Although diabetes management technology has rapidly improved in the last 20 years, 50% of adults with type 1 and type 2 struggle to get their A1c's under 7.0%, an essential metric for offsetting diabetes risk-factors, like co-morbidities and mental health issues. Even with optimal A1c's, many are at risk for developing anxiety and depressive disorders and a reduction in quality of life.
We do not need more technology or diabetes education; we need self-awareness and adaptability. We need to know how to bring our energy back up when tired from highs and lows, calm ourselves down when stressed, and train our nervous system so that diabetes doesn't take quite a toll when we are off-balance. It is not up to our healthcare providers to teach us this. It is up to us. Perhaps this is why the stats for co-morbid disorders and mental health issues are staggering. We rely too much on external factors like an A1c rather than internal factors like a vested interest in creating inner harmony. But hope is not lost. Radical change starts right here with you, taking time to prioritize healing. Just as we would prioritize eating well, administering medicine, and exercise, making time every day to breathe, reflect and go inwards empowers you to change your relationship to diabetes and, consequently, to yourself. Start with one thing. One thing every day. Meditate, journal, walk without headphones. But stick with it for 40 days, non-negotiably. See how the change happens.
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Meditation is widely acknowledged to influence both functional and physiological aspects of the brain. But we cannot receive its benefits without proper training. Perhaps this is why so many people fail, give up, or do not maintain consistency when it comes to daily meditation.
The ancients recognized this, and so they developed preparatory practices to give the mind something to focus on, identify with, and eventually dis-identify, dropping into the flow-state. You could think of it as "tricking" the mind, but it's influencing your attention. A skill that meditation trains us to do off of the cushion as well. In a 2015 NIH study, participants who underwent a three-week mindfulness-based meditation program evidenced enhanced compassion and altruism. Last night, I recorded one of my absolute favorite preparatory practices that will surely drop you into a deeper state of experience. In this practice, we use a body scan, the chakras, and mantra to arrive in the state of meditation. For beginners: use this as a stand-alone practice. For intermediate/advanced: use as preparation, staying an extra ten minutes with the mantra so-hum. The first 5 minutes are explanation + mini-lecture. When I first began yoga three years after my T1D diagnosis, I thought yoga was solely about fitness. At the time, I struggled with my weight, binge eating when I was high and low and was a total emotional rollercoaster. I was extremely self-conscious and uncomfortable in my body. So I went to yoga to get fit, and I did.
Even as I gained greater flexibility and strength, the baby fat melted off, and I felt more confident in my body, I still struggled deeply to accept diabetes and stop the negative cycle of addictive behavior. Yoga postures alone could not eradicate the emotional rollercoaster and questionable actions I rationalized over and over again. I needed something more powerful to disrupt the pattern and accelerate transformation. So I went on to study the traditional origins and philosophy of yoga, tantra, its sister science of health, Ayurveda, and learned how to integrate them into a self-directed home practice that combined some movement, mostly breath, and a lot of meditation. The change was not immediate but gradual. Over time, I felt freer, less angry, and empowered to care for diabetes independently. When my energy was low, I noticed that I could do a practice to build it back up. If I was anxious, I could practice to calm myself down. I noticed that these energy qualities could be applied to specific diabetes challenges, addressing short-term needs, and reducing long-term complications. For instance: If my blood sugar was running high, I could execute a practice to improve insulin sensitivity and lower the number. Even if the number did not come down, the method helped me have more energy and vitality for the rest of my day. When I sat in meditation and witnessed my mind having a tantrum, I learned how to stay and not get involved in the chatter. This discipline informs the way I take care of diabetes today. If I test my BG and do not like what I see, I have a choice. I can freak out, blame myself, or react, or I can see the number and respond appropriately. If I still cannot figure it out, I have a practice that always nourishes my system, calms my mind, and purifies my body. I know that no matter what diabetes or life throws at me, I always have what I need. Yoga is a reliable and effective intervention strategy to reduce the stress hormones that increase insulin resistance, decrease willpower, and disrupt our body's natural ability to restore homeostasis. A skillfully sequenced practice naturally creates self-awareness, self-efficacy, and physical and mental fitness, pivotal for enhanced quality of life. Yoga, as a self-directed home practice, equips me with the skills to be aware of my needs, identify imbalances, and re-establish equilibrium. I am passionate about teaching others positive coping tools and strategies to offset the physiological and emotional burden of diabetes. Next Wednesday at 6:00-7:00p MST, I am hosting a FREE Diabetes Masterclass: Creating a Self-Care Ritual at Home. You'll learn:
What is personal practice? It is a ritualized self-care practice that attends both to your physical and mental wellbeing. A combination of breathwork, meditation, yoga nidra, and journaling are all excellent examples of yoga therapy. It's a time without exertion, without stimulation, where you drop-in to yourself.
We have no lack of resources for guided practice, but a lot of the support is...drab and dull. There is nothing more gratifying than executing your sadhana. You are your own best teacher. In this video, I'll bring you into my home and tell you about my top four tips for starting a home practice. Now, more than ever, we need to trust in our ability to be the healer. If you need extra support, feel free to reach out to me directly. Schedule a free 15-minute call with Evan Do you ever experience moments of intense anxiety and panic? I have heard from so many of you that you need emotional support tools right now. It's chaotic out there, and with so much uncertainty and change, it is NORMAL to feel overwhelmed. I get it. Over the last year, I've had to rapidly change how my business operates from having a thriving in-person yoga therapy clinic in Aspen to a nearly 100% online business while writing my first book and having major back surgery. I would be lying to you if I told you that I hadn't felt panic. It is normal to feel fear and doubt; they are powerful survival emotions. The problem is when these emotions are left unresolved, they can bottle up and create panic attacks where we feel trapped in the intensity of our feelings. Why it's essential to develop the skill of self-regulation, our power to change the way we think, feel, and act! Our bodies want nothing more than to achieve optimal balance. When we feel overwhelmed and anxious about life, our biology responds the same way it would be running for its life, producing fast-acting stress hormones to signal an immediate fight-or-flight response. These hormones increase:
AND damage our adaptive responses to stress. Whether you have diabetes or improve your health and performance, building your resilience includes self-regulation during those moments of panic. This short video shows you a brief and straightforward breathing technique that is my GO-TO STRATEGY when I am experiencing panic and overwhelm. It is a powerful lifetime tool to help you change how you feel and reduce the fear of what is entirely out of your immediate control. Breathwork to relieve panic and fearThere's a simple answer to mastering Thanksgiving + diabetes.
Stop obsessing and start enjoying. Turkey is good for you. Vegetables are good for you. Desert is good for you (for the soul in moderation). Connection with people you love - on Zoom/proactive distance...is right for you. What is harmful is fear, anxiety, and overthinking. As long as you are doing the work most of the time, there should be no guilt involved in celebrations with food. Here's some simple strategies I implement:
Have I missed anything? Share this list with anyone who might need a reminder. I hope you all have a healthy, happy, and safe holiday! Ojas is an Ayurvedic concept that holds the key to your resilience and adaptability. It is the youth luster, the oil that lights your fire.
In this video, I'll go over what the heck is OJAS, why it is so essential to maintain, and how creating more ojas in your life can offset disease, aging, stress, and more. Learn:
join us for the COMPLETE PRACTICE-OJAS SERIES Each week we'll dive into a new element of building your ojas... Week 1 - Soothe - Oct 21 Week 2 - Nourish - Oct 28 Week 3 - Assimilate - Nov 4 COST: $20/class or $50 series Classes can be taken separately but recommended as a series. Experience Evan Soroka's renowned class: The Complete Practice. A complete practice is movement, pranayama, meditation AND self-reflection. Not all yoga is yoga unless it is complete. This week's video is the culmination of a 4-week series on PRANA with MANTRA at the HEART. Evan will guide you through a subtle body journey weaving science and tradition into the direct experience of the heart. The heart in tradition is considered the second brain, the seat of all intelligence and knowing. The heart and the mind are separate entities; quiet the mind to access the heart.
Join Evan for her next series OJAS - The Life Nectar It is no secret that diabetes is stressful and that stress can negatively impact metabolic control. The ADA recommends an A1c under 7.0% to reduce the onset of diabetes-associated complications. In the USA today:
1) Stress hormones increase insulin resistance. 2) Stress decreases diabetes-care. The majority of diabetes care is self-care. It's not like you go to the doctor 2-3 times a year, they give you a pill and poof...diabetes is under control. If you have diabetes, you are in charge of the outcomes. Ironically achieving optimal blood glucose numbers can be stressful in itself. Despite your efforts, you still cannot tame your numbers. It is no wonder that people with diabetes are 50% more likely to develop anxiety disorders and depression. Changing our stress response is at the heart of improving metabolic control and quality of life with diabetes. Yogic-based practices can be a potential antidote to resolve the stress crisis. Practices like yoga-nidra, pranayama, and meditation are perfect tools to maintain a daily rest ritual. Studies show that relaxation training can:
Education about the importance of relaxation with diabetes is not enough to reap the benefits. Think about how many times you've done something today that's not in the best interest of diabetes? Our patterns are hard-wired. To truly make a shift, it has to apply to YOUR LIFE. I want to help you do that. In this video, learn one of my top 3 strategies to induce a relaxation response anytime and anywhere. I want to know your BIGGEST diabetes STRESSORS. Please SHARE your experience in the comments below! Alleviate diabetes stress naturally with yoga, breathing, yoga nidra and meditationI want to show you a simple and effective diabetes recovery strategy to bounce back after any blood glucose swing that no one is talking about at the doctor's office. One way to define resilience is by our ability to return baseline whenever there's a deficit. When it comes to building diabetes resilience, it is essential to apply recovery strategies to recuperate the energy lost so that you can go back to life feeling more vibrant, present, and capable. For instance, if you are running high or just experienced an intense low, there's an invisible after-effect from those extremes. It taxes our neuroendocrine responses, alters perception, performance, and vitality for hours even after numbers have returned to normal. Not feeling your best because of the wear-and-tear on our body's adaptive responses can make you depleted and moody. Over the longer duration of diabetes, it can give rise to anxiety and depressive symptoms, negativing impacting quality of life. There's no cure for diabetes, so no matter how well you've got it under control, we're all going to have moments like these. So it is best to apply strategies during and after these episodes to give our bodies and minds a chance to reset. One of the main tools that I use personally and prescribe for my clients is a regular yoga nidra practice. Yoga nidra means "yogic sleep," but another way of looking at it is "sleep with a trace of awareness." The practice helps individuals create a supportive state of deep physical, mental, and emotional relaxation. In the state of yoga nidra, there is simultaneous relaxation and detachment, resulting in a profound reset on all planes of one's being. Yoga nidra is scientifically proven to reduce stress and anxiety, lower blood pressure, reduce A1c levels in T2D, decrease depressive symptoms, and improve sleep. Studies have also shown that yoga nidra interventions improve feelings of happiness, enthusiasm, being more alert and inspired, active, having clarity of thought, control over anger, and self-confidence (1) In the attached link, you can access a free yoga nidra for diabetes. You'll learn how to:
Yoga nidra for diabetes healing |
AuthorEvan Rachel Soroka Archives
November 2021
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