www.sptimes.com/News/052501/Floridian/The_spirit_and_the_la.shtml
Lawyer George Felos practices yoga at his Dunedin home to help him cope with the stresses of cases such as that of Terri Schiavo. Felos represent s her husband, Michael Schiavo, in his efforts to have her feeding tube removed. DUNEDIN -- A cluster of reporters wait, notebooks and pens poised. A came raman counts down the seconds to the start of the press conference, whic h will be televised live. In walks lawyer George Felos, wearing a navy s uit jacket, beige slacks, blue shirt, tie and -- excuse me? If he had his druthers, Felos and his Birkenstocks would be at a West Vir ginia monastery, where he'd sit cross-legged and meditate for hours at a time, as he did on vacation last year. Instead, in a controversial case, he is here to argue that 37-year-old Te rri Schiavo should be allowed to die. Felos represents Schiavo's husband Michael Schiavo, who has been waging an intense and public fight to hav e her taken off life support after 11 years in a vegetative state. Felos, 49, has taken on about 10 right-to-die cases in the last decade. H e balances his quest for spiritual growth with his lawyerly duty to figh t "Many people find the litigation process to be aggressive, to be combativ e, to be harsh," he says. "And the question is: How do you work within t hat type of system and not become hardened . "I look at (the profession) as the opportunity to become more centered. T o use it as an opportunity for growth, rather than a reason not to be sp iritual." A soul connection Felos' spiritual and professional lives intersected in a public way 12 ye ars ago, in the case of Estelle Browning. The case gained him a reputati on as the person to see when you want to let someone die. Browning, of Dunedin, had written a living will in 1985, saying she did n ot want to be kept alive by artificial means if she ever became ill. But the nursing home refused to stop feedin g her because she was not technically brain dead. Her cousin and former roommate, Doris Herbert, asked Felos to take the case. She could not speak, but Felos say s his spiritual side picked up on something. He says her soul cried out to his soul and asked, "Why am I still here?" Browning died in 1989 of natural causes while the case was still unresolv ed, but the suit has had a lasting effect on the law. In 1990, the Flori da Supreme Court ruled that a living will can allow caregivers to withho ld food and water from an incapacitated person, even when death is not i mminent. After the Browning case, Felos became a volunteer for the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, sitting and talking with terminally ill patients. On h is living room shelf sits a book for hospice training, Dying Well, by Ir a Byock. In recent years he has been writing a book of his own: Litigation as Spir itual Practice. In 320 pages, to be released this fall by Blue Dolphin P ublishing, Felos contends that his belief in God is what drives him, eve n in the civil courtroom where the object is to win, or at least settle for an adequate sum. "Well, what we are in essence can't be described by words," he says. He was in law scho ol at Boston University when a friend asked if he wanted to try yoga as a stress-reliever. Felos learned how to meditate, to "notice" his reactions to his thoughts. He says he learned the events in his life were only as important as he thought they were. And he learned about other cultures and Eastern religions. Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Greek Orthodox worship -- all may have a point, Felos s ays. "I believe that Christ was God incarnate and was resurrected. But, by the same token, I believe that there were other incarnations of God as well ," he says. "All the great religions in their essence express the same f undamental truths." Sometimes, Felos says, he gets nervous or anxious before a hearing. "If I find that I'm getting nervous or keyed up or off-center, what I'll do is -- which is a type of meditation -- just focus on my breathing," h e says. "Home in on the sensation of breathing, the sensation of the air entering the nostrils and exiting the nostrils. If you do that for 30 s econds, you'll find that you're more relaxed." If people are truly spiritual, that will permeate all aspects of their li ves, not just during worship, not just at home, but at work too, Felos s ays. "You can't separate your work life from your spiritual life," he says. At least one opposing attorney sees little spirituality in Felos. Pat And erson, one of the lawyers representing Terri Schiavo's parents, question s Felos' ethics in fighting to remove the woman's feeding tube. Furthermore, Anderson says, "I find him to be uncommonly persnickety in h is diction." photo George Felos begins his morning with yoga, which he has been practicing f or 25 years. Thats about as long as he has been practicing law: How do you work within that type of system and not become hardened . Orthodox beginnings Raised Greek Orthodox in New York, Felos did not aspire to follow his fat her into law. He spent too much time at his father's office, supposedly on his way to father-son outings but actually waiting for his dad to fin ish talking to clients. "I went to law school because I couldn't think of anything else to do at the time," Felos says. After law school -- and his spiritual awakening -- Felos and his first wi fe lived on a small Greek island for three months. Each morning, they wo uld wake up and buy a fresh quart of goat's milk for 9 cents and a 10-ce nt loaf of steaming hot bread. His family had moved to the Ta mpa Bay area, so Felos decided to try for work here. He got an interview with the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's office. "This is a tough job," Felos remembers the prosecutor telling him during the interview. Having just spent three months living on an island and drinking goat's mi lk, Felos looked at the man and said, "You know, I really don't know." He didn't get the job and eventually went into civil practice with his fa ther. The two worked together as Felos & Felos until James G Felos died in 1995. Every morning these days, Felos is 160 pounds of elastic on his bedroom f loor. He does yoga, inspired by a framed portrait of Paramahansa Yoganan da, the founder of spiritual realization. He does more stretches and tak es out a machine that helps with his chi, or body energy. The purpose of the morning routine is to be "present in the sensation of his body." He takes out a throw pillow and meditates for a half hour before showerin g and drinking a concoction of protein powder, banana, orange juice, yog urt and goat's milk. Each morning he checks to see if something has grown on the mango tree an d bamboo he planted in the front yard. Felos visits different places of worship about twice a month, he says. He has spoken at several, including the Palm Harbor Unity Church, the Cent er for Conscious Living and a spiritual awareness center in Crystal Beac h He hangs out with friends -- ministers, yoga teachers, but no lawyers. He bought a Steinway grand piano and plays Beethoven on it. He invites fri ends over for chanting -- "I am that I am. "He has a good sense of humor, and he has a gentle and kind soul," says D ebi Chapman, a Palm Harbor yoga instructor who met Felos about seven yea rs ago at a retreat. "It's just a heartfelt space, a very spirit-filled connection that George and I have." Felos' reading material includes Handbook to Higher Consciousness, God Ta lks With Arjuna, The Experience of Insight, In the Meantime. His home looks more hippie-ish than lawyerly -- red couch with big pillow s, multicolored chair in hot tones, mint green carpeting, spry yellow ki tchen and one living room wall painted neon blue. He spends weekends with his 14-year-old son, Alexander, from his first ma rriage. Joseph Sound, the body of water that doubles as Felos' back yard. Felos is in the final stages of a divorce from his second wife. "If I did relationships as well as I did law," Felos says, "I'd probably be happily married." The journey continues Felos does not mention Schiavo in Law as Spiritual Practice, but says he wants to start a second book when the case is over. He may talk about hi s spiritual journey with Schiavo then. Fo...
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