World Mindfulness Day: Essential Mindfulness Practices for Legal Professionals

In honor of last week’s World Mindfulness Day, a global celebration of the practice that promotes balance and awareness, on behalf of Mindfulness in Law Society (MILS) I had the privilege of co-facilitating a mindfulness workshop with fellow attorney and mindfulness teacher Maria Bries, co-chair of the Illinois Chapter of MILS. Maria and I led others in two formal mindfulness practices that can help us to cultivate compassion, resilience and equanimity. These qualities, among many others, can be strengthened through mindfulness practice and can be hugely beneficial in the work that we do as legal professionals.

One of the many gifts of mindfulness is that it can help us to connect more deeply with ourselves. This is really important because as legal professionals, we spend a lot of time “in our heads” so-to-speak and are often very disconnected from our bodies and emotions. This is due, in large part, to the expectation that we are problem-solvers 24/7. Given that we’re constantly identifying legal issues, strategizing, resolving complex matters and anticipating our adversary’s next move, we are often unaware of how we are in the moment.

Given all the analytical thinking that our cases and clients demand of us on any given day, let alone throughout the lifespan of our cases, one can easily appreciate how this can not only lead to us suppressing our emotions, but can also stir up a lot of unnecessary anxiety and stress both in the mind and body. This disconnection from our bodies and emotions is not uncommon in our profession, and research confirms this trend. According to Dr. Andy Benjamin of the University of Washington, the trouble starts in law school, where students encounter high workloads, stress, intense competition with their peers, and an emphasis on analysis and linear thinking that causes “loss of connection with feelings, personal morals, values, and sense of self.” In one study Benjamin conducted, 40% of law students were suffering from depression by the time they graduated.

But the good news is that with mindfulness practice, we can strengthen our innate ability to be aware in the present moment and to connect more fully with ourselves. Given that mindful movement is a wonderful way to invite attention to come into the body, Maria began the workshop by guiding us in mindful walking. Beautifully interwoven into mindful walking was a practice known as “Soften, Soothe, Allow,” which can help us to work with difficult emotions and incline us in the direction of ease.

We transitioned from mindful movement into a stillness practice that I guided, where we invited ourselves to rest attention on the physical support beneath the body. Feeling the connection that the body makes with the chair, cushion, bed, or ground can offer us a sense of stability and resilience. In addition, the stillness of the body can act as a safe haven in that we can choose to rest attention on body sensations when we notice ourselves getting caught in the “moving mind.” Unlike our minds, which do a really good job at time traveling -- perhaps worrying about the future, ruminating the past or getting lost in judgment of the present moment -- the body is always in the here and now.

In addition to deepening self-connection, the experience of practicing in community allowed us to connect with others. In giving ourselves the permission to briefly step away from the busyness of life and the demands of our profession, we were able to nurture and recharge ourselves. In turn, we could step out of reactivity and when it was time for us to return to “doing mode” after the workshop, we felt ready to act from a more rested, nourished and centered space. Perhaps what was so extraordinary about getting to practice in community on World Mindfulness Day was that it offered us all an opportunity to connect with others around the world, knowing that despite our respective geographical locations, we share a connectedness with mindfulness as our common bond.

Mindfulness offers us a way to navigate the pressures of the legal profession with more resilience, compassion, and ease. I encourage you to explore this practice further, and if you're interested in a structured approach, I’d love for you to join my six-week online course, “Mindfulness for Legal Professionals: Reduce Stress and Enhance Resilience,” which will be offered by the Center for Mindfulness at Jefferson via Zoom Video Conferencing on Wednesday evenings from October 9 - November 13, 2024. There are still a few spots remaining, so if you are interested in registering for the course, please contact email the Center for Mindfulness at mbsr@jefferson.edu.