Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
“Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time,”
—Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Legal professionals are fact-driven, results-oriented individuals who tend to thoroughly analyze information and cautiously approach data with persistent inquiry and skepticism.
Most of us are not surprised by the fact, as it is not a novel revelation, that a significant percentage of legal professionals in the United States suffer with problematic substance use, depression, anxiety, and stress.
The legal profession is mentally, emotionally, and physically demanding, as it is fraught with heavy workloads, tight deadlines, and high stakes consequences.
The status of the mental health and well-being of many members of the legal profession challenges us to identify a means to improve the experiences of the members of our legal community.
The introduction to, and acceptance of, mindfulness practices in law is a much-needed response to the call to action for positive change in the profession.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness has a variety of definitions, most very similar and each with a focus on present moment awareness. Rhonda V. Magee, a professor of law at the University of San Francisco, provided a notable explanation of mindfulness as “paying attention in a particular way with an attitude of compassionate or friendly nonjudgment with the intention of increasing one’s capacity for awareness in the present moment.”
Attentiveness, heightened awareness, nonjudgment, and the present moment experience are essential characteristics for legal practitioners.
As stated by Alan S. Gold, senior United States District Court Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, mindfulness in law is a “vehicle for restoring civility, decreasing stress, and enhancing the fundamental fabric of the legal community.”
Mindfulness is how we approach our daily life experiences: our relationships, our work, our joy, our sadness, our routines, our responsibilities.
“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step.”
—Martin Luther King, Jr.
Just breathe
Breathing is fundamental to life. Our breath connects us to our emotional state and regulates our autonomic nervous system. Breath is our life force. While breathing is an automatic process, it can also be voluntarily regulated.
Breathing exercises help focus attention and regulate the nervous system. By regulating our breath, it is possible to reduce stress and anxiety. Focusing on the timing and pace of our breath has positive effects on our mind and our body. You may want to try these breathing exercises that you can practice anywhere.
Nostril Breathing (for increased energy and calmness): Begin in a comfortable sitting position. With your thumb, close one of your nostrils. Inhale fully through the open nostril. When lungs are fully expanded, place a finger on the opposite nostril, release the thumb and exhale. Repeat switching back and forth between nostrils.
Box Breathing (for reduced stress and calmness): Continue in a comfortable sitting position. Deeply inhale to a count of four. Hold your breath for a count of four. Exhale for a count of four, emptying your lungs. Repeat the sequence as many times as you want to relieve stress.
Meditate
Sitting meditation, body scan meditation, and walking meditation can be easily incorporated into a regular workday.
Whether at the desk, in the hallway, or in a designated quiet space, mindfulness meditation practice at work is achievable.
While 30 minutes of meditation would be ideal, if time is limited, even 10-minute intervals of mindfulness meditation will reap positive results. A workplace culture that encourages self-care and mindfulness will help facilitate meditation practices and inspire employees to take essential “time outs” to relax, rejuvenate, and refocus.
Sitting Meditation: Physically, sitting meditation involves sitting on a cushion or chair in an erect yet relaxed posture. Meditation can be with the eyes open or with the eyes closed.
What you are sitting on, where you are sitting, and how long you sit are relative to the physical stability and comfort of the practice. The practice is simply focusing on the inner attitude and giving ourselves over to the present moment during sitting meditation.
The goal of sitting meditation is simply to hear; to cultivate awareness; to note whatever is in our mind moment to moment without judgment; and bringing the mind back to hearing. Attending to the breath in the place where it is most vivid and expanding awareness to other sensations in our body are other options in sitting meditation.
Body Scan: Body scan meditation can be performed either lying down or sitting; guided or unguided. This mindfulness meditation practice focuses on awareness of different parts of the body.
Lying down with arms alongside the body, palms up or palms down whichever is most comfortable, and feet falling away from each other, the awareness begins by attending to sensations throughout the body.
In a guided body scan meditation, the practitioner is guided through a focus on individual body parts, beginning on one side of the body, starting with the toes, and moving upward. The body scan pose can also be practiced in a curled-up posture, lying on the belly, or sitting.
Walking Meditation: Walking meditation focuses not on where you are going, but on awareness of every step where you are.
Walking meditation begins by lifting one foot, followed by moving the foot and leg forward, and then placing the foot on the ground. The lifting, moving, placing continues alternating feet each time.
Coordination of breath with the lifting, moving, placing, while letting your hands dangle, holding the hands behind the back or in front of you, are other physical options during walking meditation. Awareness and simply walking mindfully are the keys to walking meditation.
Mindfulness is not just breathing and meditation. Mindfulness can be integrated into our daily lives by paying attention to what we see, feel, hear, taste and touch.
To live our practice, we are not just mindful in designated, calendared moments in our lives. We do not have to solely set times of the day, week, or the month to be mindful. We should live our lives mindfully.
In whatever way you seek and express meaning and purpose in life, make this life in the present moment your practice.
May you be safe. May you be well. May you know joy. May you share love. May you be happy.
“It is only when the mind is open and receptive that learning and seeing and change can occur.”
—Jon Kabat-Zinn•
__________
Dianna Mejia practiced law in Indiana and Florida for over 20 years. Currently, she is mostly retired and living her life mindfully, appreciating every moment with her husband, children, grandchildren, and her beloved fur baby.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.