June 30, 2005
WF ONLINE STUDENT ROBERT MOSES CRANKS OFF AN INTENSIVE WITH COACH SHEADER
WF Online Student Moses engages and refines his pranayama during his recent Private Intensive with his WF Online Teacher, Haku Sheader in Grand Junction, Colorado.
The Most Important Thing To Do For Your WF Practice? Schedule your own Private Intensive with a certified WF Teacher...
doing so, as WF Online Student Robert Moses clearly endorses, can be "priceless." Noble Student Moses reports from the high country of Colorado, "The strides I feel I have made and the insights I have gained for my practice are invaluable, no price tag can be put upon these. I really am just kicking myself as to why it has taken me so long to book this intensive w/ Coach. I will not let another year go by without an intensive, too many good things happen from one."
So, you still just kickin' around the edges of the world's original and perhaps most authentic form of spiritual fitness training?
How bad DO you want to Awaken?
Want to train with a world class Olympic trials athlete who can run close to a 4 minute mile? Student Moses and Natalie Hughes.
What? you think WF teachers just hold a watch?! You think we just TALK about spirituality and sweat? Haku revels in having two of his "prize" Students with him... here is Coach Haku cranking the CHI
with Student Moses
Coach Haku and Natalie Hughes enroute to their 16th 200 meter repeat in :30. WF...ain't no joke! Cinder Track Therapy, baby!
STUDENT MOSES WRITES TO ME ABOUT HIS PRIVATE INTENSIVE WITH COACH SHEADER:
Dear Steve,
Theme- Georgia boy meets Coach Haku and the mountain desert. Here I sit toward the end of the second and last day of my intensive w/ Coach Haku, off to a martial arts class in 1/2 hour. The experience has been SPECTACULAR! Coach has torn me up, worn me down and somehow magically built me back up again (all in 1 day, not bad work). I�ve had a chance to take part in the following:
2 very instructive meditation and pranayamic sessions that were so helpful for my practice (some of what we do is very hard to convey via the web). The techniques and little things Coach is able to see and help correct will take this part of my practice to a new level. Couldn't have been able to make this shift without a personal hand in the mix.
1 ST session working on techniques and variations to the basics that will allow a more focused and concentrated approach.
2 CV sessions in the mountain desert summer time heat and attitude. Needless to say these kicked my ass in more ways than one. One was a MTB session up by the Monument and another was an interval session at the local track. Which Coach managed to bring along a woman world class 1500M (hottie Natalie Hughes) runner just to spice things up.
An HP yoga class taught by Coach himself and managed to work in some free time each day so I could explore Grand Junction and the surrounding area.
Coach opened his home and family up to me as if I was a long last friend, even though we had never met. His lovely wife prepared wonderful meals for me (thank you Linda) and the whole family made me feel right at home. The strides I feel I have made and the insights I have gained for my practice are invaluable, no price tag can be put upon these. I really am just kicking myself as to why it has taken me so long to book this intensive w/ Coach. I will not let another year go by without an intensive, too many good things happen from one. Grand Junction and surrounding areas are a perfect setting for this intensive, so different from GA, so filled with amazing CHI, such ass kicking terrain for the lowland boy.
All in all I can�t convey the joy and happiness I�ve received from this experience. Coach Haku is an amazing teacher/coach/friend/guru/guide all wrapped into one. I am humbled and honored to be able to call him my Coach.
Got to go or we will be late for class......Hope you are finding AZ and Flag to your liking.
Very very humbly,
Student Moses
SUNRIDER HERBS and Pregnancy
"People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care..."
-Trish Childers, coach ilg's sunrider herbal mentor
Dear Coach,
OK, I've been looking for an opportunity to introduce a friend to SR. She's been pregnant for the past 9+ months and was planning a home birth with doulas and all. Earlier this week I learned that the baby was 11lbs and they were opting for a cesarian (ouch!).
So, I'm thinking that a little SR care package to introduce her to the herbs and help get her back on her feet might be a nice gesture. What do you suggest for recently pregnant women who are breastfeeding?
Love you,
A
Most Noble Herbal Warrior A,
great job for keeping your ears, eyes, and heart open for inviting possible new Sunriders to enter the Temple Garden. Often, periods of peak awareness (crisis or joy) are required by the common person to become Open to new possibilities for health. Approaching a pregnant person might in fact, prove worthwhile for you. As Trish says, "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care...that's one of the primary principles I have lived my life by, and have built my SR business by."
Here are some thoughts from Trish on SR products that we have found through the years among our SUNRIDER TRIBE to be very helpful during pregnancy:
SUNRIDER AND PREGNANCY
For nausea:
VitaSpray, Peach Fortune Delight (can be drunk as hot tea or cold) & "Assimilaid Tea".
(Assimilaid is one of the five herbal formulas found in the Quinary. Assimilaid is food for the digestive organs and can be ordered separately like all the five formulas in Quinary).
Use on a regular basis:
3 - NuPlus Regular (no beans),
Sunny Dew,
Peach FD,
Calli Night,
Herb-Cal Tabs (6 daily),
Vitadophilus (2 to 3 Pkgs daily),
Vitafruit (helps build Immune System),
Energy Plus (mim 6 daily),
Quinary.
Do not use:
Action Caps,
Slim Caps,
Bella & no need for Beauty Pearl.
****
i bow to you from beneath the Sacred Mountain,
coach ilg, ryt/uscf/cpt
author/Total Body Transformation
founder/www.wholisticfitness.com
complimentary Daily WF Meditation:
http://www.wholisticfitness.com/weblog/ilgblog.html
June 29, 2005
noble coach,
thanks for the reminder about gratitude (today's DL). how often we forget the simple yet important things.
i bow to the herbs, dr. chen and your willingness to share.
and to the spirit that moves us all.
namaste,
h
HERB CRAZY!
the first thing i pack when i travel? my HERBS, baby!
WF Approved Website:
Trish Childer's SUNRIDER Replicator Site:
http://opp.sunrider.com//PatriciaChilders/
A premier shred of a site that might just bring you the best bang for your buck. Killer herb Information
and Coach Ilg connectivity lurks at every click. If you've only got time to cruise one SR site besides the
SR Homepage, get your butt to this Replicator site from the woman who is my (and yours) Upline! Though the site
currently needs to be refreshed since Trish's move to Arkansas, still plenty of terrain to enjoy...so...ENJOY!
RE: DL Tuesday, June 28, 2005; Appropriate Action
Coach,
I have some connection with effective lobbying campaigns. Urge everyone who
contacts their congress person to use FAX vice E-mail. A fax consumes time
and effort for simply handling the sent document. As a result it is far
more noticed than e-mail.
My lower chakra thanks you.
Craig "D14" Diamantopoulos, Maj, USAFR
701st COS
DSN: 447.6098
Comm: 951.655.6098
"CSAR...If he's out there, we will find him"
***
Dear Coach,
Just read DL and DID NOT HESITATE to take action against the pro-polluters/ anti-wildLIFE act.And I'll be sure to have my family and friends to take a stand as well.
that is all
namaste
vito
APPRECIATING THE NATURAL TRANSFORMATIONAL JOURNEY!
"Ultimately, SUNRIDER is not about herbs; it's about spiritual growth." - Coach Ilg
Relying on plant based whole foods from SUNRIDER Herbs, not too unlike these in my backyard, i have helped hundreds of open minded, willing fitness warriors to a new and much Higher Level of body/mind fitness such as New Sunrider Warrior, "H" below. Keep it simple, keep it natural,
keep it Wholistic and be Patient and Appreciative of GENUINE Transformation! It's just toooooo much fun!
***
most noble coach ilg,
3 fibertones seems to have done the trick. Bowel Movement's are now frequent and easy during the day.
coach:
BINGO! congratulations!
do not be so quick to run over this tremendous physiologic switch! do you realize what you (and me and Dr. Chen) have done?
we have reversed the tamas (lethargic) constitution of your agni (inner/digestive fire)!
we have upgraded your internal engine combustion so that from this point onward your nutrient uptake, assimilation, and waste disposal systems will endlessly
be elevated! i do not like it (nor, do the WF Gods!) when New Students just casually dismiss such miracles!
Student:
so next week will mark 3 months on Phase I and i'm feeling ready to move onto Phase II.
coach:
not with such cavalier attitude to what is happening to your body/mind! remember, the Body follows the Mind.
The Body is a mere reflection of your Mind.
i am not just teaching you HOW to take herbs,
i am teaching you to Guide your body into an endless state of mental reflection so that your Self Healing, Fitness, and Performance will all-Ways be piloted from your Conscious Awareness.
Ultimately, SUNRIDER is not about herbs; it's about spiritual growth.
Student:
wanted to get your input on that. i would like to concentrate on losing weight.
coach:
and i would like you to concentrate on appreciating the herbs, honoring the signals of your body, listening to what is truly Appropriate and then acting appropriately. you do that, and you will be leaner than me! what i am saying is, take your Journey inward and the body will come into her own Balance. please review my Ten Nutritional Guidelines in the Green Tara chapter of TOTAL BODY TRANSFORMATION.
Student:
so along with cardio hiking and biking what herbs do you suggest?
coach:
keep the cardio volumes at around 6-8 hours per week minimum at an intensity of Zone 2 (see TBT book). you will need at least one Interval Day each week to stoke your spiritual tenacity and your metabolic upgrade (see any of my books for Interval workouts). I take 4 Action Caps on an empty stomach before doing moderate cardio workouts. doing so helps me access the fat-metabolism stage more quickly.
Student:
do i still take the action caps and the slim caps?
and the fibertones too?
coach:
yes! Steady the Phase I ship as she goes...
Student:
i've been away from computer access for awhile. i read your self healing part 1, but couldn't find your part II on your DL. did i miss it or is it still to come?
coach:
Still to c(om)e...
keep reading...
hey, you can't beat the Price of DL, right?
how many other world-class athletes and book authors Give like your feeble mountain yogi coach?
Patience...there is much to learn everyday in so many Ways!
so long as you Appreciate your well earned Physiologic Shift from Phase I of the SR Herbs,
i give you two thumbs up to begin Phase II on your next month's order.
let me know if you have questions on the methodology of Phase II.
oh,
and
Buckle Up!
Phase II is the Cell Empowerment Phase...
YEAH BABY!!!!!!
Student:
as always, namaste,
h
coach:
i bow to you from beneath the Sacred Mountain
thank you for reading and for the strength of your Practice!
i'm heading out on the mountain bike to dance my breath
among some wildflowers and ponderosa...
it's go(o)d to be fit!
June 28, 2005
AFRAID OF THE LIGHT
"...for so many (people) WF brings up so much from within. they can FEEL it even before joining. your loving encouragement means so much.
WF frightens those that are afraid of the Light."
- Teacher Q
Coach ilg responds:
"WF has all-Ways tuned Her steep and direct Path to those willing to Light that inner Candle (of the Kundalini). let the rest drift downstream among the rest of mediocre sludge. We, the WF Warriors, shall continue to swim Upstream."
WF APPROPRIATE ACTION
Okay, now that i have your Lower Chakra Attention (hey, i'm a Gemini...i love and require the surrounding of physical beauty near me. the artful expression of a healthy, strong, supple body naked in its Divine emBodyment is to me, vital for the full human experience), let me see if i can get you to do some Real Warrior Work for our True Female Nourisher; Mother Earth:
For the third straight year, the White House is trying to ram an energy bill
through Congress that would dole out billions of our tax dollars to oil, coal
and nuclear companies while sacrificing pristine wildlands, worsening air
pollution and prolonging our dangerous dependence on fossil fuels.
The U.S. Senate begins debate this week on its version of the energy bill.
Please go to
http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/energybill/action.asp?step=2&item=52004y
right now and tell your two Senators to reject any and all provisions that
would ravage our last wild places and threaten the health of our families.
The Senate bill would give oil and gas companies a free pass to drill their way
through the Western Arctic Reserve without any regard for its spectacular
wildlife. It would promote oil and gas drilling off America's seashores, even
where it is currently banned.
And it would spend our tax dollars to build a new generation of nuclear power
plants in our communities, while guaranteeing limited liability to the
corporate owners in the event of a catastrophic meltdown!
Meanwhile, the bill fails to take steps to reverse global warming, improve the
fuel-efficiency of our cars and trucks, or aggressively promote clean and
renewable forms of energy.
But as awful as this pro-polluter bill already is, it may turn even uglier in
the days ahead. A slew of industry-sponsored amendments could make oil and gas
drilling a top priority across the West, even in national treasures like
Greater Yellowstone. For example, two provisions would allow oil and gas
companies to evade vital environmental laws and dump their pollution directly
into fragile wildlands!
Please stand up for our health and heritage right now. Go to
http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/energybill/action.asp?step=2&item=52004
and tell your Senators to reject a pro-polluter, anti-wilderness energy bill!
(special thanks to John H. Adams NRDC Action Fund SUNRIDER Trish)
"A WORLD CLASS HUG"
check out the latest issue of WF-affliated website, TriThis.com
from Student Mackel...all sorts of fun and inspired body/mind/spirit stuff:
http://www.trithiscoaching.com
Student Mackel; i honor your respect of WF and admire your passion to inspire others...
keep it up, Amma is smiling in my HeartSpace,
coach ilg
HERBS AND IMMUNOLOGY
"Energy is eternal pleasure."
- William Blake
WF Teacher Ananda, has changed her entire 'genetic' constitution and yogic 'dosha' constitution through my supervision of her intake of SUNRIDER herbs; she is now leaner, wakes up several hours earlier each morning, her digestion and elimination is far beyond the sluggish nature of her pre-SUNRIDER days, she works and plays at a much Higher Level, her once blemished skin now radiates with a sheen of a teenager at age 38, her muscles are sleek and lean, and she is stronger, more supple, and her cardiovascular fitness is Higher than ever before. Ananda now knows what hundreds of other SUNRIDERs know by direct experience; these herbs REGENERATE US! Here she is taking her Slim Caps and FiberTone before an evening meal; a vital intake to ensure a quick transit time and optimal nutrient intake. Below, i field a SUNRIDER question on Immunology from another ILG DOWNLINE Sunrider Warrior.
Dear Coach,
i have some SUNRIDER herb questions relating to keeping my husbands health strong during a round of antibiotics that he is considering. you suggested he supplement his round of antibiotics with Alpha 20C. If he decides to go with the antibiotics, what would you consider to be "lots of Alpha 20C"?
Coach Ilg:
sign onto SUNRIDER.com and get the Bulk canister (#191500). i would fight the AntiBiotics (AgainstLife) by adding 6 scoops of Alpha 20C three times per day along with Ilg Supremes (Soy milk + VitaShake + Quinary + VitaFruit) for optimal Regeneration of cells and chi.
AFTER he has cycled off the AntiBiotics, eating 1-2 packages of VitaDophilus per day for one week may help restore lower intestinal flora which the AntiBiotics killed off like Scarface mowing down Narc agents.
i would really prioritize Alpha 20C and VitaDophilus if AntiBiotics are being consumed.
Student:
And what is Alpha 20C and what does it do?
Coach Ilg:
that is why God created the www.SUNRIDER.com website!
check it out...just log on using your member ID, and research the product.
here is hint: Dr. Chen designed ALPHA 20C to feed the T-Cell Immune System; our "Marine Corps" of inner immunology! now, there is already ALPHA 20C in the 'QUINARY' packages (along with four other organ-specfic herbal formulas!) which are in my ILG SUPREME recipe. however, for those of us who train hard and rely on the herbs to nourish us without loading up on lots of food for purposes of inner energetic development, the low volume, high CHI intake of SUNRIDER herbs is vital. As SR Warrior Clay Clymore says about Alpha 20C, "It makes me feel Bulletproof!"
i ALWAYS add Alpha 20c to my Ilg Supremes each day; i pour 3-6 scoops of Alpha 20C into my Ilg Supremes which, is probably why i have not seen the inside of a doctors office since i started with SUNRIDER in 1983! Keep reading DL for how i used a "stacking"concept to run up a nearly 13,000' peak yesterday on no food (high altitudes and food in the gut do not mix and only decrease sport performance when putting out at high alitudes). I used just SR herbs and ran/hiked the monster peak in only 83 minutes. Today i feel GREAT and am doing a mountain bike ride later. How is that for performance and recovery at 43 years young? Noble Warrioress, these SUNRIDER herbs are NO JOKE; they are as close to eating PRAN as you can get in my experience! 
{Coach Ilg, yesterday, passing 11,400' while running up a 12,633' peak in 83 minutes on SUNRIDER HERB POWER! Just how GO(O)D do YOU want to FEEL? Just how HIGH DO YOU WANT TO LIVE YOU LIFE!?!}
Student:
Regarding the Alpha 20C Bulk canister, i love the reduced packaging yet price is a gulper all in one shot, caps or little packs?
Coach Ilg:
go for the Bulk canister; what, truly, is more important than Health?!?! The only true Wealth is in fact, Health!
Student:
If he decides not to go with the antibiotics, I TAF that Alpha 20C would still be a good thing to do while he's processing during this cycle. In that case how much Alpha 20C would you recommend?
Coach Ilg:
The great thing about the SUNRIDER herbs is that they quickly amplify our Intuitive Wisdom; we find ourselves just being drawn to the herbs (and the amazing skin care products) because they just feel so GO(o)D in us and on us! If it were me, i would do the same intake as described above.
Student:
Thank you, Coach.
Coach Ilg:
Namaste, my noble warrioress and it is always go(o)d seeing you in the Temple Garden of Wholistic Fitness; SUNRIDER HERBS!
***
Still haven't entered the Temple Garden of WHOLISTIC FITNESS: SUNRIDER herbs? Still haven't experienced the Transformation of Coach Ilg's 3-Phase Approach to using these potent, whole foods? Don't get dropped from the potential of Enlightenment; click on a WF Teacher on the left margin to help you step through into the most amazingly powerful Herb Garden that i know of on the planet! The world's food supply is getting more contaminated by the second; Dr. Chen has the best herbs and a mind-boggling international network of purification and concentration and enhancement to help all of us eat the best nutrition available!
June 27, 2005
WF Brings A New Student To A "a wall of uncertainty and questioning."
WF Teacher Q, is a specialist at introducing beginners into the vast world of Wholistic Fitness Online Training and losing fat through SUNRIDER herbs. Below, an email from DL reader KL is evidence of how important it is to explore, even the edges, of this amazing Path of genuine Transformation Through Wholistic Fitness. Enjoy and may KL's spirit inspire your OWN Practice to Dance your own Walls Of Uncertainty instead of running away from them!
****
Hello Steve, coach and noble mountain yogi,
Correspondence seems to be few and far between, I know you get a lot of emails and am hesitant to write because of this. �I shouldn't�t bother him� �Why would he really want to hear from me?� But in this life I am learning to be more open and this is all part of it. Breaking that resistance that holds one back.
I have spent the last several weeks working with Teacher Q after a karmically planned but unexpected meeting. In the last two weeks I have had the pleasure of visiting him here in your old romping grounds of LA. Slowly I find myself waking from my 24 year sleep and am beginning to see the illusion/s around me. Sometimes I am open to this and sometimes I still hit a wall of uncertainty and questioning. Learning to accept this, have faith in this, watch this and continue to move is an interesting process.
Teacher Q has been a blessing, a gift and a very patient and understanding teacher.
He introduced me (via DVD) to you and my first thigh burning "HIGH PERFORMANCE YOGA PROP WORKOUT." It was nice to finally �meet� and feel what came up. I do not know if you see what I see in this but it is interesting for me to watch what comes up towards you and WF. It is a challenge to let the ego down and SEE.
The health (and toilet habits) are beginning to improve thanks to Sunrider Herbs. After years of skin and digestion problems I am officially converted. I can feel and see a difference after only one week! I plan to look into being a bigger part of it (SR) when I return to my h(om)e after an extended �trip�. It is coming up five years of wandering and soul searching and it is only recently that I am beginning to find what I was looking for all these years, myself, the SELF. Now I have to learn to let go of it once more.
WF still remains a mystery to me. To be honest, as drawn to it as I am I am not sure if I am ready to lose myself completely in the powerful work. Some resistance, some ego is holding me back. Will I jump, should I jump, am I ready? Time will tell.
Much respect, love, and honor to you and your iron temple.
I bow deeply,
KL
June 26, 2005
Arriving Naturally at a State of Meditation
"When you arrive naturally at a state of meditation, you can remain there for a long time without any distraction or special effort. There is nothing called �meditation� to protect or sustain, for you are in the natural flow of the {Divine} wisdom. And you realize, when you are in it, that is how it has always been, and is. 
When the {Divine} wisdom shines, not one shadow of doubt can remain, and a deep, complete understanding arises, effortlessly and directly.
This moment is the moment of awakening. A profound sense of humor wells up from within, and you smile in amusement at how inadequate were all your former concepts and ideas about the nature of mind."
-Sogyal Rinpoche
photo 1 and 2: Backyard Buddha at Two Tree Manor (new WF H(om)e Temple location in Flagstaff, Arizona) radiates the WF Worldwide Sangha Power and has already Gifted several tear inspiring miracles both within and far, far beyond the geographic location of the WF H(om)e Temple.
Photo 3; still can't take Coach anywhere...Coach see's only Playgrounds for Breath and Movement everywhere...Buildering on a Bank in downtown Flagstaff. "The deepest moment i recall with Rinpoche Trungpa," recalls Coach who studied at Naropa University, a Buddhist Contemplative Arts college in Boulder during the early to mid eighties, "was when He and i met in a glance as Eric Doub and i were buildering on the fantastic sandstone traverse walls of Naropa. I will never forget the absolute radiance of His Holiness's smile when he saw me climbing on the University walls! He recognized my Inner Child that just loved to climb around on shit and He and i met in the Namaste Space of that childlike joy and innocence of breath and movement."
June 25, 2005
Another Noble Warrior Goes Down In Battle...in the current RAAM (Race Across AMerica)
In Flagstaff, my home town, bicycles are largely considered the primary vehicle of choice and are respected as equals to cars. In most towns, however, bicyclists seemed to be scorned as ignoble, bothersome insects. This insect stands up for all bicyclists, and this morning i must once again bow in sadness, for all those like Dr. Bob Breedlove who are willing to sweat their way to self cultivation, work, and play. Photo of downtown Flagstaff parking scene by Coach Ilg.
For those of us who train for, compete in, and honor Ultracycling as a highly effective form of yoga to help us become better beings while alive and more tenacious during our Bardo Entry, i dedicate this morning's DL and my Club Training Ride this morning to Dr. Breedlove...i met him once and felt his chi. He was a go(o)d Warrior and elegant Being. "In Bob's RAAM bio, he said his ultimate goal was to keep riding a bike until he's 80 and he was most intimidated by illness, injury or death. The thing he would most like to express to the world is love. With love this world would be paradise. Bob was full of love and extremely humble and helpful to all those who knew and loved him."
May Bob's travel through the Bardo be Blessed and his intimidation of death be erased by a Divine Tailwind through the Bardo.
And as i head out this crisp, birdsong filled morning to enjoy that cherished sensation of flight upon a bicycle, i pray that all car drivers practice Wholistic Fitness type of exercise including meditation to increase their overall fitness and Awareness when behind the wheel of a killing machine.
head bowed upon still strong legs and lungs,
coach ilg
***
June 24, 2005
COACH's NEW EMAIL
as a final Temple ReMinder: my old email address:
ilgtrain@pacbell.net
is NO LONGER ENABLED.
all Correspondence to me should be politely addressed and sent to:
ilgtrain@npgcable.com
thank you in respect of your Practice and devotion to a Higher Way of Personal Fitness...
head bowed from the Humble Helm,
coach ilg
WF STUDENT TIMARI WINS 24 HOUR SOLO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS!
hey coach!,
I did it! I won the 24 hour solo national championship! :)
you know that i could NEVER forget you! you have helped me on this great journey to the podium and i owe so much of what i have learned to you. �I think I have now earned that Wholistic Fitness jersey!"
- Timari Pruis, 2005 National Solo Mountain Bike Champion
Wholistic Fitness and High Performance Yoga Student
Timari and i have shared a lot of inner and outer work(outs) over the last few years: we've pumped off season iron in the gym, have stayed consistent with the SUNRIDER herbs according to my 3-Phase Approach, we've cranked out epic bike rides, and we've danced her edges within HP Yoga and bodywork.
However, it was only Timari who had to stare down and silence her competitors, doubt, fear, and pain for 24-hours of world-class racing to become our current National Champion! 
Timari, like myself, has now packed up her race bikes and her "little guy" (see above) to leave LA and is heading to the high country of Nevada for the next stage of her racing and spiritual life.
On behalf of my worldwide tribe of Fitness Warriors who may only be able to dream of having the mental, physical, and spiritual capacity to hammer into our edges of discomfort and pain tolerance for 24 hours straight, i bow to you, my Noble Student, friend, and fellow traveller on the Higher Way toward Self Transformation through Sweat and Stillness and SOLO Practice!
Timari, you do great honor to my humble, yet powerful Temple of Wholistic Fitness. Send me your new address when you get settled....
you have in-Deed earned that Wholistic Fitness Jersey! Go and speak the Dharma from the top of endless podiums! you know the Way to win...you know the Wholistic Fitness Way!
head bowed in deep respect of your Practice,
your humble coach
for a PDF version of Timari's Race Report from the Solo Nationals click here:
Solo%20National%20Championships.pdf
June 23, 2005
BISMARK LAKE DHARMA
yesterday, Ananda and i enjoyed the Teachings from a walk/run/hike into Bismark Lake, elevation about 9,300'.
After this tremendous quote from WF fan, Russ,
i share just a morsel of some of the High Country Dharma with you...
may this DL inspire your workouts, both inner and outer, to help Serve all others...
May all Beings breathe happily,
namaste,
coach ilg
***
Steve,
I�m definitely hanging out on the fringe of WF and the community you have created, but I had to write. Years ago, when I was practicing yoga (way before it was cool to do so) lifting weights, meditating (or giving it a shot anyway) and competing in everything from cross-country ski races to triathlons and dual-slalom telemarking, I thought somebody (I was thinking me) ought to write a book that puts this all together. I�m glad I didn�t. You are eminently more qualified in every department to do so. But our paths have crossed outside of that philosophy. I lived and worked in Santa Fe when you were there getting your gig started and remember seeing your first books at the Ark bookstore. Now there is more coincidence with your move to Arizona. Flagstaff is where I took my first yoga class after I had broken my back in a car accident. It is where I learned to ski, started racing, learned to climb and run. It is where my idea of holistic fitness began and it is the philosophy that I live by to this day. It is incredibly comforting to know that there is a community of people who are living this way, mindfully making their way through the world.
In January I�ll turn 50. I want to be in the best shape of my life on that day. More than that, I want to be accepting of my place in the world. That will take as much effort as the physical training. I appreciate your book and the energy you continue to exude. Best of luck to you in your new place in the world and thanks for the help you�ve given me on my journey.
Russ Whiting
***
Relationship Yoga; aspen and old rocks growing up together. 
"Be still and know you are God." Jesus Dharma in the mask of a well camouflaged 'Horned Toad'
Hail Mother Earth...hallowed be your soaring sky...Blessed be thy winds...I feel Graced by your Majesty...
juxtaposition; yogi's mala beads/buffalo grass
Sacred Cycle of Death, Life, Rebirth; moth, mountain lion scat, new sprouts near a stock pond
Outer Chapel...
Inner Chapel; a child's envelope addressed simply to; "Lord"
Pine "OM" symbol...
June 22, 2005
WF ONLINE STUDENT TAMARA'S AMAZING CYCLE SUMMATION!
"What does 12 pounds of Sweat and karma look like?"
"I have lost a total of 12 pounds! I have decided that these are not any ordinary lardy fat pounds. These are Wholistic fitness pounds. Many people use visuals when losing weight like mounds of sugar bags or lumpy lard piles. What does 12 pounds of Sweat and karma look like? How long does it take to shed? It's not as easy as just not eating certain things ... its changing everything. I've lost 12 pounds before. JUST losing weight is easy especially when your 250 pounds. Changing EVERYTHING is not easy! Especially when you are 250 pounds of fear and old baggage. I am more proud of these 12 pounds lost than anything. This shit isn't easy. Wholistic fitness pounds are heavy."
- WF Online Student Tamara (Clan Ananda)
Student Tamara (above). Since this photo was taken a few months ago, this Noble Fitness Warrioress has undergone a most Radical and Positive Total Body Transformation that has positively influenced deep changes in her mind, body, and relationships with herself, her family, and her coworkers. Stay tuned to DL for an updated picture of Noble Warrioress Tam!
One of the priceless joys of doing what i do, is to be able to help facilitate an amazing Transformation among our Most Noble WF Online Training Students. One such Student, who is soooo brave and soooo noble is Student Tamara of Burbank, CA who began her WF Journey with Ananda as her personal Teacher, then, accepted the JUMP into Online Training Studies. The Teacher/Student relationship that those two share, Tamara and Coach Ananda often wells my eyes with Sacred Tears as Student Tamara continues to face this Steep and Direct Path of Online Training that constantly spits out even the most seasoned athletes and yogis from other Paths. As deep as my Padmasana currently allows me, i bow to Student Tamara and her Noble WF Teacher Ananda. Below, with Tamara's permission is her un-facilitated most recent Cycle Summation from her assigned Online Program: The Arjuna Ayama.
This is the REAL DEAL of WARRIOR FITNESS...do yourself a favor and be inspired by Most Noble Student Tamara of Clan Ananda:
****
Dear Coach Ananda,
I'm writing this note AFTER finishing my cycle summation. During the first question something took me over. "I" didn't write this. I used spell check but fought the urge to rewrite parts of it that seemed disjointed. These are the words that came out of me ... not the ME that wants to say the right thing. Hopefully it makes sense.
Strength training:
1) You were assigned no strength training...how did this feel by the end of Arjuna?
I have a general feeling of "Want" now. I have felt over the past few weeks that my body Wants more. Whether it be yoga, cardio or Strength training. My muscles want to be moving and they are calling to me. I can feel it.
2) How can you find Arjuna's spirit in future ST programs?
One word. Consistency. This has been my biggest challenge during my training. The first week on this cycle I was so consistent it was amazing. During the second week I fell into the intense pain of my knees and heart. Wow what a drop. As is write this the tears are flowing and a question. How can I really find Arjuna's spirit when I can't even find my own? Yuck.
Cardiovascular Training:
3) Summarize your CV process (and or progress) during this cycle:
During week one of this cycle I followed the program to a T. Walking Fryman, Runyun canyon, Yoga sessions and the amazing interval session. My first week's average CV was almost 5 hours from Mon. to Sat. For me this was huge. By Sunday my knees were hurting so badly that I was scared. By the following wed. I had run to the chiropractor to get heated, shocked and X-rayed.. This began the downward spiral of my CV. and spirit. So many things came into play this cycle It's almost unexplainable. The intense knee pain left me and then returned briefly( insert painting story here). It left last week after I had a conversation with myself. I asked myself why I was afraid. The first answer was, " I'm afraid I can't do this without Joy." Then came this response... " No, You are afraid you WON'T do this without Joy". Bingo. That night I also had a dream about you and Steve at your new home. I was watching you from a window doing Ai Imawa in a Storm drain. Wow you CAN do this anywhere I said. I woke up and went to Fryman. Beginning again.
3b) How was the quality of your mind during interval day?
I can only write about the interval day at Balboa since this is the only day I successfully completed it. That day I was nervous and excited but very clear. The first set of Jogging intervals was intense. The quality of my breath was much improved I noticed. It was the deepest and fullest I think I have experienced. I did have trouble keeping the rapidity if it down. I had an emotional response of intense anger when I realized I was going to have to do 2 more interval rounds! That was kind of funny to work through. I felt intense defiance/anger but I was able to laugh at it because it seems so silly to be angry.
3c) Log CV hours:
week 1: 5
week 2:2
week 3:1
week 4:2
Note Bodyweight gain/loss:
I have lost a total of 12 pounds! I have decided that these are not any ordinary lardy fat pounds. These are Wholistic fitness pounds. Many people use visuals when losing weight like mounds of sugar bags or lumpy lard piles. What does 12 pound of Sweat and karma look like? How long does it take to shed? It's not as easy as just not eating certain things ... its changing everything. I've lost 12 pounds before. JUST losing weight is easy especially when your 250 pounds. Changing EVERYTHING is not easy! Especially when you are 250 pounds of fear and old baggage. I am more proud of these 12 pounds lost than anything. This shit isn't easy. Wholistic fitness pounds are heavy.
Yoga :
4) Which poses annoyed you the most? Why?
The most difficult pose I encountered this time was Pigeon in the wed night class. I was able to get into it and hold it on my right leg although the tears flowed. When switching to the left leg I could not hold the pose at all. Then in combination with my knee pain ANY standing pose with bent knees became frustrating and painful.
Excited you the most? Why?
Although it's not a pose per say I am very excited about the progress with my Step through. This is getting much better as I am making the connection with lifting up and not turning my legs out to drag them through. I still have an issue with thinking about it too much. If I just go with it happens on it's own. I come up short and have to do a little half step but it's improving!
How can you erase the duality of annoyance and excitement?
I TAF I can achieve this by stopping the cycle of expectation I have. I hold myself to some imagined standard that I will never really reach. If I just let go and do it my practice won't be good or bad, exciting or annoying. It will just Be.
5) Read this quote, then, apply your personal insight to it derived from your practice:
"As a result of practicing asana, you begin to understand your own body language. The body develops its own sensitivity and knows whether the food you eat is "right" or not. your internal clock regulates your schedule precisely, and your body lets you know if your exercising too much, if you're sleeping too much, and so forth."
-Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, in INNER QUEST
I feel like I am experiencing this for the first time as an aware adult. My eating habits have been changing as well as my sleep. After feeling these effects of change through training this quote is very real and understandable. My sleep has become so regulated that I no longer use an alarm clock. My body aches if I stay in bed too long. Foods I used to enjoy now just sit in my belly in a miserable lump. I feel the color and taste of beautiful fresh foods calling to me and thankfully I am answering the call by eating them!
Meditation:
6) How is your Zazen?
Zazen suffers. I feel as if I get nowhere in this practice. My monkey mind is a terribly scattered monkey. I sit ... focus ... slouch ... fidget... grrrr.. sit up. Repeat. If I sit with my back against something I feel as if I am cheating. I used the chair while my knees where out of whack and that helped. But... Is this cheating? Is the point to sit and clear your mind in any posture however easy? Or, is it to get it to clear through the fidgets and slouching? Zazen confuses me the more I do it.
7) Describe your leg position progress ( or lack thereof!) in Zazen over the course of this cycle:
please see above
8) Did your practice benefit from the email updates? how so?
I believe they did during week 1. After week 1 our email updates were understandably interrupted. Week 2 update has not been answered. Week 3's was not sent. I fell off the W.F. wagon pretty completely this cycle during week 3.
Nutritional:
Describe EXACTLY what you ate yesterday and the manner in which you ate it. Include all supplements and fluids.
Breakfast:
Juiced. 2 fuji apples, 1 lemon, 1 handfull parsley, 1 handfull spinach, one slice ginger, 2 celery stalks, 2 carrots.
Sunrider herbs. Spirulina x 3, Joi x 2, Ese x 2, Alpha 20c x 2, Beauty pearl x 1, bella x 1, a-caps x 4. Drank happily after preparing myself and enjoying the smells of each ingrediant as it went into the juicer.
Lunch: turkey sandwhich on wheat bread, Lettuce tomato, Mayonaisse and mustard. Forune delight. sunrider herbs: Joi x 2, ese x 2, Alpha 20c x 2, A-caps x 4. eaten while spending time with Scott on our back patio furniture. Enjoying the breaze and talking about babies.
Dinner:
Assorted Sushi. Tuna, salmon, tofu and rice. Water.
Sunrider herbs: slim caps x 3, bella x 1 Eaten with friends at our favorite sushi bar... continuing the talk about babies.
During the day drank 2 x 33.8 fl oz water bottles. with 2 fortune delights.
10)What did you learn from your rasa Eating Exercise?
I am learning to pay attention while I eat. I have always been a slow eater but not because I am chewing slowly or paying attention. I am a distracted eater. I have been able to implement change brought about from my last rasa Cycle. I now prepare my own juice in the morning and am beginning to make better food choices throughout the rest of my day. My respect for food is changing and I am amazed at how many things I used to love now look like poison to me. My appetite has been half it's former self consistently!
10a) Eating Elegantly Assignment?
Smaller bites and mindfulness are the key to this I found. Very similar to Rasa for me too as I learned I am painfully unaware to HOW I eat as well as what I eat. It is also easier to eat elegantly when I am eating foods that are " Right" for me. (Pasta always ends up slopping somewhere it doesnt belong! hint hint? )
11) Summarize your Arjuna practice. List what you feel needs most attention during the next phase. Take your time and really think/feel this one out. Identify where you want to take your journey of WF over the next several months.
I TAF I want to say that I don't feel I actually finished this Program. I was unable for various reasons to do all the physical aspects listed for my practice. I feel as if I have failed the program. I realize as I write this, that this itself is my struggle of Arjuna spirit.
I read how Arjuna faced his loved ones on the battle field and refused to fight. I see now that I have to be ready to battle my dependency on you as my teacher and those I love. While I feel as if I gave in to my fear and anger and did not complete all the physical aspects of my program, My mind and spirit have been doing crazy work trying to integrate, communicate and connect with my body.
Last week I felt as if I had totally lost my connection to Wholistic fitness. I didn't feel it in my bones the way I had been previously. I felt heavy with sadness and frustration in myself that I had done what I was afraid of doing. I felt as if I had given up. That night I had a dream that I visited you in your new home. I brought all these elements of anger and past B. S with me in the form of My in-laws and other people. As your new house filled up with MY baggage I realized what I was doing and started asking them all to leave, telling each one how I felt about them and why I wanted them to leave. Embarrassed that I had let them follow me to your new home. I looked out the window and watched you and Coach Ilg doing AI Imawa outside in a storm drain. I felt the joy in knowing that you can do this anywhere. I woke up feeling the Chi of W.F. again and went straight to fryman to start walking again. I feel renewed and am getting back into the groove. I won't continue to be my own worst enemy. I won't allow it anymore.
I don't know where I want to take this Journey on Wholistic Fitness. I don't know where I am now exactly. I only know that I need/want to keep going. The experiences I am having, and have had the past 2 years are not anything that I expected. When I have expectations they get blown out of the water. Either my expectations are too low or they are so ignorant its shameful. I remember telling you a few times during our sessions, " I'm here." I'm still here. I keep having a visual of myself stand on a rock in a fast flowing stream. I have been traveling down the stream jumping from rock to rock. I see that I can survive and get where I want to be if I just jump in. So I'm here ... ready to jump.
June 21, 2005
WF ONLINE TEMPLE NOTICE:
Those of you attempting to reach Coach by his new email address and are receiving a Failure Delivery due to a "Permanent Failure" icon, do not worry. Coach's new email server is unable to handle his volume and returns emails after a particular ceiling is reached. Just attempt to re-send the next day or until it is accepted. Thank you for your Practice of Patience.
May Your Practice be strong and sincere (and FUN!),
Ananda
WF Office Manager
The Miracle of Yogi Squat
***WF Online Student Steve Jones (of Haku Clan) demonstrates a superb spontaneous "Garland Pose" or 'Malasana'. This pose, one of a choice few yoga postures that i call a "gateway pose' is also known around our Temple as, "Coach's Wheelchair." Find out why, below.
An excerpt of Actual Online Training Exchange between Teacher Haku and WF Online Student Steve Jones:
"teacher joseph,
here is a picture of me, stretching it out. AI Imawa (1) is/was the flow of the day. Able to do a session at sea level and at 5,500 ft at Olympic National Park.
� we went camping for fathers day. nothing is more WF than marveling at your children while you comb beaches and climb mountian trails with breath and posture."
>>>>>>
The teachings of Wholistic Fitness are simple and powerful. Learning to do the Yogi Squat is one of the most potent Self-Healing technologies that i have come across for North Americans. In fact, this pose is also known among WF Online Students as, "Coach's Wheelchair" because when i paralyzed my spine during a winter mountaineering adventure many moons ago, i was Guided thusly,
"First, maintain your reliance upon the Secret Herbs (2) and then master the yoga pose known as, "Malasana" (aka; Yogi Squat). Learn to do the pose with toes pointing straight out from beneath the knees and the heels on Mother Earth. This will require many years from your willpower, yet do not to give up on this challenge. Only then will I Guide you to your next Step in Self-Healing."
So it was Spoken to me in Meditation, thus I was obliged to forego Back Surgery, pills, and other externals. Excruciatingly painful, frustrating, and disappointing were my attempts at this simple pose. The intense pull at my lumbar/thoracic spinal muscles and tight hips caused my heels to remain far away from Ma Earth and my toes would shoot out the sides like a Ballet dancer in Turn Out...aaargh!!! What would it take for me to do this simple pose elegantly and painlessly!? Such tribulation lasted for my broken body and baffled ego for over a decade. It seemed as though this elementary pose had me in kinesthetic checkmate. However, i did the only thing i truly have been able to do in my very average ability life;
i Persevered. 
***"Ananda, who also Dances with a spine/pelvic injury due to an idiot and still quite famous 'yoga teacher' who mindlessly 'adjusted' her in front of a workshop, uses the benefits of Malasana during hiking to relieve compression on agitated nerves."***
I designed my Early Morning Cleaning Rituals so i had to Yoga squat. I squatted for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I squatted while i made my herb drinks. I squatted at Start Lines at races, in airports, and much to the chagrin of my family and friends, i squatted at family gatherings, weddings, you name it; i squatted. My Practice was to be a Fierce Squatter. Why such gumption to Squat? Because my Teacher had told me so.
I trust my Teacher(s). I do not quit. I do my best, my Noble Best, to persevere.
"Of all the Disciplines required for the Path of Union (yoga), it is Perseverance that is the noblest. For it is to he who perseveres, that victory shall surely come."
- Buddha
Eventually, Malasana shifted my pelvic bones after enough yawning of my injured and tight connective tissues. Once my pelvis shifted, then my spine shifted and eased some of the paralyzing and oh so painful neural compression within my whacked out vertebrae. Then, the GLORY of more spaciousness and ease within my body!!! Soon, other poses became approachable and believe or not, i actually became a certified Teacher of Yoga with my own Studio in Los Angeles, helping others find what i had found; A Way Of Self Healing by honoring and listening to the Play of Breath and Movement. Imagine that!? What a trip! Smash your spine and instead of running to a doctor, becoming a Healer/Helper for others because of this 'accident'! Oh, the Exquisite Dance of Shiva and Lila! 
***"Before i turn around on a hike or outing, i commonly drop into Malasana for a dual effect of relieving lower back pressure and amplifying Nadi Shodana (Purification of the Channels). My utterly unique "Toilet Yoga," available to WF Online Students only, stemmed from my long years of integrating the Yogi Squat literally, everywhere!"***
i bow to WF Online Student Steve Jones for his efforts in Malasana...the "Garland Pose." May you enjoy wearing the Garland within your body with experience even a fraction of the long-term health and healing that Malasana has Gifted me from the Gods and from the Yogic Masters.
May all Beings meditate so they will no longer need anyone else external to themselves for their own Healing, Health, and Happiness.
May this help your Practice.
Namaste,
the mountain yogi
1 (Pronounced, "eye-EEE mah-wah" areTaoist Yoga postures commonly assigned to WF Online Students, see "Ai Imawa; the Postures and Practice of Inner Harmony by Coach Ilg available on the Tribal Catalog)
2 the "Secret Herbs" of course, were the SUNRIDER herbs, now enjoyed and used by hundreds of WF students, fans, and friends worldwide.
June 19, 2005
FOR MY FATHER on FATHER'S DAY:
i consider a father to be like a tree 
tonight i dedicate these simple thoughts and pictures from today
to you, my father...
and to all Father's Everywhere.
becoming and remaining a Skillful Father is in-Deed
the ultimate expression of a Peaceful Warrior; dedicated, strong, faithful,
reliable, versatile, and wise.
i bow to skillful, responsible Father's everywhere.
especially my own.
love you, dad.
get up here quick.
you and i have some fish to catch!
your son, steve
***
The Father Warrior Journey
��������
by a son named steve
i consider a father to be like a tree
a tree who stands proud each day
well rooted regardless of the
dry, dusty, unknown trail often stretched before him.
i consider a father to be like a tree
whose bark may be thick and deep
yet wears much deep loved rolled up his
wrinkled, dirty work sleeve.
i consider a father to be like a tree
whose screams for attention is a silence
that responds to motion,
like wind acquired from heaven's breath.
i consider a father to be like a tree
whose roots drink the plains of summer grasses,
whose sap is the pure stream of mountain waters,
and whose limbs bear the balance of scattered rainbow colors
and the burden of snow.
i consider the Teachings of my father to me to be like a tree
above which a thunderhead gives momentum
to the immensity of clouds and sky
yet i can relax and know that my path is before me,
for the Presence of my Father Spirit is the remembering
that an endless breeze comes from behind me,
as if to push me forward in my own Father's Journey
and sense the presence of doing
that which I cannot see.
��������
Toweh,
White Corn Boy
son of Henry George Ilg, III
RUNNING TOWARD PAIN
dear coach ilg,
If I can only take a moment of your precious time. I have been reading Direct Lines for a little while now and it sometimes brings up in me a deep welling of emotion. I have been fit for a long time, but always longed for something to make me feel fit in my entire life. In the past two weeks this has all hit home. My fiancee, who is a workaholic and has trouble managing her stress has been diagnosed with a facial neuralgia (sometimes called the worst pain known to man). We have reassessed both our lives and the way we live because of this. She has begun reading DL as well and feels that there exists a way to take back control of her life. We are both reading TBT now and it has been uplifting in this trying time. I thank you for sharing your story, your way, and the way of others who are on this path.
- humbly yours, pete
Most Noble Warriors Along The Path Higher,
it is letters like yours that keep inspiring this feeble mountain yogi to keep sharing whatever it is i have to share.
there is a quote by Rinpoche, hidden in today's DL (see below)...which i will follow with another one in the conclusion tomorrow or so...read it fully
feel it fully.
Pain, regardless of type, manifests so we may Learn.
do not run away from the Pain, however great It may seem.
instead
run toward It, into It
with open arms, open mind and
open heart
run with all your might into yourself.
thank you for reading DL...
may all Beings be Free and Happy in their bodies and minds and hearts...
that is all,
coach ilg
SCHOOL IS OFFICIALLY BACK IN SESSION:
"The World's Fittest Human", Coach Ilg, gets schooled like a kindygarter on his first Flagstaff Cycling Club Training Ride.
It's a good thing my WF Jersey carries the slogan, "WF...Begin Again and Again," cuz' folks, this ol' mountain yogi finished dead last in my first Training Ride with the local boyz. I went down hard like flank steak without water as the dashingly handsome young local chieftains of the pedals schooled me on their home grown 65-mile hammerfest along the shores of magnificent Mary and Mormon Lakes just south of town.
When you are a WF Master Student, you get used to losing. I find it funny that many people associate me with 'winning' because usually, i lose. That's because, unlike conventionally trained athletes, i don't give a damn about what normal athletes crave; sport specificity. It does not turn on the WF Master Athlete to simply do one sport and eventually get good at it. Any chimpanzee can be thusly trained. There is little spiritual benefit in sport-specificity. On the other hand, copious amounts of Bardo merit await he or she who devotes their fitness life to to Dancing the Physiologic Spectrum; endurance, strength, suppleness, skill, and mastery of body/mind nutrition.
To be completely honest, i suppose i was over confident going into this Club Ride, which began in the seductive quaintness of historic downtown Flag. Each Saturday, during non-snow months, the local Cardio Warriors meet at 9:00 am at "Late For The Train" the native coffee shop that makes the corporate Starbucks seem as spiritually sterile as a Las Vegas Resort. Yesterday, i and Sudhamani (my road bike) cruised the eight minute jaunt from my home to downtown Flag. With my early morning Meditation, pre-ride ToiletYoga, and Pranayam under my WF jersey, i felt as light as the turquoise sky which greeted my ride. Waves of pure Pran rolled off the 12,000'+ shoulders of the San Francisco Peaks like etheral blankets of om saturating my cells. I felt Warrior ready. I knew, by direct experience, that there are no Easy local club rides. I knew it would be a testosterone War on Wheels.
Pain. I hear Rinpoche's words, "Whatever you do, don�t shut off your pain; accept your pain and remain vulnerable. However desperate you become, accept your pain as it is, because it is in fact trying to hand you a priceless gift: the chance of discovering, through spiritual practice, what lies behind sorrow."
To prepare to handle the inevitable boatload of pain that would sure to come on this Training Ride, i had granted my sea-level, pollution seared lungs two weeks to 'acclimatize' to this high altitude air. In these two weeks i had explored, on my 'Cross bike (Nalanda), a mind-boggling (and leg ripping) maze of world-class wilderness trails and forest roads canvas the Kachina Wilderness more efficiently than a spider's web weaved in high wind. I had equalled a local hillclimb record earlier in the week and was feeling fit. I showed up early at Late For The Train and took delight in watching the 'tourists.' i sensed deep Happiness to be a 'local' once again, in a mountain town. The cyclists came. And came. By the time we pushed off, the peleton was about 35 strong. Half that many would meet and join our Cardio Parade as we pedaled toward the outskirts of the ancient city and into the woods.
When i ride in a peleton, the peleton is always about 15 racers. Why? For in a peleton like this one, 'safety is in speed.' The mass of riders can reach speeds of 45 mph+ handlebar-to-handlebar, elbow to elbow. All it takes to go down into the asphalt and be stampeded by the ensuing mass, is to make one flicker of a mistake; drinking from a water bottle, swerving to miss roadside debris, etc. I stay in the top 10-15 guys no matter what (unless i have a team around me), for those guys are the good guys. The guys that know a thing or two about bike handling. The suffering is High up here, yet the safety factor is as equal a caliber.
The course is not 'my' type of course. It is a big man's course; rolling terrain with impressive side winds. Belgium...without the freezing rain. At the 'climbing prime' i took 9th place. Not bad, ilg. At the halfway sprint prime, i took 7th place, even though i did not know where the City Limit sign was that designated the Sprint Line. Not bad, ilg. I had the WF CHI, baby! It looked like i was the oldest guy in this top group. In fact, I looked decidedly out of place...an old man surrounded by wrinkle-free bronzed calves and thighs of Herculean proportions. (Girls, if you are single and looking for cute, fit, mountain boys; git yer skirt to Flag...there are mountain babes everywhere here!) At the mini-rest stop at Lake Mormon Lodge, i sparked conversation with the boys from the local bike racing teams. Surely, thought i, these guys were impressed with the new "old guy from LA" and i would soon be courting sponsorship offers from their respective teams. I was fitting into my new cycling scene like a Delta faucet capping a sink bound PVC, baby.
Then, we re-mounted our ponies and turned them toward the stables, awaiting us in Flag 30 miles and 1,100' higher.
It is then, my noble Wholistic Fitness warriors, that Reality shattered my delusions of grandeur.
COMING SOON TO DL; the Conclusion
June 18, 2005
PURE AWARENESS; The Unending Natural Mind...
Since pure awareness of nowness is the real buddha,
In openness and contentment I found the Lama in my heart.
When we realize this unending natural mind is the very nature of the Lama,
Then there is no need for attached, grasping, or weeping prayers or artificial complaints.
By simply relaxing in this uncontrived, open, and natural state,
We obtain the blessing of aimless self-liberation of whatever arises.
- DUDJOM RINPOCHE
***
Photo A; One moment of mountain biking = "one moment of Pure Awareness of Nowness". Ananda carving some ultra sweet 'Betty' on the Ft. Valley Trail system last week.
Photo B; Coach cultivates some zen while sweeping in the early morning light, "By simply relaxing in this uncontrived, open, and natural state..."
Photo C; this morning's view of Agazzi Peak 12,356' from the WF Temple (southwest) side. Her north side is still plastered with snow...wanna take a WebCam tour of Flagstaff, including these beautiful San Francisco Peaks? operate the Arizona Daily Sun webcam here:
http://www.azdailysun.com/news/webcam.cfm
***
May your Practice be as strong as mountain, sincere as melting snow, and as clear as Buddha eyes...
from beneath the Sacred Peak,
i bow to you,
coach ilg
June 17, 2005
A MOUNTAIN WELCOME HOME HAIKU FOR COACH
Dear Coach,
There's nothing like a clear, spring morning at 7,000 feet while sipping
Calli in your slippers, eh?
Pine scented winds swish (5)
Mountains loom la garita (7)
Lilacs greet morning (5)
Love,
Warrior, Tobe
SUNRIDER INTERNET ARTICLE
This article, a fun and informative one, was sent in by Alert SR Warrior,
Teacher Q. enjoy:
http://goldsea.com/Money/Chentei/chentei.html
ILG LEAVES LA, SHIVA DANCES
Dear Coaches Ananda and Steve,
I hope you are doing amazingly well and are having tons of fun! Miss you lots! California is having a hard time stabilizing in your absence! ( kidding Teehee ) 4 earthquakes this week!
Namaste,
Student TaM
**
Dear Teacher,
i taf all the recent ?earthquake? activity, off the coast of Cali, is linked to your recent move.
Love,
ko
***
After every earthquake, there's always an aftershock. These never measure as much on the Richter Scale yet they produce further tension. They shake everything up just as it is starting to settle. They provide a vivid reminder of recent stress. They cause people to wonder if it is all happening over again. What they actually do is complete the process. If something has been loosened but not fully shifted, the secondary wave takes care of it. Don't fear eruption.
- J. Cainer
***
A TALE OF SELF HEALING; PART ONE
by Coach Ilg
The genuine notion of Yoga means to find Union with Daily Circumstances...even if those Circumstances mean injury, illness, or mental dis-ease. Above, i grimace with Pain at the feet of my most recent Teacher of Yoga; a re-inflammed radial collateral ligament at my medial epicondyle. Photo by Ananda.
***
"Ain't no chance if you don't take it."
- Guy Clark
Yoga teaches us to learn about our bodies, our minds, and our spirits with unadulterated verve. Yoga cares little about our personal dictates. Yoga is synonymous with Self Healing. If we give our Yoga away too quickly to pills, doctors, and other external forces, we lose chances at Self Realization.
I have a student who came to me recently for help in healing his biceps. The thing was torn years and years ago. The mass of the poor biceps had literally rolled up like a curtain shade and now lies like a golf ball near the apron of his inferior deltoid. Since he ignored the rather dramatic injury for so long, his entire body began to shift out of alignment in a futile effort to compensate for the injured limb. Now, years later, the resultant serial distortion was causing all sorts of other aches and pains. God only knows what glandular and energetic damage was already being done on the inside. I see in this Student, much of myself. My tendency to use my stubborn Germanic Barbarianism to just ignore pain until...well..you know. This genetic flaw of mine is just one of many others, which is why i must do spiritual Practices. I have much inner cleaning to do in this lifetime.
Though i am primarily a Teacher of Personal Fitness, like a tight hamstring the relationship between Personal Fitness and Self Healing seems inextricably linked. It's like being a SUNRIDER Herb Distributor. You eat the herbs and your body gets lean, your skin starts glowing, your energy skyrockets, and pretty soon your chronic aches and pains and mental dis-eases start dissolving like red dust into a setting sun. People start asking how they too, can lose fat and make their skin glow. So, you tell them, "Get on the herbs." After your ears stop ringing, you will have survived an acoustical barrage from them about everything that is "wrong" with their bodies. It's a funny thing, isn't it, when you discover how fun it is having gained mastery over food and enjoying balanced fitness. Yet, when you attempt to share your 'fun' with others, all you hear is how people suffer.
So, anyway, as most of you realize, i recently moved back to my Beloved Southwest with my partner, Ananda. We moved to Flagstaff to be exact, though i prefer the town's Native name; Kinlani. I have never understood why Native names are replaced by Anglo names. They were here first, not us. Typical Anglo arrogance; goin' round re-naming mountains, states, countries, rivers, after senators, outlaws, dead people, etc. Oh well...back to my little ditty about Self Healing.
When i was a professional rock climber, I used to be able to fit all my possessions into a sport pickup. It is said that Gandhi could fit all of His possessions into a shoebox. (What's He doing with a shoebox anyway? Didn't He always walk barefoot?)
Well, it took a 37' Budget Semi Truck with a Car Trailer to hold all of this yogi's possessions. So much for my skills in Renunciation. Okay, granted, it was also WF Temple stuff, and Ananda's stuff, but still...geez! It was in the "Bardo Realm of Moving" that i re-aggravated an old bouldering injury in my elbow.
Great, my ego chattered away at me for days, here i am moving to one of the premier rock climbing towns of the world and i can barely move my right arm. As the Bardo turned Hell Realm continued, my right arm grew less and less functional. Finally, after not even being to cut open one more cardboard box, i finally sat in meditation and asked Brahman what to do...
"Most Beautiful and All OmniPotent One," i began (it is always wise to win the favor of the Gods by embellishing Their Divinity), "my elbow. Should i get an MRI and just see what's up with it? Will i need surgery? Will i ever be able to climb again? It hurts really bad even during mountain biking!"
The Voice came instantly from Within as She replied...
"Silly, silly mountain yogi. Walk your Talk! Why give up on this little inJury so fast? Did we not work Two-gether when your spine was fractured, your pelvis smashed, and you could not walk? People come to you precisely because you know the Art of Self Healing. Vishnu has Sustained this InJury in you so that you will know how to help your Student with the badly torn biceps. Have Faith. Do this; Ask me to help you after your morning Pranayama when you are closest to the Ether state. I will Guide you in that Realm."
"Oh Most Beloved Shiva, I am sorry for being such a feeble yogi. Of course, i realize i am just being lazy and not willing to go directly into the Pain in my elbow. I realize how many years i have been avoiding this Fear of going into this acute Pain. i will do as you say and call for your Divine Guidance starting tomorrow during my Pranayam."
COMING UP SOON IN DL:
PART II of
A TALE OF SELF HEALING
June 16, 2005
High Altitude Heaven
Steve,
I Saw your new home pictures on DL.
I AM SO DAMN JEALOUS!!
Beatiful home, only those who have lived at altitide
will truly understand. Good for you Bro. You and the
Lady deserve the good life that clean air brings.
I have thought of you often while climbing Santa Clara
Divide and Camp 9 the past two weeks. Not the same
without you though.
Know this: I am so much better and stronger for having
known you for even this brief period. Keep inspiring
others,
for not even you know how much power and influence you
have.
I hope all is well and hope to ride again soon.
My spirit honors your spirit,
Brian
Dear Sensei's,
I am glad to see you and Ananda have arrived safely to your new home. I am also very pleased to see that both you are already in-joying Mother Earths beautiful lands in Flagstaff. It is truly a magical place. I would like to know if I could schedule an Intensive with you towards the months of Oct. or Nov.
I recieve an Ilg Chi hit everyday through DL. I only recently discovered WF three months ago and I have already read the DL archives and finished the Green Tara program. Being a competitive grappler, I was skeptical of the ST portion of Green Tara because it looked to my unenlightened eyes as more of a bodybuilders workout. All I can say is that it is one tough workout and my performance on the mat is even better. I think swallowing my ego and working more elegantly with lighter weights and exhaustive techniques is exactly what my body needed.
Also in our last email, I asked you when I could start taking the Ilg supremes. Since I have only started Phase I two weeks ago you wanted to know my dietary patterns over the last year. From western standards I have always eaten pretty clean. Lean cuts of meat, very little refined carbs (white rice, potatos,sugar, etc....), no sodas or chips, etc.. After reading TBT I have changed my diet once again. I am eating a lot less meat, have increased my intake of vegetables and fruits and my portion size is much smaller. I am most suprise that I have been able to cut down my coffee intake from 10 cups a week to 3 or 4 cups per week.
In addition, I am not on any prescription medications on a regular bases. I suffered from a very severe form of asthma as a child and teenager. No longer do I have asthma attacks, I do get "short of breath" occasionally, especially when I have an upper respiratory tract infection which I seem to have 3x per year. I was wondering if I could start the Quinary herbs during Phase I or should I just wait till you give me the okay for phase II. Sorry for the long winded email. Any help would be greatly appreciated and my tapas is burning to train with you during one of your intensives.
Love and Honor,
Your humble grappling student Alex
BACKYARD MOUNTAIN BIKE TRAIL: Schultz Creek
"What's wealth?
WF health!"
- coach ilg
WF Teacher Ananda allows the lactic acid in her thighs to mellow at 'Schultz Tank' just
above our home. Horses (left edge in picture), trout, deer, elk, and bear all gather here at this little alpine oasis among
the aspen and ponderosa.
Schultz Creek Trail is one of dozens of trails, just across the street from the new WF H(om)e.
This intermediate trail climbs a reasonable 1,000' in 4 miles to an elevation of 8,100'.
it's all zen up along a riparian dreamscrape singletrack (or take the dirt road for beginners, see below pic).
chill at the snowfed 'Schultz Tank' lake if you wish... or pump 1 mile laps around
the Comp Loop as Nuthatches and Aspens cheer you on...
oh, and the descent?
Primo, baby, just primo! YEAH BABY!! c'mon... 
Even beginning Mountain Biking WF Warriors like Ananda must learn to EARN their TURNS by riding UP the trails or roads!
"A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."
I have found that the moment i commit and quit holding back, all sorts of unforeseen Abundance, Teachings, and
Divine Assistance seems to rise up and help me. In my coaching, i just do my best to get my students to be
elegant in difficulty and practice the Act of Commitment...JUMP and See What Arises!
"Take risks. You can't fall off the bottom."
- Barbara Proctor
Ananda learning to rail some gnarly etch-a-sketches already! To me, the real Yoga mat is everywhere!
Take your Yoga outside and CRANK! 
Sensei Kishiyama taught me, "Watch the animals...they will Teach you who you are."
"We have forgotten who we are.
We have sought only our own security
We have exploited simply for our own ends
We have distorted our knowledge.
We have abused our power."
- U.N. Environmental Sabbath Program
"May the earth continue to live
May the heavens above continue to live
May the rains continue to dampen the land
May the forests continue to grow
Then the flowers shall bloom
And we the people shall live gain."
- Native Prayer
from beneath the Sacred Mountain,
may your own Practice be strong and sincere today...
thank you for reading DIRECT LINES; the SmokeSignal of
Wholistic Fitness, my karma yoga offering and Path of Service since 1982.
WHOLISTIC FITNESS ONLINE TRAINING:
Body/Mind/Spirit Fitness Practice for all those who treasure the InSights derived from Sweat and Stillness...
coach ilg
the mountain yogi
June 15, 2005
THE DAWNING OF TEACHER Q
www.waynewilliamsstudio.com
Teacher Q, one of only four certified WF Online Teachers, specializes in the training of Beginning level WF Online Students, has recently gained a Sartori (Acknowledged State of Awakening from Teacher to Student). To give you beginning WF fans and students a clue of just how Steep the Advanced Teachings are of WF, realized that Teacher Q has studied this Path for over a decade, undergoing some very deep shit along the Way to genuine Sartori. May Teacher Q's devotion to WF be inspiration for all of us. Below i answer an email of his from today:
***
On Jun 14, 2005, at 8:16 AM, Sugiyukako@aol.com wrote:
Coach,
OM-Morning my dear Coach.
i awoke this precious morning before dawn to IN-gage my practice. hit ToiletYoga and began to sweat profusely? didn't feel exhausted or particularly tired. it began in the solar plex chakra. and branched out to the rest of my body. went into Pranayam work-in and BANG!! my head seemed to explode. i almost dropped my neti pot;) it felt like when you were a kid and you drank something cold to fast and got a brain freeze...well except this was thru the whole body. lasted about a min. i didn't pay it much "mind" just went on with my pratice. after which came morning ritual and HP Prop Abs(ouch!) with yogatoes i might add.
now i sit atop Benny(the Big Ball;) YT's in place, sippin Calli, writing my Coach. what is sweeter?
i received your card yesterday. i must admit this yogi lost his center and was fully touched;) it made my day to have a little LOVE injection thru the mail. you sound...you FEEL so light and happy. rest assure your Teacher Q will be there soon.
thank you for always loving and believing in me.
I AM Blessed!
OM,
TQ
Most Noble Practitioner Q,
the profuse perpsiration (praseveda) that you are experiencing during ToiletYoga is the precise wording of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika that designates proper asana matched with Ujjayi Pranayama for the "Prathama-Kalpika" (he who is of the fist form). Congratulations. The intensity of the sweat is karma being purified.
That you awoke before dawn, uncommon to your dosha (hey, all things are trainable in this Path!), is also a positive sign of proper Practice and, quite a Metaphor if you See it. According to the Yoga-Bhashya (3.5.1), a "Prathama-Kalpika" means a neophyte in the first stage of yogic practice to whom the Light of Yoga is just 'dawning.' Get it, 'dawning'?
proud of you...
my Beloved Q,
an ol' "gym rat"
who has bottomed out on this Path
on me,
and who has tried many other Paths,
now
Awakens to the Higher Manifestation of what barbells and dumbbells are truly supposed to develop;
Self Realization.
i bow to your years of Practice within (and, granted, sometimes outside of) the WF Temple.
it's all go(o)d.
Shift Happens,
if we just hang in there and don't jump around to other Teachings, herbs, doctors, etc.
Don't get fancy,
just get WF consistent baby!
keep it humming,
and sure enough,
the Bardo?
"ain't so baaaad!"
to love Life
is not to fear Death,
love from beneath melting snows
and vaulting blue skies....
el coache
PEDAL HAIKU
Namaste Noble Coach,
A haiku:
as the Sun wakes up, (5)
i notice my brow is wet, (7)
and pedal harder (5)
This is from my bike ride this morning, on my third
day in Jeweled Lotus, in honor of breaking the day's
first sweat (ever notice how you start to feel better
after that first sweat breaks in the morning?).
Love,
Mike DeSantis
P.S.
It's been interesting to read the change in the tone
of DL since you moved -- there's a feeling of serene
happiness that reminds me of how I feel when I'm
visiting the Adirondacks. I wish you continued
happiness and blessings in your new h(om)e!
WF TEACHER HAKU HELPS COACH BACK H(om)E
A Report From The New Temple Land...
by WF Teacher Joseph "Haku" Sheader
To greet fellow Brahman Warriors on their h(om)e coming - who are sister, brother, and teacher too - is to me a treat and a honor. 
Having arrived the night Coach's and Ananda's anticipated arrival, my son Kerry and I made ready the space of "Two Tree Manor" with moments of Ai Imawa and in-joyment of Ponderosa Aspen breath.
The resonance is keen and kin in this new locale of the Wholistic Fitness headquarters. The Native American sacred peaks overlook warrior casa while enticing the mountain yogi upwards and inwards.
Steve and Ananda arrived in early in the day and the functional fitness of unloading the moving van began. �How you do anything is how you do everything.� This applies not only to lifting boxes so as not to incur a back injury, it also applies to the care you give in transforming a house into a home. Steve and Ananda were will organized in their packing so it was really a time of ease and celebration (us yogi�s try not to get so excited yet the temptation was there).
{Shown above left to right: Haku, Russ, Coach, Kerry. As i attended to preliminary establishment of the WF Zendo, Haku, his son Kerry (who is a current World Champion in stick form of martial arts..see DL Archives) and Russ, all trained in contemplative moving arts, literally 'shape shifted' my huge moving van load with an artistry of 'wu-wei'...effortless effort. These three warriors were exemplary in their functional fitness of mindful effort.}
Beginnings are very important and in this Coach Ilg placed priority on establishing sacred space in the new Zendo room. First things first after all. This is Appropriate Action in action! Soon Quan Yin was on the front porch to greet all and she bore, I swear to Buddha, a new smile and light to her face...it feels good to be home.
I anticipate an acceleration and deepening in both Ananda�s and coaches practice and teaching in the months ahead. They are intimate with a caldera of high mountain desert chi that hums thru the pines and quakes both aspen leaf and spirit.
Hold on to your butts folks...this is going to ripple out to all of at the speed of enlightenment.
strength and spirit,
teacher haku
***
For his help in moving Ananda and i into our new h(om)e, i saw it fit to see that "Manipura" got into the hands and feet
of Haku. Manipura, a time trial machine, has won several races beneath my own legs and lungs. Under WF Teacher Haku,
who as evidenced above, seemed to take rather quickly to Manipura's porsche like speed, i can only imagine more podiums ahead for them both. 
Speaking of podiums, just a day later, my Furnace Creek Teammate and DharmaBrother, Ron Jones stopped by while doing some high altitude training in Flagstaff.
Ananda and i are Blessed by having so many beautiful, precious Beings in our EarthWalk.
From Beneath the Sacred Peak,
i bow to your Practice today...
namaste,
coach ilg
coming up soon in DL: The Schultz Creek Mondo Ride!
June 13, 2005
"In three words I can sum up everything
I've learned about life.
It goes on."
- Robert Frost
Dear Coach,
Thank you for your words of encouragement. i have been following your move by reading the DL's (as always), i did not want to swamp you with yet another email as i know you must have received numerous mails from all corners concerning your move. Just to say that i wish you and Ananda only wonderful things and i know that you are moving onwards, upwards, and inwards (as ever!).
i've attached a snap that i took on a trip to Sedona a while ago, a pale comparison of what you will be seeing every day very shortly!
Go in peace and love to new horizons, my brother.
humble student ranjit of Clan Haku
***
Coach and Ananda,
�
going to the site each day to see if you are HERE NOW was fun;) then i see your faces again!! glad you are happy and setting in ok.
�
LA shifted BIG TIME!! when the Coach and Ananda left it's area. i went by yolanda. said prayers of gratitude and burned a stick of tibetan incence in thanks and rememberance.....then LET IT GO COMPLETELY!!
�
daily Toiletyoga(TM) and prananyam has been quite interesting. my moods are clearer and there are fewer swings in them. my daily caloric needs are dwindling. weight is falling off. ain't even BEEN to the gym!
�
�a friend invited me to a talk by a Tibetan Lama last night. his name is Lama Khyimsar Rimpoche.�it was a great dharma talk. all he spoke of was truly WF to me!! so many things CLICKED that i was just brought to TEARS! then i was led back fully to the WF! my home....my life....my Path!
�
i am ready for new beginning students Coach! i feel it is time for Teacher Q is EMERGE once again! you left HUGE chi with me that has been burning away much mental debris and emotional blocks. it is interesting...i feel closer to you NOW!
�
the awakening heart,
TQ
Teacher Q and WF Devotee Steve Mackel help Coach move the WF Temple out of LA just over ten days ago. 
Now resurrected in perhaps the most potent energetic and outdoor athletic vortex of North America, Coach Ilg is now re-plugged into his native land and already the WF Online Students are feeling the positive Shift!
�
***
I am never far from those with faith, or even from those without it, though they do not see me. My children will always, always, be protected by my compassion.
PADMASAMBHAVA
June 12, 2005
To Most Noble Online Student Jeavons of Haku Clan
in Great Britain;
thank you for the beautiful Gift.
i bow to your metta.
the mountain yogi
DEDICATED TO SPOONER SMITH: 1991-2005
OF POPPIES AND ATTACHMENT: THE TEACHINGS OF SOGYAL RINPOCHE
I dedicate my efforts to produce this morning's DL to Most Noble WF Online Student Luke Smith of Haku Clan,
who wrote to me this morning:
"It is with the deepest sadness that I write today to let you know that
Spooner passed away this morning. He was a month shy of his 14th birthday.
The backyard here in Anchorage, and indeed my life, is a lot emptier without
him.
Peace to you all,
Luke"
May All Beings Know The Happiness and Love that Luke and Spooner shared and cultivated.
OM MANI PADME HUNG
coach ilg
***
This morning's meditation ended with a session at the foot of my backyard buddha...a poppy bloomed as i sat...
feeling the teachings of Sogyal Rinpoche:
"Buddha recognized that ignorance of our true nature is the root of all the torment of samsara, and the root of ignorance itself is the mind�s habitual tendency to distraction.
To end the mind�s distraction would be to end samsara itself; the key to this, he realized, is to bring the mind home to its true nature, through the practice of meditation. As you continue to practice meditation, you may have all kinds of experiences, both good and bad. You might experience states of bliss, clarity, or absence of thoughts. In one way these are very good experiences, and signs of progress in meditation.
For when you experience bliss, it�s a sign that desire has temporarily dissolved. 
When you experience real clarity, it�s a sign that aggression has temporarily ceased.
When you experience a state of absence of thought, it�s a sign that your ignorance has temporarily died. 
By themselves they are good experiences, but if you get attached to them, they become obstacles.
Experiences are not realization in themselves; but if we remain free of attachment to them, they become what they really are�that is, materials for realization."
May Your Practices Today Be As Strong and Magnificent As The Sacred Peak
Beneath which i bow to you...
coach ilg
June 11, 2005
Dear Noble Warrior of the Plateau,
Wow! You must be floating on a cloud. Congratulations on continuing your
journey and transitioning to a new place. And such a wonderful place it
is. I have missed you. You and Ananda feel like family. Thank you for
your love.
Tomorrow kicks off the second annual Rio 24-Hours of Steamboat mountain
bike race. And I am primed and ready to go, baby! Watch for the blue and
white swirl and the Wholistic Fitness yin yang Jersey streaking through the mud
and trail. I've got my SUNRIDER herbs, my breath is soft, my posture is relaxed and
straight, nothing can stop me now ....
Hoooommmmm, saahhhhhh.
Love, Warrior Tobe
STUDENT IN-SIGHTS/WF Online Students GoTen and SassoSan Getting It Done!/Yesterday's Aspen Run
"Quietly sitting, body still, speech silent, mind at peace, let thoughts and emotions, whatever rises, come and go, without clinging to anything.
What does this state feel like? Dudjom Rinpoche used to say: Imagine a man who comes home after a long, hard day�s work in the fields, and sinks into his favorite chair in front of the fire. He has been working all day and he knows that he has achieved what he wanted to achieve; there is nothing more to worry about, nothing left unaccomplished, and he can let go completely of all his cares and concerns, content, simply, to be."
- Sogyal Rinpoche
(Photo of WF Online Student GoTen of Coach Ilg Clan bravely sitting still in Siddhasana. Note his HP Prop Workout Blocks in the background! What a WARRIOR! It is easy to workout...MUCH more difficult to WorkWithin! i bow to Noble WF Online GoTen who helps ALL of us, get it done, baby!)
***
EXPLORING THE PRANIC DANCE OF STRENGTH, YOGA, and CARDIO!
ACTUAL WF DHARMATALK between Online WF Student SassoSan with Coach Ilg;
COACH:
How did your FEEL of the Pran differ in the gym than the yoga mat?
STUDENT SASSOSAN:
There�s a seriousness that I bring to the gym temple that is not present on the mat. It�s not that I don�t take the mat temple seriously; there is just a more open feel to it. So, the pran in the gym temple is more intense and focused and almost compartmentalized (isolated in whatever muscle group that is being trained) whereas the pran in the mat temple is more expansive and all-infusing.
COACH:
Good Lord Shiva i love your Insights!� BEAUTIFULLY articulated!
now, i want you to begin to find that Iron Temple Pran in the Detailed Edges of your Asana.
you will soon Feel what that sentence means.
you will be shocked at how much Pranic Strength is required to blast through your neuromuscular restrictions and the Granthis.
you will be VERY happy that you developed the Iron Temple Pran when you begin to feel of what i am speaking.
Now, How did the Cardio interval session go?� What do you feel is developing?
STUDENT SASSOSAN:
What can I say, Ilg? I just like intervals. I love �em! Lately I�ve been doing them in the evening so that George can join me. This past week he wasn�t available, so I decided to do my CV in the morning. I was lying in bed and it was all too tempting to blow them off. I didn�t want to do them, blah, blah, blah.�So, I made a deal with myself that all I had to do was just get in a run � I could blow off the intervals as long as I ran. Then I got onto the trail and was running and I agreed that I could do a few and just do half the intervals. I got to the midway point and then I negotiated for taking each new one as it came � I could just do one and then blow the rest off and run to the end of the trail. Well, of course, I got them all in. Wasn�t hard physically, the mental workout was a real pain, though!! And so it goes.
COACH ILG:
Student SassoSan,
Since you are not a professional nor a sponsored Cardio athlete,
the MAIN reason why i prescribe Interval training for recreational fitness athletes?
MENTAL TRAINING FOR THE BARDO, baby!
the VERY fact that you OVERCAME your egoic excuses NOT to do the full workout
is like making an absolutely HUGE deposit in your Karmic and Bardo Training 'Bank Accounts"!��
congratulations, Most Noble Warrior SassoSan!� �
the spiritual Victory and Merit is YOURS!�
*** YESTERDAY'S ASPEN RUN WITH ANANDA
yesterday, upon the Sacred Peak, Ananda and i enjoyed a run...among Columbines and many special Beings...
WF Teacher Ananda at 11,000': still plenty of snow, yet not much oxygen; Cardio Workouts at this elevation infuse the physical
body with pran...
and the view ain't bad either...looking northwest toward the lip of the Grand Canyon..
with pran leaping within my cells, i discover an old Native American spring, now sheltered by a White Man's
stone construction in the 1900's. Pictoglyphs guided the Natives to these treasured sources of water.
old pond, new aspens...
a Williamson's Sapsucker led me to this Aspen Teacher, one of which appeared to me to be weeping...like our own efforts
in spiritual growth, our challenges and realization of impermanence will give cause to tears running down our
precious, yet impossible to hold onto skin. Just because one Being may weep at times along the Journey of Awakening
does not mean it is any 'worse' or 'weak' than the other Being. Each of us must travel through our Challenges
solo, yet it is nice to have others near us. Honoring our Teachers is the Most Important Practice; for They guide us
through what we are not yet able to See.
May these droppings from my humble Temple
benefit all beings everywhere...
From beneath the Sacred Peak,
i bow to the strength of your Practice...
in sweat and love,
the mountain yogi
June 09, 2005
ZEN SWEEPING/BUDDHA BOULDERING;
Finding and Fertilizing The Yin/Yang Garden of Consciousness
Upon His Enlightenment, the Buddha identified Eight Levels of Consciousness,
intricately interwoven and endlessly dancing are these Eight Levels of Subtle Awareness.
Their find-ment and eventual re-fine-ment requires a life dedicated to their discovery and
development through progressive and guided meditations. 
In Wholistic Fitness, we use engage Active Meditations such as pranayama, early morning cleaning rituals, zazen, etc.,
to open the gateways toward living a more conscious day. Very important to begin your day unhurried.
The Soul energy and Pranic uptake is at maximal ripeness and etheral elasticity in the early morning hours. WF Students
are trained to use this time wisely, not abusively. In my book(s) i outline several early morning Practices that function
as a Consciousness Developer to begin the Day.
"The body is a mere reflection of the mind," taught Swami Rama. Yet, how does this sweeping statement help our
daily life? I have found it beneficial to start developing a Daily Dance between Wide Awareness (yin) and Focused Awareness (yang). As we chain our lower mind (manas) to become tethered to this Complementary Dance of yin and yang awareness,
we are actually tilling the mental ground for more advanced spiritual work.
Let me give you an example from bouldering last night across the street at Mt. Elden:
Here, i set as much weight as possible on my feet to relieve the intense strength endurance demands from my finger
contact on the tiny holds of this difficult boulder problem. Note the straight spine to preserve optimal neuromuscular/logical flow. My Awareness is on yin mode; i am scanning the delicately featured granite for my next move.
An instant later, i have to zap into Yang Awareness - also known as Ekagrata in yoga - to really concentrate my mental energies to visualize and engage action. This detailed focus of the mind, particularly if your body is at risk, really ramps up
the spiritual athlete's capacities to control the mind. Thus, Swami Rama's sagacity becomes readily apparent and forms my entire basis of Wholistic Fitness training; In this Path, we know that the body follows your mind.
Your body looks precisely the way you have chosen to shape it via your mind.
Your life activities are nothing but training effects from what you choose to feed your mind.
Your contribution to the UniVerse is your Gift of Mind.
Some other aspects of Yin/Yang Awareness might help your understanding and willingness to start courting Yin/Yang Awareness into your workouts and life:
Wide Awareness (Yin):
female, expansive, eagle medicine (soaring high), helicopter perspective, softness, disengage, slow twitch, smiling
Focused Awareness (Yang):
male, contraction, mouse medicine (scrutiny), laser perspective, hardness, engagement, fast twitch, laughing
May this help your Practice today,
may it help you wake up earlier tomorrow morning,
may your inner work benefit your merit
and all beings everywhere,
coach ilg
(photos of coach zen sweeping and bouldering, by Ananda)
June 08, 2005
THE EAGLE HAS LANDED!
Testing, Testing...
Sound Check, Sound Check...
Echo, Echo!
As One Tribe, you have helped Ananda and i return the WF Main Temple into Her sweet celestial
American southwest...
due to the fulfillment of auspicious tellings we have named our new h(om)e, Two Tree Manor.
i have not felt such Sacred Happiness in a long, long time...
As Ananda and i take delight in watching our breath and lives unfold anew within
the Medicine Wheel of this Sacred Land...
i vow to you, no matter what, to redouble the intensity of my own training, the efficiency of the Practices
so i can bring to you as much of
the Sacred Fire, Visions, Teachings, and Prayers of the ponderosa pran
as i possibly can and am permitted.
As always, to receive the multiLayered Dimensions of my Teachings of WF,
much will depend upon the strength of your solo Practices.
My Most Noble Mighty Armed Warriors,
the UnAwakened say that moving is "One of the three great stresses of life."
Yet i say,
To take leave of a life once well rooted
and pull it up by those same roots
is vital to teach us where are our Strings of Attachments.
Athletes of the Spirit must move.
Stagnation and clutter must be severed with the Strength of rising morning thunder.
Moving, Divorce, Bankruptcy...i have travelled such terrain.
i used the WF Teachings not only to 'survive' them
yet to THRIVE WITHIN THE DANCE of their Intensity!
i am a more capable Teacher, a more skillful CareGiver, and more versatile Yogin due
to my embrace of such "stresses."
Such are the migrations of ones personal Medicine;
movement is vital; stagnation is disease.
Oh Sadhu; Seek that which stagnates in your life,
Yank it out by its root! SHAKE UP your life;
Agitation is the ripest environment for genuine spiritual growth.
All of my vital tools to keep the Temple humming have arrived in Flag...
my bikes, and...
computers...
Justin, a mountain biking computer scientist, has pretty much got me hooked up
to the Internet okay, thus i and Ananda can begin again,
and again
to Serve the WF Dharma.
The omens have been supremely positive and astonishingly poignant to the point of
frequent tears...
i be-long
Here
and
all of us will benefit from the Power of This Sacred Land as Her Great Spirit once
again saturates my cells like wind through aspen leaves
and purifies my personal flame of desire to keep elevating this Healing Path
of Body/Mind/Spirit Balance what we know
and love as
Wholistic Fitness.
Summit snows shimmer upon the Kachina Peaks,
like winks of the glimmering future that you and i shall Dance two-gether...
i will now attend to my personal Online Students and then my Sunrider Herbal Warriors
and be back to you soon...
i will announce my new email address in the next DL.
May your Practice be strong and sincere,
namaste,
coach ilg