Is There a Conflict Between Yoga and Crossfit?
Lots of people do yoga, and lots of people do crossfit. This is a good question partly because it comes up so much. It’s also a good question because it’s much bigger than yoga and crossfit. “Can i do this thing I like doing, even if it’s totally different from this other thing I like doing?”
In some ways I think the answer is simple, and the same, for yoga, for crossfit, and for life: Do what you love doing, and do it in the best way you can.
So the challenge with crossfit is about the same as the rest of everyday life. There are many people struggling to push one part of who they are, or more literally, one part of their body at a time, to achieve what they want by force. But, this doesn’t mean it can’t be fun to play alongside other people, and to find better ways to move who you are, every part of you connected together in harmony.
Finding the Peaceful Way
Finding the peaceful way, and coming to the exciting discovery that more is possible along this path, is always within your reach, no matter what you are doing. So maybe you try something like crossfit and simply decide the group isn’t for you, because the strategy they follow – so much pushing and struggling to do every single movement in the hardest most disconnected possible way – is so different from what you want.
Or, maybe you try and think it’s perfect, because the people feel good to you, the shared effort feels good to you, and it’s wonderful to be part of this. And guess what, it’s even wonderful to make it better. We don’t need to be perfect, we just need to get better. And sometimes we can help each other along the way.
Either way, what’s important wherever you are is something pretty constant, for all of us, in everything we do.
1. Do what you love doing as much as you can.
2. Keep getting better.
It’s nice when things work out this way, when what works best for one thing you do is the same as what works best for everything you do. It means you don’t need to collect so many separate techniques, or even so many separate personalities, for this or that effort. Of course there are techniques. But the foundations for being good at you, in whatever you’re doing, these remain always the same.
I think this connects all of us in a good way. The understanding that things can be better, alongside the will and effort to make this real in our own everyday lives. Without this we can become disconnected from reality, pretending that things are different from how they are. But with this desire and effort, we become connected together in something truly inspiring. We become connected together in being alive.
About Strala Yoga
Strala combines the movement and healing wisdom of tai chi with the form vocabularies of yoga, tai chi, qigong, and Traditional Chinese and Japanese Medicine, to help people release stress, move easily through challenge, and live radiantly inspiring lives.
It begins with a mindset, that says our best way to get where we’re going is to feel good along the way. It also works miracles for whole health, helping us to find ease in our bodies and minds, and create the right conditions both for healing and optimal performance.
In our Strala Yoga Training Courses, you learn to shape your destiny on every level that counts, from your psychology, chemistry and neurology, to your chromosomes and even gene expression. The unique set of skills you develop – for connecting with yourself and others, unblocking your energy, healing what needs healing and accomplishing challenge with ease – uncovers your ability to create the life you want, and be an inspiring leader to the people around you.