Meditate on this

We have looked at various futuristic ways in which the law practice or Chambers might seek to relieve stress. There are however more basic and traditional methods available.

Having recently been on a trip to Japan, where the Buddhist influence is of course very strong, I had cause to think about the practice of meditation. Buddhism has a tradition in this regard which goes back to before the birth of Christ.

As scientific research becomes more and more sophisticated, it is possible to seek to objectively measure things which would have seemed inconceivable in previous times. That does not mean that everything is capable of being understood as yet. For example at a conference in 2002 in the United States one of the speakers, a respected Australian scientist, talked about the practical and impressive but inexplicable effect of the meditation technique of Thong Len, developed in the middle ages by Tibetan Buddhists. This is a meditative technique which is used to prevent pain and is described as being as effective as an anaesthetic. It is one of the many techniques described in "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying", written by Sogyal Rinpoche, a bestseller from 1992 which includes substantial examination of the Tibetan Buddhist techniques of meditation (indeed Chapter 5 the meditation chapter of the book has been published separately by Harper Collins under the title "Meditation").

A really startling discovery came from the use of a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine. This allows you to probe into the brain to see what happens. Some years ago such a machine was used by an academic (Dr Richard Davidson) from the University of Wisconsin to "map" the brain of a Buddhist monk, Mr Ricard, who had practised meditation for some 30 years. What Dr Davidson was keen to examine was the prefrontal cortex. That is because that is a part of the brain which is a reliable indicator to general temperament and mood. On the one hand people who one would regard as having happy temperaments generally display lots of activity in the left prefrontal cortex. This is an area of the brain linked to enthusiasm and happiness. If by contrast you are someone who tends to suffer from anxiety or depression, or who lives a considerable part of your life in fear, then you are likely to show greater activity in the right prefrontal cortex. What then would the impact be of years of meditation?

This was not a proper experiment in the sense that obviously Mr Ricard could only be examined in his existing state. What you would really want to do is take a range of people with different activity in different parts of the prefrontal cortex and chart the impact upon them of the meditation. Dr Davidson could not say what Mr Ricard had been like before he started meditating. What he could say was that he exhibited an extraordinary amount of activity in the left prefrontal cortex of his brain, at a level not seen in any other subject Dr Davidson had examined (and at that stage he had examined some 150 people). This part of his brain associated with happiness was spectacularly developed. Whilst one should always be careful about inferences drawn from one person where there is a failure to undertake before and after testing, (albeit that it was not possible in this case) this is indicative of positive benefits to be obtained from meditation.

Whilst it could be a coincidence, and whilst Mr Ricard could be someone who had that extraordinarily developed activity anyway, that would be something of a coincidence. If someone trained every day in the gymnasium, and had arms like those of a bodybuilder or professional wrestler, even if you did not have before and after data it would be a reasonable inference that the training had something to do with his physical state rather than it being just a coincidence. I would imagine the same applies in respect of Mr Ricard.

I do not know how many lawyers practice meditation because it is not the sort of thing that you tend to ask people when you are working with them. Perhaps leadingcounsel ought to undertake a survey. However we do know that lawyers are particularly subject to depression (according to the professional surveys I have seen) and similarly are particularly concerned to try and conceal it. Anything which assists combat problems is likely to be to the benefit of the individual lawyer and the firm or Chambers.

I foresee a time when the meditation and attention to mental good health has at least as much prominence attached to it as that attached to the beneficial impact of physical exercise. Whilst this forecast may seem a little bold from someone who has no experience of meditation at all, as a pragmatist I look at things which work. If meditation was encouraged, then if it made any significant number of lawyers feel less stressed or depressed it would be worth it. If it stopped one such incident as referred to in the QC blog "Stressed Out" a few weeks ago then it would be worth it. I suspect that as things stand my left prefrontal cortex would show plenty of activity but I do not rule out trying meditation. After all, more happiness must always be a good thing.