It’s A Wonderful Life: Taking Care During the Holidays Journaling Workshop

holiday bells and lights

Lacuna Loft is excited to bring back this special holiday program!

It’s a Wonderful Life: Taking Care during the Holidays

A 6 week journaling workshop for young adult cancer patients and survivors

“It’s beginning to look a lot like” an even busier time of year! The holiday season brings nostalgia (like a favorite song), connection to family and friends and an undercurrent of expectation. There can be an added layer of managing expectations to be positive and happy – even in the middle of treatment or when everyone appears to look “fine” when, inside, they are not.

Finding peace between the wrapping paper and the stuffing is within reach! Led by Jean Rowe, LCSW, join us for a 6-week holiday journal writing workshop to design a plan to lower stress, create or reconnect with meaningful traditions, and decorate your soul with a little TLC.

Where: Online video chat. We’ll send you more information about joining after you register. Please have a microphone headset and a webcam.

Who: Young adult cancer patients and survivors.

When: The journaling group will start on Thursday, November 5th @ 3 pm PT / 5 pm CT / 6 pm ET and meets on Sundays for 2 hours each week, for 6 weeks*.  A commitment to attend every date is important to group continuity and in creating a safe space. Please be on time 🙂

*The journaling group will be not meet on Thanksgiving Day and will be meeting on Nov 5th, Nov 12th, Nov 19th, Dec 3rd, Dec 10th, and Dec 17th.

Click here to sign up to be notified when this program is announced by choosing it under ‘Programs you’re interested in.’ (Feel free to choose to be notified when other programs are announced too!)

The Mind, Body, And Soul Series Is Back!

sunrise over water

Join the young adult cancer communities of Dear Jack Foundation, Elephants and Tea, and Lacuna Loft during our month-long, Mind, Body, and Soul wellness series in October for an opportunity to connect, grow, and stretch!  We will be offering weekly, 90-minute sessions to help enhance the mind, body, and spirit and provide a chance to break down some of the isolation we’ve all been experiencing over the last few weeks.  Whether you are a seasoned yogi, meditator, doodle genius, or a newbie to the world of mind and body care, come and try something new in a safe, fun, and encouraging environment – your own home!

These classes will be free and hosted through Zoom and all experience levels are welcome!  You can come to one or come to all!  Sign up on the form below!

Schedule
All classes will start at 9 am PT/10 am MT/noon ET

Friday, October 9th – Soul, Zentangle with Lacuna Loft
Friday, October 16th – Body, Yoga with Dear Jack Foundation
Friday, October 23rd – Mind, Meditation with Elephants and Tea
Friday, October 30th – Halloween Mind, Body, and Soul Series Hangout

Want to learn more about each session in the Mind, Body, and Soul Series?

10.9 – Soul – Zentangle Workshop with Lacuna Loft

Join us for a short Zentangle doodle! Zentangles are the art of drawing simple shapes into repetitive, meditative patterns while creating a larger drawing, without having to worry about precision. All you’ll need is paper, a pencil, a thin black sharpie, a regular black sharpie, and a ruler! We’ll walk you through the basics, so you can then create your own, one of a kind, uniquely you Zentangle!

10.16 – Body – Yoga with Dear Jack Foundation

Let’s join together as an online commUNITY with a Slow Flow Yoga class. Yoga means union of the physical body through breath. That begins the journey inward where we can access the spirit, soul, and center of wisdom and bliss. We will take careful notice of the physical body and then connect intentionally with the breath that sustains and gives us a sense of ease. After settling in, the body will flow freely on the mat through a series of poses that will provide flexibility, strength, and connection to our true nature. We will end class with a short meditation to further develop mindfulness. This class is for everyone – all skill levels are welcome!

10.23 – Mind – Meditation with Elephants and Tea

This Meditation Session will introduce the participant to breathe and body sensing in order to tune-in and relax the mind and body. The session will be approximately 30 – 40 minutes. Participants will learn about how meditation can help reduce stress. At the end of the session, participants will be given the opportunity to ask questions of the teacher.

Angie is a Level II iRest Yoga Nidra Meditation Teacher.

10.30 – Halloween Hangout

Join Dear Jack Foundation, Elephants and Tea, and Lacuna Loft for the wrap up to our Mind, Body, Soul Digital Series in a fun and informal Happy Hour Hangout! We’ll talk about your overall month, any skills you learned during the month during the sessions, favorite moments, and opportunities for us to improve your experience. Hangout with other people who understand what it’s like to go through young adult cancer and costumes will be encouraged!

Guided Yoga Nidra Meditation with Elephants and Tea

yoga nidra

Over at Elephants and Tea, Angie Giallourakis (aka Momma G) will be leading four, guided yoga nidra meditation classes!  Each class will start at 3:30 pm PT / 5:30 pm CT / 6:30 pm ET every other Sunday starting on July 26th.  If you’d like to just join one class or join all four the choice is yours!

Sign up below to join Momma G! We look forward to seeing you! You will receive a confirmation email upon registering.

Session One: The Compassionate Heart and Your Thirty Trillion Cells – July 26th

Session Two: The Waterfall – August 9th

Session Three: Visualize Your Inner Strength – August 23rd

Session Four: Love Yourself – September 6th

Note: Each session will be approximately one hour. The session includes discussion following the group meditation for anyone interested.

To sign up, go here!

Eat, Drink, And Be Healthy

veggies

Elephants and Tea is the fabulous, young adult cancer magazine on the scene and they have been rocking awesome content since they launched earlier this year.  This article, by Marloe Esch, is no different.  Marloe talks about healthy eating through a young adult cancer experience.

What we put in our bodies can have a major impact on how we feel throughout treatment, so it’s important to think of good nutrition as part of your treatment plan, and to make it a priority.

Healthy, nutrient-rich foods help damaged cells and tissues heal, play a role in keeping your immune system strong, and can fight fatigue at a time when it can be hard to keep your energy and strength up. Wondering what this might look like? Consider the following tips to help you get started!

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You can read the rest of the article here.

You Can Tell It Anyway You Please

wall art

I recently came across this quote from one of my very favorite authors, Jandy Nelson.  She wrote my favorite book of all time (and I do a fair amount of reading…), I’ll Give You The Sun.  (Anyone here track their reading and the books they want to read on Goodreads? If you do, feel free to friend me!)  Today, I thought I’d share this nugget of wisdom from Jandy.

You can tell your story any way you damn well please.
It’s your solo.
– Jandy Nelson

Are You A Rural-Living YA Cancer Survivor?

person walking in grass

Researchers at the University of Ottawa are studying the effect that rural living might have on a young adult cancer survivor’s access to participation in health behaviors, including physical education and nutrition, and they are looking for participants!  The study is exploring if receiving 12-weeks of one-on-one personalized health coaching *online* (you knew we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to tell you about an online study!) can help rural-living young adult cancer survivors become more physically active and eat more fruits and vegetables.

Participants will be asked to:
(1) Meet 1 hour per week with a health coach online for 12 weeks
(2) Complete a short online survey at the start of the study and 12 weeks later
(3) Complete a 60-minute one-on-one discussion about the online program, either online, over the phone, or in-person.

Individuals can participate if they:
(1) Completed primary treatment for non-metastatic cancer;
(2) Are currently between 20 to 39 years of age;
(3) Live in a rural area (locations with <35,000 inhabitants);
(4) Are able to move freely without assistance;
(5) Engage in less than 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity per week
(6) Eat less than 5 portions of fruit and vegetables per day (one medium fruit is a portion);
(7) Have access to the Internet and an audio-visual device such as a webcam;
(8) Are able to read and understand English.

If you’re interested in getting more information or participating in the study, contact jenson.price@uottawa.ca or call 613-562-5800 x. 7300

Living A Manifesto

holstee manifesto

Adapting to life as a young adult cancer survivor is not easy.  The cries of do what you love and make every moment count can really be difficult to connect to when you’re not feeling well or still actively adjusting to your life post-cancer.  With this in mind, sometimes it is nice to have something to strive for…even if you need to acknowledge that there will be stepping stones along the way instead of giant leaps of progress.

A few years ago, I found this awesome manifesto from Holstee in a Seattle, WA shop.  I wanted it so badly but flying back across the country with a huge poster didn’t seem like the most logical thing to do.  The words of this manifesto resonated so deeply with me though…I was just about to leave graduate school and start Lacuna Loft.  I had a dream of a wonderful community where survivors, just like me, could come and learn to slow down yet still thrive in this new world.

A few months later, I received the life manifesto print for a gift.  It is now hanging in the Lacuna Loft office.  and.i.LOVE.it.

What kind of life manifesto do you live by?

image via

“This is your life.  Do what you love, and do it often.”

Does Sugar Feed Cancer And Other Great Questions

food spread

Whenever I see a food labeled as ‘cancer-fighting’ or anti-cancer’ I gag a little…ok, maybe a lot.  I’m a vegetarian who ran marathons before getting cancer and now I’m a vegetarian, marathon running cancer survivor so the idea that my ‘not healthy enough lifestyle or eating habits’ caused my cancer is ridiculous.  The flip side to that is that healthy eating can definitely play a role in preventing some cancers.

Well, the Ulman Foundation recently asked Jaime, a registered dietitian and certified yoga instructor, some of the questions on every cancer survivor’s mind!  She delves into sugar and cancer, organic vs. non-organic, superfoods, and more!

Check out the entire article from the Ulman Foundation here!

Want A Dose Of Daring?

man on cliff

Brene Brown, one of my very favorite authors, focuses her research on courage and vulnerability, among other things.  A few months ago, I signed up for her weekly newsletter that offers you a ‘dose of daring‘ every week in the form of a quote and a beautiful image.  I look forward to these emails every week and thought I’d share the link to sign up with you!

To get your own Dose of Daring each week, go here!