August 31, 2002
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A BLOGGER READER SPECIAL!!!!!!!!
OUT OF PRINT: ACT NOW!!!
Get Steve Ilg's classic training diary:
THE OUTDOOR ATHLETE'S TRAINING JOURNAL
A 12-Month Cross Training guide for Wholistic Fitness & Sport Performance
published by JOHNSON BOOKS
normally, a copy sells for $35 through wholisticfitness.com's online catalog...
through September, respond to this website special and it is yours for $25 INCLUDING SHIPPING!
maximum per person: 3 copies only
through SEPTEMBER or until supply runs out
you'll also get the killer cool HP Yoga window decal for free!
I authored this training diary in 1992 because i was tired of waiting for a really good training journal...and it is still the BEST training journal ever written, i promise! no other training journal has specific areas to catalog your progress in FIVE FITNESS DISCIPLINES each week, month, and year! talk about self-feeding inspiration! this TRAINING JOURNAL shakes off spiritual laziness like a Black Lab hitting the shoreline! i also open each month with an essay on some aspect of Wholistic Fitness. INVALUABLE for competitive athletes to record training volumes throughout the year in the various disciplines. For spiritual athletes, like yogi's, keeping a diary for pranayama, asana,and insights which arise from your Practice is mandatory for Higher and more Sacred Movement...this is the IDEAL book!
get your three copies today...they will make EXCELLENT holiday gifts!
I know this Journal will help keep your Practice strong and focused for the years ahead! It has mine and hundreds of others!
Coach Ilg
wholisticfitness.com
August 27, 2002
OF STRENGTH TRAINING WARRIORS, YOGI SISSIES, and OTHER DHARMATALK...
NAMASTE NOBLE WARRIORS!
Through my Wholistic Fitness method, i helped steer the blending of powerful gym fitness with the spiritually saturated expansion qualities of yoga nearly 20 years ago. These days, it is pleasing to me that finally, finally, finally there are so many brave gym warriors willing to humble themselves in yoga classes. They are willing to do sometimes humiliating work of breaking down their muscles to transcend those restrictions into something far more beautiful and powerful! They realize that strength without flexibility is nothing but restriction.
But why the hell aren�t those hypermobile, chicken-legged yogis streaming into gyms? How come they are not taking their cherished Practice beneath a damn Squat Bar? Are their Full Lotus joints a bit TOO stretched from too much yoga? Is their peaceful countenance a bit intimated and threatened by a simple Pull Up Bar and the sweaty vapors of the gym in lieu of Nag Champa incense filling pretty hardwood studios? Certainly if holding Sirsasana (Headstand) for several minutes is within their repertoire, a few sets of Staccato Technique Jump Squats should not shake their fearlessness?
If i were only a yoga teacher, i�d feel a bit ashamed by now if i myself wasn�t in the gym, pumping out Dips, Side Laterals, and Leg Presses! I say it�s about time for all those yoga teachers and students who talk all high and mighty about body/mind fitness to face the dragon of a heavy Squat Bar or 5 sets of 1:00 Jump Squats with a 1:00 Recovery Interval! I�ve definitely merged with the Atman during those workouts! So, High Performance Yogi�s UNITE! Invite your friendly Yoga teacher to your next WF leg workout...let me know how their Practice looks in the IRON TEMPLE!
Coming Up in my next DIRECT LINES....3 Wholistic Fitness Strength Training Meditations.
Don�t Miss It...now here are some updates...
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Congratulations to my old New Mexico bicycle racing partner, Mike Longmire in winning the Montana Master's State Crit! You can see pics of me and Mike doing a little Ilgonian style off season snowshoe training in my book, THE WINTER ATHLETE. Mike is one of the kindest, most compassionate, and easy going guys i�ve ever had the honor to know. Until he gets on a damn bike! Ooooooh boy he and i used to beat up on each other in our training sessions! You go on with your bad self, ML!!!!
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my West LA yoga teaching schedule can be found at:
http://www.MarkBlanchardsPowerYoga.com/schedule.html
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�My HP yoga video is my salvation.�
WF Student Mikel, Ventura, CA
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Welcome new formal online WF Student,
David F. Yahner
Pleasantville, New York
David will be taking training under Teacher Sheader. Good luck, David!
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i started on SUNRIDER products a few months back and i love them and can really feel them working. cool stuff.
Todd, OR
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steve llg is the best and glad i am riding long with the best
joyce sheers, PA
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First, let me start by saying that I really dig Direct Lines. It
works well--perhaps better than e-mail.
WF Student Hantman,
Washington DC
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Some Questions & Answers From This Past Week:
Dear Coach -
Thank you for the great yoga class last night! I�ve noticed there seems to be a number of translations for Namaste. I like this one:
Namaste:
I honor that place in you where the whole Universe resides. And when
I am in that place in me and you are in that place in you, there is
only one of us.
- Student Jim Brown, LA
Student Jim -
yes, like the vastness and paradoxical nature of the major Eastern spiritual traditions, the interpretations of 'Namaste' are many.
Jim:Next Monday is Labor day Will there be your class?
Coach: No, i will be back in New Mexico and Colorado, recharging my Mountain Yogi batteries and working on my book. However, the beautiful Trina will be teaching a HP Yoga Class at 9:30 - 10:30 am class on Labor Day. Please come! Bring a friend! Also My tuesday and thursday 6:00 pm classes in West LA will be substituted on the following days:
Sept 3,5,10,12
and at PowerHouse Gym, my september 9 class will be substituted as well.
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Dear Coach -
AI IMAWA IS COOL, IT REMINDS ME OF MY KEMPO DAYS BUT ITS FAR MORE EFFECTIVE AND GENTLE. I'VE HAD SOME STRANGE MOOD SWINGS BUT THEY ARE LEVELING OFF. I'M DOING AI IMAWA AND DRINKING VITA SHAKE, CALLI TEA AND FORTUNE DELIGHT, COULD THIS BE WHAT IS CAUSING A 3 DAY LONG DULL HEADACHE.
- WF Warrior Todd, OR
Coach Ilg: possibly. well, probably. it is good a sign (cihna)...the herbs are clearing out residual, accumulated debris from the cell membranes. hang in there!
TODD: I LOVE THE DIRECT LINES DAILY MEDITATIONS, I HAVE A FEELING THIS IS GOING TO GO FAR FOR YOU.
Coach Ilg: i did not create this Work to take me far...but rather YOU! personally? i'd rather still be living in Durango, immersed in my beloved San Juan mountains, working part time at Pine Needle Mountaineering! i want YOU to in-joy the impact of this Path on your fitness and in your spirit! yeah baby!
TODD: I DONT KNOW YOU YET BUT I FEEL LIKE I'VE KNOWN YOU FOREVER.
Coach Ilg: you have. we are from the same spiritual tribe. we've been doing this type of fun stuff for lifetimes.
TODD: THANKS FOR BEING YOU,THERE & NOW. KEEP SHINEN THE LIGHT.
Coach Ilg: doing my best man, just like you!
in sweat and spirit
in focus and fun...
{my book, AI IMAWA; Postures and Practice of Inner Harmony is available at my online catalog at www.wholisticfitness.com}
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Dear Steve,
I was reading the part in the Winter Athlete where you tell a guy to get rid of the chairs in his house and then go on to relate your "climbing bum" days where you squatted all the time and what a difference it made in your flexibility and well being. This got me to thinking and as an experiment, I decided to add squatting to my Beeper Guru routine. Now when the alarm goes off each hour, in addition to taking a few deep breaths and checking my posture I spend a minute or more squatting by my desk. I can already feel a difference in my hamstrings and lower back.
Kevin Burnett, CA
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Dear Steve -
Monday night at class you talked about seeing somebody who is hunched over and saying they are your guru and straighten up. Yesterday I had to go to the mall and I saw a man with beautiful posture. His posture inspired me to straighten up. I was thrilled to see how fast your words manifested! I appreciate having you in my life and am very grateful for the spirit that you are and �who you are becoming!�
Much love,
Jim
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Coach Ilg,
I received all of my materials last week and am enjoying them thoroughly, especially the HP yoga video. Your ability to teach and inspire is a gift. Thanks for sharing!
HP Yoga & the winter athlete....my first impressions were WOW on the yoga and the book is going to take more attention than I've given it while reading 2 pages before bed! GREAT STUFF though. The first 3 runs through the yoga just cracked me up (laughing). To go from an innocent standing forward bend w/ toe hold to .....voila! standing w/ leg straight out & doing squats that way. It is amazing how quickly some things come to you though. And then there's the hip stuff that seems like it's going to take half a lifetime to accomplish.
Wendy Cooper
ProMotion Fitness
Indiana
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August 23, 2002
UPDATE:
SUNRIDER HERBS
the official nutrition of
Wholistic Fitness
and
High Performance Yoga
by coach ilg
8/23/02
"I have to say again how pleased I am with my Sunrider products.
My wife and I start the day with a cup of Calli tea before she goes to
work. She likes it very much and says she feels better when she drinks it."
- WF Student Don Bledsoe
North Carolina
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Dear Coach Ilg
I sent out an e-mail to friends about Sunrider Herbs the other day.
I've since talked to one person who wanted to know if there was something for
recovery from long runs in the SUNRIDER program?
Student Hantman -
the most difficult challenge about getting conventionally conditioned people turned onto herbs is having them realize the WHOLISTIC principle upon which whole food nutrition pivots. the best recovery from long runs is of course an empowered immune system and endocrine system! thus, in SUNRIDER, endurance athletes can totally strengthen those two systems by taking several caps per day of CONCO, ALPHA 20C, and PRIME AGAIN. bombproof immunology makes for bombproof, quality training workouts...THAT is key!
but those formula's listed above are already 3 of the 5 formulas already present in one SR product: QUINARY (which also has LIFESTREAM for the circulatory system and ASSIMILAID for digestive fitness).
this is why Dr. Chen reminds us of the importance of the REGENERATION PHILOSOPHY: don't eat isolated nutrients which have no synergy (life force), but eat a variety of high quality, broad spectrum whole foods that are highly and intelligently concentrated, enhanced, and formulated so ALL the cells of the body kick into high gear from a nutrient transfer/assimilation perspective . thus the absolute BEST thing to do is of course, the full ILG SUPREME SUNRIDER routine:
a) NUPLUS + QUINARY + VITAFRUIT = 1x per day
then
b) FORTUNE DELIGHT + SUNNY DEW = continuously
after long runs an ILG SUPREME shake (see A above) is ideal for recovery along with some moderate chain carbs with some protein such as rice and tofu (with Dr. Chen's vegetarian Secret Sauce of course!)
To REALLY empower the endurance athlete, you CANNOT DO BETTER than adding SUNRIDER's Siberian Ginseng and Korean White Ginseng and Energy Plus to your normal SR intake. To liberate even MORE energy from impacted fat on the body during runs, take several ACTION CAPS before your run! you will NOT want to stop running!
FORTUNE DELIGHT remains the ONLY 'during cardio' drink i use. the energy run from the fat metabolism is insane!
perhaps one day, the Awakened Athletes will somehow unite and see the foolishness of eating synthetic powders and pills and engineered recovery drinks. the Wisdom of the Body is soooo much more powerful than all that commercialized crap. There is no ancient wisdom or love in the modern engineered products, just clever marketing by monetarily motivated companies.
proud of your Devotion to Wholeness...
Eat An Herb,
coach ilg
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Hey Coach -
i started on sun rider products a few months back and i love them and can really feel them working. cool stuff.
Coach Ilg:
i don't associate with anything but what is world-class. nothing else is worth the beautiful time spent here on Mother Earth... SUNRIDER is a reflection of eating world-class whole foods. glad you are enjoying their presence in your body. it only gets better and better as the nutrient saturation and cleansing effect occurs over the upcoming months and years.
Student Todd:
last monday night my wife's gaming horse came over on top of her and in the fall has broken her pelvis in six places, we have her healing work cut out for us. what herds and other stuff would you recomend to start the healing process.
Coach Ilg:
immediately start beefing up her immune system; PRONTO! this means at LEAST two ILG SUPREME's per day plus extra:
ALPHA 20C (get it in bulk and add three scoops to the ILG SUPREME)
JOI; food for support the healing tissue matrix of the bones and CT
ESE; works with JOI to calm the nervous system so healing can occur
take JOI + ESE independent from ILG SUPREME and do not break up the capsules of JOI or ESE, just have her swallow them. 2 caps, 3x day.
CALLI or FORTUNE DELIGHT throughout the day to facilitate cell uptake abilities.
Student Todd:
what do the pelvis and lower leg area represent from an injury stand point.
Coach Ilg:
since she is not a formal WF online Student, i can only answer this in general terms...from a yogic standpoint , it's all lower chakra related...sounds like the Brahma Granthi trying to process unfinished spiritual work leftover from former lifetimes in which your wife did not rise above her egoic patterns and do Higher spiritual work. this lifetime, her Soul has 'invited' this incident for another chance to Rise Above. from the Western body/mind perspective this area is a major confluence of energetics in the body, the big concept here is relationship. In the hips we find bodily expression of fears and conflicts with our security, our family, our lovers. The pelvis is the center of movement, when the pelvis is out of horizontality, the spine is out alignment. The type of bodywork that I do prioritizes getting the pelvis into alignment. Once this center is open and aligned, our most sacred energy (known as KUNDALINI or the Goddess Kundala in yoga) is stirred awake and can begin Her journey upward through all the energy centers in the spine. our spiritual power is thus ignited and begins transforming our awareness into higher levels of consciousness. Smashing one's spine is one helluva Wake Up call to begin cultivating a sincere spiritual practice...i know...i did the same thing but rock climbing, not horse riding. The spiritual lesson is basically this: If we are afraid of what Higher Work demands of us, we may tend to shut down this area or get injured here. Most people are. This is one reason why lower back pain is so prevalent in our society.
Warrior Todd:
i thank you for your time and energy. mabe some day i can help you or the WF way.
Coach Ilg:
You are helping me (everyone) by Practicing being a kinder, compassionate, and more spiritually fit human being. Please watch your spelling while writing me. All spiritual work begins with Awareness.
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Dear Coach Ilg -
I've been e-mailing with a friend about Sunrider. {She got very defensive and sarcastic about the herbs.} Since I'm definitely at the bottom of the learning curve with these products any suggestions are appreciated. I'm likely to not push this any further with these folks. They'll come when they're ready.
Student Hantman
Dear Student Hantman -
i have read her response sorry she chose narrow mindedness and meanness over open mindedness and politeness. one easily senses her anger, lack of joy in her life and lower chakra vibe. this is fine. it is where she is at. i just want you to practice kindness toward her. leave the herb subject alone. if she wants to pursue it further (like when she gets injured, plateaus in training, or see's how beautiful, ripped, lean, kind, and caring you are becoming) she'll come back.
in the meantime, you steady yourself on the herbs and in your training. as YOUR spiritual fitness starts vibrating Higher, people will become more attracted to you...just like bees to honey...you become 'sweeter' to people and sweeter people are attracted to you instead of the fear /anger based crowd like your friend there.
funny, if a several time World Championship competitor encouraged me to just try completely harmless herbs that he swore by for twenty years, i sure as hell would have jumped at the chance. but, your friend is stuck in the conditioned, predictable, conventional mindset so, we just let her be and return to our own Practice.
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Dear Coach Ilg -
Your person's testimony about his race was very impressive. I was interested in knowing what the drink was that was mentioned. Trish Childers mentioned to e-mail you directly for the drink. Thank you very much.
-Willo
Dear Willo -
thank you my friend for writing. but that is just typical of SUNRIDER's powerful impact on people's lives and their health...i used SUNRIDER to fuel me into five World Championships in four different sports AND overcome a paralyzing spinal injury. Like Trish, i've been with SUNRIDER for nearly 20 years...and each year gets better with the herbs. Although i am 40 years old with an elite level of skin abuse from my mountaineering career, people continuously think i'm around 28 years old! get on this stuff, baby! it's way too good! here is the main formula i use both personally and professionally in Wholistic Fitness:
�����PRODUCT USE�����
once again, due to POPULAR DEMAND, here is THE main SUNRIDER formula for Wholistic Fitness Warriors the world over. drink one or two ILG SUPREME�s per day. In between drink FORTUNE DELIGHT with a squirt of SUNNY DEW (#103011):
THE ILG SUPREME
Into your Sunrider Shaker Bottle (code#53011) mix:
� a little bit of filtered water just to suspend the herbs from the bottom of the bottle...
� 1 five-gram package of Fortune Delight to drop bodyfat/get energy throughout the day from the slow burn of impacted bodyfat and keep the cellular cleansing component of nutrition strong. usually either Lemon (#101029) or Raspberry (#101049). i always keep a couple flavors in stock.
� 1 package of Vitashake (155010) to supply main nutritional core: vitamins, minerals, amino acids, carbs, proteolytic enzymes, in whole food form. You can also use a slightly less expensive (and less superior version) of Vitashake called, Nu-Plus which comes in several flavors (i prefer Pina-Banana in bulk).
� 1 long squirt of Vitafruit (#102011) for a major dosage of concentrated fruit, antioxidants, vitamins, etc.
� 1 five-gram package Quinary (#190509) to support, balance, and empower all five organ (or element) systems of the body; endocrine, digestive, t-cell immunity, respiratory, and circulation.
� shake it up.
� add more water top it off, chug it or not...and bingo; another day of feeling KING OF THE WORLD BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!
i drink at least one, but sometimes two ILG SUPREME�s per day...especially if training hard, working hard, or travel-stressed
when i first started Sunriding, my body craved the Ilg Supreme constantly for several months before my body started to cleanse and balance. i would drink the recipe 3 x daily. couldn�t get enough of it. it was like my body KNEW and it would not let ANYTHING stand in its Way toward achieving cellular purity which results in a Higher Vibrating state of being and awareness. it just felt WAY too good! that was twenty years ago...and this morning�s ILG SUPREME felt JUST as powerful!
REMEMBER: drink FORTUNE DELIGHT/SUNNYDEW (#103011) throughout the day to have crazy good energy liberated from metabolization of impacted fat stores. just carry it around with you in your SR shaker bottle. great way to turn people onto the herbs as well because they�ll ask,
�What the hell is that stuff you are drinking?�
�Herbs.�
�Herbs? What do they do?�
�Well, this stuff is called Fortune Delight. It gives me great energy from liberating impacted bodyfat and also keeps my cells cleansed.�
Everybody needs to drop bodyfat. This makes walking around with Fortune Delight a perfect �gateway� to share SR with others. If you are a SR Distributor, they can join online under you and pretty soon, your monthly check completely pays for your personal use of the herbs!
August 21, 2002
Namaste Noble Warriors!
�There are many who are merely Hatha Yogis without the knowledge of Raja Yoga. {They are} simply practitioners who do not get the fruit of their efforts.�
- Hatha Yoga Pradipika, 4;79
Recently an influx of �intellectuals� having been coming to my yoga classes or signing up for Wholistic Fitness online training. Doctors, lawyers, PhD�s, high-powered business or industry types. These are the elite urban warriors; never a reach away from a cell phone, always wear wristwatches, and can�t start a day without caffeine, often in form of �news� which must be digested because in their profession they are required to, �be aware of current events.� What event is more current than practicing being present?
Anyway, i decided i better devote my morning meditation to examining this abrupt appearance of great thinkers in my life. God knows my own feeble mind could benefit from some intellect! Also, i knew from experience to pay attention whenever a distinct pattern emerged - such as my recent interactions with �smart� people. Seemingly conjoined incidents are known in spiritual work as �synchronicity� and are considered metaphysical beacons blinking at us from Higher Levels.
Synchronicities are medicines for self cultivation. They nudge us awake to a spiritual dimension already in progress. This is why Mindfulness is so important...by paying attention to what we are doing and experiencing, we tap into a Higher language, a more Divine sense of things. When we release and surrender into this Divine sense, it�s like doing a spinal twist when you are nice and heated up in yoga class...suddenly, the vertebra just go POOF! They pop into alignment. No external chiropractor or bodyworker needed. The alignment came from within. Same thing here...pay attention to the meaningful coincidences in our life and POOF! We pop into alignment with Divinity.
So, in my zendo (meditation hall) this morning, instead of following my breath as a meditation, i followed my thoughts about smart people. I had zero idea of where i might be headed with this, which is precisely what makes meditation fun. As the space between thoughts lengthens, Divine Wisdom emerges. She let�s you play within Her omnipotence.
As i merged with the meditation, i realized the commonality that i have noticed of smart people. They always seemed busy. Busy, busy, busy. They don�t bike commute or clean their own homes, for example, because �it takes too much time.� They eat out a lot because, �it saves time�. Don�t drive economy cars because (so they say) a faster one gets them there �with less time�. To hell with Father Sky, i�ve got to speed up my life! Indeed, the whole �time thing� seems at chronic issue with smart, busy people. They talk a lot and as fast as a flash of lightening, i imagine, �to save time�. They hear, but are not great at listening. Their postural awareness is as easily distracted as is the energy of their eyes. Being around them for very long makes me wish for pine canyons and sandstone mesa�s...places where i could sigh relief from all their busy-ness.
As my meditation deepened, my thoughts turned toward Patanjali�s definition of Raja Yoga; �citta vritta nirodha�...restricting the mental waves. Hmmmm. Funny thing to think about not thinking. Yet in yoga - any type of yoga really - suspension of mental activity is critical and can be accomplished by steady application of precise techniques used within a three-part process (which usually require lifetimes to get right). We practice a part of this process our whole life - whether we know it or not. Essentially, our senses first must be drawn together, then within, and finally up and out of the body. Thus the yogic saying, �In, Up, and Out�.
By drawing the senses within (Pratyahara) we change our vibratory level...thought is not so prioritized but becomes another pebble in the Shaman�s rattle within which we can use to shake our vibration Higher. With Pratyahara, our life energy - or pran - changes. It stays within instead of moving out. We may notice shifts in our attitudes and appetites. Thus, we save copious amounts of pran for doing spiritual, inner work. Our workouts may heighten in meaning and intensity. Things that used to be dramatic, are less so. If we miss a meal, for instance, it is no big deal. We switch our mind from thoughts of hunger and do some pranayama (breath or life energy force control). We �eat� a meal of pran instead of Taco Bell! Through determined focus, hopefully one developed from quality Wholistic Fitness and High Performance Yoga workouts, our stored spiritual warehouse of pran can be used to fuel our journey toward Enlightenment.
As i neared the summit of my meditation, i stood under the notion that smart people held a tremendous spiritual lesson for me. They are teaching us that our mind can become so weakened from an addiction to thinking that we lose control of it. Arrogance of intellect serves but to manipulate others instead of learning how to love them more skillfully. We risk recharging our life energy for the sake of constant discharging. By generating so much busy-ness in our days, we weaken our mind, rendering it unfit for Higher psychic capacities. If we understand the sad effects from such mental indigence, we can then realize the precious significance of Wholistic Fitness.
Confidence to move boldly into our Highest joy and stay there does not come from intellectual discharge. Save the smarts for your inner journey. Speak less, listen more. Learn how to recharge more often. Do yoga. Don�t blow off gym workouts. Get a massage. Ride your bike outside. Absorb sunshine and wind. Pran is everywhere! Practice sitting still. Don�t fidget. Listen to your mind. Keep listening until Greater Confidence emerges from the stillness. Then you will know truly brilliant things; like knowing how to dance to whatever song is playing. Maybe even, the song of your own sacred life!
In-Joy your Dance today. I gotta get outside for some Dancing myself. I think me and Grunt (my mountain bike) will head up toward Eagle Rock today. I�ve got to balance all this intellectual stuff with some soaring red-tailed hawks, scurrying lizards, and sweat drenched thighs.
May your Practice be strong and sincere,
Coach Ilg
August 18, 2002
Motivation For What Lies Within
Namaste Noble Warriors!
Enthusiasm - or dedication - is known as �Alolya� in yoga. It is considered a critical quality to progress in Yoga. Emerson, a great Western poet whom studied of things Eastern, coined one of my favorite quotes, �Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.� When working with a new student, I know that if he or she is enthusiastic, then I�ve got a warrior on my hands and success will come, no matter what.
Most people lose motivation for fitness training quickly. The statistics show that most new fitness programs are orphaned within three months. Even yoga students, so zealously enraptured with early breakthroughs, often lose the luster of their awakening within a few years. Why? Often, it�s because people (even yogis) tend to search externally for motivation. It as precisely at this threshold between external and internal motivation where students run toward or away from Wholistic Fitness and her branch of High Performance Yoga. I teach an inwardly motivated Path. It�s not for everyone.
I have never coached from a cheerleading stance. I do not train my Teachers to be hand holders either. If I meet you in the gym for a planned workout, I don�t need to be hearing about your girlfriend or boyfriend or who said this about that. I�ll show up focused and prepared to stay that way until the end of the session. I�ll expect the same from you. Small talk can wait. Spiritual development cannot. I�ll train a celebrity the same way as I train the construction worker; my primary duty as a Wholistic Fitness Teacher is to point my students toward self cultivation of what lies within, not ahead. You enjoy reading about and perhaps even practicing Wholistic Fitness (and HP Yoga) because you know it builds a better body and a more fit mind. I can capably guide you toward those noble intents, but it remains you who must be willing to do the work...or at least learn to do the work! If my Path requires anything from you? It�s enthusiasm. You�ve got to be enthused because dedication to any spiritual or personal growth process demands it.
When I speak about enthusiasm, I am not talking about a caffeinated, emotional excitement. If you need to drink coffee, wire into headphones, or chug a �turbo tea� just to get �up� for your workout, you need help. You need spiritual help! You need WF help! Can you tell that I am wary of overly zealous exercisers? WF is celebrating over 20 years of professionally guiding students through difficult workouts and lifestyle management techniques designed to inspire and elevate us naturally. I can spot shallow fervor and unwise training patterns a mile away. Depending upon any externals for energy is unhealthy. Likewise, exchanging synthetic substitutes for wholeness and substance depletes inner power. Relying upon engineered and synthetic pills and powders can lead to dis-ease of the liver and other organs which are forced to re-arrange isolated nutrients into a semblance of whole food. Meanwhile, the body also has to de-toxify its system if fed a steady diet of non regenerative foods, sounds, skin care, and even thoughts! Remember, energy gained through external, processed, and synthesized ways is fleeting and unsuited for the long term commitment to the difficulties inherent to self realization.
Genuine motivation - the kind that gets you to be fearless of anything (abhaya mudra) must be animated from a spiritual desire to discover what lies within, not ahead. If you want bigger or prettier pair of biceps, that�s great! I love a nice set of bi�s. I have to work like hell to sport the puny pair I have! Regardless, developing a better body should always be a by-product of a spiritual desire to know yourself better! Train to get better biceps not to show off (well, maybe once in a while!), but to be a better human being. Focus on the inner workout, and the quality of the outer ones will improve along the way. So too, will your biceps.
I am attempting to get you to see that WF training is not so much the difference between choosing tofu over meat, but rather knowing the difference between outer or ego desires and inner or spiritual desires. It is the difference between �ecstasy� and �enstasty�.
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�I have been going through a sort of metamorphism and have found
that the Wholistic Fitness training I am undertaking with you is in fact a lot of spiritual work. Many things that I realized in your programs have changed the direction in my life...thank you.�
- Grant Couture
Vancouver, Canada
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August 14, 2002
Of Rumi, Abyss�s, and Student Sweetness...
Namaste Noble Fitness Warriors! -
�We are the mirror as well as the face in it.
We are tasting the taste this minute of eternity.
We are pain and what cures pain.
We are the sweet cold water and the jar that pours.�
- Rumi
When i would climb frozen waterfalls with no rope
i would sometimes look into the ice as a type of mirror...
that way, i could see if it was Fear
or Freedom looking back at me.
Doing this was a source of calm,
especially as spindrift avalanches poured down,
threatening my fragile, ant like progress up the ice wall.
When i would climb frozen waterfalls with no rope
i would see the blue sky as a type of mirror...
that way, i could see if it was Fear
or Freedom hovering above me.
Doing this was a source of ease
especially when my forearms and calves ran so thick with fatigue
i questioned whether to continue up at all...or just...fall.
When i would climb frozen waterfalls with no rope
i would see the earth below as a type of mirror...
that way, i could see if it was Fear
or Freedom looking up at me.
Doing this was a source of joy
knowing that should the Great Abyss call me hither,
i would simply shatter myself right back
into myself.
These days, of course,
i barely manage climbing into and out my bed
let alone up frozen waterfalls.
The longer i stay within the comfort of this Southern California current,
the more i seem to forget all about mirrors,
ice,
and the Abyss.
When I meditate and grow more clear
my eyes open
to the smoggy haze of this cloudless Valley.
What is being reflected now?
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I hope you in-joy this update of DIRECT LINES.
Thank you for all your kind words
and the sincerity of your Warrior efforts to Rise Above.
I would also like to welcome and thank the already growing students of
my HIGH PERFORMANCE YOGA classes over in West LA...thank you for your support!
May your Practice forever be strong...
- coach ilg
���
Dear Steve,
DIRECT LINES IS GREAT! I am deeply sorry for the loss of your spiritual mentor, Stephan. My own mentor too, Bill Strausbaugh, passed along several years ago, his picture is in my office and i get to visit with Bill every day. i am so lucky to have met the man. i feel the same about you. i leave you with a favorite quote of Bill Strausbaughs.
"WE WHO DARE TO TEACH MUST NEVER CEASE TO LEARN"
Love,
Student Kendo
CT
�
Dear Teacher-
So sweet to receive your blessings and beatitudes.Great to have the journal (DIRECT LINES) in techno form. It will be an anchor of stability/inspiration from my vababondings. Yes amidst the lower life chaos that is CONSUMING modern mans soul, your life/teachings are refined and counterbalances pointing our spirits heavenward via transcendental physicality's.
Yesterday while walking gazed at white clouds and felt such connective joy flowing.Understood mind is everywhere and nowhere as our true eternal homeless home.
A little poem was brief guest of my soul this week:
SPIRIT FINGERS
ITS WAY TO A STILL,
RADIANT POINT
AND THEN...
BLOSSOMS INTO WHOLENESS.
Thank you again and it is always a special pleasure to commune with a fellow modern mystic.
dave brydges
Canada
�
Dear Coach,
YOUR VIDEO WAS GREAT. im getting pretty comfortable with the poses, but your balance was awesome.
- tim bachman
mercer island, WA
�
SUNRIDER HERB Q&A:
Coach -
I went to SUNRIDER.com to place my order for some more FORTUNE
DELIGHT tea and the skin care products you recommended, but got completely turned around. Just for
clarification, I should order:
1) Kandesn Cleansing Cream (#330104)
2) Cleansing Foam (#330304)
3) Kandesn Balancing Splash (#330414)
4) Kandesn Deep Moisture Lotion Fragrance Free (#330714)
- Student Hakado Ru
Dear Student Hakado Ru -
you got it, that is the standard skin program (use steps 1&2 in the shower).. now, to throw in another wrinkle (another ilg herbal secret)...what i often do is use Oi-Lin Hand & Body Lotion (#380314) instead of #4 above.
using this product, you will get WAY more for the price, plus the hydration of the lotion is superb for the face but also the elbows, hands, arms, and body. the skin is such an important organ and this product nourishes it like nothing else. remember, Oi-Lin Hand & Body Lotion is #380314. you get 8 fl. oz for $34 (instead of 4 fl. oz for $30 with #4 above).
i�ve got to re-iterate this: with ALL SUNRIDER products, just a TINY amount is all that is needed! these are extremely concentrated formulas, unlike conventional products that are designed so that you have to use a lot of product! with SR, using pearl sized drops go a LONG WAY!!!!!
- glad to see that you understand that some herbs must be used on top of the skin, not just through the mouth!
here�s to shiny, regenerative, healthy skin!
love,
coach
�
welcome to formal online WF training
(under Teacher Sheader):
Dr. Tim Bachman
Mercer Island, WA
�
congratulations on receiving your STUDENT INKA
to formal online WF Student
(under Teacher Sheader):
Dr. Scott Adams
Hobbs, NM
�
Dear Steve,
I wanted to let you know that I purchased your book - THE WINTER ATHLETE - and I absolutely love it!
I love the quotes throughout the book, particularly the Rumi quote. I
feel like your book speaks to my spirit,coming from a background of trail
running, mountain biking, martial arts, dance and yoga. I really appreciate
the way you have woven the yogic philosophy and meditation throughout and emphasized the importance of both in attaining peak performance. Different people have told me that I should just concentrate on one sport to really "excel" but I find that I am at my best when I can express myself through a variety of physical disciplines.Thanks for writing The Winter Athlete, it's my new fitness bible.
Namaste,
Michele
LA, CA
��
Coach Ilg,
Hey man, just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your new forum. I wanted to tell you that there's something about the way you write that's so authentic.....man I really dig that. Even though I've completed 10+ updates it wasn't until I met you at Ron Jone's wedding last year that I got it. You and your wife are real people......no small feat. I'm not really sure what exactly it is but I know it. The practice has changed my life forever.
Your friend in this crazy life,
Franz (joe) Gutcher
OR
��
greetings Coach,
i'm so grateful for the "daily meditations" section on the WF website. for those of us living so many valleys from our Tribal Leader and our brothers and sisters of WF, it's wonderful medicine.
coming into the last week of Jeweled Lotus, will forward the cycle summation this weekend. it's been transformational as all-ways.
i extend my Heart to you, Coach and offer my prayers for the passing of your Dear One. "God gave us memories so that we might enjoy roses in December." - James Barrie.
much Love,
warrior student, chris roche
IN
�
August 09, 2002
Of Student Quotes, WF Dharma Points, and One Smart Finch...
Hey Coach, I've been dedicating my daily
zazen to your friend Stephan may he find peace where ever he is now.
And thank you so much for your DIRECT LINES forum.
I read and re-read them daily. They are food for my practice.
Namaste, gassho, thank you.......
laura, NV
���
hey coach!
you are gonna be sooooo stoked on how i did, i can hardly believe i pulled it off, and it still hasn't set in with me, but, i got 1st place in the 24 hr race this last weekend! yup, the hills were singing and everything just fell into place for me in the race. i just kept repeating all you said to me in my head throughout the race, and 16 laps later, i came out on top! i am soooooo excited! i qualified for world championships as well! so, it's off to canada for me in 3 weeks for worlds!
love always,
timari
Chatsworth, CA
���
Dear Coach,
Just returned from Durango, Colorado...a little more hectic pace than I
remember. It has been 16 years since my last visit, and that southwest
monsoon is more beautiful to me than ever.
I am happy to see others discover the beauty of the region, but it is so
hard to appreciate with cell phone in one ear, and triple-no-foam-latte, in
one hand, from the cockpit of a gas guzzling sport-barge towing the personal
water craft. I find it funny that they all leave the city, only to do the
same damned thing somewhere else. I wish everyone would STOP, sit zazen, and quietly watch an ominously dark afternoon thundershower pounds out a swath of wet landscape, punctuating its
presence with fractals of thin bright light, and the erie clap of thunder,
passing as quickly as it appears, leaving behind a sticky, humid air filled
with the fragrance of wet conifers.
Oh yeah, and the MTB racing was pretty cool too!!!
Namaste,
Student Mikel
Ventura, CA
���
Beautiful Students, thank you for the input about you guys wanting HP Yoga to be profiled in Yoga Journal...i suppose when the yoga world is ready for our brand of intensity, they�ll come calling...meanwhile, seeds may be planted with: Yoga Journal Public Relations Director: Dayna Macy at 510 841 9200 ext 304
���
check out this review of my HP Yoga video by Professional Road cyclist, Bradley Saul. i encourage you to visit his great site:
http://www.organicathlete.com/
�
OrganicAthlete.com e-Newsletter
8/2/02
High Performance Yoga with Steve Ilg
�Why workout when you can work within?� asks the
Wholistic Fitness slogan. For the last few seasons,
I have asked myself the same question. Why cannot my
sport and passion be a path to spiritual empowerment
and community wellness, rather than personal
satisfaction? Perhaps this is why I am attracted to
the practice of yoga.
By some intuition, I bought a copy of Steve
Ilg�s �The Winter Athlete� for Jennifer last
Christmas. The opening pages of the book echoed the
direction of my personal life and training, and I was
hooked. Parts 1 & 2 articulate the four Wholistic
Fitness lifestyle principles (breath and posture,
mindfulness, appropriate action, and practice) and
five fitness disciplines (strength, cardiovascular,
yoga, meditation, and nutrition).
The High Performance yoga video integrates all these
principles and disciplines into a one hour practice.
And holy cow is it deep! (�Scuba deep� as Steve
would say). The class is nutrition for the body,
mind, and soul. The challenging vinyasas (movement
series) and poses test my practice of appropriate
action. So many times I�ve had to let go and rest in
child�s pose, rather than try to keep up with the
intensity and be somewhere I�m not ready to be. But
with each practice I�m able to endure more, move
further into the poses, keep with the movement
series, and most importantly, the quality of my
mental focus improves.
The lessons of HP yoga easily transfer to back on the
bike. From using breathe to focus to developing core
strength and confidence, HP yoga is now an integral
part of how I train.
See more on HP yoga and Steve Ilg at
http://www.wholisticfitness.com.
���
3 important things to remember about
Wholistic Fitness Discipline:
1) prioritize high intensity strength training and cardio when young. with age, shift emphasis toward yoga and meditation. structure and power before softness and openness. otherwise, there is no grounded balance to temper our spiritual growth.
2) nutrition is the most important fitness discipline...regeneration of cells is key for using our body as a vehicle of liberation. in other words, if we don�t feel good, we won�t feel God. there should be a bottle of herbs, not Diet Coke, beside us every waking moment.
3) our Highest workout is everywhere...use everyone and everything as a Teacher or Teaching. in other words, how we do anything, is how we do everything.
3 important things to remember about
Wholistic Fitness Lifestyle:
1) our life is a sacred process of unfurling Joy, not a grab fest of external pleasures or gratification of sensual (lower chakra) desires.
2) it�s all okay...our sacred process is always in tune with our spiritual fitness capacity. we are never given more than what we have been Divinely designed to handle.
3) use it all...use everyone and everything as a Teacher or Teaching. balance intellect with innate trust. this is called, Intuitive Wisdom and can only be rediscovered through meditation, not books.
���
i have noticed a certain finch that visits my bird feeder. when feeding, he wiggles his genitalia up and down against the side of the feeder as he eats.
perhaps a bit over attached to sensory pleasure, but still, that�s one smart finch.
�
In Sweat, Insight, and Spirit,
Coach Ilg
August 06, 2002
Of Vegas and Laulya
"energy moves in waves.
waves move in patterns.
patterns move in rhythms.
a human being is all of those: energy,
waves, patterns, rhythms.
we
are
the
dance."
- gabrielle roth
In yoga, there is a quality known as Laulya. It means �fickleness� and is considered a primary deterrent to success in yoga according to the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. There can be no success in anything without consistency.
Many fitness warriors and yogis stagnate in their Path because of laulya...they expect results without consistency, determination, and perseverance. It took me nearly a decade to do Padmasana or Full Lotus without harming my knees. I recall training 3 years specifically in order to pull off the first ascent of a single difficult rock climbing route. It took 14 years for me to reach my first World Championship.
Giving up is easy. Persevering is difficult. But the latter builds spiritual character, the former dilutes it. Laulya must be surmounted by cultivating its polar qualities; steadfastness and gumption.
The friends that Kathy has introduced me to since moving to LA certainly show no signs of laulya. Most of our inner circle are fitness professionals. We are accustomed to performing in front of people and giving our teaching full throttle, regardless of how we may feel.
For better or for worse, our well polished gumption carries over into our, uh, �vacations�...
This weekend was an example which i probably shouldn�t be telling you about...
Our group of friends made it back from Vegas late Sunday tired but still wired. Kathy and i logged 11 hours of dancing and only three of sleep over the weekend. Keeping up with my little Kathy and her friends is next to impossible.
On friday after getting kicked out of one club (no comment) and dancing all night at two others, our group invited four new found friends - two girls and two guys - up to our hotel suite and did...HP Yoga until dawn! It was great fun introducing our new friends to yoga, even if the sun was on the rise! I wish you could have seen the expressions of the two well coifed �macho� guys who had come on strong to the women in our group at the nightclub. You know the type; the puffy, steroid type that just stand around nightclubs looking big. They both just withered in functional strength shock as our girls did standing back flips, handstands, backbends, advanced yoga poses, and consecutive bouncing handsprings between the beds, still in their dancing clothes! I don�t know exactly what those guys were expecting to get into, but this wasn�t it! In our group, movement is always our primary drug of choice!
The next night, Kathy bounced up at 11:00 pm to start another full night of dancing...man, it was HARD getting out of that beautiful, luxurious bed when my body felt like one long, stiff chain of lactic acid molecules! I felt like it was day three of a Canadian winter mountaineering epic. But i couldn�t let Kathy get away with this...i may be forty, but i ain�t a wuss just yet. So, 4 clubs and another sunrise later, we finally returned to our room.
It�s hard to keep up with our group, i must say. But, as Kathy says, �You�re only young once...� If you�re gonna dance, then DANCE, by God! Don�t be fickle. Life is too short for laulya in any form!
Go for it fully, in whatever you do!
Work hard, play harder, recover hardest!
�
next entry we�ll return to more formal Practice with 6 Important Keys About Wholistic Fitness...and quotes and questions from you!
Namaste,
coach ilg
August 02, 2002
Beautiful Wholistic Fitness Warriors -
i�m tapping this out to you from the 23rd floor of the Venetian resort in Las Vegas. what a dump this place is. kidding. outside the window, above the well known glitz of the Stardust, the Mirage, the This-And-That my eyes are attracted toward the seductive shoulders and summit of Mt. Charleston. far more enticing to me than the air-conditioned casinos are these piney slopes of Mt. Charleston upon which snow regularly lays and within her timbered flanks rocks and wrens and other precious things play. funny how many people know of The Strip, but few of Mt. Charleston or even of Red Rocks State Park, an old rock climbing haunt i barely remember from one of my former incarnations during this life.
before me, on a grandiose table in this grandiose room, gleams an unguarded box of See�s Candies which calls to me like my Guru, testing my sincerity. why, i wonder, do people even BUY let alone BRING HOME these things? don�t they know that as Ramana Maharshi said, �Environment is stronger than will.�?
then i remember, we are here to party..to decompress. it�s quite okay to share the Dance with See�s Candies...hold her hand for a while, taste of her velvety charms. but only once in a while. that is key. today however, even See�s has lost enchantment over my will. i�m still a bit forlorn and unlike others, when sad, it is starving, not eating, that appeals most to me. the external void begets my inner void.
after a day and a half of working with private clients here, i now await the arrival of my Fitness Princess, Kathy. trotting along with her will be a scantily clan of hard-core fitness and yoga teachers surely ready to paint the town red. make that neon red. or, perhaps kundalini red? i don�t know how merry i shall be this time around...i�m still on semi auto-pilot from Stephan�s passing and have had but few precious quiet and alone moments to process the grief which streams through me.
this morning was one such quality moment, however. courtesy of WF Benefactor, MG...i have both a road and mountain bike available for my use when i come to Vegas. so it was within the morning desert wind and among the rock tossed shores of Lake Mead, i pedaled my mountain bike. hard. i cranked well post Zone 3 Heart Rate and held it there in time trial fashion, negotiating the tricky singletrack as if i was back on the Colorado pro circuit. typical of my approach to spiritual fitness therapy, i figure that high intensity training will surely process egoic tethers of my heartache over Stephan.
it worked. sort of.
oh, oh...the phone just rang announcing the arrival of my merry fitness clan...only the Buddha knows what the next two nights shall bring...my duty as yogi remains unchanged; to be with All of it and to attach to none of it...even the sadness laying like late summer snow among this neon inspired fun.
i close this meditation to you, my beautiful Students of our humble but powerful Way, with some recent correspondence that may - or not - help you along your own day...
Keep your Practice strong...
coach ilg
���
Dear Coach-
Could you please expand on your philosophy regarding �softening�? My thoughts are: when we ski ice, we soften the ski, as pressure makes the ski skid. Similar? Should we soften the body through the breath? I bow to you collective knowledge.
- Student Scott, NM
Student Scott -
your study is going in the Appropriate direction. continue to follow its energy line...but never forget, that it is hardness that opens the door to softness and remains the �doorman� endlessly...this is where many lose the inner Lessons. keep the deep fiber stuff, keep the structure, keep the yang...
don't 'think' too much about finding softness.
instead,
feel her whispers...
���
Dear Coach Ilg,
I'm very sorry to hear the news about your friend. It sounds like he touched you in many positive ways and that you will always have his influence with you in your life. We can all be thankful for that.
I was just thinking on my way to work today about how great it would be to have more HP Yoga video's to buy and there you are talking about it in your message. I spent a week in Chicago last week and had the opportunity to take a Yoga class and told everyone about Wholistic fitness and your tapes. Hopefully you will get some additional sales as a result. Other than that I'm not sure what I can do to help the process, but I will keep spreading the word.
Take care of yourself during this time and know that all of your students are sending their thoughts your way.
- Kevin
Beautiful Student Kevin -
thank you for your kindness.
yes, just bringing other's awareness to the dharma of WF is enough...
you really only need to say one thing to them...
wholisticfitness.com
they'll sense the sparkle in your eye and the chi in your presence...and those that are truly ready for self transformation through fitness...they'll arrive at our Temple with humble heart and ready to study within...
i bow to your Practice...
�
Dear Steve -
I LOVE your tapes!!! I have been a true believer in HP yoga for 2 years now, since I started with your beautiful Kathy at The Athletic Club. Put me in your next videos, it would be an honor!
Namaste,
Jennifer