That debate will be concluded without any questions being put. Mwatchies, who wish to contribute to the debate, please press the request-to-speak buttons now or place an hour in the chat function if they are joining us remotely. I call on Karen Adam, who is joining us remotely, to open the debate. around seven minutes, Ms Adam. Thank you, Presiding Officer. First of all, I'd like to say that it's a privilege to speak to this motion and I can only start by echoing the sentiments of Marie Todd, the Cabinet Secretary for Public Health, Women's Health and Sport. When she said that the Scottish athletes brought back a staggering amount of medals from Tokyo as part of Paralympic's GB, she also spoke of the pride in our athletes and our hopes that they inspired others to take part in sport and perhaps participate in future games. Those are sentiments that everyone can share and I want to add my voice in congratulating all those who took part and all those who supported the athletes in reaching their full potential, their coaches, their clubs, families and others. A collective effort such as this creates a platform for Paralympians to excel, and this is not despite their disability but because of their ability. The 33 Scots in the Paralympics GB team brought home 21 medals, which is an amazing hit rate. Two gold, nine silver, ten bronze, they all deserve recognition. As MSP for Bampshire and Bucking Coast, I would like to mention three individuals from the north-east in particular. Cyclist Neil Fahey was one of our most celebrated Paralympians, indeed one of our most decorated athletes in general. He has an astonishing number of medals from the Paralympics, the track world championships and the commonwealth games. In Tokyo, he claimed another gold. Also, swimmer Tony Shaw is someone who has been massively successful. Recently, during the European and World Para Championships, Tony also came home from Tokyo with a bronze. The third athlete from the north-east, I want to mention, is swimmer Connor Morrison from Tareff. Connor started out with the Gary Gators in Inverruri. He progressed to the University of Aberdeen performance programme and has been a medal winner at the World Para Swimming European Championships, also domestically. Interviewed before the games, Connor was realistic about his medal hopes and said that he was going to Tokyo for the experience. As he said, to put the best version of himself out there. He qualified from the heat to reach the final of the S14 100-metre breaststroke. No medal this time, but this motion is about the positive impact and inspiring endeavours that Connor and his fellow athletes have on the people in Bamshur and Bucking Coast, around the rest of Scotland and beyond. Tareff to Tokyo is a story with all of that positive impact and all of that inspiration, and the same goes for every other athlete at the Games. It is not just about the medals. Now, I am sorry to strike a somber note in this speech, but we have to be clear that when it comes to disabled people and sport, there are challenges too. It would be remiss of me not to mention the challenges faced by the deaf community when it comes to participation. They themselves, although unable to take part in the Paralympics, unless they have another disability, still face disadvantage when it comes to participating in sports. I hope that this is something that I can use my platform as a child of a deaf adult or a coda to highlight during my time in Parliament. On another point, just last month, the University of the West of Scotland and the Observatory for Sport in Scotland published a research paper by two professors. Richard Davidson and Gail Macpherson, they shockingly revealed that only 12 per cent of disabled children in Scotland had taken part in sport in the relevant research period, as opposed to 81 per cent non-disabled children. That gap does close to some degree in adulthood, but not nearly enough. Meanwhile, the gap for disabled adults living in poverty is stark. Indeed, last year, Professor Tess Kay of the University of Stirling published a research review titled Sport and Social Inequality, saying that low family income poverty was the main driver behind whether or not people of all ages participated in sport. Sadly, it has long been recognised that a household with a disabled person is much more likely to be a household in poverty. You do not have to take my word for it, as charities like the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Disability Rights UK and others. The implications for participation in sport are clear and there is a bigger point to make here. Life for disabled people in Scotland, whether the impairment is intellectual or physical, should be the same as life for everyone in Scotland. Accessible, equal and inclusive, but we still have some way to go. The Scottish Government is taking positive action on disability and on sport and active living more generally. I am not going to read out the pages of the programme for government, and that will come as a relief to some. However, the Scotland-wide launch of child disability payment and adult disability payment, administered by Social Security Scotland, should make a significant difference for disabled people. The Scottish Government will also double investment in sport and active living to £100 million a year by the end of this Parliament, which is excellent news. The more that we level the playing field, the more that disabled people will have a chance to take part in sport at a grassroots level. As numbers rise, more talent will be identified. Not everyone will get a chance to go to the Paralympics, but taking part in sport is good in itself for fitness, self-esteem, social connections and much more. However, whether disabled or not, whether they are focused on gold at the Paralympics or just having a more active life, we can all be inspired by the example set by Connor Morrison of Turiff and all the other Paralympians—medal winners or not—the inspiration to put the best version of ourselves out there. To conclude, Presiding Officer, it is important that we recognise the achievements of these Paralympians, that we celebrate with them, but not forgetting to ensure that everyone in society has an opportunity at fulfilling our full potential, but we need adequate support. We all need support at some points in our life, at various levels and at varying degrees. If we can ensure that a society with equalities is at the heart of everything that it does, then we create a society where thriving is possible, where celebrating each other and our achievements are contributing to a health and wellbeing economy, where purpose and joy in life prevails. I doubt that anyone could argue with that vision. Inclusion and equality are always supporting each other to put the best version of ourselves out there. Thank you very much indeed, Ms Adam. The next speaker will be Jerry Mbalfour, who also joins us remotely. Mr Mbalfour, around four minutes please. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I thank Karen Adam for bringing forward this debate this evening. I also join my colleagues in congratulating the whole of the team GB after a wonderful success this summer. We had a wide range of athletes complete across a vast number of sports and each and every one of them has amplified the British spirit and shown the best of what our country has to offer. From our most senior and decorated representatives to those who made the Olympic debut this summer, I am sure that the whole chamber will join me in communicating our utmost pride and thanks to them. It is difficult to pick out individuals, but Sarah Storey, who became the most decorated parapher in history, not only has her curious fan an incredible eight games over almost three decades, but her honoured track versus two very different sports, women and cycling. I would like to wish both Sarah and all our athletes on both games a warm congratulations. Presiding Officer, I would like briefly to take a moment to draw attention to the unfortunate fact that has been notably less coverage of the Paralympics than that for the Olympics. Being the Prince or online, it was felt like you had to do more work to find coverage for your online action than you did just one month ago. Where were the athletes plastered over the front pages of the newspapers? There was nothing. The level of analysis and pungentry outside of live broadcast left many of us feeling hard done by, especially after incredible broadcast and efforts from a month ago. The International Paralympic Committee said that they derived their name from the Greek word para, which I am sure that you know about, Presiding Officer, means either the side or the long side, inferring that the two games exist as peers. As wonderful as the Paralympics have been this year, it is clear that the name is not yet to be lived up to, and I am sure that everyone in this chamber will join me in looking forward to a more inclusive feature not only in three years' time in Paris, but in continuing support for different activities and sports. Finally, Deputy Presiding Officer, I would like to make one final point. That is to remind those, and I am sure that most of us do not need to remind them, that an athlete is immense for what they do. Too often, people compare apples with oranges. How often have I heard the comment that if an athlete with an amputee leg can run 100 metres in X time, why should disabled people be given benefits instead of just getting a job? That represents a way of thinking that reduces any kind of work that a disabled person should have to the ability to excel in either the sports world or in full-time employment. Those comparisons are similar to wondering why every able-bodied person cannot run a sub 10 second 100 metres when using boats can do it. The reality is that humans all have different abilities and excel in different fields. Disabled people's contributions to society are varied and individual, special and are not necessarily quantifiable by their place in the permanent workforce. Many disabled people do a lot of volunteer work because that kind of low-intensity job is much more suited to their needs and abilities. Of course, it would be difficult to argue that society could function without the contribution of our amazing volunteering sector and yet it often does not get the same recognition. In short, I would encourage people to think twice before making such comments in the future. Consider the just as they might do to compare using boats to a disabled person, not to be compared to share a story and to our teammates. We all contribute differently to society and we must recognise the fact and accept that different people have different metrics of success. In conclusion, let me again congratulate everyone that took part in the Paralympics with their success in regard to what happens next in their life and look forward to seeing them compete or many of them compete in Paris in three years' time. I thank my colleague Carl Martin for securing this debate in chamber tonight. The 2020 Paralympics may have come to an end, but the motivation and inspiration this year's event instilled in us all continues to live on. The core Paralympic values at the heart of the Paralympic movement are courage, determination, inspiration and equality, and there is certainly an abundance of each of those values in displaying Tokyo this year. This year, Tokyo became the first city to stage two Paralympic games, having hosted the 1964 event with 375 athletes from 21 nations taking part in nine sports. The 2020 event saw around 4,400 athletes from 162 national Paralympic committees competing in 539 meadow events across 22 sports, marking the largest number of athletes to compete in the games at once. In these 57 years' events, the disciplines and athletes eligibility have continually evolved, making the Paralympic games one of the biggest events in the international sports calendar, with international recognition and global media coverage. The achievement of our Fertigory Scottish athletes and their contribution to the success of Team GB must be celebrated. With an amazing 42 per cent of them winning medals and continued improvement upon the medal return for Scotland beating the Rio 2016 and London 2012 medal tallies, we are clearly a force to be reckoned with. I was personally delighted to see an impressive number of fifers on the team, but I will come back to them shortly. Although there have been many achievements, statistics from Scottish disability sport show that athletes with a disability still experience the lowest participation levels in sport and physical activity have been disproportionately impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. It is therefore imperative that we build on the positivity of the 2020 summer games and work on meeting the individual's needs of disabled people to increase engagement in physical activity and sport. We have come a long way and made positive steps, common barriers to participation that still exist, and those must be tackled. Over the years of games and the men and women who represent their countries at the highest level in our sport have long played an important role in transforming attitudes towards people with disabilities and promoting a more inclusive society, but local groups and clubs are grass roots. It is at a community level that our future athletes start their journey and they must be our focus, which leads me on nicely to the work of disability sport fifers and our fifers. It would be a miss of me not to take this opportunity to highlight the contribution of them in Tokyo 2020. Disability sport fifers has been leading the development of inclusive sport and active recreation for children, young people and adults with physical, sensory or learning disabilities across fifers for 40 years. We have supported over 25 members to become GB summer or winter Paralympians, as well as enormous success in the European world championships. When you hear the disability sport fifers and coaches have represented a country at every Paralympic Games since 1984, and that six DSF members were among the first 20 Scots inducted into the Scottish Disability Sports Hall of Fame in 2012, you realise just how important local sport is to our sports at a national level. Athletes Owen Miller and Derek Ray are both proud members of DFS who have helped to raise its profile worldwide. Owen headed to Tokyo in August to make his step as a Paralympian and left realising his dream after winning a gold medal in the men's 1500m T20. Derek Ray is well known locally and has even flown the flag for Cercodian Fife for a number of years now, with a number of celebrated sport achievements under his belt, including the World Parathletics Marathon World Cup, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. I would like to commend Owen and Derek and their whole squad for their tireless and never-ending commitment to training in their sport. They are all fantastic role models for the next generation. In conclusion, presiding officer, while stereotypes and judgments are still reality for far too many people living with disabilities, the Paralympic Games continue to play a fundamental role in challenging close-minded attitudes about differences by promoting inclusivity and setting a new benchmark for what is thought to be possible. I look forward to the next decade to bring about even more positive change and increased participation as we continue to work together to break down barriers and provide more opportunities for all of our future Paralympic athletes to get out there, find a sport of love and fulfil their potential. Thank you, Mr Torrance. I now call Carl Mocchin, who will be followed by Brian Whittle. Miss Mocchin, again, four minutes. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I also congratulate Karen Adamott on securing this debate. The Tokyo Paralympics were as exciting and inspiring as ever, bringing an end to a summer of sport in the most remarkable of ways. It was great to see Team GB perform so well, coming second in the medal table with an excellent 124 medals, with the 33 strong Scottish contingent contributing 21 of those, and the best performance by Scots at a Paralympic Games since Sydney 2000, winning medals in 18 of the 22 sports. Team GB really have highlighted the wide array of talent that we have at our disposal, succeeding at the highest level and competing against the very best. We should be so proud of all our Paralympins for the effort that they and their teams put in during the most difficult of times, and they should be congratulated as we are doing this evening. Deputy Presiding Officer, our Paralympins truly are inspirational. Many of them have faced adversity in childhood or perhaps in later life, but all have overcome barriers that, in years gone by, would have perhaps stopped them from participating in sport. It is encouraging that sport in 2020-21 is so inclusive. We have a long way to go, but those games showcase the very best talent, talent that comes from years of hard work and often from people with numerous setbacks. I believe that more people are recognising the importance of the Paralympic Games more now than before, and I consider it crucial that we continue to highlight how vital this breakthrough is and how we should break down those banners and tackle stigma. There is, of course, still work to be done. We have to ensure that sport is accessible to everyone, and that means making sport accessible to disabled people. Ensuring that having a disability does not act as a barrier to individuals' ambitions and opportunities. Indeed, more investment is needed in inclusive sports to ensure that no one is left behind, and it is the responsibility of us as politicians, of the media, of wider society to highlight the positive impact that sport can have. It is our collective responsibility to do this, because, as I mentioned, in the most emotional events such as the Paralympics, we bring people together, we bring sports together, and to undervalue the positive impact that sport has on our society would be a mistake. There, RNIB Scotland, ahead of today's debate, set out some key asks, including increasing funding for disabled sport, including sports adapted for people with sight loss, and from things like tandem cycling, guided running, from the introductory session of classes for more advanced participants. That should act as a reminder to us that there remains a long way to go to ensure that sport is accessible for people with it from a wide range of disabilities. More of our sport Scotland, who have invested around £3 million into Scottish disability sport since the Rio Olympics in 2016, note that disabled athletes still face significant challenges that require joint working for us to overcome. The Tokyo Paralympics was a celebration of talent, diversity, inclusion and community. I think that we can all agree that it was a joy to watch. It was a joy to see Team GB, as we have all said, their coaches, their families and all the volunteers from local community sports centres and clubs deserve a great deal of credit for making the sacrifices that they have to bring us such success. It is right that we have this opportunity to commend the success today. I want to end this debate by saying that rather than a stepping stone towards ensuring that this Parliament gives sport the consideration that it deserves and the investment that sport and inclusive sport should have. Ms Mocken, I now call Brian Whittle, who will be followed by Martin Whitfield. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I start by congratulating Karen Mannams for securing time in the chamber for this debate. I thank her for giving me another opportunity to talk sport in this place. Two weeks in a row, my cup of runnath over. I spoke last week in my own member's debate about highlighting the incredible achievements of all the athletes in the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team, both in the Olympics and in the Paralympics. I also talked about the huge contribution to the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team that was made by Scotland. I have to note here that Gordon Reid, who is fresh from winning two medals in the wheelchair tennis, in Tokyo has gone on to win the doubles with his partner in the US Open. In doing so, he now holds the grand slam of tennis, which is holding all four slam events in the same calendar year, a feat that the mighty Djokovic just failed to do at the weekend. It is a truly remarkable achievement. I spoke of both the Olympics and the Paralympics in the same speech last week. I did that on purpose. To me, when we are watching either the Olympics or the Paralympics, we are just witnessing elite sport. I appreciate the motion that Karen Adam specifically talks about in the inspiring way in which those athletes raise awareness of disability. Of course, she is right. The public perception of what can be done begins to be overridden by the pre-conceptions of what can be done. I think that London 2012 was a watershed for the Paralympics in presenting to the global audience. However, I say again that when we are watching the Paralympics, just like when we are watching the Olympics or any other international competition, we are witnessing elite sport. Disability has nothing to do with it. Those athletes are supremely talented. Work is just as hard as any other sports person. There is fit as any other sports person. The approach to training and development is no different. The support network that I spoke about last week is just as important. It might be more important. I have actually been coached to Paralymp athletes before, and my approach was exactly the same—recognising that every athlete is different, has different strengths and weaknesses, responds to different inputs and, in the end, competes in events that have physiological requirements. I remember coaching an international athlete with cerebral palsy, and I was asked by the GB coach how I would make allowances for his disability. I told him that the athlete in question would get exactly the same attention and treatment as the rest of the squad. He did the same sessions of the rest of the squad at the same time as the rest of the squad. He suffered the same pain as the rest of the squad, and he got the same sympathy as the rest of the squad, and by that I mean none. That was exactly how he wanted to be treated—the same as everybody else, because he is an international athlete—the same as everybody else. If we have any doubt as to the skill levels of those athletes, I will refer the chamber to the day that we MSPs took on the Scottish power chair football team and within 10 minutes were 6-0 and some of us are still traumatised by that. It shows how, if you want to do a sport, it requires training, talent and dedication, and if you do not train, you will get smothered. I think that we need to consider how accessible sport is to all, especially disability sport. The Isher Tigers' power chair football team issue is mainly about transport to training and competition. There are players who want to participate but have no means of getting around. Last week, we discussed the importance of physical and mental health that sport and activity has on participants. We have a duty to enable that participation. Last week, I believe that sport is grossly underfunded in this country when we look at the amount that we spend on health and education. Last week, Christine Grahame highlighted the disparity of support between Olympic and Paralympic sport. Of course, she is right. However, we have to appreciate that Paralympic sport is in its relative infancy compared to Olympic sport, but it is catching up at pace. Although we have a long way to go in terms of recognising the need to properly support sport in general, and especially Paralympic sport, we should note that Team GB in Northern Ireland finished second in the Paralympic medal table. Perhaps we are doing more than many other countries in developing Paralympic sport, encouraging but so much more that we could be doing. At that point, I will once again thank Canada Arms for bringing this debate to the chamber. I would caution you against revealing the scores and performances of the Scottish Parliament football team. The risk of reputational damage is high. I call now Martin Whitfield, who will be followed by Stephanie Callaghan in four minutes. I'm very grateful, Deputy Presiding Officer. It's a great pleasure to follow Brian Whittle, although I think I would make mention that I think there was a young lady who did remarkably well at the tennis recently, who probably deserves mention. My thanks to Karen Adams for bringing this debate today. The Paralympics date back to 1948, when it was the Stoke-Mandival Games. They have been around a long time, becoming the Paralympics in 1960. Like so many people here today, I want to extend my thanks to the coaches and to the families and to all of the supporting organisations that sit round our Paralympians. However, I do want to put on record my awe, and I do mean my awe, at the achievements of Samantha Kinghorn of Libby Clegg, MBE, Stephen Clegg, Mickey Ewell and Maria Lyle. I would like to take the short time that I have to draw attention to Maria Lyle, because her place in East Lothian history is already written. If you look at her Twitter account, which I use today more for humour than research, she calls herself the average Scottish lassie with dodgy legs. She then just happens to put that she is, of course, Paralympic, world, commonwealth and European medallist, which is not bad. Her mum was a PE teacher and at primary school, her mum got her to do the bleep test, which is a sort of fitness programme. She says of it, I managed to finish the test and be the last one standing. This was the first time I ever felt that feeling of success and being good at something, and I've never looked back since. I can tell you as a former primary school teacher, with authority, the bleep test is not easy. She won the first GB athletics medal at Tokyo, securing the bronze and the women's 100 metre T35, but she began at the age of nine with Dunbar Running Club and she began competing locally and nationally in sprint events and in July 2012, at the mere age of 12, she posted a world record time of 32.37 in the 200 metres at the Birmingham Games. Sadly, unfortunately, it couldn't count because she was only 12, so she was too young to have a disability listing. That had to wait, but she kept improving and in 2014, with her classification as a T35 athlete, in the February, she went to Dubai and entered the 100 and 200 metres and won gold in both of them with 14.58. That was also a personal best. The 200 metres, she ran 31.01 and beat the lady who'd taken the gold previously because of age. Then in May, she competed in the Bedford International Open, set another world record, she keeps setting world records, of 14.3 surpassing her own record, and the 200 metres, slightly later, were 30.7. Then, obviously, we have Tokyo.  I want to echo what Jeremy Balfour said about the call for parity with regard to these athletes. Claire Slavre, who is Dunbar Grammar School's head teacher, wrote of her, we had an awesome start to our Friday. Our students had the privilege of watching a live interview with former student and Paralympic superstar, Lyle Maria. Our sports ambassadors did a great job of interviewing her and her answers were honest, insightful and inspiring. I think that that is what is truly important here. We have heard the challenges that face the sport, face people with disability, face people with disability particularly during Covid, but I quickly just want to mention Scottish Disability Sport and its activity inclusion model, which allows for changes to be brought in and also its SDS young person sports panel. I do not want to be negative so much, but look at what has been achieved. It is a small part of what we still need to achieve in sport, in employment, in care, in schools and in our communities. I finish with a reminder of what Maria has said. You need to enjoy your sport, but remember that it is not everything. Make sure that there is a balance in your life. Wise words indeed. I now call on Stephanie Callaghan, who will be the last speaker in the open debate. Again, four minutes, Ms Callaghan. Scottish Disability Sport and its partners across sport governance, local authorities, health, education and more continue to make great strides supporting inclusion within physical activity and sport, and I commend them for their work. Today, however, my speech is based around the personal experience and recollections of one woman from a Oddingston and Bales health constituency. This incredible woman is a valued NHS worker of almost 30-year service and her experience of supporting our Scottish triathlon para-athletes during the Tokyo Olympics really touched me. It demonstrates that success should not be measured in gold, silver or bronze medals, a point that I know my friend Karen made earlier today, too. From that constituence point of view, many things stood out from the Japanese hosts and local organisers, who all did an incredible job, to the build for the para-triathlon site, incorporating platforms over sand and water with ramps and bridges over 1.5km long. Truly awesome from an engineering perspective. Presiding Officer, the warmth of the hosts and volunteers and their wish to make sure everyone was comfortable was heartwarming, with every one of them extending invites to the whole team, urging them to return once Covid had passed to fully experience their wonderful country and culture and all its richness, and I certainly hope that that is so impossible. The technical teams were made up of international colleagues from across the world, with many having met at previous games. Tokyo was their first meeting in two years, and my resident rates them as some of the warmest, most life-affirming people that you could ever want to meet. They often describe themselves as the technical family. She also talked to me about the daily health surveillance app that played its part in protecting against Covid-19 and the challenges around restrictions, training disruption and adjusting to the heat and humidity, which is not something that us Scottish people are used to. Travel was a particular challenge, and the baggage handlers really carefully managed the specialist kit. Hand cycles, racing chairs and specialist bikes were very aware that those items would not be easily replaced if damaged. Despite all those pressures, I am told that our athletes were outstanding at every point. Sadly, the grandstand was empty to the usual spectators, with family and friends sorely missed by all. However, the support personnel and other athletes cheered as loud as they could at every event, making as much noise as humanly possible to show their backing for one another. I am sure that everyone here will agree that our par athletes deserve huge respect and admiration, and it is great that their entering the mainstream has been recognised as elite in their own right. That is long overdue, and I am told that they are grateful to Channel 4 for helping to raise their profile. For me, that is yet another reason to hope that attempts to sell off Channel 4 do fail. Par athletes have faced bigger challenges than most of us could ever imagine, and as they cheered each other over the line to an emotional finish, officials, photographers and medics discreetly wiped away tears from their eyes, an unforgettable experience and a real show of solidarity. Going forward, let us hope that elite pathway opportunities for par athletes continue to grow, that opportunities to participate in disability sport continue to grow, and that the reach and the power of sport continues to grow too. Interestingly, Brexit was also a hot topic among the EU, Commonwealth and Irish officials, with many keen to welcome an independent Scotland back into the EU. It is good to hear that our friends are leaving a light on for Scotland, and I hope that the next Par Olympics will host a full-indy Scotland team, and I am sure that that does not surprise them to hear whether they agree with me or not. Finally, I thank the incredible local women who shared their story with me and I applaud the inspiring Tokyo Par athletes. May they go from strength to strength as the Paris Games approach? I am absolutely delighted to be able to close for the Scottish Government. I want to thank Karen Adam for bringing that motion to the Scottish Parliament and also to all the others who have contributed to the debate. Last week, we had the opportunity to focus on the Olympics, and I am delighted that this week we have the opportunity to focus on the achievement of our Scottish Par Olympians and all those who are involved in disability sport. I again want to put on record our congratulations to the Organising Committee, the International Olympic Committee and, of course, the Japanese Government for putting on such wonderful games despite the challenges of the pandemic. As others have mentioned, Scottish athletes on Par Olympics GB made history at the Tokyo 2020 Par Olympic Games by winning an amazing 21 medals. That is greater than the number of medals won at both the London 12 and the Rio 2016 Par Olympic Games, and it is the highest number won by Scottish athletes since Sydney in 2000. I want to give a special mention, as others have done, to Fin Grayham, from Strath Peffa, in my constituency, who won silver in the sea 3000m individual pursuit as well as silver in the sea 13 road race, what an achievement. Of course, those performances and medals are a result of years of hard work and commitment from the athletes, their coaches and their wider support teams. I live in Strath Peffa and I have watched Fin grow up. He went to school along with my children. What is particularly pleasing is witnessing first hand that connection our communities feel with our athletes. We see the years of work, we feel a part of it and we are inspired by them. What is happening in my home village in Strath Peffa is being replicated all over Scotland, because, as we said, Scots punched above our weight on Team GB this year, so that pride is being felt in many communities right across Scotland. I want to take the opportunity to thank our sporting governing bodies, Scottish Disability Sports, Sport Scotland, including the Institute for Sport, UK Sport, the British Paralympic Association and the National Lottery for their continued work to support our athletes. As we know, and it's a subject that others have mentioned today, disabled athletes often face significant challenges above those faced by non-disabled athletes. Sport Scotland created the Para-initiative group in 2017 to improve the opportunities for para-athletes and to enable more para-athletes to make progress in performance sport. Sport Scotland's corporate strategy sport for life celebrates how everyone in Scotland can benefit from sport and sets out their commitment to inclusion. A key element for improving sporting opportunities for all disabled people is our relationship with Scottish Disability Sport. Scottish Disability Sport is the co-ordinating body for all sports for people of all ages and abilities with a physical, sensory and learning disability. During the pandemic, Scottish Disability Sport developed a suite of online projects and programmes to meet the identified needs of volunteers, coaches, participants and athletes. Those included virtual para-sport days to enable families to get involved in support mental wellbeing, a varied programme of daily activity called the Young Start programme, as well as a challenge with Scottish Paralympians providing short videos containing advice and inspirational messages. We know that the pandemic has had a particularly significant impact on disabled athletes and participants, many of whom have had a shield for such a long time. I fundamentally believe that sport should be available to everyone without any barriers.  Our programme for government announced last week how we aim to address the deep-seated inequalities in our society and create a fair, equal society for all. It commits us to doubling investment in sport and active living to £100 million a year by the end of this Parliament. That investment will enable us to rebuild capacity and resilience in the sector following the pandemic and ensure that we address inequalities in access to physical activity in sport. As the Parliament will be aware, priority will be to support participation across all groups and to tackle inequalities. We will work with Sport Scotland as well as organisations and individuals right across Scotland to break down the barriers that keep too many people from leading active lives, including some of the barriers that we have touched on this evening. I am really pleased that Karen Adam has recognised volunteers in her motion. I am aware of the thousands of people across Scotland who volunteer to give people of all ages and abilities the opportunity to participate in sport and physical exercise. Sport clubs are often in a unique position in communities. Since becoming minister, I have been so impressed with the conversations that I have had with the sector about their commitment to breaking down barriers to activity that exist. It is often volunteers in clubs in a variety of roles that contribute to breaking down those barriers and help to make sport and physical activity accessible for all. In conclusion, I want once again to thank everyone involved in team GB, our inspiring Paralympic athletes, our sporting sector and especially to the thousands of volunteers making a difference every week. 2022 brings the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, where our para-athletes will look to build on successes from the Gold Coast. Glasgow, of course, is the first Commonwealth Games to have para-enabled-bodied athletes competing on the same programme, and in only three years' time we will again be supporting team GB at the Paris Paralympics. I am looking forward in this period of time to working with partners right across the sporting sector to address inequalities in access to physical activity in sport and our aspirations to become a more active and healthier and fairer nation. Thank you to everyone who has made a contribution to this debate this evening and thank you, Karen Adam, for bringing in the motion. There we go. Excellent. Thank you very much indeed minister. Thank you Ms Adam. That concludes the debate and I close this meeting.


Ranting, reflecting, reasoning, rekening. It is now 20 to 6 and on the huddle this evening we have Debra Coddington. Hello Debra. Good evening Larry. And we also have from whaleoil.co.nz Cameron Slater is back with us. Hello Cameron. Hey Larry. I've got you both back tonight because we've got two issues. One is the Ports of Auckland Cameron that you're involved with and Debra the other is the sex thing that you've done a lot of research into. Let's start Cameron with you in the Ports of Auckland. Yep. Look I don't want to, I don't want you to give us any details of where you've got this information but anyway they've been... I won't anyway. No, Ports of Auckland are checking claims that leaked private employee information to you. Anyway it was the employee in my view who jumped into the spotlight mouthing off in the media and I see this as simply clarifying the facts and the fact is that this guy was treated very, very well by the Ports of Auckland. And recently as well with his new child but the union really is crying crocodile tears and the reason I say that is they've based this entire campaign around family sitting by the phone you know we can't take the Mrs Shopping all sorts of things like that based around saying that this isn't about money it's about our family life and it's about our families and then they've put up people, coached them, trained them to say the right things to suit that and this fellow even brought up his daughter and how she was in tears because she couldn't recognise her father. I'm sorry he brought family into this and he, you know it sounds harsh but he lied by omission and it's lying nonetheless and that's the situation that we're in. How I got the information matters not. If the information was coming the other way and we already know that the union has done that they've used leaked information that came from the ports and they don't seem to want an investigation into the leaks of documents that they've been using. See Deborah how do you see this? I mean this guy got five months leave, 21 weeks full pay actually not a lot of employers would do that I think. I'm talking quite clearly a good employer. Well leaving aside all of that what this shows is that you know people have got to remember when they go and talk to the media they've crossed a line and they have to take what follows.  You can't just have a nice pretty story in the media and hope it all goes like that there will come some harsh things after that. Right see that's the thing Cameron they like giving it but they hate it coming back the other way. It was the old dad's army saying from Corporal Jones they don't like it up and you know it's true but I mean they're complaining that you know it was a tragic situation and it is a tragic situation but it doesn't stop Helen Kelly using three deaths in Tauranga to push their agenda. You know if you want to go shroud waving then I'm sorry there's going to be some holding to account and it's just a tragedy that the mainstream media has pretty much been missing in action and there's a reason why I've got so much traffic on my site as they like seeing the other side. We'll come back in just a moment Deborah Coddington and Cameron Slater with me on the huddle it's coming up 16 to 6. Deborah issue number two is there's a call for longer and stricter monitoring of a recidivist child sex offender who said to have rejected to any rehabilitation this is a Dunedin man Graham Purvis he's been jailed three times for sex offences he comes out on Saturday how do you view this we have a serial sex offender and he has rejected rehabilitation I mean it just goes on and on I mean some of these people just do not get rehabilitated he's you know part of his release conditions are that he's not to go near a computer an electronic equipment cable of connecting him to the internet how on earth can you monitor that it's impossible there's another one sent to jail today Glenn Roderick Holland yes again taking disgusting photographs of young girls I mean he's in my book too in 1997 senior sergeant Paul Harrell warned parents about this man back in 2002 again he was cited hanging around Epsom girls grammar and primary schools in Epsom police were warning people about him I know that I dropped the ball on this but it was expensive and it was draining but we need to do much more in terms we want we we expect parents to look after and protect their children but we're not giving them enough to do that here's the thing Deborah I'd be prepared to offer right now to to give my skills and my advice and to team with yourself and perhaps a sensible sentencing trust and we put together an online resource that keeps tabs on these people in a in an up-to-date fashion with recent photographs of them and we just simply start keeping tabs on the PC Deborah where is this Deborah where is the sex offenders register you had a bill where is it I had that bill it was drawn and then when I left Parliament it went into Rodney Hyde's name it came up again for the second reading and I don't know what happened it just nobody when it came up nobody from Act was there to vote on it I understand that there is renewed interest in it and I'm hoping that the National Party might pick it up and show the columns or pick that up it's certainly I think it's legislation whose time has come the heat has come out gone out of that it's not nearly so controversial now it's not the it's not a be all an end all it won't protect everyone but it might do something in terms of having a central registry with DNA photographs etc where people can have tabs kept on them with the public have access to that or would it be controlled that might be a step too far at the moment but at least they could go through a bona fide a source like a school principal the police the local policeman a justice of the peace or someone it could be use of pay and so that they there would be a fine for misuse of information I'd go further than that the sunlight is the best disinfectant here and we've just got to stop people hiding behind you know name suppression we've got to stop people hiding behind a whole bunch of you know various different methods that they use and we've got this recent case of the sex offender changed his name several times employed by eight or nine schools in South Auckland it's just appalling and they're able to hide using the system the reality is that sunlight is the best disinfectant and if you don't want to be tired and feathered as a sex offender or don't commit right well yeah that teacher wouldn't have got a job if there had been a sex offender's register I believe anyway just finally Deborah before we go Dunedin council they're still meeting looks like they'll waive this 400k they're offered they're owed by the Otago rugby union looks like they're going to secure more games at the New Stadium so quid pro quo sort of thing I mean they wouldn't have got the 400k anyway do you have any view on this no I don't think rate payers should bail in after all what sort of lesson does that teach them 100% degree with Deborah on that rate payers shouldn't be funding people's hobbies and it goes for the arts as well and it's just ridiculous as rate payers are now subsidizing a rugby team yeah but hold on let's let look that the rugby union wouldn't give them the 400k anyway it would seem so isn't the next option to get some revenue for the stadium by guaranteed games I'm surprised they didn't have guaranteed secure games in place in the first place they're not going to wind up and not have a football team in Otago I mean it's it's just legal hopscotch is what they're playing at the moment there'll always be a rugby team there oh yeah there'll be a rugby team out of the Highlanders but apparently they commitment to that stadium either and this is the thing the council is weighed under all this debt 200 million or something what does that tell you about councils that propose building stadia alright thank you Deborah nice to talk to you Deborah Coddington thank you Cameron and Cameron Slater on the Huddle


YouTube, it's your old friend again, LumberjointChains. It seems to me that not a lot of you are familiar with me yet, so I'd like to make a proposition for you. Instead of going on and on about my backstory, I'd like to open up the comments section of YouTube for all of you to ask me questions, ask me anything you'd like, and I'll pick a few to answer in one of our next review videos. Sound good? Okay, let's get on with the review. Today we're looking at our elements line of rolling papers, as well as some of our cellulose transparent papers. If you're on the go and you don't have time to stop, drop, and roll, pick up one of the clear cyclone papers. These are transparent tubes that you can just open up, take out, and fill up yourself. No hassle and no worry. And if you like a traditional cellulose paper, check out The Trip, 100% natural and 100% tree-free. LumberjointChains likes that. Now let's get on to our elements, ultra-thin rice papers. We have our thin-sized papers, as well as our king-sized connoisseur papers. And let's not forget about our 12-inch super-sized papers. This also has a built-in magnetic closure device on every package that they sell. But Lumberjoint is a traditional type of man, so he prefers the regular single-wide elements papers. So let's use our special elements rolling tray and take a look at how it works. I've got one already primed and ready to go here. So just with a bit of a twist, you can get this baby going. Element papers are made in Alcoe, Spain, which is the birth of rolling papers, Spanish fig. And they also have a criss-cross watermark which prevents runs and gives you a nice smooth burn. So let's take a look. Ah, yes, elements. They're good enough for me, and I'm sure they'll be good enough for you, too. So pick some up today at SmokeHartel.com, and don't forget to subscribe. And if you YouTubers know of any products that you'd like to see me review, please let us know. That's good, right?


Hello, everybody. What's up, you guys? Let me know if you can see me. I know it's a little bit delayed here. Good morning or good afternoon or good evening wherever you guys are in the world. So good to be here with you guys on site to go. I know there's hundreds of you guys, probably thousands of you guys that will be joining in in just a little bit. So we'll just wait a few minutes to get grounded here to invite everyone in into the space. Amazing. So today I wanted to be here. My name is Yuri Choi. I am a designated coach for Psych2Go and I often do live streams here doing different kinds of workshops as well as meditations and whatnot. And today we actually gather for a really special cause. And even though Psych2Go, we want to get involved in as many things as possible where we can help people around the world. It's not always that we can do it. We have the best intention to do so. And with that said, recently, I don't know if you guys are aware that there is a conflict going on in Ukraine and Russia. So today we just wanted to get together. This isn't a political thing. This isn't anything but to really envision world peace together. And I'll tell you in just a little bit why we're doing this. So I'll share with you guys in just a little bit. So if you guys would like, and by the way, I actually have a special guest that I think will be joining a little bit later today. One of the things that I really am passionate about is the fact that I believe things like meditation and play and art and music, these things really bring together all the people in the world. We don't even have to speak the same language, but with music, with art, we can bring people together. So I have a special guest who will be joining us, who should be able to play a part in that really powerfully. So I'll share with you a little bit about that. I'm looking at the chat right now. So just trying to catch up. Thank you so much for being here, you guys. So today, like I said, we'll talk a little bit about why we're doing this as well as go through a meditation. So there is, you know, there's been studies here. I'm going to go ahead and turn down the music here for a second just to make sure. Hey, you guys, if you can hear me, please let me know in the chat that you can hear me and just say yes, we can hear you or psych to go something in the chat so that I know that you're present there. You can hear us. You can hear me. And yes, by the way, you guys are really quick, quick announcement from psych to go. I do want to let you guys know you are absolutely right. Psych to go Instagram did get hacked yesterday. So if you guys see any kind of solicitation or anything weird, any, you know, stories that's coming through on Instagram from psych to go, just know that that is not us currently, we will let you know. And it'll be loud and clear when we do have the account back. So just want to let you guys know that just be careful of that, you know, spread that message. So, you know, we can make sure that no one is no one is looking at the Instagram thinking it's us because it's not. So I'm really quickly I'm curious. This is something that I love to do every time I do a live stream like this. Hi, Vlad. How are you? Good to see you. I saw your name really quickly. Please let us know where you are joining in from today. We're going to spend about a, you know, the next hour, an hour and a half together, it's going to be really, really powerful. It's going to be really, really special. And I'm curious where in the world you guys are joining in from would love to hear from you.  And would love to hear from you. So today I'm actually in California. I know that I've done live streams here from South Korea before. Today I am actually in Southern California joining in from here. So we have Italy, we have Colorado, we have Iowa, we have Philippines, Bangladesh, UK, India. Wow, Sweden. Amazing. Yeah. Look at all these people. And if you guys are in Ukraine right now watching this, look at all these people who've joined in live right now to support, to support world peace, to support y'all, to support, you know, just people who's promoting peace. Amazing. There's people from Japan, South Africa, Germany, literally from all over the world. This is amazing. This is so amazing. So for those of you who's just joining in again, my name is Yuri Choy and the reason that we are doing this today is because there's a conflict going on in Ukraine right now. And this isn't a political thing. This is really about protecting the innocent people, promoting peace, and really just showing up for each other because I believe that we have a powerful platform here on Psych2Go where we get to do this, where we get to come together and rise together, especially during difficult times like this. And this is something that I'm really passionate about. For those of you, and by the way, me being an empath as well, it's been an intense week. I don't know about you guys, but even leading up to this conflict, this really intense conflict, horrible conflict in Ukraine, I was like having really crazy dreams. I was, you know, just really feeling a lot. And I was like, and there was so many of us who are empaths, who are feeling this way, who are feeling really intense and we didn't know why. So when this happens, like, oh, wow, this is what we were feeling into.  And this is actually a powerful way for us to be able to transmute this energy of, you know, feeling these intense emotions throughout this time. And one of them is to really show up for one another, to transmute this energy into something powerful to a cause that actually brings more love and peace into this world. So if you guys are hearing here right now, just know that this is an opportunity for you to do that. Yeah. So I'm just, I'm just looking at the chat. It's going by really fast. I'm just really trying to catch up here. So with that said, one of the things that we get to think about is, well, let's talk about it in three different layers. And we can start with the individual layer. This is a time that we get to really, really focus on self care even more.  You know, when you are grounded and when you are centered, you're going to get into less conflicts on a very micro level. And that's actually really powerful as well. The next thing is looking at it as a community or even country, see what you can do within your country, within your community to seek out like who you can help, whether it's this particular cause or someone else, something else. It's a really powerful way for us to be able to transmute this energy into something even more powerful.  We're all connected that way. We are just one big, you know, group of people who are getting through the next 100 years together. And here we are, you know, causing so much conflict and tension that's not necessary. So in that moment, also, you know, seek how we can potentially help people all around the world and how we can help each other. And right now, the thing that's really close to my heart is this conflict in Ukraine. I literally didn't think it was going to happen. And then I can only imagine how scary it was for the people who woke up. I actually just spoke to somebody in my network on Facebook about like what was really going on in Ukraine. And this really broke my heart. You know, this person, literally him and his family, they woke up to bombings, like, you know, rockets just landing in his city at five in the morning. And I know that this isn't the only conflict that's happening in the world. But for some reason, this is really pulling at my heart. It's just feels so close to my heart for some reason. I can't believe it's happening. So yeah, I ended up having a conversation with this person about what his experience is real time. And it was really eye opening because we think, I mean, we think we see certain things on the news or whatever.  But like when you talk to an individual who's actually going through that real time right now, they're sitting in the shelter, sitting in fear and sitting in anxiety, sitting wondering what is wrong with humanity. You feel it too. And not that, you know, this is to bring anyone down. But like there, I really promote this idea of oneness. And that oneness isn't always going to be light and love, even though at the end of the, you know, at the end of the day, it is like in the bigger picture. But like, sometimes it is just sitting with the pain of what's really going on in the world together. And that's also oneness. And not that you guys have to sit in the pain right now worry really here to elevate the consciousness, elevate the frequency here together. There's actually I know, there's a lot of you guys who were questioning like, what is a meditation going to do for the war? Well, there's actually a specific research that's been done that when, you know, enough people got together, and they did these kind of mindfulness exercises, they were actually able to shift into higher consciousness, literally decreasing the rate of crime by like 16%.  So my intention today is for us to, first of all, feel that level of peace, feel that level of joy, feel that level of harmony within ourselves, and then really intentionally they project that feeling out into the world, and sending love specifically to people in Ukraine who's sitting there right now, people in any situation, for whatever reason, that they are feeling attacked or powerless, let's send love to them, as well as people of Russia too.  There's a ton of people in Russia, there's a ton of people around the world who want peace, as much as people in Ukraine. So this isn't about, you know, Ukraine versus Russia, this is really about promoting peace and promoting the love that we get to create in this world together. So I just want to make that super clear. I'm just going to look at the chat real quick before we go into the meditation. People are above the government. Yes, I pray for all humanity as well Fatima. And you know, someone wrote here, which country made a mistake? Today, this isn't a discussion about that. This is a discussion about how we can actually shift this energy of violence and terrorism or, you know, whatever is going on in the world, not just in Ukraine, to really be able to bring this back to peace. Yeah. I'm just looking at some of the chat here. So let's, so if you guys are here today, go ahead and, you know, put in the chat. I am here for world peace. I'm praying for world peace. I make a stand for world peace. Let's go ahead and put that in the chat. Let's see how powerful it is for us to come together and really intend to like really declare this intention together. And I want the chat like overflowing with this energy. I am here for world peace. I am here for world peace. I am here for world peace. Yes. Yes. Look at this. Look at all of these people who are here to make a stand for world peace and for Ukraine today. Yes. And if there's anyone in Ukraine who's watching this, please know that we are here for you. Those who are getting impacted by a situation that you don't have control over, we are here for you. Yes. I'm here for unity. I'm here for world peace. Oh, this is so beautiful. Like I'm getting to your hand here. This is beautiful. Thank you guys. Thank you guys. Yes. Oh my God. This is so, so, so powerful. And by the way, I will be sharing some resources at the end. If you guys do want to contribute in a specific way for Ukraine, we'll go ahead and include that in the chat or the comments. So that is a resource that we will be providing. And yeah. Thank you. Thank you all for being here to really intentionalize this. This is really, really powerful. Yeah. I am here for world peace. All right, you guys. So today, and for, and I would love to be able to share this with people in Ukraine who's sitting there right now just scared and not knowing what's going to happen tomorrow or in the next hour even. If you have a message for them that you want to send out of love, and this is very, very intentional. If it's out of love, feel free to put it in the chat because I would love to be able to share some of these messages with them directly. Yes. Yes. Yes. All right. So go ahead and keep sending that. This is so powerful. Please continue to send all these messages in the chat. And when you like type this, like feel into it, like pour your love onto it, like put some energy into it. Yes. All right. Beautiful. So we will continue this. And meanwhile, let's go into a meditation here. And like I said, at the end, I will also have a guest speaker who will be joining us who will be singing a beautiful song around this vision that we get to hold around world peace and what we really get to create in this world, the vision that we get to hold for humanity. All right, you guys. So let's go into this. This is going to be so powerful. There's hundreds of you guys, potentially thousands of you guys who will be watching this later as well. And wherever you are in the world, just know that like there is this collective energy that will start to shift what's going on in the world. And believe that. Just believe it for a second, even if you even if you're not too familiar with this type of research out there that has clear evidence that this works, just play into it for a second and see how it can potentially help us. All right. All right, you guys. So we're going to go into the meditation here. And I will also be sending. I will also be sending some resources here so you guys can look into that directly for Ukraine as well. So let's go ahead and get grounded. Continue to send the messages if you're not participating in the meditation for whatever reason. But if you are, I really, really would like to invite you into this global meditation here today. So go ahead and get grounded. Let me know if you can hear me. Okay, just kind of rub your hands together, creating some heat here. Second today, this act of ego, act of greed, whatever we want to call it, act of violence. There's something that's deeper within us. It's our heart, that's our soul, and there, when we meet there in that place, we are all truly connected. So feel into your heart, see what it has to tell you today, see what it wants to speak part to your truth, whatever that means for you in this moment. And when you're ready, you can release your hands if you'd like.  Place your feet to the earth. We are all here on this earth. We are all rooted here on this earth. There isn't one person in this world that is not. There's a reason that we are grounded here on this earth together. We are that, and really getting grounded into that intent. Extend your spine. Extend your spine as much as you can. And then go ahead and relax your shoulders away from your ears. Relax your jaws. We hold a lot of tension here. And check into the space in between your temples. And fill that area with white light.  And stay grounded here. Allow the earth to hold you and nurture you. Come back to who we really are. And we are here today to pray and meditate towards peace and love. All these layers that don't matter. We're going to go straight to the thing that matters, which is our core of who we really are. This love that exists in us that's so deeply ingrained in us. You might feel your body start to tangle or get warmer here as we connect to our troops. Allow that heat to just radiate. That's here. Take a deep inhale and exhale. Let's do a powerful inhale together as a collective. Take a deep inhale in through your nose. Fill up your lungs and three, two, one. Hold at the top and exhale. Let's do a few more. Take a deep inhale and exhale. Take another deep inhale. Exhale everything out. For a moment here, take yourself to a time that you felt complete in life in your own body. You felt so much love for another person. Felt so loved by another person. What did that feel like in your heart? What did that do to your breathing? What did that feel like in your stomach to feel completely loved or have abundance of overflowing deep, deep love for somebody? Into that energy, tap into that feeling where nothing. This is the process of helping you remember to connect to that frequency, to connect to that feeling in our bodies. We can't pray for something that we don't. It's radiating. It is this giant ball of bright light in your, maybe it's in your stomach, maybe it's in your head, maybe it's in your throat. Wherever you feel this love in your body, envision it with your eyes closed as if there's bright light that is hovering, that's covering, that's centering you to that love. Pure unconditional love in your body where you feel this right now. Maybe it's scattered throughout your entire body, maybe it's in every one of your cells, maybe it's in your bones, it's in your muscles, it's in your hair. This love can envision it when you can feel it, when you can feel this energy of love in your body as white light. Rub your hands together as we did before.  You can feel it, you can see it, it's this bright ball of light. You might start to feel this area between your hands, between your palms get warm and hot as you really connect to this radiating love energy so that they can shift what they are capable of, who are suffering, who are scared, traveling across the world, soldiers who get to have a change of heart. Maybe it's the leaders of the world who are inspired to do something to bring more peace into this world. Send this love to somebody specific, that same energy that you felt in your own body for a moment or maybe for a day or an hour or the rest of it. Imagine them receiving this energy and all the sudden they start to feel this peace. Maybe they drop their weapons, maybe they change their plans for any kind of further violence and they decide to surrender to love, to surrender to peace. What's that feel for them in that moment when they decide to do something different so that they can align to world peace and love? Imagine somebody who's having that shift in their energy because you sent them love because you reminded them what's possible in this world instead of shooting somebody. Imagine people who get to leave this shelter forever knowing that even though situations happen they're safe now, they can rebuild now and they can feel the love from all around the world to start to rebuild their life and they're so happy. They're just really joyful that this is over. Imagine these specific scenarios in your mind. What would that look like? What would that feel like? And once you can feel that energy shift allow that to inspire you, allow that to move you knowing that you did your part in creating this energy in this world. Oof I'm feeling so much warmth in my body right now I don't know if you guys can feel that. And for those of you who's just joining thank you for being here. We are sending we're sending love to people in Ukraine to people who suffering in this world to intentionalize world peace and exhale the love out. From this place I knew we're able to envision one person having a change in their heart. It's a powerful thing. There's hundreds of you guys thousands of you guys who got to this love and tension for the people really needed today. From this place I invite you to come back get settled back into this reality and if you would like send a heartfelt message to people in Ukraine in this chat whatever you want to say to them once again or anything that came through for you around what you saw or the love that you felt go ahead and share in the chat. Yes I almost start crying as well. I am like sweating right now just feeling all this love energy from all of you guys like I literally feel it. Do you guys feel that? Did you feel that shift in your own energy and I got to envision somebody feeling that as well? I could feel so much more in this release the little violent emotional yes that means that what if it got you emotional that's really powerful because that means that you had a shift in your own energy and in that alone that's really powerful as well as now you're really sending the majority of the people in this world. Yes yes we are angels of love. Share in the chat like what is a vision that you will link here so that if you guys are feeling called to do anything additional and this is not you know even through psych to go with just a link that was shared. Thank you so much for being here. This is so powerful. You guys are incredible and just know that about y'alls but I've worked around this situation and around a lot of situations in the world and when I really connect with there's this deep sadness that comes around this level of helplessness and this was my intention really to do something anything but I feel like could have even a little bit or big or massive ripple effect around the world so for you guys right now one thing that you could do is maybe share this video with people around you invite people to pray with you meditate with you around world peace I invite you to do something even if it seems very little to go do something that spreads this energy this energy of love that you felt deep inside and you've created today because this is really really powerful when we can actually spread this and actually create this ripple effect like I'm in spirit of love well that's who you really are I truly truly believe that yeah so one second here I'm going to go ahead and send some links and if you guys are able to stay on for a few more minutes I might actually have a surprise speaker slash um music live music that will be available to promote or at least even more so feel free to stay for a few more minutes in about 10 to 15 minutes here for those of you who think amazing so meanwhile you guys hi Tiago great to see you hi Kumar meanwhile let's talk about this I'm going to do a mini workshop here and how to actually take a situation like this um to be able to and transmute this energy into love one of the things that you guys did today is did whatever you did in your own time right in meditation where you felt the shift in your own energy because to be honest the best thing that we can do in the world is to show up as that energy of love you don't know who I am my name is Yuri Choi I am the designated coach here for psych to go I do live streams here often on a monthly basis and for special occasions like this again we're here today we just meditated you guys are more than welcome to rewatch this so for the last 20 minutes or so we held a collective meditation and really envisioning peace and unconditional love for Ukraine and anyone in the world who is for peace who is for world for love and who um really want to envision this world of peace together so it's really powerful um so feel free to watch that if you would like um also peace and love we did today and um there's people from all over the world so you know tapping into that really quickly um feel free to share where you are praying from today where you are meditating from today and again continue to send messages of support and love for people of Ukraine and even people you know all around the world doesn't matter where they are you know people in Russia who are for peace people in the US who are for peace and we all want to help um and we feel helpless right now so this is an opportunity for us to create that energy here and that create the momentum create the ripple effect so these are some of the things that came up from me you guys I allow these difficult times especially if you're an empath like Bayan um you guys probably felt a lot during the last couple weeks couple days leading up to this and hopefully you guys feel better now and one of the things that I really try to do is what can I learn from all these different people who's showing up and rising above everything for example when I looked at people like you know people in Ukraine who are staying strong and who's really stepping up to do something for their people and really fighting for their country it allowed me to think about like what is what is a cause that's so powerful that I would literally risk my life or it's something that is like such a big thing in my heart that like I'm willing to like go for it like I'm willing to let that fire of my soul just like lead me to action in that way and one of the things that came up for me was actually this to be able to step up in the space where I get to hold space for you guys as well as hold space to you know pray for the people who really need it I mean this felt like a calling that I could not ignore and that felt really really powerful so this is an opportunity for you guys too as you watch these you know news and footages it can be really heartbreaking and that's okay that's normal right like we're human and we're watching people experiences it's a heartbreaking thing and also it's a great point for a moment of reflection of like what is something that is so dear to my heart that I would fight for it and connect to that fire what is something that you're so passionate about that you would do anything for it and if you can actually connect to that fire you're able to transmute that deep sadness into impact that's exactly what I did today you know I've been really emotional the last couple days like talking to you know friends in Ukraine talking to people about the situation watching the news and then I just had to make a decision I'm like this feeling is here for a reason this emotion is here for a reason what can I do to transmute this energy of sadness into impact and inspired action so think about that for you as well like what is something that you can do with this another thing that really really inspired me was actually um watching people in Russia for clearly for peace rise above and say this is not us like we are here for peace we are here for love as much as anyone else right because this truly isn't about different countries you guys this is just about two kinds of people people who are for peace and people who are not and we're here to really hold space and promote and rise with the people who are for world peace here is a link here that was sent by somebody who's actually in Ukraine right now so if you are feeling called to help feel free to check that out and you know do something that really feels like something um that you want to help with there's a bunch of different ways that you can help so go ahead and take a look at that if you like here's the link here and I'm going to go ahead and put this in the comments or I'm sorry in the um caption as well and by the way you guys people who are this is um people who are showing up with any kind of violent messages you will be not a part of this like I it's not even going to show up in this chat um and you might potentially get blocked so please please let's keep that intention really really strong here and this is a place for peace and safety all right and then another way I wanted to really invite you all to think about as we're moving through these difficult times and a lot of emotions are rising when I looked at people of Ukraine they're going through and then I looked at my own problems and the things that I was stressing about it became truly irrelevant it brought me back to like what really matters in this world like who are the people that I would want to call today if there was a war that broke out in my own country and then I call them and this these are the moments that we can actually transmute this energy of fear and sadness into love for the people that I would think today right now for the people I would want to sit with and then like what am I willing to be grateful for that I totally take for granted like you know for a lot of us I'm sure not everybody but for a lot of us we have the luxury of safety most of us don't wake up thinking oh my gosh is my city gonna be bombed oh my gosh am I gonna have water am I gonna have electricity am I gonna have you know people that I love around me and like we forget that that alone is such a luxury head and connect to that gratitude and when I was able to connect to that gratitude oh my gosh this happened I was able to show up for you guys I was able to transform my energy of sadness and fear into love and do something with it do something productive with it do something powerful with it and then actually create this ripple effect with hundreds thousands of people to do the same so um from the people of Ukraine can you guys hear me okay from the people from Ukraine what they're telling me is the first thing is we get to spread this awareness of what's really going on because a lot of people they may or may not know what's really going on so do your own research um I'm sorry that it's cutting out I'm gonna go ahead and decrease the sound here a little bit I hope you guys can hear me is that better okay okay awesome all right so um creating that awareness as well as staying grounded staying in a place of love for yourself as well as um being active proactive about doing the research of how you can help that aligns with your heart so yeah I hope that's helpful and then in just a little bit here we're gonna go ahead and invite my friend here who's gonna be doing a little share his gift with us here today let's see all right you guys so um meanwhile tell me share with me a little bit in the chat if you're here and you stayed for the whole hour thank you so much I really really appreciate all of you guys share with me what was most powerful for you what is a message that you want to share for Ukraine and then um yeah share with me what came up for you in the last hour um and we'll go into this next session here in just a little bit yes the message that was really loud and clear today for me is that there's so many of you guys who are here to support world peace and it was so powerful I'm so grateful that y'alls are here today you stayed the whole time I love it I love it yes thank you and again you know I invite you to share this video with people whom I need it um whether they're feeling deeply they're feeling deeply this week because of what's going on or maybe they have never meditated and you really felt something powerful today you want to share that and feel free to share this video share um you know anything anything on psych to go really right I mean we're all here with the same mission to bring awareness for mental health mindfulness and to increase awareness around this and create a community so we are so grateful that you are here today we're so grateful that you are part of this movement yeah you saw a lot of spheres of white like traveling around the world beautiful beautiful beautiful all right you're feeling numb and emotionally detached because of bottling up your emotions but you meditated and today yep you'll feel good again yes you were crying okay and you guys by the way if you did cry during this meditation that's really powerful um a lot of times we hold back our emotions in our bodies and it gets stuck and that's when we start to feel really stressed and we start to feel heavy and we start to feel not as good and if we can actually allow that energy to come through in the form of tears it can actually be really powerful so all right you guys so we're going to be doing this um livestream for about 10 to 15 more minutes I have a special guest here that I'm going to um bring up today so I'm really excited to have him here um so he is a musician who's traveled all around the world and promoted this idea of peace in different ways he's performed to the Dalai Lama he's performed on BBC and I'm really really honored and excited to have him here and he's going to join us in about two more minutes so if you're just joining right now and you've been here I'm so happy you guys are still here and um stay on because we have something really powerful one of the things that I love about music and art and poetry is that it doesn't matter where you're from our hearts and our souls can feel it so with that said my intention of bringing up um bringing on my special guest here today is to connect to that energy of love connect to that energy of play connect to that energy of peace through music because it can be a really really powerful powerful way for us to come back to our souls for those of you who's wondering who I am by the way you guys my name is Yuri Choi I am the coach here designated coach here for psych to go I often do um livestreams here on a monthly basis and for special occasions like this um if you would like feel free to follow me on my own channel it's um I'll go ahead and put it here and um also feel free to follow me on instagram it's at Yuri1c and by the way if you guys are just joining in I do want to give you that quick announcement once again psych to go instagram was hacked yesterday so if you see something weird on psych to go instagram please please ignore it don't respond to them don't give them any money like don't do anything work because it is um you know I just want to let you guys know that's happening it's being fixed but I just want to let you guys know for the um last like 24 hours it hasn't been us controlling it so just be aware of that yes we'll have the artist here in just a little bit he'll be joining us here in just a little bit thank you Timothy I really appreciate that and yes I feel that too I'm refocusing my energy I'm re-aligning recalibrating my energy into something powerful and you guys were all here doing this with me so I really really appreciate it I don't know about you guys but I start I'm feeling so like good like I when I was doing that meditation with you guys I literally felt all of your love energy like I was just like sweating I barely ever sweat ever um and I could like feel the heat of that love and that like white light energy you guys were all creating that we were sending to Ukraine and all across the world so it was really powerful and I'm so so grateful that you guys were here to do this with me today it was just such a beautiful experience okay so you guys wait a few more minutes we'll have my friend here in just a little bit um we'll just wait a few minutes here um so right now you guys as we wait let's go ahead and type in the chat I am here for world peace I am here for world peace let's go ahead and flood this chat um as if we are welcoming my friend here so that we can go ahead and connect with the power of music here in just a little bit reminding us of our intention why we're here today go ahead and type that in the chat also feel free to share where you're joining in from especially if you're just joining in in the last see like 30 minutes and we haven't heard from you so feel free to type that in where you're coming from I am here for world peace from where amazing amazing amazing yes I love this you guys are getting so excited to see the artist oh my gosh he's a dear friend of mine and um yeah it's gonna be amazing this music is awesome and I'm really excited to show you guys what's coming where are you guys supporting from today where are you promoting world peace from we see UK India all around the world I love it love it love it you're from Ukraine oh thanks for being here and we are sending you so much love so much love um you guys feel free to share this too if you do happen to have any friends in Ukraine um we want them to know that they're feeling supported here so feel free to share this for people in Russia who are for peace people in America who are for peace people in India who are for peace this is really for anyone who has the same intention of world peace together so please take a moment to share this video with a friend with multiple you know 10 of your family uh friends whoever so that we can really spread this energy as much as possible I love it ooh a little heart explosion here I love it yes thank you guys um if you're watching this from Ukraine and you are not alone we are here with you our hearts are with you and hope you guys felt the love that we were sending you today and we're just watched waiting a few more minutes um by the way you guys if you guys would like I um and for those of you really in this process of creating world peace for yourself and in the world um this is my new book that just came out so you guys are more than welcome to take a look um there's two versions there's like the uh paperback uh copy as well as um ebook so if you guys are looking for any resources that's one of them um I'm gonna go ahead and send you guys the resources for Ukraine once again guys so I am so excited because it's here today I'm gonna go ahead and pause the music here for a second so for those of you who are still here thank you so much I have a special guest for you today as I talked about one of the things that I believe is one of the most powerful ways we can unite and come back to our hearts is through music and art and all that beautiful stuff so right now I have a friend who's waiting backstage who's going to come and um share some music with all with all of us his name is Samuel Jay and he's performed for the Dalai Lama he's performed for bdc and all around the world promoting this idea of world peace love and I'll let him talk but um I am so excited to invite him up here so we'll go ahead and have him here so he's going to come up here in just a little bit I think you're sideways wait wait wait wait hold on let's go ahead and flip that so we can see you and I think you're muted can you hear me now yes we can hear you but hey everyone okay here you are awesome greetings you guys all right how's it going the live chat that's going off right now they're so excited to see you here um and Samuel it's been a while I'm so glad that you're here so you're in the UK right now yes yeah here in England sending love to everyone yeah thanks for a lot of super last minute yeah it's it's I'm glad that I was able to come and be present for this it's a lot of it's great to see so many people coming together you know for peace in this time and holding others accountable for you know for responsibility you know as global citizens yeah are you getting the microphone or yeah we're good okay cool yeah they're so excited to see you um share with us before you go on if you'd like um tell us a little bit about you and who you are and where you are right now what you're up to yeah could you say that one more time yeah just share with us a little bit about who you are your mission for world peace um and yeah just a little bit about you if you'd like yeah the some reason your audio is really loud but I think I just share a little bit about my mission for world peace well yeah I mean my mission really is motivated by contributing to you know the harmony if you like of our ecosystem I'm pretty into you know contributing to the harmony of the ecosystem basically through conscious action and I believe we all you know have a part to play in maintaining that harmony that balance both within ourselves and of course with others how we treat ourselves how we treat others and how we treat the planet is really the best contribution that we can make and yeah I've been fortunate enough to be working frontline with a lot of world-leading conservation groups over the last 10 20 years that are dedicated to restoring the importance you know of valuable ecosystems so a lot of ocean conservation and actually a couple of my colleagues were in you know recently in the Ukraine and you know we've also been out in Russia and it doesn't really matter like the so much the the country um as this as it does this global responsibility that we all have to look after the ones resources to look after each other and you know I write music inspired by you know a lot of the of what's happening in the world um between you know in that movement basically but yeah I can't hear you but hopefully I'm answering the questions as long as you guys can hear the music yeah I would love to hear your music we're just here to intentionalize world peace today because you're just joining in we have people from all over the world who we got to do a meditation together and we're going to go ahead and conclude this powerful session today with a special guest here his name is Samuel Jay and he actually I think you have a song right around holding this vision for the world so would love to just allow you to take over the stage and really excited to hear you thanks guys yeah and I can I can finally now hear you on the audio so sorry it was a little bit to answer the questions before that but yeah just sending love to everyone um good to be here this song is called become the vision um for us to create uh you know anything in this world it's like important to like hold a vision um so yeah hope you enjoyed this one collectively send our love and prayers to all those affected by these recent events the real cause of all this is hate hate can only be overcome by love we've seen time and time again how the power of coming together and unifying is much better separation these conflicts they only create separation so we just hold that vision together thank you so much Samuel so welcome thank you Yuri for doing this and bringing everyone together yeah there were a lot of people who were just enjoying your music so much and hope you can look at it later and thank you for just aligning your heart to this mission um yeah I just feel like you know this is a time that we get to do our part even if it's little or big I think we're creating a ripple effect so I just really appreciate you yeah you too a lot of gratitude sending love everyone take care thank you guys thank you Samuel so that is it thank you so much for having been here for the last hour and a half or so yes his music is beautiful so if you guys would like um go ahead and follow him on YouTube Instagram I'll go ahead and include that in the chat or I'm sorry in the chat as well as the caption here but other than that thank you for being here I really really appreciate every single one of you who showed up with the most powerful loving intention sat through the powerful um you know uh meditation and really intentionalize us together uh feel free to share this with other people so that we can go ahead and continue to create the ripple effect and other than that I will be back here soon um love you guys so much thank you for creating this beautiful space and from the bottom of my heart um love you guys and psych to go is just so grateful for all of you the audience the you know all the subscribers anyone who is willing to stand for advocating mental health as well as world peace so I really appreciate all of you love you guys so much and sending you lots of love see you soon bye y'all