Back to Blackhall: Like bumping into an old boyfriend

Why we need self-love in the workplace

The last time I was in Blackhall, the Law Society, was May 2014. I was collecting my parchment for qualifying as a solicitor.

Five years later, I am back at Blackhall teaching a yoga class in the place I used to study law; and giving a talk about leaving law and setting up as a yoga teacher.

Life is mad. I couldn’t have written this. It was a nice welcome back into the world that I had probably shunned out since I left just over a year ago. I wasn’t sure how yoga or I would fit in the legal world. I feel like a different person from the girl who collected her parchment five years ago.

I was made feel welcome on Saturday. I saw and heard from the women there how much yoga is needed and has a place in the law society, in the law library, in law practices and in the lives of lawyers. A lawyer’s job, like pretty much all jobs these days, is demanding. As lawyers, we are providing a service to other people. We are giving our time and energy. Working as a lawyer is not dissimilar to working as a yoga teacher. All we have to give is our time, energy, knowledge and experience.

A lot of jobs and roles in life fall into this description. When we are doing this type of work, there is such a need to make time in our day, in our life, to receiving. Giving back to ourselves, so that we can give to others. Refilling our cup. If we’re not giving to ourselves, we can’t give to others.

When I worked as a lawyer, I wasn’t as conscious of this idea as I am now. The work day is demanding and busy. It is hard to carve out time for yourself when you are working nine to five. The day needs to fit in a lot. Work, time for the craic, time with friends and partners. Self-care usually gets left to last. Lawyers sometimes have to cancel out all of these things if they are working late every night of the week.

I started to look after myself in my last few years as a solicitor. It was my yoga practice that gave me the nurturing I needed.  I used to leave the office every day at 12:50 on the button and run across the road to a yoga class. Express lunch time yoga. It was my time to be alone, to be silent and to give back to myself. Lunch in a rush with other people is not relaxing. Lunch at the desk is even worse. It doesn’t give us that reset that we need. My yoga class at lunch was like sticking the phone in the charger. My stress and worries lifted in that short space of time. It was vital time for me.

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I look back with pride at that girl. The solicitor who made sure she got time to herself in her day. The girl that knew that this was important to her body and mind. The girl who prioritised herself in her work day and tried her best not to feel guilty about not staying in over lunch to work. Especially hard when there was a deal closing that week and the rest of her team were working through lunch with a sandwich at their desk. I was showing myself that I cared about my health. It was love and compassion delivered to me by me.

If a friend, or your daughter said to you “I have been in work till 10pm every night this week and I eat my lunch at my desk everyday”. What would you say to her?

You’d say “girl stop that” in a deep Southern American accent, because that is what this scene demands. You’d say “girl, take that ass out for a well-deserved break”. “Get into the park, go to yoga, go read a book. It’s only one hour out of your day, the office will manage. The deal will still get done”.

“Don’t’ let yourself get ground down by that job of yours”. Then you would give her a big smothering hug, kiss the top of her head and say “you know what I’mma sayin’”. When it comes to ourselves, we don’t give this care and nurture as freely.

I loved being back in the Law Society and meeting lots of women in law. Barristers and solicitors. Those in the game for a long time, those still training and those recently qualified.

Meeting all these people in my old college grounds, was like bumping into an old boyfriend. When you see him, you think it might be weird and awkward. That your lives are so different now, and that you don’t have anything in common anymore.

Then you start chatting. You’re reminded of life in the past. All the good times. You chat easily about lots of things because it turns out you still have so much in common. You are both human, looking for the same things in life. You both still have similar struggles, how to get the balance of life right and how to make time for what’s important in life.

Going back to the Law Society was like bumping into him. It brought back lots of good memories, and made me realise that the law world is still very much part of me and I still share so much in common with the people in it. It is part of who I am and what I have learnt. And like that past relationship, you wouldn’t change it even if you could. Because it was good while it lasted and it helped to shape you into the person you are now.  

Thank you to the Irish Women’s Lawyers Association for inviting me to teach yoga and to speak in the Law Society. It is a progressive move to invite someone who has left law to talk to current barristers and solicitors. Women supporting women.

If you would like to bring yoga classes to your workplace please get in touch. I’m a huge believer in bringing the zen to the workplace if you can.