Meditation: It’s Good For Your Career

What if I told you that meditation can (a) help you focus better at work, (b) help you handle stress in a more even-keeled way, and (c) help you sleep better, which improves how you perform at work?

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What if I told you that meditation can (a) help you focus better at work, (b) help you handle stress in a more even-keeled way, and (c) help you sleep better, which improves how you perform at work?  First, would you believe me?  (If you don’t, read this article) And second, could you get past the idea that meditation is only for new-age, hippie-dippie types (like me)?  (If not, check out this WSJ article)

So why does meditation make you a better lawyer and a better worker?  Because meditation allows you to take a step back from your thoughts and your racing mind.  It allows you to calm your breath.  It allows you to stay still and focused on one particular thing.  And it teaches you to be patient, even when stressful things are happening around you (or within you).

Your next question is: how do I start a meditation practice?  Don’t I need to take some fancy class, tailored specifically for lawyers?  Absolutely not.  You can start right here, right now, today, in your office.  Two options:

  1. Use the Interwebs.  If you want a teacher to guide you, there are plenty of apps (like Headspace) and plenty of teachers (like Tara Brach) that offer free, guided meditations.  Plus, YouTube has plenty of options.  Try a variety of teachers until you find one whose voice and style resonate with you, and stick with him or her.

  2. DIY.  One thing I tell my yoga students is that you are your own best teacher, and that goes for meditation, too.  If you’re ready to meditate on your own, all you have to do is find a quiet spot in your home or your office, where you can sit comfortably with a straight spine and without interruption. Set a timer on your phone for 10 minutes.  And then connect with your breath, and start from there.  Slow, deep inhales.  Slow, deep exhales.  Count each breath (inhale + exhale = 1) until you get to 10.  And then start counting to 10 again.  And again.  And again.  Until the timer goes off.

While you’re meditating, your thoughts will be all over the place.  You’ll continuously think about how your body is uncomfortable (if you’re uncomfortable to the point where it’s distracting, move, just once, and settle back in). You’ll have 27 emails appear in your mind that will seem so urgent that you’ll need to stop the timer and race over to your computer (resist this urge, because it’s not true).  You’ll be questioning why in the world  you’re listening to an ex-lawyer-turned-yoga-teacher (because I’m right, and there are plenty of studies to prove it).  And so on and so forth.  Your mind will do its thing.  So let it, but try to be an objective observer of your thoughts.

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What do I mean by that?  A lot of teachers, myself included, use clouds as a visualization tool for this.  When you look up at the sky, you see plenty of clouds.  Some will be shaped like things you recognize.  Some will move around the sky rather quickly.  Some will block the view of the sun.  Others will be so wispy they will practically dissipate before your eyes.  But when you observe the clouds, you’re just noticing them.  You’re not grasping onto them and holding them and saying “this cloud is mine” or “I have to save this cloud” or “this cloud will change my life.”  You’re not attached to what the clouds are doing.  They are just there, and you are just objectively observing them.

Try to treat your thoughts like clouds.  They will come, they will go, but the sky beneath them–that calm place inside you that has nothing to do with the thoughts–that never changes.

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Zen Master, describes it this way: “Being at peace doesn’t mean our thoughts and feelings are frozen.  Being at peace is not the same as being anesthetized.  A peaceful mind does not mean a mind empty of thoughts, sensations, and emotions.”

So when you’re meditating, don’t try to get to a place of no thoughts.  Just try to get to a place where you observe the thoughts without reacting to them.  And the more you practice this, the more you will be able to feel that calm, blue sky within you.  And the more you practice meditating, the more you will be able to take the calm, blue sky to your desk.  To the place where your thoughts and your emails and the 300 tasks that you have to complete today won’t phase you because you will be focused, still, and at ease.

You can start a meditation practice because you believe some of what I have to say and part of you wants what I have described, or you can start a meditation practice because you think I’m full of sh** and you want to prove me wrong.

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Either way, you’ll become more mindful, more engaged, and a better lawyer.  So why not give it a whirl?

Megan Grandinetti is an attorney, health coach, and yoga teacher.  Megan’s work as a health coach focuses on improving the health and wellness of lawyers and other busy professionals. Find out more about Megan by visiting www.thelawyershealthcoach.com or her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/healthcoachmegnyc.