Welcome to the Behind the Shield podcast. As always, my name's James Gearing. And this week, it is my absolute

honor to welcome on the show, Canadian firefighter and the man behind Fire to Light, Brandon Evans.

So in this conversation, we discuss a host of topics from living in Costa Rica, the journey to India that ultimately led to him studying under the Dalai Lama, trauma

in the fire service, meditation, organizational stress, the importance of compassion and so much

more.

Now before we get to this incredible conversation, as I say every week, please just take a moment.

Go to whichever app you listen to this on, subscribe to the show, leave feedback and leave a rating.

Every single five-star rating truly does elevate this podcast, therefore making it easier for others to find.

And this is a free library of over... And this is a free library of over 800 episodes now.

So all I ask in return is that you help share these incredible men and women stories so I can get them to every single person on planet Earth who needs to hear them.

So with that being said, I introduced to you

Brandon Evans. Enjoy. Well, Brandon, I want to start by saying thank you so much for taking the time to come on the show.

We tried yesterday.

I know you were in a public library, which is not known for excellent Wi-Fi receptions,

so we've rescheduled to today, and you sound amazing. So welcome to the show.

Awesome. Thanks for having me here, James. Yeah, you know, we travel around quite a bit,

and so you kind of got to take some risks sometimes and don't always work out. So here you go.

So where on planet Earth be finding you today?

Yeah, so right now I'm in Saubel Beach in Ontario, Canada, and we're hanging at a cottage on Lake Huron.

So before we even get to your timeline, I think I want to jump ahead to Costa Rica.

So talk to me about what made you kind of take

some time off and take your family to Costa Rica and then kind of talk to me about the contrast

...