Chapter 12: Embodied Learning—A Mindfield: Lessons From Interpersonal Neurobiology, Polyvagal Theory, and Trauma at Ulster University Law School

Research indicates significant correlations between the study and practice of law and poor mental health. The prevalence of chronic stress, (vicarious) trauma, substance abuse and burnout in law students and practitioners suggests something might be fundamentally problematic with how we teach, learn and practice law. This chapter offers insights into how and why interpersonal neurobiology and polyvagal theory perspectives have been informing legal education at Ulster University, Northern Ireland, since 2018. It suggests that, given research pointing to a chronic absence of good mental health in many law students and practitioners, an embodied, mindful, relational pedagogic approach could better support wellness and integration within legal studies and practice. In this context, casting law and legal education as a largely individual cerebral endeavour, requiring a studied disavowal of emotions and personal values, in order to better “think like a lawyer” might have unintended and particularly harmful downsides, hindering optimal integration for wellness. The chapter suggests traditional perspectives on law and legal education, as well as those incorporating critical feminist, race and other social justice-oriented approaches, through failing to identify the role and importance of autonomic relational processes in the creation of safety inside and out, inadvertently thwart more holistic understandings of how humans and our systems might need to evolve. It suggests interpersonal neurobiology, polyvagal theory, yoga, and qi gong have important interrelated lessons for lawyers and law.