 It's always fun when I arrive to come speak to a group and they don't tell me that there's a videotape Because I like to walk. I like to be a part of this So I've had to do my own breathing technique for just a few minutes over in the corner Just to get ready They asked me to talk about mindfulness and what does that mean? and if you look up mindfulness you can find a whole bunch of Different definitions The one I liked that I choose to go by is the one that mindfulness is that we're present in the moment right now And we use our senses What you hear what you see what you feel what you taste? And what you see All of this Becomes very relevant once you get a diagnosis or you have an injury that's overwhelming Bless you and we all go into that moment where we shut down and we feel overwhelmed and Mindfulness is about saying you know what this is my central nervous system and I have that Parasympathetic nervous system, which is that fight flight or freeze and I have the parasympathetic nervous system Which is rest and restore and the one that I'm going to need for this long journey is my rest and restore Unfortunately in The medical community and I'm a nurse so I can I feel like I have the authority to admit this a lot of the things that we do During hospitalizations and doctor office visits are things that actually increase your anxiety We poke you We we speak a different language If you've ever had the opportunity to be a guest in one of our facilities We have these luxurious beds And we provide you with this food that you will not get anywhere else in the world You can't even pay for it Nor would you want to We tell you what to eat when to eat We you know tell you even what you can watch on television because we base it on those fabulous channels that we have We tell your family who can come and Who has to stay home and? We do this not with the intention of causing more stress or anxiety But to take care of our patients But there is that other side of it that many times as a health care professional. I personally have forgotten about So that's why now I do mindfulness So When you come into the hospital many patients or to the doctor's office many people feel like they become an Injury or an illness. I am here to encourage you to be you and To create a toolkit to help you cope with this journey that you're on and That toolkit includes mindfulness. So what are the things that are important to you as an individual? Maybe for some of you. It's to be able to take a walk outside Maybe it's to make a certain dish that you cook every weekend and you want to be able to do that And I am not by any way shape or form going to promise you that if you come into the hospital We're going to honor all those requests But I'm going to tell you that you can be in charge of that and The tool that we use to help you is called the ABCs awareness breathing and century So awareness is just how you feel right now at this moment Everybody got it. It's a quick check Hopefully, I'm not boring anyone too much. I Know that everybody's been breathing and I really appreciate that And I would like you to continue to do that And I know that focusing on breathing can cause anxiety for some people if you have any type of respiratory Condition but the breathing that I'd like you to focus on is just take a minute and take that nice deep as deep as you're Comfortable breath in And let that sigh out and that's just a deep breathing When we talk about doing this breathing I'm going to ask you to do something called even breathing or for those of you who have studied any type of yoga It's some of each tree and it just means my inhale matches my exhale so You choose an even number if I'm really anxious It might be four one two. I'm inhaling three four. I'm exhaling So nobody knew that I was doing it over here And I got the six that's as good as it got today some days I can get to ten I count to ten as I inhale I count to ten as I exhale you guys want to try We're going to do it for two minutes. Why two minutes? Because they have actually done studies that Demonstrate that two minutes of the breath work can switch you from that sympathetic nervous system that fight flight or freeze Into that parasympathetic nervous system, which is rest and restore So I have my handy-dandy phone You guys can do this too. So that won't us watch And you always start off with that deep cleansing breath You can close your eyes. You can find something in the room to look at you can just soften your gaze And let's begin with counting and remember we're going to choose an even number between two and 20 and let's start we're done Two minutes Anybody think it took a long time? Anybody think wait, we just started We give you ample opportunities in the medical community to practice your even breathing Remember how we hurry up and put you in an office and tell you to sit like what am I supposed to do great time to practice? It's a wonderful technique Many people who want to use it's like a type of meditation That's an introduction twice a day two minutes even breathing and you can build up start with two minutes and after a week at a minute and Then keep going on They say that 20 minutes a day of meditation really changes your brain So a was about awareness of how you're feeling at this moment B was about using a breathing technique called even breathing your inhale matches your exhale and C is about your comfort or your center and Remember I asked you earlier who you were and the things that you love to do Like making that special dinner Or going on that walk You can close your eyes right now and see yourself doing those things for many of us or remember what it feels like when you're chopping up What are vegetables or fruit or when the last time you were sitting around with family and friends and you were having that good laugh and Enjoying the company or sometimes it's just the silence of sitting quietly on a back porch or walking through the woods Because even though you're not physically doing those things your body will release the same chemicals in your brain as if you're actually doing it and That's that's a great power to have when you're hanging out and you're waiting for things and you're feeling overwhelmed And you can be mindfulness of the presence that I am here at this moment And this is what's happening to me, but you know what? I'm gonna focus on what makes me feel alive and what gives me great joy and what my passions are so I encourage all of you to create a toolbox and Not meaning you're carrying this big thing around with you But how how you dress? Are you wearing something that's comfortable? You know, we all have things if you're going here or there you bring with you Many of us wear jewelry For many people there's a significance to it The socks that you choose to wear. I know that when I've been a patient I pack special socks special toiletries because I don't want to spell like I'm in a hospital and These are all things that you too can provide questions concerns so just Try it take a few moments see what happens See if it doesn't alter the next time when someone's telling you something or you're starting to feel Overwhelmed like they might you for a video along with the audience And it just kind of brings you back to center so that you can focus on what you need to do and how you feel I thank you all for giving me the opportunity to speak with you today and Good luck on your journey and congratulations for thriving. Thank you