LIFESTYLE/WELLNESS
Yoga and Lawyers
Anthony L. Cochran
Chilivis, Cochran, Larkins & Bever LLP
[email protected]
Being an attorney can be one of the
most stressful professions. We all have
anecdotal stories about older colleagues
who dealt with stress during “Happy
Hour” – and their health suffered, bad-
ly. “Burnout” has become a problem.
“How lawyers can avoid burnout and
debilitating anxiety,” ABA Journal, July
1, 2015. Substance abuse has become a
problem. “Substance abuse and mental
health issues are a growing problem
for the legal profession, say experts,”
ABA Journal, December 1, 2015. Even
suicide is not uncommon. “Lawyer
Personalities May Contribute to In-
creased Suicide Risk,” ABA Journal,
April 30, 2009.
Everyone deals with stress in his or her
own way. Some attorneys become avid
runners, some play golf or tennis, some
20
November 2017
ride bicycles . In my younger years, I
was a runner (of sorts), played tennis,
and rode bicycles. About twenty years
ago, I tried yoga on the spur of the mo-
ment, having seen a flyer advertising a
class that evening at a health club where
I was a member. One reason I tried it
was because of “I T band” problems I
was having with running.
Before my first class, yoga seemed so
mysterious. I could imagine incense
burning, mystical chants in a foreign
language, and pretzel-like contortions
of my body.
As it turns out, there is no mystery to
yoga. If you bend, twist and stretch your
spine within your own physical limits,
and breathe while you do so, you will
feel better. It is as simple as that.
The spine can only move in
eight directions – forward,
backward, to each side (2), twist
to each side (2), lengthen and
compress/shorten. We com-
press our spines all day sitting
in front of keyboards and be-
hind the steering wheels of our
cars. Yoga focuses on the other
seven directions of movement.
Although lawyers tend to be
competitive people who com-
pare themselves and their ath-
letic ability to others, yoga is
not a competitive sport. Each
person starts from a different
place, with different flexibil-
ity and range of motion. The
purpose or intent of yoga is to
bend, twist and stretch your spine in
a thoughtful manner. While doing so,
your breath should become your focus,
moving in rhythm with your breath.
The physical benefits of yoga are in-
creased flexibility and range of motion,
and improved balance. Medical studies
have shown that a long-term, consis-
tent regimen of yoga can reduce blood
pressure and slow the degenerative
effects of aging on the spine. The more
physically demanding styles of yoga
can improve cardiovascular health and
reduce the risk of osteoporosis from
the weight-bearing poses. An instructor
knowledgeable about physiology can
help with low back problems
The psychological benefits of yoga are
helping to reduce stress and anxiety.
Just imagine taking an hour in a quiet
room, with pleasant music in the back-
ground, while bending, twisting, and
stretching your spine, and focusing on
your breath. It is soothing by its very
nature. And every lawyer I know could
use a little soothing!
For those with a spiritual bent, yoga
can become meditative.
▪