12-8-2020
UNM Newsroom interviews Nathalie Martin: UNM law professor UNM Newsroom interviews Nathalie Martin: UNM law professor
practices yoga and meditation in stressful times practices yoga and meditation in stressful times
Nathalie Martin
Maggie Branch
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http://news.unm.edu/news/unm-law-professor-practices-yoga-and-meditation-in-
stressful-times
UNM law professor practices yoga and
meditation in stressful times.
By Maggie Branch
UNM Newsroom
December 8, 2020
A professor at The University of New Mexico School
of Law has become a very accomplished Yogi –
someone who studies and is proficient in yoga.
Nathalie Martin, who has been a part of the UNM
law faculty since 1998, was featured in a magazine
put together by the Property Brothers and HGTV
regarding her Yogi status.
“It was fun to get that recognition, especially from
the Property Brothers. I love HGTV. But doing this
story means more to me,” said Martin.
Ma
rtin started practicing yoga after noticing she
felt a bit stressed out about her work supervising
students in the clinical law program at UNM School of Law.
“
It is some of the most stressful lawyer work because you must balance providing
excellent legal services while allowing students to learn, grow and do the work. You
have to let them spread their wings a little, let them make a few mistakes,” said
Martin.
M
artin thinks many could benefit from practicing yoga and meditation, which can
help people be less reactive, more in tune with interpersonal relationships. The
practices can also beat stress, help people focus and get more work done in less
time, develop healthy and happier routines, help people sleep better, and help them
find their purpose in life.
“
Yoga and meditation have kept me sane all these years
and helped me create a safe, sacred space for all my
emotions– good, bad and ugly. These practices also
help me not be reactive but rather to put some space
between my reaction to things and my actions in
response,” said Martin.
But the key is one has to be willing to practice, to be calm, to just sit there and do
nothing. This is hard for most people, but especially lawyers.
“It reminds me of my favorite New Yorker Cartoons. Two monks are sitting in
meditation and the old one says to the young one, ‘Nothing happens next. This is it.’
Right now, especially during Covid, I am using these skills to stay present, to just ‘be.’
Of course, if I can share them with yoga students and law students, all the better. But
in the end, it is always about taking care of yourself first before assisting others,” said
Martin.
Part of the reason Martin puts so much faith into the practices of yoga and
meditation is that they are ancient and, as long as one is practicing them, effective.
Martin, along with her students, has completed a lot of worthwhile work while at
UNM. This semester, she and her clinic students helped someone get a deed to a
home put into her name, after paying on it for 22 years. They helped several non-
profits get off the ground. They helped residents of senior mobile home park enter
into meaningful conversations with management about various health and safety
issues. They also regularly help people with evictions and getting their security
deposits back.
Martin conducts research focused on consumer law and bankruptcy, as well as elder
law. Some of her recent research includes high-cost loans such as payday, title and
installment loans, as well as the Mindfulness in Law
movement.
She has had many empirical studies funded by the
National Conference of
Bankruptcy Judges, including one that funded curbside interviews of payday loan
customers and another that studied the credit habits of undocumented New
Mexicans. Her works have been cited by the
New Mexico Supreme Court, the
California Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court.
“This job at UNM Law School has been my dream job at my dream location. For many
years, I wanted to be a law professor. We were willing to move anywhere. This was
my husband’s first choice location, and he gave up a job in a big city law firm so I
could realize my dream. I was glad I could come through for him by getting this offer.
We came from back east and knew immediately that New Mexico was our forever
home. The unique combination of the culture and the outdoors would make it very
hard for us to ever leave. The University shares the same values I do, a deep love of
learning, and a deep appreciation for diversity, inclusion, and meaningful dialogue. I
feel incredibly lucky to work at UNM,” said Martin.
The author of several other books and dozens of law review articles, she holds what
is thought to be the only endowed chair in the country dedicated to consumer law
issues.
She is the author of “Yoga for Lawyers
: Mind Body Connections To Feel Better All
The Time” – as well as “Lawyering from the Inside Out: Learning Professional
Development through Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence”. The Yoga for Lawyers
book is sold on Amazon, but also in the U.S. Supreme Court gift shop.
Martin teaches commercial and consumer law, as well as the
Economic Development
(Business and Tax) Clinic. In addition to her other courses, she runs a program
promoting financial literacy in New Mexico high schools and teaches a two-
day financial literacy course for law students and undergraduates.
She is also a member of the American Law Institute and the American College of
Bankruptcy, and a former resident scholar at the American Bankruptcy Institute.
In
that capacity, she has appeared on CNN, ABC, CNBC and other television networks.
She has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and many other
newspapers.
Her passions include several long-term life goals, including helping consumers avoid
the many traps and pitfalls created by the current consumer credit world, and
helping lawyers maintain balance in their lives.
Martin would recommend these tips to students who are feeling stressed or
overwhelmed: “Try to just do less. Take time to just sit there and relax. Breathe
deeply, a lot. Give yourself a break and when you catch yourself engaging in negative
self-talk, yell out STOP! Develop healthy habits, especially by moving your body, but
also have lots of fun!”
