LIFESTYLE/WELLNESS
“Mindfulness.” A word you won’t
find in your copy of Black’s Law
Dictionary, but a word that has late-
ly been added to the vocabulary of
many legal professionals. Merriam-
Webster’s Dictionary defines mind-
fulness as “the practice of main-
taining a nonjudgmental state of
heightened or complete awareness
of one's thoughts, emotions, or ex-
periences on a moment-to-moment
basis.” At the Georgia State Univer-
sity College of Law, mindfulness is
being defined by 2018 J.D. candi-
date Austin Charles. His website
austincharles.info/mils describes
mindfulness as such: “Mindful-
ness meditation practice consists
of focusing your attention on one
point, holding it there until the
mind inevitably wonders, and then
gently bringing the attention back.
Repeating this practice over time
will allow you to focus more clearly
and more passionately.”
Austin believes that the practice of
mindfulness could prove invaluable
to law students as well as practicing
attorneys as it can relieve stress,
encourage empathy, and has been
clinically proven to improve neural
connectivity to enhance memory
recall. In 2015, he founded and cur-
rently chairs the Mindfulness in
Law Society Student Division in
collaboration with GSU College of
Law Professor Charity Scott.
Professor Scott had the idea to
start the program after attending a
mindfulness based stress reduction
course the summer prior to launch-
ing the program. About halfway
through the intensive eight-week
program, she began to feel the ben-
Mindfulness
Honey Shaw
1L, Georgia State University College of Law
[email protected]
efits of the practice. “I woke up…
and I’m looking at my work that I
have to do and it was like I’d been
on vacation. My head is clear, I can
see the puzzle pieces of something
I’ve been working on and struggling
over, and all of the sudden it made
sense!” After this realization she
wanted to share the practice with
law students to help them focus
and work more efficiently.
“It was serendipitous,” says Austin
on the formation of the student
organization, as his first encoun-
close focus on contemplative train-
ing. He continued his mindfulness
studies in both China and Japan
before coming to GSU to study law.
Austin and Professor Scott's first
step in starting the program was
connecting with other universi-
ties who had implemented simi-
lar initiatives. Their search proved
to be somewhat fruitless. Very few
universities had any sort of mind-
fulness program, and significantly
fewer had programs dedicated to
the instruction of mindful practic-
“From weekly yoga sessions
to hosting guest speakers,
the program employs a
number of techniques to help
students relieve their stress.”
ter with Professor Scott was at his
freshman orientation, during which
she introduced the idea of a mind-
fulness practice program to incom-
ing students and invited anyone to
come speak with her if they were
interested. “I was expecting a herd
of people to go talk to her and it was
pretty much just me,” says Austin.
Austin's mindfulness background
runs a little deeper–he graduated
in Furman in 2015 where he studied
History and Asian Studies, with a
es. Although initially unsuccessful,
their exploration allowed them to
connect with Missouri law professor
Richard Ruben, who had been sit-
ting on a similar idea for a few years,
which he had coined the Mindful-
ness in Law Society.
Austin said after discussing their
concept of a student division with
Professor Ruben, he thought the
program would fit well into his vi-
sion for having mindful lawyers,
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