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COURSE

Living Fully With Chronic Pain Or Illness

With Julie Aelbrecht

This is a practical guide to thriving with pain, illness and chronic fatigue. Whether you've recently been diagnosed or have been experiencing a chronic issue for a while, you have likely been told you need to "learn to live with it," but have no idea how. In this course, my aim is to give you the tools, both philosophical and practical, to live a full and happy life with your chronic pain or illness, instead of in spite of it. I started having pain when I was twelve, and I never stopped for more than a few days at a time. This course is based on my personal experiences en the techniques I've picked up in the past 19 years.

A step by step guide to living well with your chronic pain or illness, instead of in spite of it

23 Days

438 students

5.0 stars

9 min / day

English

About this course

Body Scan

Safety Cue Practice

Radical Acceptance

Meet your Teacher

Julie Aelbrecht

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Brussels, Belgium

Julie Aelbrecht is a yoga and meditation teacher from Brussels, Belgium. She has been teaching yoga for 8 years, all of those years with chronic back pain.After a stint working at a burnout clinic in Spain, she began focussing on helping people sleep, and since then, the majority of her clients and students have been sick and disabled people. This course is a way to share those teachings with a wider audience.

View Profile

23 Days

438 students

5.0 stars

9 min / day

English

Lesson 1

Introduction

In this introduction, I'll tell you a little about what to expect in the course. We'll talk about what this course is not, what methods we will use, and what you will need to complete it. I'll tell you about my personal experiences with chronic pain, and how these have motivated me to make this course.

Lesson 2

Grief

Living with a chronic illness or chronic pain involves a lot of grief. We grieve our former lives, our former selves and all the imaginary future lives we had imagined before we were ill. While there is no quick fix solution with grief, you cannot magic it away, it is possible to give it space, and to let it soften.

Lesson 3

Resilience Meditation

Resilience is a big word, it often gets thrown around at victims of disease or disaster. But what does it mean to be resilient? It means the strength to adapt, recover, and grow in the face of challenges, stress, or adversity. Just surviving is not enough. It’s not about avoiding difficulties but about how you respond to them. In this meditation, I'll encourage you to look at past instances of your own resilience, and then have you look forward to the future.

Lesson 4

Accepting and Letting Go

In this lesson, we'll take a look at an old cliché of chronic conditions: "You'll just have to accept it. " If you are ill or chronically in pain, you've heard it often and you heard it early. It gets thrown at you fast, without a manual. While acceptance is a big, gargantuan task, so I prefer to look at it as letting go, bit by bit.

Lesson 5

Noticing and Accepting Meditation

In this meditation, we'll work on noticing the sensations, emotions and mental machinations in the body. When we are ill or in pain, we tend to distance ourselves from our bodies, we push away the sensations and emotions that are present within it. For a short while, this kind of defensive mechanism may help us cope, but in the long run, we become alienated from our bodies. We might miss the things that our body is trying to tell us. This meditation may help you get a little bit closer to your body, accept it as is it, and let go of something.

Lesson 6

The Cycle of Tension

When we are in pain in one part of the body, the rest of the body tends to be affected as well. A pain in your leg might cause your shoulders to tense up. Your body hardens itself, gets itself ready to handle the pain. This creates a dynamic of primary and secondary pain. This is what we call the cycle of tension.

Lesson 7

Softening Tension with the Breath

In this meditation, we'll use gentle belly breathing to soften the tension that may be present in our bodies. The breath is free, it's automatic, and we don't have to do anything extra. It's a wonderful tool we can use to work on self-awareness and self-compassion.

Lesson 8

Compassion and Kindness

In this class, we explore the power of self-compassion and kindness for those living with chronic pain or illness. We'll talk about the difference between having compassion for yourself and feeling sorry for yourself. Through reflection and gentle practices, you'll learn to honour your body, release guilt, and cultivate a more compassionate relationship with yourself.

Lesson 9

Compassion for the Whole Body

This meditation guides you in cultivating compassion for your whole body, even in the presence of pain or unpleasant sensations. Through gentle mindfulness and a body scan, we'll learn to look beyond the pain and become aware of all our body is in this moment.

Lesson 10

The Cycle of Running and Standing Still

If you have been living with a chronic condition for a while, you may have noticed a cyclical pattern to your life. When you feel good, you're very active, you do a lot, maybe a little bit too much. Then, an increase in your symptoms forces you to slow down, until you come to a complete standstill. You rest, and when you feel better, you start over. In this lesson, we'll explore an alternative to this cyclical pattern.

Lesson 11

Giving Yourself Care through Physical Touch

This class explores the power of gentle touch as a form of self-care. Through this simple, comforting technique, you'll begin to break the cycle of running and standing still and learn to connect with your body. We'll ease tension, and offer ourselves kindness and support through physical touch.

Lesson 12

Agency

When we are ill or in pain, we spend a lot of time managing and thinking about the things we cannot control. In this lesson, we'll take a look at what we can control. We'll talk about our bodies daily basic needs and how you can meet them, no matter your limitations.

Lesson 13

Meditating on Agency

This meditation guides you in reclaiming a sense of agency and empowerment while living with chronic pain or illness. Through mindful awareness, you'll explore how small choices—like breath, focus, and self-compassion—can help you feel more in control of your experience.

Lesson 14

Pain, Pleasure and Everything in Between

When we are in pain, it's sometimes difficult to feel anything else. Pain can be very dominant in our experiences, it can stop us from feeling pleasure in our bodies, or even just neutral sensations. In this lesson, we'll explore some meditation techniques that you can try to soothe your pain or make it less dominant in your experience.

Lesson 15

Feeling Pleasure in Your Body

This meditation helps those with chronic pain reconnect with pleasure and comfort in the body. Through gentle awareness, you'll explore small, enjoyable sensations—like warmth, breath, or relaxation—allowing you to cultivate ease and self-compassion.

Lesson 16

Slowing Down

In this lesson, we'll be examining the log we've been keeping. We'll take a look at how your activities and your periods of rest are impacting your pain levels and symptoms, and how you can adapt your schedule to suit your needs. We'll also discuss boundaries.

Lesson 17

Meditation to Slow Down

This meditation offers gentle guidance on slowing down for those with chronic pain or illness. Through mindful awareness, you’ll learn to release urgency, honor your body’s pace, and create space for rest, ease, and self-compassion in daily life.

Lesson 18

Bad Days

Whether you have a cold, the flu, a hangover, or just feel blue, bad days are hard to navigate when you already have a chronic condition. This lesson offers ideas for navigating difficult days with chronic pain or illness. Through gentle guidance, you’ll learn to meet yourself with compassion, patience, and care, finding small ways to create comfort even in the midst of struggle.

Lesson 19

A Short and Sweet Meditation for a Bad Day

This short and gentle meditation is designed for difficult days with chronic pain or illness. With simple, soothing guidance, you’ll find small ways to create comfort, ease, and self-compassion, even when things feel overwhelming.

Lesson 20

Joy

"This meditation helps you rediscover joy while living with chronic pain or illness. Through gentle awareness, you’ll learn to notice and embrace small moments of happiness, reminding yourself that joy and struggle can exist together.

Lesson 21

Finding Joy in the Present Moment

This meditation lesson guides you in discovering joy in your present moment. By focusing on mindfulness, gratitude, and some joyful affirmations, the practice helps to nurture resilience, reduce stress, and create space for moments of peace and joy.

Lesson 22

Your Body is Amazing

This lesson encourages honouring your body amidst chronic pain or illness. We're not talking about being happy when we look in the mirror or when we accomplish some impressive physical feat. We're talking about deeply, unconditionally honouring your body, just for being there.

Lesson 23

Honouring Your Body

This practical meditation will guide you to honour your body and marvel at all it can do. We will investigate our own quiet strength. It encourages self-compassion, awareness, and a sense of awe for the body’s resilience and strength, fostering a deeper connection.