 All right. Welcome to our mindfulness session led by trader Bianca. We'll go ahead and get started. I don't have anything to start with Bianca so I'm gonna go ahead and turn it over to you and let you get started. Okay, great. So today I wanted to start us off by talking a little bit about the breath and then we're gonna do some breathing exercise. But I want to specifically talk about this aspect of breathing where we increase the length of the exhale versus the inhale in order to stimulate the vagus nerve to activate the parasympathetic nervous system which is our rest and digest nervous system versus our sympathetic nervous system which is our fight-flight freeze type of response. And unfortunately most of us spend way too much time in the sympathetic nervous system so by using breathing techniques that focus on lengthening the exhalation we can sort of bring ourselves back to the parasympathetic nervous system and you know increase that effect of resting and relaxing and things like that. So the vagus nerve is the main nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system and it controls all our involuntary not all but many involuntary functions of the body such as digestion, heart rate, immune system, things like that. Things that you can't consciously control so that's what the vagus nerve is in charge of. So by stimulating it we can bring ourselves into the parasympathetic nervous system and relax. So as always we're gonna sit quietly comfortably whatever that whatever is best whatever but works best for you if you need to support your back if you have back issues I would strongly recommend that so that you don't get distracted by any pain in your back. So sit comfortably, relax and then I would invite you to close your eyes and start breathing normally whatever feels unforced and comfortable to you. So we're breathing in and out through the nose, visualize the breath as a circular movement so there's no stopping at the top or bottom it connects smoothly to each other. Let's do a quick body scan starting with the feet towards the ankles, send the hips, arms float up into your belly, moving up into the chest, shoulders, your arm, into your elbow, to your wrists, to your fingertips, reversing direction, moving up the arms again into the throat and the neck, into the top of the head. See if you can become, if you can let your awareness be in all parts of your body at the same time. Tension, any holding you might experience, without any judgment just let it release. And from here we're going to start inhaling to the count of four and exhaling to the count of eight. You can, if it becomes uncomfortable at any point you can change the numbers you can inhale to a count of three, exhale to a count of five or three and six, whatever feels most relaxed. But we continue to make that movement, that movement of our breath very smooth and circular, just extending the length of the exhale. Continue to breathe, notice any thoughts that might be floating. Imagine these thoughts as icebergs. The thought is what you see above the surface of the water. Beneath the surface there is a much larger part, probably an emotion or a few emotions. For example, you're thinking about some long to-do list that you have, that you're feeling overwhelmed by that to-do list and that you're never going to get it done, then the emotion below the surface of the thought is anxiety or guilt. Try to connect with the emotions that are beneath your thoughts. See if you can name the emotions to yourself. The temptation to get lost in a story here, it's simply about observing the emotions that underlie thoughts. Sometimes there can be multiple emotions that coexist around a particular thought. Every time a thought arises, a new thought arises. Try to name the emotion beneath it. You feel like there aren't any new emotions being revealed to you. Try to see if you can feel where these emotions are living in your body. And if any other thoughts or emotions pop up, don't worry about it. They always do. You can either include them or don't worry about them for now. So the act of noticing where our emotions live in our body is difficult and it takes some practice. So I would ask you to be patient with yourself, because many of us are not used to taking note of what we're feeling in our bodies unless it's some form of pain or an injury. One thing to look for might be a kind of tingling sensation or tightness. Sometimes emotions show up as some kind of a fluttery feeling or a clenching. In some cases you might actually feel some physical pain. So try going through your body slowly, part by part. Keep it as simple as possible. You may be noticing any sensation of emotion in your head, neck or throat area. Emotions might show up in your chest, upper back, or the space around your heart. Sometimes emotions can manifest as pain in your shoulders or your upper arms or your hands. The stomach area is one most people are familiar with for feeling some kind of emotion. If you notice any feelings in any of these places, observe them, but don't interact with them. Note them, make note of them, but don't try to change them. We're only observing them and compassionate with yourself for anything that might come up. If we are alive because we are alive, we are feeling them in our physical body. And if we've been busy, preoccupied with a lot of other stuff, as most people are, you may not have noticed these feelings in your body manifesting in your body in some way. You may also not want to experience these emotions. You can just allow those feelings to just be there. Imagine that you would just observe and pull up a chair next to your emotion, next to your fluttering sensation, your flenching sensation, whatever it is, and just experience it without judgment, without attachment. Sometimes emotions that come up in this way can be very intense and might cause some reaction of fear and that's also very natural. But if something feels too intense or jarring and it doesn't feel safe at this moment, just let it go for now. If there is a message, your body or self needs to hear it right now. Some examples of this might be it's safe to feel this doing your best in this moment. If you have a message, then place a hand gently on your chest or stomach and repeat the message quietly to yourself. Once you start noticing a shift, gently let it go. You might receive several messages for different emotions and you can repeat this with as many feelings as you like. Slowly bring yourself back to the present moment. Open your eyes. Take a couple of deep breaths. And I'm back. You guys still with me? What's that? Can you hear me Bianca? Oh yeah, you know what? I just realized, I just realized why that happened last time too and you know I just figured out why. Because I've mute the music and because when I mute the music, I also mute everything else. Okay. So silly. But yeah, now I just figured it out. Okay. Awesome. Yeah. That's great. Yeah. Do you like that one? I did. Yeah, that's that's that can be can be challenging, you know, to it might take a few times of doing this to sort of allow yourself to do it. I feel like I almost get more out of it when I re-listen to the recording as well. Yeah, because then you kind of know what's coming, right? And you kind of you can already prepare yourself for it. Yeah, and I usually do it when I'm a little in, I don't know, more of a not relaxed state but in a, I don't know, I know I'm not gonna have to talk afterwards or do anything. Yeah, you know, actually I love doing this kind of stuff just after waking up. Yeah. Because you're sort of in that half-sleep state still. Right. But you're awake and it's like it's it's a lot easier that way I think. Agreed. I love that too. Yeah, I agree. Awesome. Well, thank you very much. Appreciate you doing this. Yeah, thanks for coming. All right, sounds good and we will, I've got my kids to start school again and so my aftermarket days are limited but I'm gonna I'll look at my schedule and connect with you and we'll figure out our next date. Sounds great. All right, take care. Have a good evening. You too. Bye. Bye.