All posts by Michael

Post #3: Transforming Diabetes/The Journey Begins

Perhaps, you have accepted diabetes.

Perhaps, you cannot or will not.

Perhaps, you feel you are somewhere in the middle; You are “on it” sometimes and just don’t want to deal with it at other times.

If you are this far into “Transforming Diabetes” then you have agreed to make “your” diabetes the number one priority for the next 21 days. You may be asking….Why 21 days??  It has been shown in cognitive behavior psychology that it takes 21 days to shift physically, mentally and emotionally from one perspective to the next.

This process is about confronting a chronic condition head on.

When we do this we will are in proper alignment and we create the environment for change, growth, transformation, transcendence, illumination, revelation, healing…A CURE! Continue reading Post #3: Transforming Diabetes/The Journey Begins

Post #2: Transforming Diabetes/Orientation

First of all a little more about your host or guide.  My name is Michael.  I grew up in Upstate NY and am the oldest of four children.  I have a brother and two sisters.  My childhood was good. I did well in school and played soccer and hockey.

Diagnosed at age 14 and in ninth grade.

Parents came back from a vacation and found me incredibly thirsty and peeing all the time.

Father, a doctor, became suspicious and sent me to my doctor for blood tests.

Normal blood sugar is between 75 to 120 mg/dl.

I was in the 500’s.

Admitted into the hospital.  Weight had dropped from 126 to 99 pounds in three days. Body had lost a lot of water and was breaking down.

After a few days of insulin injections gained it all back.

Spent a week in the hospital.

Was released on Thanksgiving day 1976.

Cruel Joke???

Continue reading Post #2: Transforming Diabetes/Orientation

Post #1: Transforming Diabetes/Introduction

Transforming Diabetes (TD) seeks to ease the suffering that the diagnosis and daily management of diabetes creates.

 

TD utilizes a yogic and a systems approach 

 

 

 

 

Transforming Diabetes is intended to be informative, enlightening and useful.

Any discussion of diet, insulin, exercise or what to do, or how to do it are what I have done to transform my diabetes and achieve balanced blood sugar.  You should make no change in diet, insulin or exercise unless you feel comfortable doing so and/or consulting with your doctor. Continue reading Post #1: Transforming Diabetes/Introduction

Advanced Pump Training Seminar

Occasionally, Animas Corporation puts on free seminars about the insulin pump or about diabetes in general. Today I attended one of those seminars. In attendance was an older man who liked to talk about his experiences, One lady who has had diabetes for about 12 years, two moms and an eight year old boy newly diagnosed (last 6 months). The seminar was to be on advanced pump training. We covered a little bit on that but, as usual, my attention was directed to the person who needed the most acute assistance. And that was the boy. I felt so much empathy for his mother and the other mom who was there to get as much information as they could. There is so much to know. The context that is given people is more useful to the medical profession than it is to the people who need to deal with diabetes every day. I have been searching for a way to develop this context. I got a flash of insight as I was driving home from the class. All of my yoga, meditation and “spiritual” study and work have revealed to me that diabetes is a disease that mirrors disharmony. The disharmony in ourselves, our family and our society. The whole object of the game we must play as diabetics is to manually create harmony. Yoga, meditation and spiritual endeavor lights the path for this game and may be the ingredients needed to create a more useful context for all the knowledge and skill that must be acquired to become a master of the game. As with life so with diabetes. I gave the two moms my blog site and hope they get to read some of the posts on diabetes.

Yoga Update

It has been awhile since I have written a post here. I went into a kind of funk and did not feel much like writing. So here it goes. I have made a change in my yoga practice. For ten years I had been going to a Bikram Studio. For the past three years I have supplemented that with yoga teacher training at Kripalu. Even though I was training in Kripalu my practice stayed with Bikram. Well, I have moved on from from Bikram. I am now a member of a yoga Shala (school) called Anuttara. Their website is anuttarayoga.com. The yoga room is beautiful and the head teacher is amazing. He is filled with knowledge about the history and philosophy of yoga. The classes are dynamic and focus on opening up the hips and upper body strength. There is a lot of vinyasa flow with sun and moon salutations. This type of yoga is more aligned with Kripalu. The Shala is becoming certified to be a training center for teachers. The first teacher training is scheduled for March. I am considering participating in this training.