• Deepak Chopra introduced me to breath work a couple of years ago. I spent a lot of time with him, and he always talks about activating your vagus nerve. He taught me to practice inhaling and exhaling one side of your nose and then the other.
• I believe that just doing that right now can completely change our demeanor.

Bullying Story

• Growing up as an Egyptian brown girl in Minnesota, surrounded by blonde hair and blue eyes, I stood out as the only diverse student in my school. Throughout elementary and most of high school, I was different from my classmates.
• Back then, without the Internet, many people didn't understand my Arab and Egyptian background. I was often called names like “camel jockey” or “towel head,” and when the song “Walk Like an Egyptian” came out, kids would mimic the dance at me. I faced a lot of bullying because of my ethnicity.
• Nowadays, people embrace and celebrate my Egyptian culture, but back then, it was a source of pain.
• I believe that mindfulness could have made a difference, helping people realize the impact of their words and actions on others' feelings. We've learned and unlearned a lot since then, and I think mindfulness plays a crucial role in that evolution.