Mindfulness is not just about the mind. Body awareness is an important aspect of the present moment awareness we all crave. It is also a critical piece of overall well-being. In these posts, you’ll find ways to incorporate mindfulness with movement or learn about how movement, through practices like yoga, can encourage mindfulness.
10 Gift Ideas to Encourage a Loved One’s Mindfulness Habit
When I teach mindfulness, I always stress that you don’t need to buy anything when you start a meditation practice. With that said, some accessories can support a practice. Beyond that, around the holidays we always need some gift ideas for those in our lives. If you have someone in your life looking to createContinue reading “10 Gift Ideas to Encourage a Loved One’s Mindfulness Habit”
Book Review: The Upside of Stress by Kelly McGonigal
This month I am focusing on debunking myths relating to mindfulness, compassion, and mental health. After all my years of meditation, I still find myself holding onto a few myths every now and then. One of those myths is that stress is bad for you. As a lawyer, I have been informally trained to knowContinue reading “Book Review: The Upside of Stress by Kelly McGonigal”
What Is Restorative Yoga and Why Should Lawyers Try It?
Lots of people tell me that they can’t meditate because they can’t sit still. I usually tell them that they don’t have to sit still to meditate. Strangely, people also tell me with a similar frequency that they can’t do yoga because they can’t do the poses. Sometimes they say that they can’t balance. SometimesContinue reading “What Is Restorative Yoga and Why Should Lawyers Try It?”
Book Review: Zen Golf by Dr. Joseph Parent
I am not really a golfer, but I owe a lot to the game. Despite being a lawyer, I have only played at the occasional outing during my practice and even then have not been serious about it. In high school, however, I took up the game because my basketball teammate was an excellent playerContinue reading “Book Review: Zen Golf by Dr. Joseph Parent”
What Is Body Scan Meditation and Why Should Lawyers Try It?
When people think of meditation, they typically think of the breath as the focal point. But in truth, meditation can use almost any focal point and the focal point doesn’t necessarily have to be a singular, stagnant object. One of the most beneficial practices that I incorporate in my routine is the body scan. WithContinue reading “What Is Body Scan Meditation and Why Should Lawyers Try It?”
Four Ways Mindfulness Can Help You Recover When You Struggle with Goals
January is a time for resolutions, and for some of us, that can also mean a time for disappointment, reality-checking, and self-flagellation. It’s easy to set goals, but much harder to keep them. It’s also simple to see how a habit change might improve our lives, but very difficult to change our engrained habits. IContinue reading “Four Ways Mindfulness Can Help You Recover When You Struggle with Goals”
Cooking Is My Antidote to Languishing
I did not know that “languishing” had a clinical meaning until I listened to Adam Grant’s interview on the Ten Percent Happier podcast the other day. According to Grant, it’s the state between wellness and depression. As a busy lawyer and mom, I immediately recognized this description. As Grant put it, it’s a state whereContinue reading “Cooking Is My Antidote to Languishing”
Can Mindfulness Help You Eat More Intuitively?
I spoke on a panel a few weeks ago about wellness for professionals with Kathryn Riner, a nutritionist and intuitive eating coach. I thought Kathryn sounded pretty down-to-earth and human as she spoke, and a lot of what she said rang true from my own experience with mindfulness. The timing was also too perfect toContinue reading “Can Mindfulness Help You Eat More Intuitively?”
Is Meditation a Spiritual Practice?
A friend shared a meme recently which listed 4 buckets of self-care strategies, including physical, social, emotional, and spiritual. I was glad to see that it included meditation, but my lawyer brain fired up when I saw it listed meditation only in the spiritual bucket. Literally starting with the phrase, “Well, actually” my mind beganContinue reading “Is Meditation a Spiritual Practice?”
Is the Hobby that Feeds Your Spirit the Same as Meditation?
When I talk about mindfulness or meditation, people frequently tell me that they don’t/can’t/won’t meditate but that their favorite hobby or pastime is “their meditation.” Some say “running” is their meditation. Some say “fishing”. Some say that they do “walking meditations.” I understand what all of these people mean. If I didn’t have a seatedContinue reading “Is the Hobby that Feeds Your Spirit the Same as Meditation?”
Yoga Has Been There the Whole Time
When Brilliant Legal Mind’s founder Claire Parsons told me September’s theme was yoga my immediate response was “I don’t really have a yoga practice anymore. I don’t really have anything to write about.” But then I read Claire’s post Confessions of a Reluctant Yogi and Aman Costigan’s post Yoga is More Than Just Stretching. BothContinue reading “Yoga Has Been There the Whole Time”
Confessions of a Reluctant Yogi
As a yoga teacher, I’m not supposed to say this, but I didn’t like yoga at first. In fact, the first class I ever tried felt so awkward and terrible that I didn’t try it again for several years. The impediments for me were manifold. I was not used to “being” in my body. IContinue reading “Confessions of a Reluctant Yogi”
Calm Down Lawyers: Meditation Will Make You More Effective, Not Soft
Attorney wellness is a top concern for many attorneys, bar associations, and firms. Meditation practices are being recommended to attorneys as a simple, cheap, effective and research-based way to ease and manage stress. Yet, one of the concerns I commonly hear lawyers, especially litigators, express is that they are worried that meditation will cause themContinue reading “Calm Down Lawyers: Meditation Will Make You More Effective, Not Soft”