Bridget Truxillo, JD, RYT-200

Practical mindfulness techniques that I have used in high-stress situations include exercise and conscious breathing. Exercise helps induce stress into the body, building strength and increasing self-regulation. Conscious breathing helps slow down the body when feeling overwhelmed by taking deep breaths and counting to four on each inhale and exhale.
 
Transcript: "What are some practical mindfulness techniques that you have used in high stress situations? Well, I am an attorney and I am a former deputy sheriff I was in undercover narcotics and SWAT team whenever I was a Deputy sheriff, so I've certainly faced lots of different types of high stress situations Hostage situations, active shooter situations, foot chases, etc. The mindfulness techniques that I know now definitely would have helped me so much then but one of those mindfulness techniques is exercise and What do you what do I mean by that? Because when you exercise you are actually inducing stress into your body you complete the exercise you come out of the other side of that exercise in one piece and Actually making your strength making yourself stronger than you were before so this going into physical fitness with the mindset of knowing that you are actually increasing your mindfulness ability to self-regulate is so powerful The other thing that I've learned that has helped me so much even as an attorney where I've gone into high-stakes court hearings where I'm about to lose my entire case for my plaintiff is Breathing if you can just slow your breathing down when you do that breathe in for three pause breathe yet breathe out for five You tell your brain it's okay"

I would tell my past self to subscribe to an app, such as the FASTer Way to Fat Loss, to learn about nutrition and balance macronutrients. I would also suggest subscribing to a program that focuses on wellness, which is more than just fitness.
 
Transcript: "How did your experience in law enforcement shape your journey towards mindfulness and self-care? That is a really good question. I hear everybody start these videos with that, but it's so true. I was asked in a podcast the other day that I did with Blue Line Fitness, what did I do to take care of myself when I was on the SWAT team, which had a lot of just mental health challenges to it. And my answer was, I certainly did things that I thought helped me nutritionally, like I was training all the time, I was the only female on the SWAT team, so I wanted to make sure I was always physically capable to do the job. But I have learned a lot more since then about how important nutrition is to properly balancing things like your macronutrients, your protein, carbs, and fat. And what I answered that question was, if I could, I would tell myself then the things I know now, which is, you really have to subscribe to an app, that's what I would say. Subscribe to an app to help you track all of those macro things. They can even tell you what to eat, you don't even have to try. I do one called The Faster Way to Fat Loss. Not about fat loss, it's about being healthy. And then I would also subscribe to a program to really dig into all aspects of wellness, because there's more than just fitness, and that's what I would say drove me to that."

You can't overcome sexism on the job, but you can fight back by speaking up and not taking it. Remind yourself that you cannot control what happens on the outside, but you can always control what happens on the inside.
 
Transcript: "How can female officers overcome sexism on the job? This one's a doozy. And this might be a surprising answer. You can't. You can't, what I mean by that is, you can't overcome that it's going to happen. Because it's going to happen. Apples and oranges. Are you ever going to look at an apple and think, that's an orange? No. Never going to look at an orange and think, oh that's an apple. No. You're a female, in a male dominated industry, you're always going to be the apple when they're oranges. Or vice versa, whatever. But how do you handle that? What do you do about it? And how do you react to it, is what matters. And here's what I tell, I post about it a lot, and here's what I tell prospective clients or clients all the time. Do not take it. Do not sit down and just roll over while you have this sexist actions being taken against you. Yes, you're under a microscope. Yes, they're going to see every mistake you make. Yes, yes, yes, yes. But what do you do about it? I post meditation every Friday on my Instagram account, Protective Wellness. And at the end of it, and it is a constant practice, and at the end I remind you that you cannot control what happens on the outside, but you can always control what happens on the inside. So don't take it. Fight back. Don't tell them if they're doing something wrong. How do you know if they're doing something wrong if you don't tell them? Speak up."

I recommend three apps for someone new to meditation: Insight Timer, Headspace, and Apple Fitness Plus.
 
Transcript: "What app or program do you recommend for someone who is new to meditation? I'm going to give you three. I've been meditating consistently for probably, I guess to say close to 10 years now. And I've tried the three apps that I like the best. The first one's free. It's called the Insight Timer. And you can choose bells, you can choose music. There are lots and lots of free videos for different people who guide you through the meditation. So I definitely recommend that one. There's a lot of videos. It can kind of become overwhelming of what to choose. The second one is the Headspace app. I also have been using that one for a really long time. It is not free. There's a yearly subscription. Although I can say if you go to subscribe and then you choose not to, it's one of those where they'll probably offer you some deal to subscribe. They can bring you in. I like that one because it has a lot of different types of guided meditations. You can do individual sessions. You can join in every half hour to the top, whatever their guided meditation is for the day. But you can also do series. So for example, when I was wanting to be pregnant with my third child, I did a pregnancy series. And the last one is if you have an Apple Fitness subscription, use the Apple Fitness Plus app because they have meditation videos and they're really, really great. Try one."

Practicing mindfulness can help improve a person's memory by allowing them to rest and create space for new memories, thoughts, and experiences.
 
Transcript: "This is a cool question. How can a person's memory improve by practicing mindfulness? I think this comes down to more taking a bit further when you practice mindfulness, usually that's in a situation of stillness or singular focus. But I'm going to focus on stillness. Stillness also means rest. As you all know, we all know that it's so important to sleep. One of the important parts of sleep is that's when our mind stores memory. It's important to get a proper amount of sleep so that you can get the different stages of sleep because it's in deep rest that your body starts to actually store memories. When you store memories, and you can also are processing, as you're storing memories, you're processing thoughts and experiences and stress and anxiety. Through processing it, you're releasing it. When you're practicing mindfulness, you are allowing your mind to release a lot of information that's in there, creating space for you to hold on to different memories, different thoughts, different things that would not have been possible otherwise. Through practicing mindfulness, you're practicing stillness, you're practicing rest, and it's through the rest your body can store and release what it doesn't need so that you can make space for the next thing."

The common legal issues law enforcement officers face relate to use of force, wellness and mental health training, harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and creating a hostile work environment. It is important to remember that intentions are not as important as how the actions are received.
 
Transcript: "What are common legal issues law enforcement officers face? As a lawyer, I generally go for a typical lawyer response is, well that depends, but I will answer this. The ones you hear about the most are pretty obvious. They have to do with use of force, but I think you also have to look at what are considered the high liability areas. So driving, anything that involves use of force like defensive tactics, shooting, taser, interactions with mentally impaired persons. I believe wellness training should be considered, your mental health should be considered a high liability area, but that we're not there yet. The other ones I think as the younger people, younger officers are coming in, I wish we had more because we still don't have enough police officers in this country, is that people are becoming less and less afraid to report harassment, discrimination, retaliation. They will speak up and so that legal, the legal issues you can face are, are you doing something that could be considered harassment, discrimination, retaliation, are you creating a hostile work environment, but here's something that's important for you to realize in that. If you're ever accused of that, it doesn't matter, it matters what your intentions were, but what matters more is how it was received. So you really have to be careful of that. If you find yourself in a little pickle, you can always call me."