diff --git a/cohere/compass/clients/compass.py b/cohere/compass/clients/compass.py
index 3331b4c..a9c87e2 100644
--- a/cohere/compass/clients/compass.py
+++ b/cohere/compass/clients/compass.py
@@ -89,7 +89,8 @@ def __init__(
         username: Optional[str] = None,
         password: Optional[str] = None,
         bearer_token: Optional[str] = None,
-        default_timeout: int = _DEFAULT_TIMEOUT,
+        default_timeout: int | None = None,
+        http_session: Optional[requests.Session] = None,
     ):
         """
         A compass client to interact with the Compass API
@@ -100,9 +101,15 @@ def __init__(
         self.index_url = index_url
         self.username = username or os.getenv("COHERE_COMPASS_USERNAME")
         self.password = password or os.getenv("COHERE_COMPASS_PASSWORD")
-        self.session = SessionWithDefaultTimeout(default_timeout)
+        self.session = http_session or requests.Session()
         self.bearer_token = bearer_token
 
+        if default_timeout is not None:
+            logger.warning(
+                "Please note that the `default_timeout` variable is deprecated and won't have any effect."
+                "To specify a timeout for HTTP requests, please specify an `http_session` with your timeout value."
+            )
+
         self.api_method = {
             "create_index": self.session.put,
             "list_indexes": self.session.get,