Mindfulness Meditation: For Lawyers?

Image by alaken via FlickrYesterday I went to a nice presentation at the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, called "Mindfulness in Mediation," given by two lawyers and mediators (Toria Mroz, and John Phillips). I was interested to learn, from them, more about the history of mindfulness concepts and methods within the legal profession, and especially in the process known as mediation. One of my favorite experts in this area is Stephanie West Allen, a lawyer in Denver; her blog (click here), called idealawg, provides a wonderful and frequently updated look into the world of conflict resolution, mediation, and related topics.

There were about 20 or 30 lawyers (most of them also mediators) at the presentation I went to, yesterday. They seemed interested and receptive, but perhaps still a bit skeptical, or puzzled, about how mindfulness and/or meditation might be helpful or even applicable to their work. One man raised his hand and put the question very simply and baldly: "But, we're lawyers!" He didn't elaborate on that comment/question (or was it an objection?), but I think most of us in the room had an idea of what he seemed to be saying, and it might be paraphrased, thus: Lawyers (even when engaged in mediation, or any cooperative or non-conflict-based mode of problem solving, as opposed the intensely adversarial process of litigation) are trained to be critical thinkers. If we teach ourselves to be "mindful," might we also be giving up a large part of what makes us effective?

Since I was not one of the presenters, it was not my place to provide my own version of an answer to his question. So I'll take a stab at it here, because I think it's such a good topic. Part of the baggage that meditation (and mindfulness) bring along with them is the idea that it is a sort of fuzzy, or "touchy-feely", way to avoid reality. There is a pervasive caricature of the meditator as a blissed-out navel-gazer, off on a mountain top, away from the nitty-grittiness of ordinary life. And there are meditation methods that do encourage the cultivation of a sort of trance state... however, mindfulness meditation is not one of those methods. In fact, training in mindfulness, including meditation practice that places a strong emphasis on awareness and attention, is much more about waking up to what is real, than it is about avoiding, or ignoring, or running away from what is real.

Lawyers (and judges and mediators) need to have their wits about them, and they need to have the capacity to attend closely and accurately to all data being presented to them. They need to be able to engage in effective emotion regulation, so that they can remain effective, even in highly emotional and stressful circumstances. And they need to be able to live with the chronic stress that is the practice of law (and life) without self-destructing, getting sick, or hurting their own families, clients, and friends. Training in mindfulness, including the practice of meditation, can be helpful to people in any professional discipline or line of work; since I am a lawyer, myself, I am especially attuned to the ways in which mindfulness can be helpful to lawyers. I am personally aware of the types of stressors that afflict lawyers... I was a trial lawyer and lived (and sometimes suffered) with the intense emotions of trial preparation, being in trial, and the aftermath of trial.

"Mindfulness" just means learning to consistently pay attention to what is around and within us, and to do so clearly and non-judgmentally. Research seems to indicate that training and practice in mindfulness (including mindfulness meditation) results in lower levels of depression and anxiety; enhanced capacities for attention and emotion regulation; and improved capacity to resist the destructive effects of acute and chronic stressors. And there is nothing about any of this that involves getting blissed-out, or detached from reality. I recommend mindfulness training for lawyers (and mediators and judges) because I think it will help them to be more effective, less reactive, and better capable of dealing with stress.

For more information about this kind of training, see my private practice website, KC Mindfulness.