Chalk and Chi is reaching out and spreading it's branches wide! I intended it to be a blog chronicling my discoveries of how CrossFit and Yoga parallel each other. However, Chalk and Chi now has a bigger purpose, it's not just a blog of cutesy posts and fab pics (of myself...hahaha!) anymore.
Looking around the web, I found many people blogging about how yoga has helped them become better athletes. Balance, flexibility, mid-line stability and improved body awareness can all be developed through regular yoga practice and directly impact the quality and efficiency of your workouts. Even still, these hybrid blogs make up a paltry few compared to the majority of yoga sites. There's nothing wrong with yoga sites, don't get me wrong. I am a regular subscriber to many, however, I don't feel really at home at any of them. Why? I'm a paleo girl...most yoga sites push their vegan/vegetarian views at your through their articles, banners and product placements. Sometimes I just want to read an article and have the underlying theme NOT be a suggestion that I'm dirty and single-handedly destroying the world by my diet choice (especially when said diet choice has made me the healthiest and fittest and happiest I've ever been).
In the end we all have the same purpose;
to live a happy and healthy life to the best of our abilities.
Me, I really want to read Yoga articles that don't PUSH a vegan lifestyle on me. Paleo (meat eating) Yogis? Here you go!
Need to know that others are taking you seriously as an athlete?
Vegetarian CrossFitters? Got you covered.
How about athletes that would rather carry logs while barefoot than weight plates in Inov8s?
Paleo-style athletes? Oh yes, I want you too!
There is bad science (like The China Study) out there but now we're in a position to get the GOOD science into the right hands.
Starting back in high school I became and then was a vegetarian for about 8 years, a vegan eater for about a year after that and for roughly 3 months of that I was raw food vegan. Since then I've gone Paleo (with some grass-fed cow &/or goat dairy, raw when I can) and really feel this is where it's at for me and my health, all the way. I guess you could say that I know what it's like to be on the fringe. However, whenever someone implied that I was an a$$hole for being a vegetarian (at college in Maine, the land of meat and lobster tails) it never made me feel like "oh that guy is so passionate, he must be right." I thought, "oh that guy's a schmuck." Judging each other is not good for our souls. Let's step away from the water cooler, stop gossiping and start speaking truthfully...that is, start speaking from the heart. Sometimes we make less-than-stellar choices, but it's still our path and we need to walk it. That is how we learn and how we grow.
I am a new breed of human, and I'm not the only one.
We believe that sick-and-tired is NOT the price of the American Dream.
We have (re)discovered our strength, our roots and we are
fitter, stronger, healthier and happier because of it.
Chalk and Chi is a place for the new breed to share information, thoughts, discoveries, recipes, workouts, successes, laughs...whatever is on your mind!
You are probably one of the new breed also. You know you are if you live each day in the pursuit of health and happiness, think that veggies and fruits are pretty darn amazing little things, you will not partake in the eat-sick-food-get-sick-get-shot-up-with-drugs cyclical drama, think trees and meadows are way flipping cooler than parking lots, do the best you can to live a more naturalistic lifestyle (one choice at a time), exercise with intent and purpose (no ellipticals here), and lift heavy $hit (REALLY heavy) because you can (and I REALLY like to)!
You are probably one of the new breed also. You know you are if you live each day in the pursuit of health and happiness, think that veggies and fruits are pretty darn amazing little things, you will not partake in the eat-sick-food-get-sick-get-shot-up-with-drugs cyclical drama, think trees and meadows are way flipping cooler than parking lots, do the best you can to live a more naturalistic lifestyle (one choice at a time), exercise with intent and purpose (no ellipticals here), and lift heavy $hit (REALLY heavy) because you can (and I REALLY like to)!
Do you blog about this stuff? I'm looking for bloggers that live this new strong and active lifestyle! Please drop me a line on Facebook and let me know you're out there! I'd like to feature you :-)
BEST!
Michelle
