where there's doctors,

People on top of you,

And you're at the bottom getting poked and prodded and measured and pushed around,

And that's not healthy.

We don't like that.

That is not fun.

We never want to be upside down like that,

So we're thinking of a sphere.

So if you think of those relationships and maybe think of a couple that just,

And this is a little bit of coaching,

Some of those relationships that came to mind.

So I would ask you to consider,

And if you have a pen and paper,

You may want to write some of this down,

Who controls the relationship,

Right?

Who is in charge of the relationship?

Is your doctor the one calling the shots and you're passive and you sit there and you're worried?

Do you have a coworker who's in your face or a family member and they tend to kind of control?

Is it your insurance?

Do they control the relationship,

Right?

There's all these different things.

Is it worry?

Does worry control the relationship with self?

So think about all those things and just think about who controls them.

That's where our power lives,

Right?

And not forcing it to happen,

But being in control of your end of the relationship and not relinquishing it.

Easier said than done,

Right?

So it's,

But we have to start thinking in that terms.

I am central to me,

To my experience,

To my disease,

To my body.

I control pretty much what I want to focus on,

What I want to think about,

What I choose to eat,

Where I choose to go,

Who I choose to listen to,

What noise gets in my brain,

You know,

Where I work,

Where I live,

All those things.

Any moment,

I mean today we could all get up and move to China,

Like if we wanted to,

Like it would be a really huge upset,

But there are a lot of possibilities,

Some harder than others that you have choice,

Right?

So when we get back in the middle and we realize those choices and we realize the relationships we have,

We can start looking at the ones maybe that don't feel good.

So if we think of those that are out of balance,

You know,

And again,

I'm going to pick some obvious diabetes ones,

But so maybe it's your relationship with your pump,

Your relationship with your sensor or your glucose meter or your doctor or your diet,

Right?

So we think about those and if we feel like it's in charge of us,

Not a bad thing,

It's just a scope of reference,

It's some place that you can look and go,

Hmm,

Look at that,

I have given up my power and I'm not doing it or I've decided that's too hard.

All of those things are prefaced with I decided,

I decided to believe that,

I decided to think that,

I decided to do that,

I decided not,

But on some level there's decisions being made.

Now,

We all don't get the choice of diabetes,

But we get to decide how we deal with it,

Okay?

So that's kind of just this way of thinking about everything and obviously there's a lot more to think about,

But you are in charge of you,

You decide,

You are connected to your mind,

Your mind gets to decide and think,

You can choose which thoughts you hang on to and which ones you let kind of slip away,

Which ones you say,

You know what,

Not going to let go,

Not going to worry about that one.

You are connected in charge of your body,

You decide where you stick things,

You decide what you put in your mouth,

You decide if you exercise or go for a walk,

You decide how much fluid you drink,

You decide,

Right?

And you are connected to your body,

You are of your body,

You and your body cannot be separate,

You and your mind cannot be separate,

Right?

And you are connected and in charge of the relationship with your higher self,

Those passions,

Those dreams,

Those things,

Your beliefs about who you are and your purpose and why you're here,

You are connected to all of those things and you are outside all of those things at the same time,

Right?

So you are your body,

But you're also aware of your body,

You are your mind,

But you're aware of your mind,

You are your spirit,

But you're aware of your spirit.

And from that awareness perspective comes the choice and the power,

Right?

You can choose.

The choices all have their own consequence,

But it's in the choosing that you feel less victimized,

That you get balanced,

That you get back in the center and it has meaning and purpose for you.

Okay,

So that's the clinical piece and it's really about relationships and making sure that you feel and get the benefit and are in balance with those that influence your diabetes.

And again,

We could talk all night about all the different nuances of that,

But it's just a way for you to reframe and think about that.

I want to shift a little bit on the same idea of connectedness.

So I mentioned it earlier,

So you are not in this world,

You are of this world.

So I think of connection,

We'll think of a grain of sand,

Right?

A grain of sand is in the beach,

But it's up the beach.

It's part of the beach,

Even though it's a little small tiny part,

It is part of the ocean,

It exists without.

A drop of water is part of the ocean,

But that drop of water could be part of the earth as it is absorbed into something,

It could become seen and be part of the air.

We're in this ecosystem,

This biome,

This system,

Multi,

Multi,

Multi systems,

You know,

And we think of nature and we often think of us separate from nature.

Nature's out there,

It's the wild,

It's the animals,

It's the thing,

And we're over here watching nature,

But the truth is we are part of nature and as such we're connected in body,

Mind,

Spirit.

We are influenced by the weather,

We are influenced by our pets that are around us,

We are influenced by the food we eat,

Right?

So we often forget that we are of this world.

So at the smallest,

Smallest level inside of us,

We are cells,

Viruses,

Bacteria,

Immune products,

Fluid,

We're this connected system of things.

So are we our blood cells?

Yes.

Are blood cells us?

Yes.

But we get down and,

You know,

It's weird to kind of get into this micro macro idea of who we are.

So every one of the cells inside of us,

Every one of the bacteria in our gut are part of us,

It's connected to us.

As we move out,

We're part of this earth,

We are part of the life and the species on this planet.

It's part of the solar system,

Right,

It goes on and on and on.

And I think we often feel like in the multiverse of everything that is,

We're the only person that's different and nobody gets us.

But if we start looking at it from a bigger picture like that,

We fit in,

We belong,

We have our place.

We were created to be the way we are,

Right?

That's my belief anyway.

And so I have purpose,

I have permission to be here and I am connected.

Now often we choose not to be connected or we choose to kind of tune that out or remember the time that we felt disconnected and feeling disconnected is a feeling,

It may not be real.

And there may be times where you're isolated,

Isolated from other people.

We're never really isolated from nature because we are of this earth,

Right?

We're never isolated from the universe because we are of this universe.

So again,

Different ways of thinking of things and it's all about perspective because changing perspective changes possibilities.

As we think of being of the earth,

We breathe in oxygen,

It's outside of us,

It's in the air.

It comes inside of us and becomes us,

Right?

This thing,

This outward presence,

The outside becomes part of us.

We are part of the air.

As we exhale,

Carbon dioxide comes out and it becomes part of the air and plants use it,

Right?

So we're not separate.

It could go over so many of these things.

We drink the water,

We eat the food,

Right?

We process it,

It becomes us.

And what we don't need,

We release and it goes back in,

Right?

It's this whole cycle of life,

Kind of crazy stuff.

So we are never connected.

We are part of this bigger system.

So if you consider yourself in the center of everything,

Right?

And it's a perspective of choosing to remember you're connected.

And I'm not saying you feel this way all the time 24-7,

But this is a tool that you can use when you're feeling disconnected,

When you're not feeling grounded,

When you're feeling alone.

There may be areas of your life where you're less connected or your relationships are not as stable.

And when it's like that,

It's really hard to manage your diabetes.

Let's just put it that way.

When you're not in balance,

When you're not in the center of your world,

When you're doing things for everybody but yourself,

Lord,

There's not enough energy to do the work,

Get the food,

Check the blood sugar,

You know,

It just gets really,

Really hard.

And then guess what?

We're stressed out and that impacts our blood sugars and we can get into this crazy spiral.

So if you're going to get in a spiral,

In a circle,

Be in a circle of patient-centered or person-centered care where you are the middle,

Where your needs,

Your ideas,

Your beliefs are primary,

Right?

What you need.

And if you can be in that place,

It becomes so much easier to take care of self,

To do the work,

To feel like you want to do the XYZ that you need to do.

So each of us all know there's things we can improve on.

We do,

Right?

And there's that.

There's things we can improve on and there's weird stuff that happens.

So yesterday,

I have been in a cleaning frenzy mode and I don't know how I did it and I've been on a pump for 20 years and I've done this maybe a couple of times.

But yesterday somehow my cannula came out.

I don't know when and where or how.

I ate lunch,

Gave myself insulin.

As I was working throughout the day,

I just felt dizzy a little bit.

I'm like,

It's hot,

Whatever.

Finally ended up several hours later checking my blood sugar.

It was nearly 500 and that's when I noticed that my cannula had come out.

And so I took care of it.

I had to sit.

I had to quit the chores.

I had to drink and hydrate and just let myself feel.

But that relationship with my equipment,

With the world,

With what I needed,

With what I thought was important to my chores,

I had to put me back in the center and look at what me needed.

And me needed to go sit down and drink a lot of water,

Check my blood sugar and make sure that people were around that could check in on me.

So I guess consider yourself in the center of it all,

The doctor,

The meds,

The world,

The environment,

The emotions,

All of it.

And from that center of empowerment and purpose.

That's where we can find energy in the next steps.

We can also,

So a lot of that is mental gymnastics.

The other thing I'll leave you with is we can feel the connection.

You know,

Sometimes you just have to look outside and watch the sun and you feel connected to something greater than yourself.

You know at the very end of the day,

Assume your place of authority in your life because you are the authority of your life,

Right?

You are in charge of you.

Okay,

So that was kind of our talk on who's in your circle,

Right?

So just to recap,

Your circle is your environment,

People,

Providers,

Mechanics,

Medicine,

Emotions,

Body,

Mind,

Spirit,

And we are connected to all these parts of us.

Thank you,

Cares.

And we have relationships with all those parts of us.

And if we think of it like that,

It's good.

It gives us perspective and new ideas on how to change.

So the last part of this,

We're going to do a meditation.

And if you've heard me before,

This will be repetitive,

But your body functions in two realms of your autonomic nervous system,

The part of your nervous system that you're not aware of.

One is your sympathetic nervous system,

Which is fight or flight,

And that includes worry.

And that is outside looking at things,

What's going on,

What's happening,

Processing,

A lot of busy work.

And in our culture,

We have ample time for that.

The balance of the sympathetic nervous system is the parasympathetic nervous system.

That's half of your autonomic nervous system.

Again,

You don't know when any of these are happening.

You can't really turn them on.

They just happen.

Your parasympathetic side is rest,

Restore,

Renew,

Regenerate,

It's maintenance mode.

And so if we spend a lot of time in worry,

Which we do in our world,

Most of us,

Then we need to also spend time as a therapeutic modality in this parasympathetic state.

So relaxing,

Finding peace,

Finding calmness,

Because that's when your body can turn its resources from outward and protecting to inward and restoring.

So that's what we're going to do next.

So the next part is lusciousness,

It's indulgence.

All you have to do is sit back and listen.

Maybe think about who's in your circle.

And we'll gather once more and do some breathing together.

Breathing is the only vital sign as a nurse,

But I always have to throw some clinical stuff at you,

But it's the only vital sign you can control.

So we can't really control our heart rate,

Can't make it,

Most of us can unless you're a really good meditator.

I can't control my blood pressure.

There's a lot of things.

Those just happen and there's,

You know,

We can do some things.

But literally my breathing,

I can decide how many times I want to breathe per minute.

Mostly it's automatic,

But we can control that.

So it's a link between both sides of these,

Your somatic nervous system,

Which is the part where you do it on purpose,

And your autonomic nervous system is the part where you don't do that.

We can also use breathing connect,

Using breathing to transition,

Excuse me,

From our sympathetic fight or flight 911,

Yah,

Crazy world,

To our parasympathetic.

So we'll do that to get started.

Okay,

So I need to kind of transition myself.

So I hope you all are comfortable.

Thanks Brooke.

I'm glad that's helping.

Yes,

Breathing.

It's cool.

So I,

Let's gather first.

So we'll just stop,

Pause.

We have a lot of people together.

So I just want to,

I want you to close your eyes and imagine yourself among this group,

Among these people who know something that you know,

Who experience life a little bit the way you do,

Who have to deal with blood sugar,

Glucose control,

Trying to live with an organ in a system that's offline a little bit or a lot.

So as we gather,

We connect to each other's energy because together we are more than we are separate,

And we are connected from an energetic level,

From a mindfulness level,

From an experiential level,

Because we're all here.

So as we gather in this space,

We promote each other,

We support each other,

And we are going to shift over and do some goodness.

So we'll start with,

I've done this a lot,

My favorite one is called polyvagal breathing.

Your vagus nerve stimulates your heart rate and your blood pressure.

And when we do this breathing intentionally and on purpose,

It helps to slow things down and shift from sympathetic fight or flight to parasympathetic rest and restore,

And then we'll do the rest of the meditation.

Okay so,

When we do polyvagal breathing,

It's breathing in and out intentionally through your nose,

And we pay attention to the airflow in the back of our throat,

Up in our nose,

Coming down,

Just we're mindful of it tracking that way,

That helps to stimulate some of the nerves.

And we also breathe out twice as long as we breathe in.

So if we breathe in for a count of four,

We breathe out for a count of eight,

That's my practice.

Sometimes three and six feel better,

Two and four might be a little bit much,

But if you need to adjust,

You can do so.

And I'll count,

And you know,

It's relaxing,

So full breaths in,

Don't try to hold your breath,

Breathe with your body,

Let your ribs flare,

Let air get in,

And then breathe out through your nose,

And again,

Let go of whatever doesn't serve you.

So we're going to do that and get started.

So if you are comfortable,

Relax,

Know you're safe.

And we'll do some breathing.

So as you get started,

Relax your shoulders,

Swallow,

Relax your throat,

Relax your jaw,

Close your eyes,

Relax the space between your eyes,

Let your arms and legs become loose,

Heavy,

Warm,

And we'll breathe together.

So breathe in,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Breathe out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight.

Breathe in goodness,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Exhale anything you don't need,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

In,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

In,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight.

Feeling relaxed,

Letting go,

Focusing on your breath,

In and out through your nose,

In,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

In,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

In,

Two,

Three,

Four,

And out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight.

Last one,

In,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight.

Okay,

Just relax,

Let your breath flow naturally and easily.

Again,

We're focusing on connectedness,

Being part of a circle,

A sphere,

Not being alone.

We started with an intention and I'll repeat it.

And the intention is,

May you remember you are connected.

May you remember you are of this world.

And may you remember your strength.

I'll start with a few affirmations and you can say these aloud or you can say them in your head,

But repeat them after I state them.

So I am here.

I am breathing.

I am alive.

I am safe.

I am connected.

I am empowered.

I am on purpose.

I am ready.

I am willing.

I am able.

I am lovable.

I am powerful.

I am in charge of me.

So the next part,

We'll do a guided meditation and I'm gonna take you through the different parts of your body.

Because this is about diabetes,

We focus on some of the most common places that diabetes may show complications,

But it certainly is beneficial to anyone.

You don't have to be diabetic to understand and enjoy this.

So I want you to think inward and I'm gonna transition you from the different levels and layers of your body really into a very inner deep space.

So I want you to remember that you are connected and part of your body.

And your body is part of nature,

It exists here.

Just notice your body right now.

Notice after the breathing how you feel relaxed.

Notice where your body is.

Notice the parts of your body,

The physical parts of your body,

The experience of the parts of your body.

You as a physical presence are here in this space,

In this time,

And it's not an accident.

You're also connected and part of your mind.

The mind that processes,

Remembers,

Makes relationships,

Makes decisions.

You can watch these thoughts in the activity of your mind.

You can see them perhaps on the screen in your mind's eye or floating by on a river.

You are also part of your energy body.

Energy can be thought about as a wave.

We are nothing but waves.

We think of our vision,

Light waves hitting our eyes.

We think of our hearing and sound,

Sound waves hitting our eardrums being turned into information.

We think of brain waves.

We think of electrical activity in our nervous system,

Waves in our heart,

Our heart muscles.

We can look at EMGs and look at waves in our muscles.

We can look at energy at a very minute level,

The cellular level.

We are part of this energy.

So if you notice and pay attention,

Notice the aliveness in you.

Notice the energy in you.

As you notice your physical body,

As you notice your mind,

Notice your energy.

As you notice your energy,

You may find that it has no boundaries.

It exists beyond your skin.

It exists inside of you.

It exists in your hands and your feet.

Even though these waves are not seen,

We are experiencing them.

And at our smallest level,

At the quantum level,

We are the tension.

We are waves.

We are information.

We also have and are connected to part of us that is our knowing.

Somehow these thoughts and ideas are connected to a knowing.

Maybe you could call the knowing instinct.

You could call it your higher power.

You could call it wisdom.

You could call it possibility.

But there is knowing within us that's part of us and we are connected to this knowing.

And sometimes it gives us an idea out of the blue.

The center of all these experiences is the center of the self that recognizes the body,

Sees the mind,

That feels the energy,

And understands the knowledge and wisdom.

And that's really the center of who you are,

The experiential,

The awareness that lives within you.

So from that place of awareness,

We're going to journey through our body.

This time we're going to start at our feet,

The furthest place away,

The most remote part of your body.

From the perspective of awareness,

Of noticing,

Noticing our feet,

Our feet that even though they're the farthest away,

They're still connected.

They're connected to the nervous system.

They're connected to your vasculature that brings blood and other nutrition and fluids.

It's connected to your immune system.

It's connected to your brain that moves and wiggles and steps and guides you forward.

And from this place of connectedness,

Even if we don't know how,

We can unleash and direct our resources at healing because right now our body does not need to look outward.

We have time and energy to focus on the inward.

Your feet that may feel tired or impaired from higher blood sugars over time,

Allow your body to flow energy,

Healing,

Light and peace to your feet.

Let that light and peace move up your legs,

Bringing immune products,

Encouraging growth,

Opening up new blood vessels,

Removing debris,

Waste products that shouldn't be there,

Remembering what it was like when you were younger.

The body knows and remembers.

The energy that's inside of you,

The wisdom that's inside of you knows.

All you have to do is allow it to happen because you're connected to all these places.

You up your feet on your knees and your legs,

Allowing this healing,

This awareness,

This aliveness to be in you,

Allowing repair and restoration and maintenance to flow wherever it needs in your lower extremities,

Traveling upwards to your reproductive organs,

Which connects you to your future,

Connected to your past,

How you came to be from others.

It's connected to hormones that flow throughout every part of your body.

It's the aliveness and the energy that makes you who you are.

Bless these areas.

Allow healing,

Restoration,

Blood,

Energy,

Peace.

Continuing upward to our digestive tract,

That's connected to the outside and inside of this world in so many ways.

We eat from the outside,

From nature,

From food,

From water.

We partake.

It becomes us and we let go of what we no longer need,

Pushing it back into nature.

Pay attention to the areas of your digestion.

Imagine smooth and rhythmic waves blowing across your abdomen,

Relieving any pain,

Discomfort,

Flooding your digestive tract,

Your intestines,

Your stomach with immune properties,

With information to grow the most healthiest bacteria and biome because you are more than just your tissues and cells.

Your digestive tract is full of its own creation.

You are connected to the bacteria.

You're connected to the muscles.

You're connected to the wisdom in your gut,

The brain that tells you you're hungry,

That provides information and clarity.

Breathe deeply.

Let your belly fill.

And again,

From a place of wisdom and knowing,

Direct your resources where they may be needed to heal,

Repair,

Calm,

And nourish all the aspects of your digestion.

Move upward above your belly button,

Nestled in right in the middle,

Beneath your breastbone,

Your pancreas.

Your pancreas,

Which even though it struggles,

Maybe doesn't get the job done,

Is connected.

It is part of you.

It is flesh of your flesh.

It is part of your body.

It helps with digestion.

In some capacity,

It helps with glucose regulation.

Often,

When we live with diabetes,

Just the beta cells don't work and many other aspects still do.

All those hormones and enzymes that are created influence and care for other parts of your body.

Imagine light and energy around your pancreas.

And once again,

Give yourself permission for healing to occur,

For resources and energy,

For kindness and blessing to wash over this area of your body.

Move next to your liver,

The right upper quadrant of your abdomen,

Tucked under your ribs.

I'm not sure I could tell you all the ways the liver is connected to the many functions and systems of your body,

But it's an organ of ultimate importance.

It helps with glucose regulation.

It helps remove toxins.

It helps your blood to clot.

There are many,

Many other functions.

It's a very miraculous organ.

It's connected and its impact reaches every cell of your body,

No matter where.

These organs are connected in a system.

Breathe and relax,

Once again,

Blessing,

Allowing light and fullness and blood flow to perfuse your liver,

Healing,

Mending,

Repairing,

Bringing glucose back into regulation,

Monitoring all the different functions and systems,

Bringing them online in perfect harmony.

Just behind the liver,

Both sides of your back,

Under your ribs,

Are your kidneys.

You have one on either side,

Safely protected by your ribs.

Your kidneys also are impacted and connected to all of you.

When we think of kidneys,

We think of urine production and filtration.

Not that is true.

It is that.

They also impact your blood pressure,

Which is,

Again,

Every aspect of your whole cell.

Your kidneys have enormous amounts of blood flow.

They help regulate glucose,

But they can also suffer from high levels of glucose.

So now,

Imagine,

Give permission,

And let healing energy flow through your kidneys,

Immune products,

Cell division,

Nutrition,

Enzyme.

Disconnective tissue,

Protein,

Whatever is necessary to repair and restore function,

Because right now,

Your body's resources are geared towards repair and maintenance and not fighting the world.

Your kidneys can relax,

Open,

Receive,

Allow flow,

And set the tempo for a calmness that washes over your body.

We're going to travel all the way up to the throat next.

The throat,

Where your voice comes,

Where your breath enters,

Where you have hormone production,

Many,

Many functions.

Your throat is the connection from your head to your torso,

From your ideas to your physical self.

It's a gateway for many,

Many processes in your head and your body.

Swallow and relax.

Give yourself permission to let go of the things that you hold tight in your throat.

Know that you have the courage to speak what you need to speak.

Know that swallowing is a way for the outside to become inside.

It's a connection between you and nature.

It's your gateway.

Again,

Bathe this area of your body with good thoughts,

With care,

With love,

With flow,

With easy breath.

Expelling energy with exhales,

Bringing in clean energy with inhales.

Continue upward to your brain,

The center of your mind,

The huge center of the network of nervous system that touches every cell in your body.

From your brain,

Your nerves connect,

Travel down,

Large nerves to every part of your body,

Communicating,

Directing,

Assimilating,

Understanding,

Processing,

Remembering,

Forecasting,

All through electrical waves and small electrolytes moving back and forth on cells and gaps between nerve endings.

Your brain,

Miraculous.

How it interprets our world and what we know of our world,

The physical world,

Comes through the brain's processing from our senses.

Connection between body and mind because our mind seems to exist in our brain,

But it's part of our body and it's full of energy and it's also an area of wisdom and knowing.

Allow a wave of calm and peacefulness to pass over your brain,

Releasing tension,

Letting go of anxiety,

Opening blood flow,

Calming pain,

Giving your brain a chance to step back and notice,

To assimilate and understand,

To receive its own healing,

To direct all that happens within you.

Bless your brain,

Offer it gratitude,

And next we move on to our eyes,

The orbs,

The pathway to our soul that is lined in the back with a retina that has tiny,

Tiny blood vessels that can often be impacted by high glucose levels.

Throughout our lifetime,

If you live with diabetes,

We worry about our eyes,

We check our eyes.

So right now there is no worry.

We just allow our body to do what it knows how to do,

To offer healing,

Restoration,

Improvement,

Our eyes that bring in the world as we see it,

That once again connect the outside world to our inside world,

That paint the picture of our experience.

So,

Let's take a moment to just linger,

Notice,

Relax,

Receive.

And lastly,

Move your attention to your heart,

Your heart which is one of the most connected organs that you have,

That started beating when you heard very,

Very,

Very small hazel that's connected to your nervous system,

That's connected to every part of your body through your vasculature and blood flow,

That feeds the mind,

That produces radiating energy,

Not only of the body,

But of the mind and the spirit.

Your heart emits energy.

We can see it on an EKG,

We can see the little waves and winds,

We can feel another person's heart.

Even if we don't know how,

We get a sense,

We tap into that wisdom,

Our knowing self,

We tap into the energy self,

This unending beating of our heart which connects us and connects every cell in our body,

And the shared experience connects us to every person.

You are connected,

Every organ in your body,

Every cell in your body,

Every experience you've had,

Every thought,

Every idea has influenced someone somewhere.

Your energy radiates out from you,

Your mood,

How you feel,

What you believe.

Your knowing and wisdom connects you to far beyond realms of information.

Even if we don't understand it,

There's so much information out there.

I like to think of it like a cell phone.

We don't know how the pictures,

The images and words really get into our phone,

But there they are.

And somehow between being sent and received,

They were waves.

Those waves are all around us,

Connecting us.

Those waves of energy can offer healing and restoration in your head.

We just need to remember and allow and relax and surrender.

So as we wrap this meditation,

Once again,

Think about who's in your circle.

Who are you connected to?

What are you connected to?

Who's in charge of those connections?

Is it you or someone else?

The relationship between yourself and your body,

Yourself and your mind,

Yourself and your energy,

Yourself and your knowing,

Yourself and your technology,

Yourself and your glucose levels.

From this place of your inner peace and knowing,

We'll send out a message of stable and healthy blood sugar levels that you are called to act in ways that improve your glucose control,

That you are aware of things that are best for you and yourself,

That you can find and tap into the energy to do the work that's necessary,

And that your body is open to receiving healing,

Good blood sugar control,

Normalization,

Balance,

And health.

Linger in this space for a moment.

Notice how you feel.

Feel the aliveness in you,

Perhaps a tingle,

A warmth.

Notice who and what you feel connected to,

Self,

Others,

Nature,

The universe,

The people on this call,

Your blood sugar levels.

Just notice.

From this place of peace,

You are in a parasympathetic and healing state because your body is not worried about rescue and repair.

You can focus inward using your resources,

Your energy,

And nourishment to better your physical body.

As we wrap,

We'll repeat the affirmations we began with.

Once again,

Say them in your mind or say them out loud,

I am here.

I am breathing.

I am alive.

I am safe.

I am connected.

I am empowered.

I am on purpose.

I am ready.

I am willing.

I am able.

I am strong.

I am in charge of me.

I am at the center of my circle.

Begin to shift your attention from your inner person to the outer world.

Focus on your senses.

Notice the sounds.

Blink open your eyes.

Swallow and taste.

Notice your skin,

Your sensations.

Move your hands and feet.

Come back to present.

Thank yourself for doing something indulgent and healthy and healing,

Which was nothing but listening and relaxing,

But it is so important.

You did something very nice for yourself tonight.

I wish you health and healing and happy blood sugars about that.

Thanks my Diabeties.

See you next time.