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Yoga may help soldiers in the US Army: Why not lawyers too?

Many lawyers are turning to yoga as one method to reduce stress and improve performance. For those attorneys who think yoga is for wimps or that it has no benefits for the practicing lawyer, perhaps this article will change some minds.

From "US Army turns to yoga for making soldiers combat ready" (Indian Express):

US Army, the world's most hi-tech force is to introduce yoga to boost "combat readiness" of its troops to prepare them for tough operations globally.

Yoga is being made part of forces new fitness regimen already brought into force from March 1 in a drastic overhaul of the combat readiness being carried out for the first time in 30 years, Christian Science Monitor quoting Pentagon sources reported.

This is not the first time that the US Army has turned to yoga ... .

Click to read the rest.

Changes to workouts have not been without resistance. From "Army's new physical training incorporates yoga, resting" (Christian Science Monitor):

Another lawyer who teaches yoga to add to my collection of yogadvocate stories

From "Teresa Drake, Domestic Violence Advocate" (Santa Fe College):

... Teresa served as assistant state attorney and division chief of the Office of the State Attorney, 8th Judicial Circuit, in the Domestic Violence Unit, and worked in Child Welfare Legal Services. The first case she tried -- and won -- was on behalf of a group of 25 adopted children who were criminally abused by their foster mother.

"She is an unsung hero. ... While we may never know how many victims and children's lives she affected, we are confident that our community is better and safer because of her hard work," writes Judge Denise Ferraro and Carole Zegel, retired from the Guardian ad Litem program.

In addition to her advocacy, Teresa is also a certified yoga instructor and teaches Wise Women's Yoga at Sanctuary Yoga Studio. She is married to attorney Steve Pennypacker - they fell in love working on a child abuse case ... .

 

Sighted: Another lawyer practicing yoga

Excerpt from "Don't distress, de-stress: Experts suggest simple steps to manage everyday pressures" (Los Altos Town Crier):

An ardent yoga student for more than 30 years, Carol Millie has practiced law in Los Altos since 1997 and owns Silicon Valley Mediation Group on First Street.

“Yoga is a very important part of my life, as it helps me with my flexibility and balance,” Millie said. “I’m happy and have a sense of well-being. I will always do yoga, no matter how old I am.”

Indian Minister of Law and Justice energized by writing, work, and yoga

Veerappa Moily sounds like an interesting chap. From an interview of the Minister of Law and Justice:

B&B: How did you choose law as a career?
 
VM: In fact I don’t know since when, but I always wanted to be a lawyer. Even when I was in college, my target was to become a lawyer and to fight for justice. When I was a small child of around 4 years of age, I was sitting on my mother’s lap and we were the agricultural tenants and at that point of time there was no protection to the agriculture tenants and the Landlord came along with the Police and wanted to throw us out and (at that time my mother tells me) I raised my hand and said that we need to fight. That’s what my mother has told me. Thereafter it is within my blood to always fight for justice.
 
B&B: An Author: What made you pen down and write the Great Exploration of the Ramayana?
 
VM: I have been a writer throughout. My mother has been my inspiration and she being illiterate use to wake me up

Effects of Yoga Versus Walking on Mood, Anxiety, and Brain GABA Levels: A Randomized Controlled MRS Study

Abstract:

Objectives: Yoga and exercise have beneficial effects on mood and anxiety. g-Aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic activity is reduced in mood and anxiety disorders. The practice of yoga postures is associated with increased brain GABA levels. This study addresses the question of whether changes in mood, anxiety, and GABA levels are specific to yoga or related to physical activity.
Methods: Healthy subjects with no significant medical/psychiatric disorders were randomized to yoga or a metabolically matched walking intervention for 60 minutes 3 times a week for 12 weeks. Mood and anxiety scales were taken at weeks 0, 4, 8, 12, and before each magnetic resonance spectroscopy scan. Scan 1 was at baseline. Scan 2, obtained after the 12-week intervention, was followed by a 60-minute yoga or walking inter- vention, which was immediately followed by Scan 3.
Results: The yoga subjects (n 1⁄4 19) reported greater improvement in mood and greater decreases

This entertainment lawyer teaches YogaNap techniques on her weekends

Because there are so many of them, I think I could blog steadily about lawyer-yogis and nothing else. (See below for links to all my past posts about "yogattorneys.") The title of one such lawyer's book makes me smile; she called it YogaNap. You may browse through her book here.

What's her story? From "Time for a Yoga Nap" (Healing Lifestyles & Spas):

When Kristen Rentz was spending long days and nights studying for the bar exam, she was, like most of her fellow law students, exhausted.  Practicing yoga had helped Rentz get through law school at UCLA, but going to yoga class several times a week on top of all her bar exam studying left her feeling utterly drained.

Rentz began experimenting with classical restorative yoga postures at home. She quickly realized that there was much more to yoga than vigorous backbends, handstands, and downward facing dogs. By slowing down her practice and incorporating restful poses into her daily life, Rentz found a way to maintain a sense of calm despite her busy schedule.

These days, as a full-time entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles and part-time yoga teacher, Rentz continues to find new ways of integrating yoga into

Life after law: From lawyer to yoga instructor (still more attorney-to-yogi tales)

What is it about yoga that attracts so many lawyers? The numbers are beginning to seem like an epidemic.

Here's another one: Ian Lopatin. From the Web site of his studio:

Ian Lopatin is the co-founder and President of At One Yoga. Ian's formal training as a Los Angeles lawyer allows him to clearly communicate the essence of the ancient yoga traditions in a practical manner.

Yoga Journal interviewed Lopatin about his story from law to yoga. From "Music Man":

When he was a kid Ian Lopatin watched his mom host neighborhood yoga gatherings. As an adult he worked as an entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles, had a life-changing encounter with Bikram Choudhury, and opened At One Yoga Studios, in both Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona. He now teaches his hip-hop-influenced yoga around the country and is launching an oxymoronic line of yoga lifestyle togs called Spiritual Gangster.

In this article "Going with the Flow: Devotees are ditching stressful jobs to teach yoga" (New York Daily News), two other lawyers who became yoga instructors are profiled: Jonathan Fields and Keith Wittenstein. Excerpt:

90-year-old lawyer with no plans to retire practices tai chi and yoga

Elizabeth Bailey enjoys practicing law and she is not planning to quit any day soon. Read all about her in this article: "Retirement not part of plan for 90-year-old Murrysville lawyer" (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). The article mentions another senior lawyer, too.

According to the state board, there is one attorney older than Bailey who has a license to practice, but he no longer does.

Robert T. Gownley, who turned 100 on Nov. 8, has paid his license fee for 2010. His son, Robert T. Gownley Jr., himself an attorney for 38 years, said his dad kept regular office hours until he was about 94.

"We keep him on active status," Gownley Jr. said. "My father is not actually practicing, but he goes to continuing legal education seminars."

Still another lawyer becomes a yogi: Maybe I should start a yoga-after-law subgroup to my life-after-law stories?

Two of my most recent life-after-law stories were about lawyers turned yoga instructors. (Here and here.) Today I have learned of another one. From her Web site:

Ronda Jyoti Litwin is the owner of Dallas Yoga Love.  She is a registered Hatha and Ashtanga yoga teacher with the international yoga organization called, Yoga Alliance.  This means that Ronda has completed 200 hours of rigorous yoga training that includes physical postures, meditation and yoga philosophy.   In addition to this training, Ronda has studied with Rod Stryker, who is a well-known, experienced and respected expert in Ashtanga yoga.   She also completed specialized training in prenatal/postnatal yoga and senior yoga through YogaFit, which is recognized as a leader in Ashtanga yoga training.

You may watch a video of her here. Click for a description of her corporate yoga program.

It was in a neighborsgo.com article (The Dallas Morning News) that I learned of Ronda. From "Rockwall's Ronda Litwin of Dallas Yoga Love finds her passion":

Rockwall resident Ronda Litwin successfully pursued her dream of becoming a lawyer, but once she began practicing yoga, she realized her true passion was lying right beneath her.

It was her yoga mat.

...

In a relatively short time, Litwin has created a loyal following.

Yoga student Jocelyn Houck of Rockwall said she has been taking yoga classes sporadically for about two years. But since taking one of Litwin’s classes a couple of months ago, Houck has become a dedicated yogi. Now, she attends classes three times a week.

...

Research studies at the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health, have shown yoga can be beneficial for numerous physical ailments such as hypertension, weight loss, diabetes and depression.

Click for more life-after-law stories.

Image credits: neighborsgo.com.

 

Another lawyer turned yogi: The last one I posted about probably would not appreciate this one

Recently I wrote about Justin Wiltshire Cohen, lawyer now yogi, who is not pleased with the way many people in the US now practice what they call yoga. Kimberly Fowler, the subject of my next life-after-law story, is probably exactly the kind of person who gives Wiltshire Cohen such displeasure. Clue: Fowler's book is titled No OM Zone: A No-Chanting, No-Granola, No-Sanskrit Practical Guide to Yoga.

Fowler has written an article detailing her journey from the law to yoga entrepreneurship at WomenEntrepreneur.com. From "When Change Beckons, Embrace It":

I'm president of YAS Fitness Centers, a growing chain of yoga and indoor cycling studios. I founded YAS in 2001 in what was for me a major career transition. I also head YAS Yoga & Sportswear, YAS Productions and YAS Franchises Inc., all of which are outgrowths of YAS. They qualify as next steps. And in what is the biggest career change of all for me, I've become recognized as a leading yoga and fitness expert.

Talk about transitions -- I started my professional life as a lawyer.

Fresh out of law school -- and right after a successful battle with brain cancer doctors said I wouldn't survive -- I began practicing law in Houston. I was a litigator. Within the decade, I was practicing international business law in Monaco and had to master a very different type of law. I managed the change by replying "No problem" anytime someone handed me something I had no clue about. Then I'd do my homework and get a clue, fast.

Click to read the rest of Fowler's story. More about her here and here [pdf].

The subject of my last two life-after-law posts have very different approaches to yoga, don't they? Night and day, yin and yang, om and nom—Justin and Kimberly. There is room for all.

Click here for more life-after-law stories.