SAULT STE MARIE ONTARIO: 5-hour FRY The Method Workshop for First Responders

We are happy to announce the starting of FRY ROAD TRIP.

Tuesday June 7 and Wednesday June 8, 2022, FRY Canada is coming to Sault Ste Marie at “Peaceful Warrior Wellness” Studio with two opportunities to engage:

– 5hr FRY The Method First Responder Workshop for Mind-Body Wellness and Resilience on June 8th 8th 8:30AM-2PM (1/2hr break). Cost: $175+HST+Eventbrite fee

– FRY is also offering a 90-minute Pre-Workshop class in FRY The Method June 7th 3PM-4:30PM. Cost: $25+HST+Eventbrite fee.

IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU AND YOUR TEAMS ATTEND BOTH TO EXPERIENCE THESE TECHNIQUES WHILE THEY ARE IN SAULT STE MARIE!

This is the link to reserve your spot: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/330591507097

Would like us to come in your city? Call us at 519.770.YOGA(9632), we are happy to collaborate.

How to stop Panic Attacks in First Responders

F.R.Y. The APP can help overcome panic attacks in First Responders

We all experience Panic Attacks 

Today I want to talk about panic attacks in First Responders. I am speaking from my experience as a former Police Detective and Chief. Every one of us in our lives experiences a moment of anxiety, a moment when you desperately want to run away from something or fight it off. Sometimes we do not know the true cause of our panic, but it manifests and it presents in different way
 
Every one of us at a certain point have tried different ways to deal with anxiety. These include: training, listening to music, doing something to run away from that feeling, to dampen that feeling. Nothing seems to work as it is the aversion toward that feeling of anxiety that makes the same anxiety bigger and stronger.
 

Panic attacks in First Responders

In my past I have participated in different retreats in different retreat centers. I hoped that a structured environment could help me learn how to meditate and release that tension in my mind and so in my body. Most of the time my mind was all over the place even during the formal meditations. Why? I was fighting the unpleasurable. When you fight the moment you are at you create more stress and anxiety within you
 
The moment I realize that learning how to live with your “weakness” and welcome it whatever it is, that feeling becomes an asset. It transforms
 
When you acknowledge and “welcome” your feelings of discomfort, they become suspended in awareness. They are still there but beneath them there is this field of awareness that is holding them. The first step to take to break the cycle of anxiety and noisiness of the mind is to become aware of it.
 

How to break the cycle of anxiety with the breath

 
There are different ways to achieve this. One is the basic awareness of the breath when you meditate but also when you are out of your formal practice. Be aware of your breathing pattern without the intention of becoming a good breather. Observe your inhalation and exhalation, without trying to change it.
 
First Responders you can break the cycle of anxiety and the lessen the effect of a panic attacks with breath anytime and everywhere, without explaining to the people around you what you are doing. 
 

How to break the cycle of anxiety with meditation

 
You can use an open monitoring meditation and be focused on the sounds that are present around you. And you step back from labeling the sound as pleasant and unpleasant. You just bring your awareness to them, noticing how fleeting they are: they arise, remain for a moment, and then disappear
 
When images, thoughts, or emotions catch the attention of the mind, instead of fighting them you allow them to be part of your experience. You allow them to be present in awareness along with the sounds without clinging or rejecting them; not reacting to them.
 
There is no need to focus on a particular sound. Simply know that you are hearing sounds, noticing how the awareness can accommodate any sound, without you having to do anything.
 

The benefits of Meditation for First Responders is a topic well explained by Khube Rinpoce in our Videos tab. It is a beautiful tool you have to manage panic attacks and if you are interested to learn more you can read the study about the “Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders 

 

How to break the cycle of anxiety with mind-set

Another way is “shifting the thinking pattern”. Normally an anxious mind focuses on the negative and magnifies it. You can shift that pattern by thinking about the opposite, the positive instead of the negative. A simple way to do this is to bring in gratitude for everything you have that for sure is more than enough. No matter what the circumstances you are living in are, there is always so much to be grateful for.
 
Remember that you are not your thoughts, nor the chit chat in your mind, nor your emotions and feelings. You are “otherness” from all that.
 
First Responder, no matter if you are a Police, Firefighter, Paramedic or Dispatcher, whatever the feeling you are perceiving is, fear, anger, jealousy, remember those are just feelings. Let your mind to rest in awareness and allow everything to float in that field of mindfulness. Mindfulness-based interventions are effective to promote mental health and well-being in high-stress occupations like First Responders. It improves Quality of Life and reduces depression and anxiety symptoms. It nourishes First Responders’ physical, emotional, and mental fitness. It also contributes to the judicious and mindful use of First Responders’ power and authority, which can benefit society as a whole.
 

Let’s do it together. Let’s make our lives better. F.R.Y. is here to help. With F.R.Y. The APP you access to supportive tools 24/7. Learn more about how we help First Responders Organizations with F.R.Y. The APP

Sasy, F.R.Y. Director
www.FRYCanada.com

Repeated Trauma Exposure. What is the price First Responders pay?

repeated trauma exposure first responders-sad police officer

Repeated Trauma Exposure. What is the price First Responders pay?

Repeated Trauma Exposure can be a big price to pay for First Responders.

35 trauma-exposed firefighters, 32 trauma-exposed CSI police and 23 unexposed matched for health, gender, age and years of education volunteered to participate in a study about the price of repeated traumatic exposure among first responders. The goal was to compare the performance of non-PTSD trauma-exposed firefighters and CSI police, and trauma-unexposed matched controls.

The full study is available to read on Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience website.

The results of a Repeated Trauma Exposure amongst First Responders

The results of the study have shown a possible hidden price of repeated trauma exposure among First Responders, which is not reflected in the standard measures of PTSD. The price of repeated traumatic exposure is not limited to trauma related conditions. Instead, it reflects a more general impairment, which may affect the way first responders interpret and react to various aspects in their environment.

F.R.Y. Director’s experience as a former Police Detective 

By reading the study above I could link the trauma exposure I had during my career as Police Detective with some automatic responses I had at that time. It is amazing how easy you can better analyze the events when everything belong to the past. It is sad how in a given moment you cannot understand what is happening.

I was able to override my default reactions and provide myself more behavioural flexibility by acknowledging those reactions and becoming aware of them. The effort I put in developing that awareness gave to me a greater control by anticipating the reaction and planning ahead to act instead.

My meditation practice and the effort I put in being mindful about what I was feeling in a given moment, were a medicine to me. It is not easy to change unconsciousness behaviour; but if you put effort into increasing your awareness the real change happens.

F.R.Y. The Method for First Responders’ Health

All the above is one of the reason F.R.Y. The Method has a mindful approach to the movement. It is the relationship you have with the movement and not the movement itself that can be a game changer. Meditation and a mindful approach to your life can help you.

Keep practicing constantly and trust The Method. Things simply fall into place.

To help you First Responders and to support Employer, School and Association we released our FRY The APP with hundreds of videos for your mind-body wellness and resilience. Download FRY The APP by using the direct link to the store available on this FRY’s website page

Sasy, F.R.Y. Director