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Leigh Roche - Leigh Roche

Action sports have an intensity, immediacy and power that is medit8ive; they bring you and hold you in the present moment.

– Leigh Roche

"When you think there is nothing left, reach within and dig deeper." – Stephen Murray / BMXer

Leigh is a writer and artist, with an MA in education/ developmental psychology from Columbia University. She has followed skateboarding and BMX for many years and brings an historical perspective to her obsession with the sports. She began skateboarding in the 70s on a wicked Hobie fiberglass "banana board" and a G & S, both great for bombing hills, which comprised most of the skate scene at that time on the East Coast. She still enjoys skating: laid-back cruising on in-line skates and hopping on that 8" Real deck/Thunder trucks/Powell wheels. She also enjoys MTB riding. Leigh enjoys the moving meditation of skating and talking with the other riders, young and young at heart. Extreme Sports are a way of life and always a part of who you are.

She has been published on many online sites including OpenLeft, Huffington Post, and Maloof Money Cup. She has written essays, artist bios and curriculum guides for museums, schools and community education. Her educational research was in how direct experience in art materials fosters symbolic development. She has taught kids from preschool to high school and is interested in ideas about identity, spirituality and imagination as expressed through art and extreme sports.

Leigh is working on a book about living positively and spiritually through extreme sports:

Extreme Mindfulness: Living in Balance Through Action Sports

Bomb hills, not countries!

• Follow @LeighRoche8
• Om Just Sayin': her blog where she writes about extreme sports, philosophy, and current events.
• Writer, Extreme Sports International.to News