LEGAL WELLNESS- June 30, 2021

These blogs will alternate between strictly legal topics, strictly wellness topics, and like this week, there will be a combination of both law and wellness.  The purpose of this article is to provide a greater explanation of how combining law and wellness can be beneficial.

For several years I kept my health and wellness work completely separate from my legal work.  I thought that legal clients would not take me seriously if they knew I was a yoga teacher since some people consider yoga to be “airy fairy”, “hippy dippy”, and just out there.  However, I have witnessed how beneficial yoga can be both physically and mentally, so I started to think that these benefits can be applied to the law.

Scientific research from various studies has shown that in addition to the physical benefits, Yoga leads to reduced stress, relieves anxiety, stimulates brain functions, and helps manage depression.  If you have to make a legal decision, would’t it be better to make it from a position where you are experiencing lowered anxiety and stress, where your brain is working more optimally, and hopefully not from a place of depression.  

I have had several conversations professionally and with friends, about various issues around cohabitation and issues that arise after a breakup or death.  Unfortunately, these conversation have often come after an event where decisions have to be made quickly from a place of stress, anxiety, and sadness.  Often these issues could have been avoided if there was proper planning; however, fear of the unknown prevents people from taking action to secure their housing and financial security.  

Look at the following two scenarios.

Scenario One

Imagine you’re a woman who has been living in your boyfriend’s house for several years.   Suddenly your boyfriend dies and he does not have a will.  Beyond the grief of the situation, what are your concerns? Where will you live? While not therapy, Yoga and meditation are excellent tools that can help with the anxiety that accompanies this type of situation, and can assist you in making the various legal decisions that may need to be made at this time, which sadly are often limited. 

Scenario Two

Imagine you’re a woman who is contemplating moving into your boyfriend’s house.  Everything is going well with the relationship, but before moving in, you want to make certain that you’re contemplating the various possibilities that could happen from cohabitating in your boyfriend’s house, such as what would happen were he to suddenly die.  Yoga and meditative techniques can help you to help you think more clearly so that you can see the potential legal repercussions before entering into the situation, which will hopefully help you arrive at a more informed decision. 

Yoga is the union of body, mind, and soul and it promotes health and well-being.  My goal with legal wellness is to use this union in conjunction with the law to help people be informed, empowered, and not have a dependency on others who have no legal obligation to provide housing or financial security.  Legal knowledge and proper planning from a place of calmness and clarity can drastically improve the quality of one’s life, and that is my goal with this service.