Our Suffering → The Suffering: A Human Rights Perspective
How a UN Human Rights Lawyer Brings Mindfulness to His Work
Hi friends!
(We’ll pick up the series on the Perfections next week, with a post on energy/effort.)
For me, the best part of studying how to teach meditation and mindfulness was getting to practice with people like Octavio “Tavo” Amezcua Noriega, an international human rights lawyer working with the United Nations.
I remember Tavo’s joy when his sister had a baby, when he coolly evacuated during an earthquake, when he needed to miss a session to do human rights work in Venezuela. Like me, he has a cat that would walk back and forth in front of the Zoom camera.
Now that he’s a certified mindfulness teacher, I asked him for a few insights in how he merges his mindfulness facilitation and day-to-day work.
I’m so honored to share Tavo’s words with you!
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Could you introduce yourself?
My name is Octavio Amezcua Noriega and I’m from Mexico.
I’ve been working on the defense of human rights for more than 15 years, 8 of them working for the United Nations’ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. I have worked mainly in Mexico, but I have had the opportunity to also work in Bolivia and Venezuela.
What drew me to international law on human rights was that it provides me the opportunity to serve (not always, but happens) and use my legal knowledge to work for the disempowered, instead of working for the powerful. I also find it intellectually stimulating.
I was driven to mindfulness due to a different (but now I see as related) kind of motivation: as part of my interest on meditation as a very practical way to experience that need of spirituality that I have always had with me.
Years of approach to Buddhist teachings and practices eventually led me to an increasing adoption of mindfulness practice, although I still consider myself to be generally speaking not a very mindful person. But I’ve been able to notice some changes and I’m happy about it; among them is the integration of mindfulness with my work on human rights, which I find very rich and insightful.
What inspired you to become a mindfulness facilitator?
I’ve been a practitioner for several years. However, I always kept the practice for myself and with the sanghas* that I had practiced with. I never planned to integrate my meditation and mindfulness practice with my work as a human rights defender.
However, I became increasingly aware that both practices could be naturally interconnected. I received a training on peace circles and other restorative practices, and I noticed that it could easily be related to the human rights work.
I was and still am a bit weary on integrating the practices and my work because, as a human rights worker, and particularly for my organization, it is a bit difficult to integrate other elements that are not necessarily expected from my work.
However, I am increasingly interested in such integration. This is mainly due to the current political situation, from the global scenario to particular communities. The work on community building is more necessary than ever, and both the practice of mindfulness and the human rights work can be useful for this.
So, I am still in a very beginning stage, but my plan is first to work with mindfulness with coworkers to work with mindfulness with the people that I work with to create a group of practitioners. After that, I would consider finding a way to bring the practice to affected communities and people whose rights have been violated.
* “Sangha” is an inclusive term for a community of meditation and mindfulness practitioners. When plural, it usually refers to smaller, more specific circles, whether in person or online.
How do you practice mindfulness while working with communities experiencing trauma?
I try applying the basic techniques, such as returning to my breath when feeling distracted or when I feel I’m overthinking about the situation. This gives me a feeling of presence and contact with the person, beyond mere verbal communication.
Also, I try to practice deep listening. It can be quite tricky because the conversation that I can have with people in my work has particular objectives: for example, when interviewing a victim, it is important to gather information on the factual elements of the case.
This can lead to ignoring other elements that could be present in the conversation, such as the communication of the suffering that is consequence of the victim’s experience. I also try to remain open to these elements, and to find tools to communicate a sense of compassion to the person, while carrying out the interview at the same time.
Law interprets and applies a complex system of rules. How do you maintain a “don’t know” mind?
This is very important to have while working in the field and with communities affected by violence and/or human rights violations.
Law has a lot of technical elements and it definitely falls short for leading with the whole experience that comes from experiencing violence, in many times at extreme levels.
So, it is always important to remain humble and to be aware of the cultural factors that could be present in the situation, and not present myself as an “authority” on the subject, but rather to provide some advice and orientation but trying to leave in the community or people affected the power or control over their narrative and processes.
For this reason, and since it is common to be dealing with very different realities as part of the human rights work, it is very important to maintain a “don’t know mind.”
From your position, what one practice tip would you like to share?
The practices that I shared above could be very important starting points.
First, it could be said that the knowledge on law, which is mostly a technical aspect with the political component that is implied in the fight for human rights, gives you a set of elements organized in a systematic way and under which any case could be analyzed.
Usually this leads, particularly among young lawyers, to a pre-conceived notion on how to deal with particular cases, overlooking the context of the “client” or victim of human rights violation, but also the internal knowledge that people have when dealing with suffering.
This also happens to more experienced lawyers, when there are time constraints and other similar limitations. But in this context, it is always important to work on the “don’t know mind,” to approach the human experience with humility and assuming that the legal knowledge will encompass just a very little part of the experience that is shared.
And that is also why it is important to work on deep listening, and to be fully present when interacting with people whose rights have been violated, because in many cases it is also true that this disposition of listening is precisely what many of those people (many of whom have been discriminated and ignored) need in that moment, beyond the legal answers that could be provided.
Finally, I would also share that I have find my greatest inspiration for my work on human rights, in the way in which victims and survivors deal with suffering, as a living example of human resilience and dignity. It is that common understanding of suffering that appears in the interaction with victims and survivors, that can make you spot the transition from “my suffering” or “their suffering” to “the suffering.”
Do you have any common recommendations for how to help individuals get involved?
At least from my experience, I would recommend one basic thing: learning to build a community and organize.
There are so many misconceptions that this extremely individualistic civilization has put in our heads: from the paradoxes of democratic representation to the virtual political activity in social media, all these solutions seem to come to a dead end.
We are so alienated that we have even lost the notion of community and have been disconnected from the basic need that we have to live and thrive in one.
It is fundamental to go to the basics: tackle problems from the bottom to the top, by cooperating and organizing with your family members, neighbors, coworkers, to start building another notion of politics.
Post-Script
What resonated most with you from Tavo's approach to mindfulness in human rights work? Have you found ways to bring contemplative practices into your own work, wherever it may be?
I admire how Tavo makes deep listening central to his practice.
Dropping into the body to listen to what’s being (un)said is crucial practice that I know I can forget as I try to fulfill course objectives or learning outcomes. I think, for me, this is why I much prefer looser grading formats where we have time to play.
Creative Coalition: April 6th, 3-7 PST
Join the Creative Coalition for a unique collaborative storytelling experience to practice mindful listening, speech, and community building.
Using Avery Alder's Ribbon Drive, we'll embark on a virtual road trip, crafting characters, building relationships, navigating emotional landscapes and obstacles together, much like in movies such as Little Miss Sunshine and Thelma and Louise.
Newbies to meditation, mindfulness, and gameplay are all welcome. This is a chill practice space.
What to expect:
An intimate group experience (limited to five participants)
Practice in improvisational storytelling and deep listening
Tips on moving mindfulness practices into collaborative creation and vice versa
Other people’s “road trip music”
Wait, Road Trip Music?
Before the event, create a road trip playlist using YouTube, Spotify, or the like (try to keep the playlist as close to 30 minutes as possible). Our playlists will be our soundtrack and, in many ways, a composite character.
Let yourself play with this! It might not be your road to music; maybe it’s the one your best friend from high school would make the day after she was dumped by her gay boyfriend. Maybe it’s the one you made after you finally finalized your divorce. Think gene, mood. And, also: don’t overthink it.
If you need technical help, just ask!
Asking Rate: $80
Pay-what-you-can discount codes:
$60 = Hive25
$40 = Hive50
$20 = Hive75
No one is turned away for lack of funds. If the registration fee is cost-prohibitive, please ask for the link via email or DM.
Bio
Logan Juliano, PhD (they/them) is a queer, transracial adoptee and co-editor of Notes from the Inflection Point, a newsletter dedicated to processing and expressing climate-related emotions. They are neither a mental health provider, nor an authorized teacher in any Buddhist lineage. They hold a PhD in Performance Studies and are currently waiting for a couple season 3 Final Girl boxes to land. Ask me which.