Be Gentle

Happy Tuesday!

I hope that everyone is having another glorious day practicing the law.  As I was working at my desk today, I found myself growing frustrated.  Frustrated at what I was doing- frustrated at a lot.  I found my breath in that moment and also found a reminder of a yoga principle (yes, there are a lot of yoga principles that apply to the law lol):  Be Gentle.

"Gentleness means recognizing that the world around us is fragile, especially other people. It is recognizing our own capacity to do harm and choosing instead to be tender, soft-spoken, soft-hearted, and careful. When we are gentle we touch the world in ways that protect and preserve it.  Being gentle doesn't mean being weak; gentleness can be firm, even powerful. To behave in a gentle manner requires that we stay centered in our own values and strength -- that we are active rather than reactive. Coming from this center, a gentle word or touch can channel our energy into healing or making peace."

http://www.wisdomcommons.org/virtue/58-gentleness/meditations

Whether trying a challenging new yoga position, attempting to find clarity while meditating, or trying to formulate a complex argument, sometimes things take time and sometimes things need to develop.  Its okay, such is life.  

Rather than being "reactive" to these dilemmas, we can choose to be fully present, "active", and welcome to whatever particular result may come in a particular moment.  If we choose to be open and "active", then our response to the situation, and the stress it causes, can be revolutionized.  

So think about it tomorrow when you're faced with that dilemma, and remember, BE GENTLE.....I mean.....be gentle.  

Until then,

Namaste & Much Love

Monday Monday Mondays

Hope everyone is being gentle with themselves on this exciting and, admittedly challenging, Monday.

I try to meditate everyday during the workweek (and I use that term loosely as, sadly, these days, especially for many lawyers, that term does not just apply to Monday-Friday, even sadder, I think its becoming a relic for most of America-but that's another blog post).

As a lawyer, you may feel that your life is too busy or too stressed to find time to take up a serious meditation practice,  but I implore you to reconsider.

The benefits of meditation are plenty- it's a service not just to yourself but also to your clients.
Mindful lawyers are better lawyers.  Check out this groundbreaking article that helped to spurt the growing trend in more lawyers turning to meditation to deal with not only the stress of law, but to improve their skills as mediators:  http://westallen.typepad.com/idealawg/files/contlawhnlrpdfriskin.pdf

So how do you start?  Easy!  Tomorrow wake up a mere five minutes earlier.   If you like music you can go to youtube or some other site, type in meditation music, and you'll get a great selection of zen-type music to which you can meditate.  Sit down somewhere comfy and just listen to your breath.  This may seem easy, but just try it and see just how antithetical this is to our stressed up, always on the go nature.  It's hard to do nothing (also something for another post, but I digress).  But meditation encourages just that, and when you get up, you'll hopefully find that you've cultivated a seed of peace in your day- a seed which hopefully keeps growing as you keep practicing.  But just remember.  Be gentle, accept that sometimes we get distracted, and sometimes it's harder to "unfocus" on one day then another.  Just be where you are, because that's exactly where you're meant to be.  :)  (Love that quote).

But for more tips on beginning meditation check out:  http://zenhabits.net/meditation-for-beginners-20-practical-tips-for-quieting-the-mind/

Its got some great points for starting out!

So for now, Ill say, Namaste and wish you nothing but great things in implementing these tips.

Take care.

Never Be Afraid to Fail- A Lesson Learned on Behalf of a Parking Ticket

Good evening everyone!

Hope the day has found you well. 

I wanted to clarify something about myself in case I did not make it abundantly clear: I am far from a master of peace and calm. 

A great Zen practitioner once said: 

Develop the mind of equilibrium.

You will always be getting praise and blame,

but do not let either affect the poise of the mind:

follow the calmness, the absence of pride.

(For the source of this and other great Zen quotes to contemplate, please check out:  http://viewonbuddhism.org/resources/buddhist_quotes.html)

As I walked out of my apartment this morning, I was ready to embrace the day after I had a great yoga practice last night (see my link below if you are looking for a great Yoga DVD- You do NOT need a full studio to practice yoga).  I woke up this morning, meditated, threw on my suit, and was ready to face a 10 hour day filled with billing hours, yet giving no negative thought of what lay ahead of me-only being content with where I was at that particular moment, only being  there.  Then, it all came crashing down.  A parking ticket, singlehandedly threw off all of the Namaste I had in me. This, for quite a large portion of the day, frustrated me. I thought I had progressed, grown,and  transcended allowing such minor issues to bother me.  This, I think, can be a commonplace human reaction.  Often, we come to believe that we should possess the "mind of equilibrium" since we practice and embrace yoga and zen principles and when we do not, we become frustrated with ourselves.  But really, the answer to this dilemma lies not far from the definition of what yoga is. 

Yoga is a practice.  Practice has two acceptable definition which are applicable here: 1)  repeated performance or systematic exercise for the purpose of acquiring skill or proficiency and 2) the condition arrived at by experience or exercise. 

Yoga, the like practice of law, is a constant growing process.  There is no final end and perhaps there are "experts", but even they make mistakes and continue to learn all the time. That, I assume, is the lesson that the universe reminded me of today.  And for that I am grateful because its a yoga lesson, and a law lesson, all rolled into one. 

So I ask you to be a little more gentle with yourself and when you make mistakes, accept them because they will occur.  Have your goal be equanimity, but when you fall along the way, just know, that we are all failing at some points too. 

With that, I close this post and wish you well in both your yoga and your law practice. 

Have a great weekend.  Monday (and all that law) is so far away, and there is so much to be had right now. 

Namaste everyone!

******

Perfect Opportunity to discuss what will likely be a more full post later, but one of my favorite Yoga DVDs that I highly recommend if you are seeking both the mental and physical benefits of yoga, Power Yoga with Bryan Kest (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0001WTWYC/ref=asc_df_B0001WTWYC1814514?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395093&creativeASIN=B0001WTWYC.  Check it out!  For $15.00 you will have a great DVD set to last for quite some time).

The Benefits of Yoga

Just got done with a late day at work and a great yoga session, after which I started thinking about why it would be a good idea to explain how I got started with this whole yoga/ meditaiton/ zen stuff so that you all could have some perspective.  

I started this blog, as I said in the first post, in the spirit of combining the philosophies of zen, yoga, and meditation into my life as an attorney.  I suppose that some of you who are practitioners of law know why you may need to learn how to relax, unwind, and develop an attitude of acceptance and mindfulness towards life, but how did I obtain my inspiration for this idea, and more specifically, this blog?

First off, I am no guru, and I am far from being a yoga teacher or zen master.  I cannot meditate for an entire day in complete silence, and I don't know if I aspire to.  What I do know though, is that yoga and meditation make me happy.  That is the real inspiration for all of this.  They make my life as an attorney more than bearable and for that, I am eternally grateful.  But anyway, back to the beginning. 

Well, I have been practicing law for all of four months, but I have been engaged in the practice of yoga since my first year in law school.  Maybe I started because I heard that it was good workout, maybe I started because something about being constantly stressed in law school just didn't sit right with me, either way, I started.  

I realized after my first yoga session, that there was something awe-inspiring about yoga.  More than that, there was a marked difference between yoga and any other workout in which I had engaged since, well, I started engaging in working out (and this goes back to joining the football team in 9th grade): Yoga is not driven by progress.  This is anti-American, maybe even anti-human nature, as progress is what defines us, in so many ways.  But yoga is not about getting to the next level-its about being where you are and accepting that place.  The progress happens naturally, but it is not the focus.  Something about that idea enamored me, relaxed me, and satisfied me.  Ever since then, I have had a special place in my heart for the practice.  

However, meditation did not find a way into my life until this year. Specifically, after reading this article:    http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/11/seeking-serenity-when-lawyers-go-zen/

Please check it out.  It started me on the path of taking time out of your day, especially as a lawyer, to meditate, nurture a sense of peace in your heart, and find peace of mind.  (More to come soon on meditation tips).  

Zen......well, zen is just a philosophy which I accept. Though I am no Buddhist, and Zen, technically, is a subset of Buddhism, the philosophy just appealed to me: meditation and self-realization, knowledge through self-introspection.  Perhaps after having to learn so much from reading, listening, writing, and being lectured to, there is something relaxing about learning from nothing but...well...nothing.  Just you, your breath, and your thoughts-nowhere to go, nothing to figure out, and nothing to aspire to.  Simply, a chance to be.  Something we so often fail to appreciate it, and something that people, especially lawyers, forgot about in the daily stress and hecticness of their lives.  

So now you know why I started this, and why I believe it has the power to change the world............of law :)   

So check out that CNN article and enjoy.  Tomorrow, a quick overview of my yoga and meditation/zen practice and how I work it into my life as a lawyer.  

Thats all for now. 

Namaste Everyone and Have a Great Night!

First Post...Intro/ Etc.

This is the true story....of seven strangers...picked to....No, not really.  Someone else's intro.

Well, this is a true story but of one person, attempting to practice and engage in what is arguably one of the most stressful and depressing professions in the world, http://www.legalunderground.com/2005/03/lawyer_depressi.html, while simultaneously practicing basic principles of yoga, meditation, and zen philosophy such that this one person (aka me) would be able to provide not only a space to share my love for the importance of these philosophies, but also to encourage others, and maybe the entire field of the law, to look at this whole law thing from a different perspective, a fresh perspective- a zen perspective.

So, keep coming back and keep checking in.  Share your stories about zen, meditation, yoga and the experiences you've had gaining spiritual enlightenment all while engaging in a profession which, supposedly, soaks such enlightenment out of you.

Ill be posting great links to amazing resources to add some enlightenment to your life, discussing some of the difficulties in maintaining these practices while dealing with the stresses of working in the law field, and also  offering various quotes and pieces of advice to help you (and me) in our day to day engagement with life in the law.

Come back soon!

Namaste