"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," he 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 seconds, you'll find that you're more relaxed."
If people are truly spiritual, that will permeate all aspects of their lives, not just during worship, not just at home, but at work too, Felos says.
"You can't separate your work life from your spiritual life," he says. "A spiritual seeker has no spiritual focus."
At least one opposing attorney sees little spirituality in Felos. Pat Anderson, one of the lawyers representing Terri Schiavo's parents, questions Felos' ethics in fighting to remove the woman's feeding tube.
Furthermore, Anderson says, "I find him to be uncommonly persnickety in his diction."
George Felos begins his morning with yoga, which he has been practicing for 25 years. That’s about as long as he has been practicing law: “How do you work within that type of system and not become hardened . . . and maintain a spiritual center?” he says.
Raised Greek Orthodox in New York, Felos did not aspire to follow his father 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 finish 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 wife lived on a small Greek island for three months. Each morning, they would wake up and buy a fresh quart of goat's milk for 9 cents and a 10-cent loaf of steaming hot bread. It was one of the best times in his life, Felos says.
Then it was back home and back to reality. His family had moved to the Tampa 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. "You've got to be hard. You've got to hit! It's a tough job. Can you do it?"
Having just spent three months living on an island and drinking goat's milk, 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 father. 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 floor. He does yoga, inspired by a framed portrait of Paramahansa Yogananda, the founder of spiritual realization. He does more stretches and takes 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 showering and drinking a concoction of protein powder, banana, orange juice, yogurt and goat's milk.
Each morning he checks to see if something has grown on the mango tree and 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 Center for Conscious Living and a spiritual awareness center in Crystal Beach.
He hangs out with friends -- ministers, yoga teachers, but no lawyers. He bought a Steinway grand piano and plays Beethoven on it. He invites friends over for chanting -- "I am that I am. I am that I am." -- while he plays the harmonium.
"He has a good sense of humor, and he has a gentle and kind soul," says Debi Chapman, a Palm Harbor yoga instructor who met Felos about seven years 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 Talks With Arjuna, The Experience of Insight, In the Meantime.
His home looks more hippie-ish than lawyerly -- red couch with big pillows, multicolored chair in hot tones, mint green carpeting, spry yellow kitchen and one living room wall painted neon blue.
He spends weekends with his 14-year-old son, Alexander, from his first marriage. They fish for mullet in St. Joseph Sound, the body of water that doubles as Felos' back yard. Caladesi and Honeymoon islands are in the distance.
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 his spiritual journey with Schiavo then. For now, he is preparing for a hearing before the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland on June 25. He thinks the court will agree that her feeding tube should be removed.
That is what is necessary, he says, "to accomplish what I believe are Terri's wishes."
Does Felos believe Terri Schiavo's soul has spoken to his?
Felos declines to answer, showing his lawyerly side. "It's a pending case," he says.
FLORIDUH VOTER QUICK READ: Attorney Felos practices any and all religions where I guess the physical body isn't important unless it's his when he's doing yoga. In this Floridian article, he states "to accomplish what he believes are Terri's wishes." I think it's important to note that he has no supernatural powers in order to divine Terri's wishes. It appears he thinks he has supernatural powers.
Note that Michael Schiavo and his attorney Felos stay on message re: "Terri's wishes". The real issue is Terri's true medical condition. If her true medical condition becomes known, that she is not in a coma or vegetative state, that ruins what "needs to be accomplished." They are driven and as long as Felos can do his breathing exercises and say "I am" it's really not important how Terri spends her days without her parents, without therapy and without liberty.
He also stated in that yoga kept him from becoming hardened by being a lawyer. He's the essence of hardened and the porchlight's on but nobody's home.