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!

Join A Month-Long Mind, Body, And Soul Series

mind body spirit series

Join the young adult cancer communities of the Dear Jack Foundation, Elephants and Tea, and Lacuna Loft during our month-long, Mind, Body, and Soul wellness series in May 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, or writer, 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
Thursday, May 7th at 9 am PT/10 am MT/noon ET – Mind, Body, and Spirit Wellness Series Intro Happy Hour Hangout
Thursday, May 14th at 9 am PT/10 am MT/noon ET – Creative Writing with Mallory Casperson
Thursday, May 21st at 9 am PT/10 am MT/noon ET – Slow Flow Yoga with Tara Picklo
Thursday, May 28th at 9 am PT/10 am MT/noon ET – Meditation with Angie Giallourakis

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

5/7 Mind, Body, and Spirit Wellness Series Intro Happy Hour Hangout

Join Dear Jack Foundation, Elephants and Tea, and Lacuna Loft for the kickoff to our Mind, Body, Soul Digital Series in a fun and informal Happy Hour Hangout! We’ll talk about the AYA cancer community, each of the great organizations bringing you the Mind, Body, Soul Series, what you can expect at each session, and more! Hangout with other people who understand what it’s like to go through young adult cancer.

5/14 Mind: Writing Workshop hosted by Lacuna Loft

The Writing Workshop Session will take the group through some purposeful journaling! Many of us, while going through a crisis such as young adult cancer, find writing out our thoughts, fears, or emotions to be very helpful. Sometimes though, sitting down to write can seem overwhelming. Together, we’ll go through 2 short writes, responding to writing prompts in 5-minute intervals and then reading out loud if desired. Join a group of young adult cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers in a writing workshop!

5/21 Body: Yoga hosted by 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!

5/28 Soul: Meditation hosted by 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.

A Gabfest? Join Us For A Gabfest!

confetti

Elephants and Tea and Lacuna Loft are partnering together on a week-long, online conference…

YA Cancer Gabfest: A Week of Interactive Survivorship Crash Courses for Facing Cancer.  Come spill tea with us no matter where you are!

Throughout the week of December 7th, we’ll offer opportunities to connect with other young adults facing cancer in webinars, hangouts, interactive sessions, chances for movement, and more. We are busy behind the scenes getting everything squared away but in the meantime, we want to hear from you!

Please fill out this quick survey and let us know what sorts of courses, discussions, topics, you name it, you want to have!

Today We Are Taking Over Elephants And Tea Instagram

elephants and tea

Lacuna Loft has been working with Elephants and Tea for a while now, first on some of their awesome content and then on a fabulous event we’ll be announcing in the next few months (eek! so excited about this!), and today we are taking over their Instagram!

We’ll be talking everything Lacuna Loft, what programs are happening this month, and what you can expect in the coming months from our online programs!  Check out Elephants and Tea’s Instagram!

Moving Connection Online

people on cell phones

Elephants and Tea is the fabulous, young adult cancer magazine on the scene and they have been rocking awesome content since they launched last year.  This article, by our CEO Mallory Casperson, is no different.  Mallory talks about being isolated in rural American while going through a young adult cancer experience.

Meeting other young adults who have faced cancer in-person is ideal but what if that isn’t possible? What about those young adult cancer survivors who are isolated, inpatient in the hospital following a bone marrow transplant? What about those young adult cancer survivors living rurally and potentially hundreds of miles from the nearest cancer center? What about those young adult cancer survivors treated at a hospital where there is no recognition of young adult and therefore no age-appropriate resources? In these situations and countless others, in order to remove financial, geographic, and medical barriers to survivorship care, offering supportive programming online is imperative. In these situations, online communities can offer that much needed connection to someone who understands what a survivor is facing.

It is not enough to just survive cancer.

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You can read the rest of the article 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.

My Name Is Steve And I Am A Drug Addict

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 Steve Giallourakis, is no different.  Steve talks candidly about his cancer experience and his drug addiction.

What is your strongest memory? I don’t mean your favorite memory. I mean your strongest. The type of memory that creeps to the front of your mind when you’re alone. The type when it’s quiet and you feel as if you can hear the actual memory trying to get loose and be heard.

For me it was a day that I had 5mg (milligrams) of morphine pushed straight into my heart (Editor’s Note: The morphine injected into Steven’s body was through his mediport in order to rapidly relieve him of severe pain). I don’t recall anything other then how it made me feel: a sensation that every cell in my body was feeling pure ecstasy. That is all I remember. This is my strongest memory.

This is what crawls back into my mind when it’s quiet. It is my memory that I feel scratching at the inside of my head begging to be remembered. This memory has affected me more than I would have ever cared to admit, until now.

My name is Steven Giallourakis and I am a drug addict.

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You can read the rest of the article here.

Dear Cancer Letter Campaign

person typing on computer with coffee

Elephants and Tea has started their first annual “Dear Cancer” campaign!  They are currently taking submissions for their December magazine issue that will be all letters to cancer.

They want people to speak from their heart and be completely honest in their writing.  They expect these letters to be raw and emotional so do not feel that anything needs to be sugar-coated.  Their goal is to post a letter every day in December on their website and the best of the best will be featured in their December magazine (both print and digital versions).

The deadline is Friday, October 18th!

You can learn more and submit your letter here!

What Is Your Elephant?

elephants and tea logo

Have you heard about the new adolescent and young adult cancer focused magazine?  Elephants and Tea is the only magazine written for and by adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers telling their story in their own words.  Cancer is the Elephant in the room.  Tea is the relief the magazine will provide.

Elephants and Tea’s mission is to help AYA patients, survivors, and caregivers experience relief through self-expression, inspire others during their cancer journey, and connect with supportive organizations across the nation.

Cool right?!  Another place to get great, young adult cancer content whenever you need it!  Check out their online magazine today!  (And when you subscribe, you can also sign up for the print version! woot!)