Welcome to the eight-week online course “I’m glad you interrupted.” Where we learn how to treat ourselves and others with care, no matter what the other person says, does or thinks. We learn this way of being through the power of interrupting. The course starts Sunday, August 24, 2025. We have capacity for twenty participants, half newcomers, half previous participants. We work on a “pay-it-forward-basis”, which means there is no fee required to take part in the course. Instead we invite you to help make this course and the next one possible by donating, if you are called to do so.
Looking forward to meeting you! Questions? Signal/Whatsapp Yves: +31 614-189-776 or Laura Lee +1 585-754-3594.
What will the eight weeks look like?
There will be three pillars on our journey: A Sunday class, a daily practice, and inspiration.
Sunday Class
We gather for one hour and forty five minutes in our virtual studio on Zoom. We talk through the topic of the week, do exercises in pairs and celebrate our interruptions.
Daily Practice
After each class you take your notes home and during your morning routine you dedicate 2-10 minutes to practicing what you’ve learned.
Inspiration
During the week you receive videos, cartoons, poems and even a small magazine in your e-mail box for inspiration.
Who are the guides?
Yves from Amsterdam
(click to read more)
Number of group facilitations: 10 years of 300+ classes with many ups and downs.
On a bad day: Cold-hearted and demanding towards people close to me, feeling despair about the state of the world. Teach to people who didn’t ask for it 🙁
Brings joy: Making music together, singing, intimate conversations, collaborating on projects that increase compassion, care and clarity in this world.
Learning edge in conversations:
Lightheartedness and transforming all tensions in the moment.
Learning edge in life:
Taking enough rest to live and work in integrity. Show myself fully when I’m in a position of less structural power.
Financial support goes to : giving people money so I can have a roof over my head, food on the table, bus tickets, small gifts for people in need and for my loved ones, and an occasional treat for myself. I’m moving more towards a world where money is not an obstacle to what we truly need and what we truly want to give. So I also accept support in more physical ways, if there’s something you have to give that you don’t need any longer. More about this in my Giving-and-Receiving-Profile.
Inspired by the work of: The Buddha, Miki Kashtan, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, the people I meet every day, Theravada Buddhist monks 🙂
One thing not a lot of people know about you: I dropped out of law school when I was 20.
Laura Lee from Rochester
(Click to read more)
Number of group facilitations: 15 years facilitating various in-person conversation circles around poetry, philosophy, social psychology, women’s circle, & restorative circles with young children.
On a bad day: Sensory overload, inflexibility, perfectionism, dissociated from surroundings, ruminating, migraine, sarcastic.
Learning edge in conversations:
Self-connection, presence, care over taking responsibility for others.
Learning edge in life:
Balance: between focus and shifting interest to learn new skills, between enthusiasm and rest.
Brings joy: Time outside together, singing together, making all sorts of things with my hands, sharing food, writing, community building, loving friendships.
Financial support goes to: I’d like to request financial support to help me purchase a newer used laptop to replace my current 15-year-old one, which is no longer able to support me fully. Also, this support helps me to support someone else to take care of my son every now and then, so I can replenish, while my partner is away for a month.
Inspired by the work of: Robin Wall Kimmerer, Akilah Richards, Terra Vance, Czesław Miłowsz.
One thing not a lot of people know about you: I grew up in a small hunting cabin in rural New York.
“Now my interruptions are not only truly coming from the desire to connect with others profoundly, but also empowering and caring of myself and my own needs. The journey has only begun for me.“
A participant of Season 4, 5 and 6.
What is the intention of this course?
To work well as a group we have a shared intention and a shared dedication. This will be our shared intention:
We treat ourselves and others with care, no matter what the other person does, says or thinks.
This means we want to come from the place of the green people.
To see more clearly when we’re on the see-saw and gently step off it, we dedicate ourselves to interrupting ourselves and others with care each time we sense more care and dignity is needed. The way we grow in this capacity we:
- See our habits that stand in the way of interrupting.
- See situations in which we would like to interrupt.
- Practice interruptions during the weekly class.
- Write our insights and sentences on a practice sheet.
- Practice at least 2 minutes every morning from the practice sheet.
“Thank you so much for the class yesterday. I feel wiser and taller!“
A participant of Season 1,2,3,4 & 5.
Questions & answers #1
What time does Sunday’s class start?
We start at 10am New York Time, 4pm Amsterdam time and 730pm India time. Class takes one hour and forty five minutes. After class, the room stays open for people would like to continue the conversation. We call this “the campfire.”
What does a class look like?
Usually a class look like this:
We start with doing a couple of minutes of meditation and practice to remind ourselves why where here. We then look back on the week in breakout-rooms of three or four people.
After this, two or three people share what they discovered in the break-out rooms.
Then, one of the guides shares fifteen minutes of inspiration on the topic of this week. Two-three people share their reflection of the inspiration.
Then one student offers something lightweight to switch up the energy before we take a five minute break.
Then we go into breakout rooms to do a twenty minute exercise where you practice interrupting with a situation from your own life. If you are emotionally low on energy, you can also stay in the main room and do a twenty minute reflection on the people and the seesaw.
After the twenty minutes, we go back to our break-out room and give another person a chance to practice interrupting.
After you come back from the breakout room, we hear insights from two-three people.
We end class with this week’s interrupting challenge and a reflection question. And that’s what we start the next class with.
What does a week look like?
After Sunday’s class you are usually feeling inspired and have a sense of belonging to a group of fellow interrupters. You take this energy into the next day with a couple of minutes practicing interrupting right after you wake up.
On Monday you get an email from us with our reflection of the class. In that email we also want to pick up the garbage: something that left you feeling unsatisfied during or after class. We invite you to send that to us to learn from and to help clear the tension.
Monday and Wednesday morning US time we have office hours, so you can also drop by on Zoom if you’d like some urgent support.
Then on Tuesday you practice again by yourself before you check the messages on your phone and you can join a half hour meditation later in the day.
On Wednesday you receive an email with a story or video from us as inspiration. You also receive the recording of the meditation from Tuesday.
Then on Thursday you practice for a couple of minutes again
On Friday you receive another email with some inspiration from us: a cartoon, written story, a video.
We ask you in that email to reflect on the week and send us at least three lines with an up, a down and a question about interrupting. This helps your integration and it helps us to stay connected, support you better and adjust Sunday’s class to the needs of the group.
On Saturday you receive an invitation for Sunday’s class, where we ask you to let us know if you’re not going to be there. This way, we stay in connection through physical separation.
On Sunday we have class again and get that sense of belonging and inspiration and growth again.
To support you to practice, you can join a Whatsapp group where people share an emoji, a picture, a video or an audio with their practice.
What is required to join this series?
No money is required to join this class. These five things are required:
1. Feeling a deep YES to practicing care towards yourself and others, regardless of what happens.
2. Attending a minimum of 6 out of 8 Sunday classes.
3. Meeting the morning out-loud practice requirement. We don’t expect you to integrate the practice in your morning routine right away, but support you to do so gradually.
4. Writing a weekly reflection to the guides with one celebration, one downer, and one question you are pondering.
5. At least two years experience with a daily, spiritual practice like yoga asanas, breath meditation, journaling or prayer.
For every returning person that has been part of an earlier season, a new person to this series can join. This way we grow gradually and in integrity. We have a connection call with every person who signs up.
We sometimes allow people who don’t yet meet the fifth requirement to the course, after that connection call.
What will the weekly topics be?
Each week we focus on a principle you can use in your conversations.
The ten principles we used in the past version will be refreshed during this course. One of the main focusses of this season will be on “interrupting in groups.” Think of of business meetings, family gatherings, dinners, sports clubs, friend groups and volunteer organizations.
To give you a taste, these were the principles we covered in earlier parts of I’m glad you interrupted:
1. We treat ourselves and others with care, no matter what.
2. The response we get is a reflection of our own energy.
3. We don’t talk faster than we can feel.
4. The most used empathy request is stimulating our emotion in others.
5. The way through anger, helplessness and blame is grieving.
6. We don’t blame others for us not speaking up.
7. We end our sentences with a question instead of a period.
8. We fully accept the consequences of our choices.
9. We choose acceptance over reassurance.
10. We simply ask for what we need.
What kind of inspiration will I receive?
Laura Lee writes stories about her adventures from Rochester New York.
Preparing to leave for a family dinner, I was holding several other threads in my mind after dedicating some hours to more cerebral tasks. I found myself getting overwhelmed. I asked for 10 minutes of empathy from my partner. He had space to hear me express some overwhelm and support me in organizing my thoughts.
While this conversation was happening, and I was still in a bit of stress-mode, my son entered the kitchen. Hearing me, he interjected, “Mama, you don’t have to go to the dinner.” And in that moment I could feel myself tense up.
Then, my practice took over. I said, “Oh… hold on…” and I took a big sigh. I got connected to my need for understanding. Softening then, I said from my heart, “Thank you. Your suggestion helps me see that what I really want is understanding, and to be together. Does that make sense?” His sweet & simple response brought a tear to my eye. With a big hug he said, “Yeah Mama, I understand.” 🥹
He ran along on his way, lighthearted without the burden of taking responsibility for solving my unpleasant emotions. And I was more relaxed and able to collaborate with my partner on our evening plans.
I also want to celebrate the ripple-effect I see from my consistent practicing. More and more often, I hear these connecting questions also coming from my son: “Does that make sense?” “Can you imagine it’s like that for me?” “Are you open to this?”
And, I hear him in his conversations with other people, often responding as if the other person asked him these questions, even when they didn’t. “Yeah, that makes sense to me,” “I can imagine how it is for you, for me it’s…” or, “I’m not open to that right now.” I get the sense that he’s enjoying deeper connection and agency in his conversations as he develops his own fluency in the language of everyone’s needs mattering.
Yves is on the move a lot and creates videos about his interruptions on the road. Here are some of the videos from season one to six.
Questions & Answers #2
Will there be a recording available of the classes?
No, we want to stimulate people to come to the class to create a team spirit. Also it seems most people change their behavior when they know they are being recorded. We want to stimulate authenticity and belonging in our classes, and that seems to go better without recording.
What happens after the course?
After the course you’ll receive an invitation to join the group of card-carrying members. This is a group of people who dedicate themselves to coming from a place of care, no matter what. You could see this 8-week course as an orientation period, to see if you’d like to join this group of people. No money will be required after the class to join the club.
What skills do I need to join?
Having experience with meditation, yoga, nonviolent communication can be a help…and it can also be a hindrance 😉 What seems to help is some kind of dedication to a spiritual path, although we do not require that and all traditions and self developed paths are welcome.
How much does the journey cost?
We don’t charge you for joining the course. Instead, we use the “pay-it-forward-model”. This model helps us to prevent money from being an obstacle for people to join and it also helps us to live more interdependently. Growing our sense of interdependence is at the core of this course. Giving and receiving freely; without demands, without expectations, without guilt, shame & blame.
We invite you in one email after the course to pay-it-forward to the next group. Without any expectation of you personally giving money.
To support us in guiding the next group from a nourished place, we are looking for a total support amount of $1,500. This money we give to other people and organizations for food, shelter, transportation, rent, tools, and child care.
Because this way of working is still a bit unusual, some more context to help you connect to us, to this model and to what you would like to give:
- You are just as welcome to the course with money as without money.
- We will not charge you in the future to get access to this work, anything related to it or to a future course.
- This is our experiment towards a more beautiful world our hearts know is possible. A world where we give and receive freely.
- We both have part-time jobs aside from guiding this wonderful group. Yves teaches Dutch and Laura Lee works at a forest school.
Please let us know if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions.
Can you explain a bit more about what the morning practice looks like?
Yes, below you see a sample practice sheet. There are usually four columns on a practice sheet.
- One for thoughts that block connection.
- One for feelings, movements and sensations.
- One for needs, principles and movements that support connection.
- One for interrupting sentences and gestures.
During the course we’ll make our own practice sheet to connect to our own voice. We then sit with our practice sheet in the morning and use our voice and body to go through the practice sheet for at least two minutes. You can click on the image to get a better view.
“I began to communicate from a place of balance, care, and calm. I hope to reach that space in all my relationships and conversations.“
A participant of Season 6.
You have a small magazine?
Yes, for fun and inspiration, we create The Daily Interrupter. It’s a 1-page zine which you can print at home. Here is an issue to give you a taste.
Questions & Answers #3
What is the history of this course?
Patricia, the co-founder of this series, sent an email in August 2023 to an email list that Yves was subscribed to. In this email Patricia requested support with interrupting, because Patricia wanted to get better at it. Yves replied enthusiastically because he had done 8 years of research on interrupting. Together they worked for four months to prepare for the first 8-week series called “I’m glad you interrupted.” Because the participants and the guides enjoyed the series so much, Yves decided to ask participant Laura Lee to join him for the second part, as Patricia had already committed to another course. Laura Lee and Yves developed, together with about 12 participants the material further. Together they have given five online series and developed the zine “The Daily Interrupter“.
What is your vision with this journey, why are you doing this?
What we are co-creating is an interdependent, light-weight web of mutual support for people who want to cultivate thinking, speaking and acting with care, no matter who it is or what happens.
How do you make the decision who gets accepted to the course and who doesn’t?
We want to be transparent about our decision making process. The essence of the decision is about if we have the capacity to care for a person’s wellbeing and growth during the eight weeks, while also caring for the needs of the group and ourselves. We’ve come to see that these five factors play a large role in our decision making process:
- Does someone already have the skills to integrate a daily practice in their lives or do they still need to acquire this skill?
- How much energy does it cost us to get the meaning of our words across the way we mean them?
- How is the spread between stress and relaxation in their life?
- How well supported are they emotionally by partners, friends, groups and practices?
- Do we think this is the support they need and do we think we are the right people to support them right now?
If we say NO to someone, we explain in an email why and we put some effort in redirecting them to a place where we think they can get the support we think they need. We also offer to have another connection call to hear any objections, questions or concerns about our decision. This way we want to stay in human connection throughout the process of inclusion and exclusion.
I have another question, concern or suggestion, are you open to hearing from me?
Yes, send a message to Yves.
Pay it forward
To support us, Yves and Laura Lee, in giving our care and attention to guide this group, you are invited to donate an amount you enjoy giving. The total amount we’re looking for to support our physical needs during this course is $1.500,00. Below you find the different ways to transfer your gift. Yves’ one-person company called “waarom ben ik aan het praten” will collect the donations. For shared understanding: you are just as welcome to the course with money as without money. We will never charge you in the future to get access to this work or anything related to it. This is our experiment towards a more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.
Dutch iDeal click here: https://betaalverzoek.knab.nl/Zq92w1uVac-mVkKc
Indian UPI, collected by Adrija, click here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Gy7LCKPYapgsJd_yvB2IRGz74rQxxs_q0iuXzlXiDBM/edit?usp=sharing
American Express, Visa, Mastercard click here: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=SEHQ4TN8JCYX8
Paypal click here: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=SEHQ4TN8JCYX8
Apple pay click here: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=SEHQ4TN8JCYX8
Bank Transfer: IBAN: NL58 KNAB 0612 7889 89 Account Holder: Waarom ben ik aan het praten, Amsterdam. BIC/SWIFT: AEGONL2UXXX
We can send an invoice if that helps you.