11 Trial Lawyer • Spring 2022 and through breathing, tune it all out. In essence, you are training your brain to do what you want it to do. Recent studies support the notion that meditation has been shown to reduce blood pressure, boost recovery after the release of the stress hormone cortisol, improve immune system functioning and response, slow age-related atrophy of the brain, and mitigate the symptoms of depression and anxiety. Those reasons alone are convincing enough to meditate. Additionally, meditation has been shown to increase calm, focus and mindfulness. As attorneys, we are advocates for people in crisis. Almost every call and inquiry we receive is from clients who are experiencing some form of crisis. It is essential we keep calm. It is even more important that we are able to focus and be mindful of our present moment. “How” I started to take control of my panic attacks and anxiety by paying attention to my breath. As embarrassing as this is to admit, I can honestly say I had never p a i d a t t e n t i on t o my b r e a t h . I never had time for that. I began to research and read more books to begin my meditation journey. I read Thinch Nhat Janh’s “The Miracle of Mindfulness,” which hones in on the concept of meditation and its effect on the human brain, the body, and most importantly (for me), anxiety. The book teaches how to meditate. Full disclosure — this book was hard for me to read and even harder to apply. With all due respect, taking direction from a Buddhist monk, who likely never had any exposure to what a lawyer’s life is like, was extremely difficult. I found a thousand excuses to postpone what I thought the beginning of my meditation journey was supposed to look like. I began with one minute. Yes, 60 seconds. And I would be so proud of myself at the end of those 60 seconds. Then my practice expanded to five minutes, then 10 minutes a day. The longest meditation I have ever done is a whopping twenty minutes! In the interest of being fully transparent with you, I was not able to turn it off those entire twenty minutes. I thought about what I needed to prepare for dinner, whether I’d have time for laundry that day and, oh, that legal pad with the never-ending todo list. But in the end, I was able to bring myself back to my breath and that was something to be proud of. Let’s be clear, my standard meditation time is five to See Meditation p 12 I found a thousand excuses to postpone what I thought t h e b e g i n n i n g o f my medi tat ion journey was supposed to look like. I began with one minute. Yes, 60 seconds.
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