YOGA AND TRIAL LAW

You wouldn't know it by looking at me, but I practice Bikram Yoga 3-5 times a week. I'm 6'3 255 on a good week, and 2__ when I succumb to the Dark Side of the Force: chocolate chip cookies. 

But there are valuable lessons I learn from spending 90 minutes in a 105 degree studio surrounded mostly by women half my age wearing impossibly small pieces of spandex as they maneuver their bodies into seemingly impossible positions. 

Breathe. When starting an asana, a beginning yogi will hold their breath trying to put themselves into a difficult pose. Remembering to breathe is important. 

During a trial or hearing, I will often will look across the aisle at my counterpart in court when something unexpected occurs during their case- hopefully because of me- and notice that they are holding their breath as the unexpected unfolds. When it happens to me, as it did recently during the early days of a lengthy federal trial in March of this year, the first thing I told myself as the government's witness started talking about the application of an unexpected and seemingly devastating law, was to breathe.  "Slow down. Remember to breathe. Remember the yoga...." I said to myself. Then I thought of the motto of Mission Control at NASA during the Moon shots: "Work the problem."  I remained calm, opened my laptop, logged on to Westlaw, and saw that the statute the witness was referring to was wholly inapplicable to the charges against my client. While the direct testimony was seemingly very damaging, my cross not only remedied the problem, but seriously damaged the government's case because their expert witness was forced to admit his entire theory of my client's culpability was based on a law wholly inapplicable to the charges in the case. 

A Bikram Yoga class is 90 minutes. I describe it as 90 minutes of hell.  And before I proceed further, here's a plug for my great Bikram Studio: Bikram Hot Yoga Miami right off of SW 27th Avenue and US 1. Here is their Facebook. They make everyone feel right at home, beginner, or expert, and I've yet to have a teacher I didn't learn something from. 

I often chuckle to myself as I hear the instructor at the front desk before class tell a new student "you're going to feel wonderful...after the class." And that is true, because the class is hard, hot, and at times frustrating as the poses are challenging. But Birkam has a saying: "one percent of the posture and one hundred percent of the benefits" which means that the beginning student gets just as must benefit from correctly starting the pose, as the advanced student bending over from the waist and putting her head on the floor and grabbing her heels - known as "standing separate head stretching pose"( which, since I am blind without my glasses and don't wear them in class, I can only imagine what it looks like.)

But during my day, as I go from court to court, or if I am in trial and something goes wrong, I will often slow myself down and think about the last class I did. How hard was is to get into Spine Twisting Pose- the last of the 26 poses, which was about 85 minutes into the 90 minute class, about which time I am so exhausted, tired, hot, and possibly frustrated, that the desire to quit is almost overwhelming. Yet when I completed both sets of the pose, and then finished class, I will often remind myself that nothing I will do tomorrow will be as hard as this. And then when something goes wrong during the day, I will remember the last pose, remember the feeling of relief of being able to complete the class and the 26 Asanas,  and that will give me re-newed confidence to "work the problem" my client and I are facing. 

There's nothing mystic about Yoga. No far-out zen experiences, or weird chanting. It is about breathing, remaining calm, and pushing your body into poses that are exceptionally beneficial for your mental and physical health. It's no surprise that you're pushing your body into a place it initially doesn't want to go. But once you get there, there is this unexpected  desire to go there again  that keeps resurfacing, day after day. 

There's no secret to being a great trial lawyer. It takes time, discipline, experience, a willingness to brutally rip apart your performance in every case you lost, and remaining humble and thankful in every case you win. It's knowing, as Vince Lombardi said, that "luck is the residue of design" and being willing to get up earlier than your opponent every day, and work longer and harder in learning the file, knowing the case, and being prepared for every eventuality. To the  extent that Yoga helps with the discipline of hard work, and helps me remain calm during stressful events during a trial, Yoga helps me be a better lawyer for my clients. 

And those skimpy spandex outfits having nothing to do with it. I promise.