Simple. Paleo and Yoga

Posted by Melissa Baumgart

Dinner.  1/4/15

My focus for Healthival is a nod toward simplicity, and not taking on too much.  I am eating paleo, which I have been doing since December 29th, and have been back to yoga on a regular basis this past week.  My main goal is to cultivate a healthy mindset in which I can grow a foundation for a lifestyle that supports moderation.  I can be so "all or nothing".  Shit, I recently went from practicing 60 straight days of yoga to 90 days of hardly any yoga and seeing how many toxins (junk food and booze) could I shove into my body.  The pendulum does swing. 

It was with that in mind that I chose to sleep in today and not go to yoga this morning before work.  I went four times this week and was up late last night setting intentions for the new year with a couple girlfriends.  When I finally fell asleep after reading in bed, it was past 1 o'clock in the morning and I decided that I would be OK with not going to yoga.  That's huge for me, I would usually berate myself for such choices.  Shame, my steady and constant companion upon a typical Healthival journey.  I want this time to be a different practice.  Sure, I might get it wrong, but that's fine.  I'm doing it in a new way, stretching my boundaries and seeing what new possibilities lie ahead. 

I leave this post with an Ernest Hemingway quote that relates to morals (that which is concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness or badness of human character).  This definition can be the very thing that sometimes bring me to a state of all or nothing.  I just finished my first book of 2015, about Hemingway and his wives, and I learned a lot about life and myself.  Hence, this all feels very fitting, indeed. 

“So far, about morals, I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.” from Death in the Afternoon by Ernest Hemingway.

I will definitely consider this tomorrow when making my Healthival choices.