November 30, 2005
WF: Claim It, Live it, Love It
Coach Ilg; an expert at climbing all kinds of mountains - inner and outer ones - to better Guide Your Journey Toward Your Own Personal Summits...
Steve Ilg's WHOLISTIC FITNESS...Transforming fitness enthusiasts and athletes into Spiritual Warriors of Infinite Light...since 1982
WF;
Claim It,
Live It,
Love It...
COACH's 3 Practice Rules
"Be On Time.
Be Prepared.
Give 110% Effort."
- Steve Ilg, THE OUTDOOR ATHLETE (Johnson Books, 1985)
November 29, 2005
GUMPTION and The City Of Angels...
Come, Oh Noble DL Readers, enjoy a few shots from our LA trip...
Our first Priority was to Serve. And Serve we did! We packed the Cave at Marks Power Yoga in Studio City and after the 20 minute Ab Detonating Opening Vinyasa, i was off to the HP Yogic Races with my ol' LA Sangha and plenty of new students that i or Ananda had never met before...i had a GREAT time sweating with my Sangha again! THANK YOU! 
After class, a few of us that could still stand posed for a picture, taken by Ananda outside of Teacher Blanchard's studio...let's see here...Left To Right, okay?...Brandon, Dana, her sister Amber, Noble WF Devotee Steve Mackel with the head of his beautiful wife, Michelle, poking in, my sister Connie, Teacher Blanchard, your's truly snarling as i foot wrassle with my sister, the amazing Teacher Q, Amma, WF Tribal artist and DL favorite Karen Carmona, and...oh shit...uh...he is new, never met him before and now i have forgotten his name yet his CHI was GREAT! 
Morning and Evening view off our balcony at our North Hollywood pad. Yep, that's a Starbucks right across the street. We've never been though...;-)
Our second priority was to clean and prepare our NoHo pad for doing future yoga, personal training, and bodywork in LA as well as working on Media Projects. Our "NoHo Pad" , as we lightheartedly call it, is our Come Down Off The Sacred Peak Pad (aka; REALLY TEST YOUR PRACTICE PAD). It's just a tiny lil' thang located in a great big condo complex loaded with great vibes and amenities in the middle of North Hollywood's theatre district. It's fun. It's about 180 degrees different than our 'real' home in the Ponderosa at 7,000'. The apartment complex - oh hell...let's be honest, ALL OF LA - reminds me of a macrocosmic Athletes Dormitory, except instead of athletes it is made up of actors, models, personal trainers, and musicians. 
I love LA. Always have since i first taught Pilates with Stephan Frease in Beverly Hills in the late eighties on Rodeo Drive. There is no place like LA; great cycling within sight of ocean and snow. How Mother Earth just keeps giving like She Does in that crazy city is a miracle. Besides, I like celebrities and those who want to be celebrities. At least they
1) Got Gumption
and
2)Are LIVING Their Dreams.
Buddha said that the worst sin was Indifference.
Much better, He said, to be passionate with hate or love...but NEVER be indifferent. Indifference, laziness, afraid to live your life outloud will not produce positive spiritual training chi for later in life. Gumption will. Living your Gumption definitely will. Celebrities and Celebrity wannabe's remind me of athletes. They are just out in LA suffering like a dog, going to casting calls, humping out the legwork just to maybe, just maybe make it to the podium of performing. 
This is a shot of us after Thanksgiving Day dinner at the Charthouse Restaurant before going clubbin' in Santa Monica. Oh, oh...look out; Coach in leather!
Both myself and Ananda (Joy) had the gumption to solo move ourselves, without a dime in our pocket, to LA in order to do our best to Perform and Serve. Ananda made it to the Big Screen, along with lots of TV and Stage appearances. Me? Well, if you think it is hard being a Yoga Teacher and Personal Trainer where YOU live...try making it big in LA..chances are, the City of Broken Dreams will break yours as well.
But hey, at least, if you are living in LA,
at least once in your life,
as you were WILLING TO LIVE YOUR DREAM
IN THE BIGGEST DREAM MAKING CITY
IN THE WORLD...then,
i bow to you.
Yeah, Hell Yeah, LA is crazy different!
So too, will be your Dying Moment...
sometimes,
being able to Adapt to Craziness
is very,
very
important
Spiritual
training.
Thus,
i bow...low and deep,
to all struggling actors, performers, and musicians living and dying in LA; i've been there and i will
be there again and again...i know what you are going through...and i bow to you!
You will do just fine in the Bardo because you are being Brave and Living your Truth.
YESTERDAYS DL...
Wolf Leader,
Your words, like a Dharma Arrow straight to my heART!
Thank you.
Little Wolf
Sherman Oaks, CA
November 28, 2005
IMAGINED HAPPINESS + B&P; the most powerful arrow
"We may say, and even half-believe, that compassion is marvelous, but in practice our actions are deeply uncompassionate and bring us and others mostly frustration and distress, and not the happiness we are all seeking.
Isn�t it absurd that we all long for happiness, yet nearly all our actions and feelings lead us directly away from that happiness?
What do we imagine will make us happy? A canny, self-seeking, resourceful selfishness, the selfish protection of ego, which can as we all know, make us at moments extremely brutal. But in fact the complete reverse is true: Self-grasping and self-cherishing are seen, when you really look at them, to be the root of all harm to others, and also of all harm to ourselves."
- Sogyal Rinpoche
***
WF LIFESTYLE PRINCIPLE #1: BREATH AND POSTURE...
For those of us who Practice WF,
as we advance along our Path,
we may find ourselves time and time again smiling at just how amazingly
SIMPLE,
STEEP,
and
DIRECT
is the WF Path.
One of the most Potent Arrows in the WF Quiver of Lifestyle Principles is the first one; BREATH and POSTURE.
If we can just ARRIVE at that point in our Daily Practice where we begin NOTICING PATTERNS then we can begin to
isolate which of those Patterns are like low lying snakes in the grass of our uncultivated chakral fields.
God is Perfect.
Life is Perfect.
It is how (wo)Man chooses to REACT to the circumstances, swirls, and overall process of life that makes our life
meaningful, sad, happy, Buddhalike, or keeps us wandering around on top of our beautiful earth like ugly slugs just
surviving...whippety do...
my first Lifestyle Priniciple; BREATH AND POSTURE buys us the most important factor in long term Transformation; INNER SPACIOUSNESS. without that factor, we go on grasping and reacting, grasping and reacting endlessly. With a return to Consciousness by way of taking a conscious breath and adjusting our Posture, we create SPACE before reactive, emotive bullshit habits occurs. the chances of us speaking kindly - to ourselves and to others increases greatly.
After Purification of Speech (inward and outward) the Masters teach us; follows purification of action. so, start with speech (self talk).
I don't know if you are like me and all too often UNDERESTMATE the tremendous POWER within the the Dharma Arrow of WF Lifestyle Principle Numero Uno...
Probably you do.
Probably, you, like me, tend to belittle the amazing STRENGTH of the WF Path with her subtle, simple yet proven Techniques for transforming the Mundane and the Unconscious into the Sacred Joy of an Awakened Life.
Ananda and i are driving back over the Mohave and up, up, up the Mogollon Rim to our Beloved Sacred Peak,
punching herself like the Divine Earth Mother's hands folded in a 13,000' "Namaste mudra" volcanic expression.
But...
i ain't leaving until i crank off my favorite MTB ride; Reseda to the Sea on my cross bike! 35-miles of Santa Monica Mountain ridges hovering above the shimmering Pacific...besides, it's gonna be like 80 degrees in LA...back h(om)e the high is gonna be...uh...uh...like 35. ooooof. harsh transition! LOVE IT!!!!
So, Oh Noble Practicing Sangha,
please send Ananda and i some Protection from the Semi Truck Hoodlums as we make the drive today...and i bow to Mother Earth for the fossil fuels associated with bringing us both here to LA and back again.
Our time in LA was VERY fun, powerful, and just wait until we show you what we have manifested to Serve our LA Sangha in the future!
Live today like you mean it; Live it with your Heart pointed toward Enlightenment!
namaste,
coach ilg
November 27, 2005
NEW DL UPGRADES FOR DL: FOR FREE!!!
As an ongoing extension of my Love for you, i have asked my Noble Website Manager, John "Hakado Ru" Kuhlman to provide the following upgrades to DL in order to heighten the efficiency of using DL as an instrumental Tool for your Abhyasa. I bow to Noble Hakado Ru and trust you will continue to use DL to help all other beings via your Practice in Everyday Life. Here is what Hakado did:
1) Added post titles. These are now in ALL CAPS and are the same red color as the border of TOTAL BODY TRANSFORMATION. I went back and added titles to this week's entries. At some point, this will be done to all of DL archived posts.
2) The archives link at the top of the page has been replaced with a link to the Tribal Catalog.
�
3) The archives have moved down to the left column of the page and are now archived weekly.
�
4) Perhaps coolest of all, DL readers can now click the little envelope icon at the bottom of each post and e-mail their favorite DL to a buddy. Share the love! This starts with every new post and goes back to the beginning in 2002.
�
Have a great Thanksgiving Day!
�
John "Hakado Ru" Kuhlman
�Thank you so very much
Dear Coach,
�� Happy Thanksgiving to you and Ananda! �Thank you so very much for all of �
YOU through the years...Jeez ...it is more than 10 years now.
��I will digest this new program and follow it faithfully.
�� �Right side of body feels a lot better these days!! I have not felt a
shard of pain down into the left big toe in days...
�� � � �I will admit that I have taken a bit of rest for a few days (Toilet Yoga� Level 4
stays a constant). Did first Ai Imawa in years today...A wonderful reunion.
�� � � � Much Love
�� � � � Great Thanks
�� � � � �Namaste
�� � � � � Eric "Student Stillness" Stiller
NYC
* Coach's note;
do your Higher Self three favors;
1) go here: http://www.manhattankayak.com/
2) get Student Eric "Stillness' Stillers book, "KEEP IT ON YOUR LEFT" for a helluva Tribal read..
then
3) Get yourself signed up for one of Eric's kayak tours before you die...why? Cuz life is short and there is MUCH FUN to be experienced! (tell Noble Student Eric that, "Coach sent me."
NOBLE DOUBT
The Buddha summons us to a different kind of doubt, �like analyzing gold, scorching, cutting and rubbing it to test its purity.� For this form of doubt really exposes us to the truth if we follow it to the end, but we have neither the insight, the courage, nor the training. We have been schooled in a sterile addiction to contradiction that has robbed us repeatedly of all real openness to any more expansive and ennobling truth.
In the place of our contemporary nihilistic form of doubt I would ask you to put what I call a �noble doubt,� the kind that is an integral part of the path toward enlightenment. The vast truth of the mystical teachings handed down to us is not something that our endangered world can afford to dismiss. Instead of doubting them, why don�t we doubt ourselves: our ignorance, our assumption that we understand everything already, our grasping and evasion, our passion for so-called explanations of reality that have about them nothing of the awe-inspiring and all-encompassing wisdom of what the masters, the messengers of Reality, have told us?
- Sogyal Rinpoche
November 26, 2005
Brahmanic Whispers
"It came to me this morning
during meditation...
that no one really, truly
'creates'
a poem
or
for that matter, poetry.
At best,
the best poets that have Graced our earthly Plane,
merely
re-Chord
the Divine One Poem (aka; the UniVerse)
already
endlessly
infinitely
in process."
- coach ilg, 11/26/05 before heading out on a 2.5 hour mountain bike ride in Los Angeles.
***
"It struck me today,
while riding,
how the hell come all these millions of people
recently 'diagnosed' with "ADD"
are still so capable of sustaining a grudge?
How come i have not heard of GHID (Grudge Holding Inability Disorder) yet?"
coach ilg, 11/26/05 during a 2.5 hour mountain bike ride in the Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles.
November 25, 2005
HP YOGA CRANKS THE CHI IN LA ONCE AGAIN!!!
ROAD REPORT FROM WF TEMPLE MANAGER ANANDA
***
"You guys don't need FANCY POSES!!!!....
YOU NEED THE CHI!!!!!"
- Coach Ilg letting the WF Dharma Arrows FLY once again in the mecca of Western Yoga; Los Angeles on Thanksgiving Day.
***
Namaste Noble WF Sangha!
I know that Coach has just put up DAY TWO of Alex's WF Private Intensive below, and i will let you get to that INCREDIBLE ACCOUNT by an INCREDIBLE WARRIOR in a second, however, Coach, being too humble again, wasn't gonna say anything but THANK YOU to the packed Cave of MARK BLANCHARDS POWER YOGA studio in Studio City yesterday.
I want to say, however, that our Coach came down off the Sacred Mountain, and delivered one HELLUVA FUN, FOCUSED, and once again TRULY REMARKABLE HP Yoga Class...man, some of our most Stalwart Warriors from our former HP Yoga Studio showed to give their Sacred Sweat on a TRUE THANKSGIVING DAY; Teacher Q was there, commenting afterward upon his still quiviering legs, "Man, Coach did it again, I don't even know what happened! That class was sumpthin' like Bruce Lee-Meets-Patanjali!!! Yeah BABA!" Steve's own sister, Connie, was right up front row, being soooo beautiful and brave for her litle brother! Connie, who made the drive from Long Beach said apre class, "Oh man, i am going to have to be airlifted outta here!" We had Melissa Kai stop by, Heather (from San Francisco!), Peter, Chris, Jon, NWSM Mackel, Brandon, Amber Jean, Dana, Diana, Michelle, Dorman, Cindy, Mara, and a host of "Blanchardites"...it was SO Go(o)d seeing Coach once again smiling, sweating, saying all sorts of crazy wisdom dharma and, well, it was go(o)d seeing him once again in full on suffering, bringing the sweet, Divine Purifying Pran with his LA Tribe again! Of course, afterward, Coach immediately hopped on his cyclecross bike and took off riding with his ol' friend Steve Marlowe (of TBT fame)...the man lives his Path, that is for sure. Pictures coming soon!
We cannot WAIT to come back soon again! We are still in LA having a great time; we are getting our "BodyWork Bungalow" ready to bring our HP and Thai Bodywork back to our LA private clients! we plan on visiting LA regularly once we finish getting ReConnected, so STAY TUNED to DL for the Return of HP Yoga to LA!
To all those noble yogi's and yogini's who were with us in body and spirit or just spirit yesterday,...on behalf of Coach (he is out crusing his sport bike among the freeways right now) i will let you get on with Alex's DAY TWO account..and
as coach says,
"May your Practice be strong and sincere!"
Namaste,
A
DAY TWO OF ALEX'S PRIVATE INTENSIVE:
"WF...it is no miracle, it is years of coach's' mind/body training that has led to this fabulous way of yoking our bodies."
Dearest Coach,
As promised, day two.
It should be noted, that I was staying at Sedona while visiting you. Due to the Vortexes located there, my chi was really amped and I had not been able to sleep very much the preceding nights. Well, after day 1 with you, I slept like a baby. Thank you for that.
Day 2, started in the zendo with some serious meditation and pranayama work. Coach, you artistically led me deeper and deeper into meditation. 
With each meticulous stroke of your brush the proper bandhas were activated. The appropriate techniques were employed and ida and pingala were humming with pran. Gotta tell you coach, the princess definitely saw some of the luminous white light traveling in the sushumna that day in the zendo. After what felt like only a fraction of a moment, you guided me back safely. I have never done meditation like that ever. As stated previously, I have done my share of breath control and meditation at the temples in Japan and China, and what I felt with you was very special. Most people do not know how tough this work really is. When we finished, I had completely soaked my shirt through with sweat. After the restful corpse pose, it was time for a "weenie" workout with you. Very intense and fun at the same time. You introduced some novel techniques into my repertoire. More than anything I will remember the "ilg finger tendonators." What an incredible routine you have for not only pumping up the forearms but also the hands and fingers. Perfect for grappling and climbing. Gotta love you coach.
*Alex, pre fatigued from meditation and strength training with coach, now under the Padmasambhava gaze of one of nation's most astute yoga teachers; Ananda. *
No time for the weary. Off to some hp yoga with the one and only Ananda. She is such a skilled teacher. The way she guides your alignment is truly masterful. I had mentioned that I noticed my hip flexors still carry a lot of tension due to years of heavy squatting. She carefully took notice, and sequenced a link of asanas together to unravel my tight muscles. She is truly meticulous in your teaching. She kept a watchful eye, and every time I reverted to my not so good habits, she lovingly brought my attention to it. Thank you Sensei Ananda for your brilliant teaching. I shall remember to keep my tail bone in as I inner spiral my femur bones. HP Yoga is truly a yoga made for athletes. HP yoga seems to miraculously target the areas of tension that athletes tend to carry. We know it is no miracle, it is years of coach's' mind/body training that has led to this fabulous way of yoking our bodies. 
After a wonderful lunch in a quaint restaurant in downtown flagstaff, we were off for the biggest adventure; MOUNTAIN CLIMBING. What a perfect spot you picked in the oak creek canyon. After a wonderful hike down the precipice of the mountain, we arrived at our destination. Boy, was I in for quite a surprise. One thing is to climb in a gym, another is to climb on a 7000ft mountain with nothing to catch you except trees and boulders. Coach first led the assault setting up the line we would use. You were gracious enough to set up a top rope since I am such a rookie at this. Gracia's maestro. After a few encouraging word and some instructions, it was my turn up the face of the mountain. After climbing maybe 20 feet, I had to really return to my breath to overcome the doubt that was setting in. My ego mind was really doing a number on me. Then coach, you shouted to me to keep breathing and to look down at my feet and let them loose. As you remember coach, that was all I needed cause I just kept climbing all the way to the top with single minded determination. No room to allow fear into this flat lander. This was just a warm up though. You then guided us to the next climb, which was just one long crack in the side of this mountain. Talk about short lived confidence. Coach, as you know, I got about half way up and the mountain would have none of it. It wasn't gonna let this kook (rookie) climb up without paying his dues. A little blood and sweat was needed from me to appease the mountain gods. Just when my fingers were fried, you encouraged me to go for it one more time. This time I saw our brother raven circling and squawking above us. I knew I would be protected, and I let go of the fear. Work my feet , stretch the right hip, jam my hands into the crack, forget about pain, blood and ego. Just keep going. Finally one dyno move to that big jug hold and I had overcome all that which held me back from self actualizing in the moment. Bardo training 101. 
If you don't learn to overcome fear, and find "quiet mind" while your heart is banging out of your chest, how will you be able to embrace the bardo and make the leap. Where will your heart, mind and spirit be when that moment comes to you. Will you be running scared stiff or will you serenely see the truth of the moment; that everything that is born must die and energy changes from one form to the next constantly. It is through this type of training coach that I trust will lead me to see the totality of the moment.
Then coach it is was off through a beautiful sunset to sedona to say our goodbyes. It is with much love that I departed from the both of you, and it is with much love that I shall see the both of you again.
Love and Honor,
Your grappling student Alex
WF Devotee Alex considers DL his, "lifeblood" and "loves to read about other members of the WF Sangha." He works as a Physician Assistant in Miami.
November 23, 2005
EAT TOFURKEY
http://www.msn.americangreetings.com/view.pd?i=382219626&m=1652&rr=y&so
contributed by Online Student "Warrior Tobe" of Steamboat Springs, CO
INTOLERANCE
November 22, 2005
BURN BEFORE THE BIRD
HEY; LA CLAN? WHADDYA DOIN' THANKSGIVING MORNING?
You know i would stand on my head just to see you again, right?!
Coach Ilg, the mountain yogi,
returns to LA for a
�ThanksGiving Day HP Yoga Class
of Sacred Sweat and Stillness
...with you!
"Only through sweat is our spirit made pure."
-Coach Ilg
Founder/High Performance Yoga �
�Namaste Noble Yogis and Yoginis!
I MISS YOU Noble LA Warriors!!
With the Dharma Blessings of Teacher Blanchard, I invite you to a High Performance Yoga� class on
Thanksgiving Day morning
11:15 am - 1:15 pm�
instructed by myself and assisted by Joy Kilpatrick.
Burn Before The Bird, baby!"
- Coach Ilg
$20/Per Student
Bring your copy of
TOTAL BODY TRANSFORMATION (Hyperion Press, 2005)
and Coach will sign it for you!�
For Directions to Mark's Renown Studio and to see�
Coach's embrace of Mark's teaching style at:
http://www.marksyoga.com/
Joy and Steve were both Staff Teachers
for Mark and certified through his Teacher Training in Beverly Hills & Studio City
TRIP NOTE: Just Another Day Down the Hill...
Planning to visit Flagstaff? The Grand Canyon? Wanna make a cool stop along the Highway before you climb up the Mogollon Rim to the Sacred Mountain? Got just the Deal: Pull off Highway 17 from Phoenix just past Camp Verde. Use your WF Awareness and hunt for signs saying; Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well. These two Power Spots are ancient dwellings from the Hohokam and Sinagua cultures and their setting is impeccably, mysteriously, beautiful. Gentle walks, vaulting skies, enchanting riparian paradise...in the middle of "nowhere"...or "everywhere"? Guess that depends on your Perspective of Ancient Ways! I took Ananda to these two Sacred Places just several days ago...chakras were shifted, appreciation was deepened, and a fine Recovery Day workout yoked the Body/Mind Experience....enjoy.
www.nps.gov/moca
May All Beings realize the fast pace of a human life span and GET OUT and play their Fitness among the Ancient and the Wild Ways...
namaste,
the mountain yogi
prehistoric Native canal system. 600 pounds of lime are carried from a 55' deep limestone sink each day in this miracle of tomahawk shovel and hands. 
flipping out over a trout that, swear to Buddha, ask Ananda...was the size of my THIGH! 
"Walking The Dragon"...i strike an Ai Imawa pose above Montezuma Well; you can see some ruins etched in the cliff band.
Arizona sycamore; now THAT'S a Tree Being!
in case you forgot where your water comes from; never flush a toilet or take a shower without Sacred Pause for Father Sky and His Gift of Rain and Snow. 
in case you forgot where your clothes come from; never pull on a pair of pants without Sacred Pause for Mother Earth and Her gift of plants like cotton.
Your Workout is Everywhere; i find a "No Hands" route up a retaining wall.
Montezuma's Castle; a Castle In The Sky. Think "True Functional Fitness" if you lived here...perhaps, once, you did!?
THANK YOU; Yogini Lees...
for this:
http://www.kristi-trinity.com/reflections.html
May your Practice along the WF Path continue to enkindle your Flame toward Enlightenment...
Coach Ilg and Ananda
November 21, 2005
BETTER CLICK HERE FAST
BETTER CLICK HERE FAST
http://www.kristi-trinity.com/yoga.html
if you wish to be taken to the website of yet ANOTHER
beautiful Yogini of the WF Way...who is unafraid to let her WF and SR Herb Path SHINE!!!!!!!
Holy Coconino!!!!!!
since i moved the WF Temple back h(om)e beneath the Sacred Mountain...
WHAT...
WHAT...
WHAT is UP with you WF SANGHA these days? Forgive me if i am mistaken, however,
wasn't just the last WEEK of DIRECT LINES carrying the Chi Transmission from a Hall of Famer in golf,
a Martial Artist World Champion, the absolute THROW DOWN of an elite Grappler/Physican about the
"miracle" of WF, a World Championship Triathlete, and...man, i forget what else...
do any of you RECOGNIZE the ongoing TURBULENT FLOW OF DIRECT LINES for the PAST QUARTER CENTURY!!??!?!
oh my Lord Buddha Omnipotent!!!!
what WILL it take for the Outer World to Wake UP to their own,
home grown
Union of Fitness; Body and Mind = = = = = WHOLISTIC FITNESS�!
just WAIT until you read about DAY TWO from WF Warrior/Grappler/Surgeon/Newest WF Hero; ALEX!!! from his recent WF Intensive; seems to me...yup...you cheer the noble Warriors and Warrioresses that actually make the PILGRIMAGE to THEIR WF Private Intensive, yet..
wait a sec,
let me check...
nope...
sure nuff...
YOU have not Scheduled your OWN WF Private Intensive with ANY WF Teacher yet, have you!??!
hmmmm....i wonder why...
perhaps,
Enlightenment just doesn't interest you!?!?!?!
"We cannot convince a man nor
turn him away from his weakness merely by arguing with him or fighting him
but often we completely transform him by showing him something Higher.
We see this in the lives of truly great men."
- Swami Pramanananda
SUNRIDER "COLONIC DEEP CLEANSE" GETS RESULTS AGAIN!
Above; Coach demonstrates "stomach flossing and Pranic Gardening," as he calls the yogic Practices of
Nauli...without low stomach volume and high nutrition, such Practices remain
out of reach for the common man who relies on common food. Coach knows better;
Coach knows SUNRIDER HERBS! He says, "It is ridiculous and dangerous to go on "Cleanses" that DEPLETE your cell membrane structure and function! I don't fast, i don't diet...i eat my SUNRIDER herbs and follow the WF Path; no fasting,
no "colonics", no "laxatives", none of that bullshit stuff that only depletes the body, dehydrates the cells, and dwindles the Pran! Here is what works gently, powerfully, safely, and BEAUTIFULLY: my 3-Phase Approach to the SUNRIDER HERBS! Start on Phase I; Cell Cleansing TODAY and FEEL THE CHI!"
***
About the only people who are skeptics about my 3-Phase Approach to
using the SUNRIDER HERBS to drop fat, empower cells, and ignite the CHI
are the ones who do not Practice energy work such as Pranayam, Nauli, etc.
If they did, they would immediately understand by Direct Experience
how vital it is to keep the colonic system clean and manageable so that
ALL nutrients, both physical and meta-physical, can be assimilated and managed
for Higher, and HIGHER forms of ENERGY!
It all starts with the cells, and for me,
that means relying on SUNRIDER herbs for my Cellular Fitness!
Since 1982, baby...
Below, man, i LOVE it when a new SUNRIDER WARRIOR simply follows my
3-Phase Approach to the SUNRIDER herbs...
just READ what happens,
again
and
again
and again: TRANSFORMATION!
this came in the mail today from New SUNRIDER Warrior RC:
eat an herb and ENJOY!
coach ilg
SUNRIDER Lead Director
****
Coach,
I started deep cleanse one week ago. I have
been going with protocol of package straight up of
"Vitadophilus" each am when I get up. For first two
days, I took one slim cap and one "Fibertone" with
evening meal. For rest of week, I have been taking one
Slim Cap and one fibertone in am with "Ilg Supreme",
which is sometimes a smoothie by addition of frozen
organic strawberries or blueberries, and two Slim
Caps and two Fibertones with evening meal.
COACH:
okay, just beware that COLD stuff shuts down assimilation uptake...
yogis are trained to stay away from all dualities;
we start by practicing staying away from extreme cold foods (ice cream, cold smoothies, etc)
and extremely hot foods/beverages.
always best to walk the Middle Path...
that is why my ILG SUPREME recipe is not a smoothie.
SUNRIDER RC:
In addition
fd several times a day and one to two "Sunbars" around
noon and sometimes one for snack in pm.
COACH:
BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
SUNRIDER RC:
My report
based on Signs To Look For: (1) always one bm (bowel movement) within
first hour after waking up and sometimes a second bm
before noon - I can't find any reason why one on some
days and two on others - for example, yesterday two
and today one - the bms are lots of volume and
well-formed - in the past I took Slim Caps for
several weeks at a time in pm and I had same number
and volume of bms but looser and sometime foul type
odor - it's not that my poop doesn't stink but no foul
odor with your "SR Deep Cleanse" protocol
COACH:
Bingo!
you are right on Track now...
not too much,
not too little...
just right for the long pace...
of course, there is going to be aberration in the BM's,
since we are chipping away at DECADES of encrusted colonic matter,
however,
at this intake of your herbs,
it feels just right...
now,
settle in and groove it out for a few years...
SUNRIDER RC:
(2) since my army
days 68-70 I have almost always had morning bm (shit,
shower, and shave) so I don't know if transit time has
increased but, as noted, bm volume higher on deep
cleanse than before
COACH:
perfect!
SUNRIDER RC:
(3) energy level great I think
higher than before deep cleanse but energy level has
been steadily growing since I stopped smoking on
October 3 and in last two weeks I actually added some
strenth training (two times a week) to yoga and cardio
practice/workouts I'm doing something physical each
day (upcoming week is one of travel so I'll be down a
little)
COACH:
BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
see how SYMBIOTIC is the Relationship between the herbs and exercise?!?!
i tell you,
if you just start getting your friends and family on the herbs,
sooner or later,
they will start feeling very much better,
more energy,
and then,
BINGO!
they start exercising at a level that feels go(o)d to them!
SUNRIDER RC:
(4) emotional state is hard to describe it
borders on blissful sometimes I think and feel it's
due to all kinds of positive change and I don't
discount value of deep cleanse I am reading "Power of
Now" like the bible ( a little bit each am) and that
adds also to mix
COACH:
it's all about feeling go(o)d..
it's hard to feel God,
if you don't feel go(o)d!
Feeling go(o)d
is
feeling the Now,
go(o)dness does not live anywhere else;
only in the
NOW!
SUNRIDER RC:
(5) using SURNIDER herbs daily in the form of the ILG SUPREME
COACH:
abhyasa, baby...abhyasa!
constancy of Practice....everyday is VITAL!
SUNRIDER RC:
(6) maybe
slight weight loss according to scale I do note that
there may some constant water loss as seen in finger
rings being looser and appearance of my old face
Thanks for everything Coach.
Namaste, RC
COACH:
Thank you for your Devoted Practice and Trust in my 3-Phase Approach
to the SUNRIDER Herbs...
the Approach works,
when
YOU
work the Approach!
keep it cranked,
and
eat an herb!
love,
coach ilg
{JUST AFTER THANKSGIVING and BEFORE THE CHRISTMAS/NEW YEAR HOLIDAY is an IDEAL TIME TO DO
MY EXCLUSIVE: "SR DEEP CLEANSE"! WHY NOT CLEAN OUT BEFORE TAKING IN! ASK YOUR UPLINE SPONSOR TODAY
IF DOING MY "SR DEEP CLEASE" IS RIGHT FOR YOU! - coach ilg}
November 20, 2005
THEY AIN'T SO BAAAAAD!.....STUDENT ALEX WRITES OF HIS PRIVATE INTENSIVE; DAY ONE...
Dearest Sensei's,
I miss you sooo much already. I know people may feel it is not very "yogic" to miss someone else, but yogis are humans and it is in embracing all the myriad of emotions, that we find our humanity and evolution toward enlightenment. Here are some of my thoughts on the WF intensive.
Day 1:
Opening Blessings inside the Hombu zendo. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! Talk about chi and pran. Coach, I have been to many temples in Asia and been around many guru's, and I can unequivocally say, "THEY AINT GOT SHIT ON Y(OUR) TEMPLE" My "nadis" or for our scientific brothers and sisters "nervous system"was barely able to contend the amount of energy in the zendo. Coach, I felt like I was having convulsions during the blessings. Repeatedly I came back to "breath and posture" to steady the chi that was oscillating in the environment. I lack the skill in trying to elaborate what transpired through this prose. I imagine this is what "SATORI" must feel like. A lightning bolt leading straight to enlightenment. Quite a start. After a brief conversation, we were off for a little cardio WF style. I had never been mountain biking before. Thank you for introducing me to the beauty of this art. I felt so alive biking through these trails. Talk about moving zen meditation. If your attention wavers for even one second, you get to become part of the log or the boulder that is inviting you to come and lay with them. 
Then came the climb. Coach, that was some intense suffering. The high altitude combined with my total inexperience climbing a mountain on a bike made for one terrific opportunity for my for my bardo training. I listened to your instructions to stick to your back wheel, but try as I might, this flat lander could not manage to ride your coattail. Like all incredible sensei's, you left me to battle my inner and outer demons on the climb. I can not thank you enough for that time. It was just me, the breath, nanisimo, this mountain, and the will not to give up. Huffing and puffing, I decided that no matter what, there was no way that this ocean boy was gonna give up. A couple of times, as I was riding on the ledge of the mountain, I thought how much less painful would it be if I just fell off the mountain. Just as I could no longer find my breath and posture, you appear out of nowhere, shouting the three stages of the bardo at me. That's just what the doctor ordered. I got to the top, ready for Schultz creek pass. After the storm comes the rainbow. Shultz pass is better than any amusement ride you could ever dream of. 
Following coach through these steep drops and wicked boulders was amazing. I am happy to say that I got to know the earth very closely a couple of times. Coach, tell nanisimo sorry from me. what a good stallion he was to me. After making it home in one piece although a little bloody, it was time a famous Ananda lunch. She radiates so much beauty and love, it is blinding a times. The food and the company were amazing. 
After a brief brake, it was teaching time for this eternal student. Pranayama was the topic of the day, and coach you did a marvelous job explaining everything to me. ida, pingala sushumna, bandhas, apna vayus were just a little of the menu that I was treated to. Coach, I don't know how you are not sold out every single day of the year. You truly walk your walk and talk your talk. Maybe sensing my scientific training in me, you made clear sense of these so called esoteric teachings. As the day was winding down, it was some toilet yoga for this poor grappler. 
I now see or better, feel the genius work of toilet yoga. Then it was off to rest for day 2. I will write tomorrow on day 2.
Love and Honor,
Your humble grappler, Alex PS. I would love for you to send the pictures of our Intensive. I need to frame one and put you with all the sensei's I have the pleasure of studying with.
PERSEVERE...and LET GO!!
The important point of spiritual practice is not to try to escape your life,
but to face it -- exactly and completely.
~ Dainin Katagiri Roshi
Body lying flat on a last bed,
Voices whispering a few last words,
Mind watching a final memory glide past:
When will that drama come for you?
- VIIth DALAI LAMA
November 19, 2005
STAR AURA
photo by Coach Ilg; 11,200' Campsite Twilight beneath the Sacred Peak, last summer, Kachina Wilderness.
"Two men stare from behind the same Bars...
One sees the mud.
The other, the stars."
- Sufi
***
i have spent a thousand nights beneath our natural ceiling of stars...
as a rock climber and passionate lover of mountain air...
i have slept a thousand nights
naked
sometimes twisting
beneath a cosmic drape of stars
stars
which rise and Dance, all too often...
unseen
by an unfeeling parade of "civilized"
modern man.
oh,
modern man
has lights...all spores of them
- hec, i've even had my own name, emblazoned upon Ventura Boulevard in Neon Light -
yet,
our modern, neon, hallogenic, vampire lights
are not Lights at all...
they are so full of fear
fear of that which is beautifully,
seductively
dim
quiet
and
Anasazi still.
To Ananda,
who
drives this night - alone -
across the Mohave dark (probably co-Chanting with Krishna Das)
toward Los Angeles;
a glittery fast city where she once Shone in movie star and fast star Ways,
tonight, deeply soaked by WF Chi from living the Temple's Most Direct Path,
she drives
toward LA
where i will meet her
in the Place of Angels
where we first met...
our Profit Margin
for teaching one yoga class
will be more than triply burnt and spewed
into our Beloved Father Sky...
I Pray:
"I am sorry Father Sky
for polluting your Cosmic Lens
... please help us make our Thanksgiving Day Yoga Class
somehow be Light enough
to help others Shine in Ways that far surpass our burning of fossil fuels to go and Serve.
Of this,
i have no other Desire from our Trip to LA.
Let this then, be my Pilgrimage Prayer."
***
Ananda,
on THIS night
after Solo Practice...
i stood transfixed beneath
"YabYum" - our two front yard, 200' Ponderosa Beings -
i stood transfixed stood beneath their awesome, needled bodies...
and LISTENED
TO THE BLAST OF STARS BEFORE MY EYES
and do you know what happened?
on THIS night
for s(om)e reason...
i
could
See a most Beautiful, Sensual Vaporous AURA streaming from
each and every star
linking - in luminous, Sushumna Ways -
all the other stars!
I see Now,
finally,
the Sky
the Father Sky
whose shimmering lights untold
the Great Tale
before our Ancient Ones...
i See now,
Tonight
finally...
how The Ancients
could so Easily
and Fluidly
See the Constellations with all their StoryPlots and
intricate Linkage
which
give
Monument
to the Night Sky...
***
Ananda; from beneath the cold
Sacred Peak,
i whisper, i love you...
you keep my humble Temple as solid as the granite hide upon El Capitan i once climbed
and
you single handedly help me Serve our amazing Sangha,
in the only Way i know how;
Straight
Up.
as the miles unfurl beneath Bala's rubber,
know that you
through our love,
shall all-Ways have stars
that dance
sway
shimmer
to Sushumna Vortex Rhythms
our touch upon Society
like little Yogi Kisses
within the Medicine Wheel
of our Father Sky Song...
to that Great Mystery
to that Great Medicine Wheel
which churns above me right now
without you
in a great
glittering
Heya! Night Sky!
***
"People have stars, but they aren't the same. For travelers, the stars are guides. For other people, they're nothing but tiny lights. And for still others, for scholars, they're problems.. For my businessmen, they were gold.
But all those stars are silent ones.
You,
though,
you'll have stars like nobody else."
"What do you mean?"
"When you look up at the sky at night, since I'll be living on one of them, since I'll be laughing on one of them, for you it'll be as if all the stars are laughing. You'll have stars that can laugh."
- The Little Prince speaking to the Pilot in
"THE LITTLE PRINCE" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
read a Chapter (not more!) of THE LITTLE PRINCE
to your Loved One(s)
tonight, with a cup of Calli Night..
be brave!
it will do your long term Health and Wholistic Fitness
a
World of Go(o)d...
i bow to the Night Stars,
dancing
your mountain yogi,
coach ilg
WF STUDENT ENTERS HALL OF FAME 
Julie Carmichael, an Online Student of WF Teacher Ko, a HIGH PERFORMANCE YOGA student, and SUNRIDER Herbal Warrioress notches yet another podium for our humble, yet powerful Temple of Wholistic Fitness as Julie becomes a 2005 Hall of Fame Inductee. Hey, what do i have to keep telling you all? "The Path works, when YOU work the Path!" BE GREAT IN YOUR OWN LIFE: BE A WF WARRIOR!!!!
From Teacher KO's WF-Approved blog at:
http://www.twistedsageblog.blogspot.com/
Friday, November 18, 2005
Congratulations Julie!
Namaste All,
"Thanks for the email. I didn't expect you guys would be able to be there but wanted you to know that it was happening. You've been a tremendous part of my success the last couple of years whether you know it or not. The things we've talked about and that I have learned from being your student have allowed me to get out of my own way on the golf course. I feel very fortunate to have met you and Jody." -- Julie Carmichael.
Last week, Julie was inducted into the Indiana Golf Hall of Fame, an incredible achievement and honor. Through the course of her career, thus far, Julie has won virtually every state sanctioned golf tournament in Indiana as well as several national tournaments and titles. Over the last couple of years, i have had the good fortune to Serve as part of Julie's "team" of Coaches, specifically as her Wholistic Fitness� Teacher, and her Yoga Teacher. i could not have asked for a better Student. I'm VERY proud of Julie, even though, as Yogis, we are not supposed to cultivate pride: -) Way to go!!
To see an image of Julie at the awards ceremony and to read more about her list of victories and accomplishments, please click on this link: http://www.indianagolf.org/index.php
Peace,
chris
COACH ILG RESPONDS TO THE NEWS:
*
Noble WF Student Julie...
my HeartSpace opens with Light and Love...
i bow to you and your Teacher,
Most Esteemed WF Teacher Ko...
well done, Warrioress of the WF Way...
looks like, if you keep your Practice Strong and Sincere,
you are shooting on Par for the REAL Game:
for Enlightenment in this Lifetime...
here is to your Whole-In-One...
keep it cranked,
namaste,
Coach Ilg
creator/Wholistic Fitness
* photo of coach by; www.waynewilliamsstudio.com
YOUR CHOICE: The SR Temple Purity and Power or...worldwide flu?!
OPTION A: Eat What The Outer World Eats and Take Your Chances...
BEIJING -- China reported its first human cases of bird flu on the mainland Wednesday, including at least one fatality, as health workers armed with vaccine and disinfectant raced to inoculate billions of chickens and other poultry in a massive campaign to contain the virus.
The World Health Organization confirmed the virulent strain experts fear could cause a worldwide flu pandemic has now infected humans in the world's most populous nation.
Above photo: Workers disinfect the road as villagers look on at a checkpoint at Qitaizi Village, in Heishan, China. The village was the site of one of four recent outbreaks of bird flu in Liaoning province. China announced on Tuesday it would vaccinate its entire poultry stock of 14 billion birds in an effort to prevent further outbreaks of the bird flu virus. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)
Or...
OPTION B: SUNRIDER HERBS; The Official Whole Food Nutrition of Wholistic Fitness since 1983:
State-of-the-Art Manufacturing
Can any other "Herb Shop" or whole food company match SUNRIDER's manufacturing room? The room where your herbs are purified in SUNRIDER, is a "Class 10,000 clean air room"-that means medical device quality. Air is completely changed and filtered every few minutes to reduce contaminants. The production line is over 100 feet long.
Can they match our Extraction Machine? This machine extracts all those powerful, beneficial essences of SUNRIDER herbs through an elaborate, expensive extraction process through heat, water and pressure and other special treatments in 600- to 3500-gallon tanks that process one batch of our herbs every two hours.
This is just the TIP of the SUNRIDER integrity when it comes to CONCENTRATED, STERILE, POTENT, and ENHANCED herbs! Drs. Tei Fu and Oi-Lin Chen have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Sunrider's research and manufacturing facilities. To maintain the exclusivity of our products, SUNRIDER does not private label for other companies. Other companies may claim to have similar ingredients or even self-manufacturing, but can their manufacturing facilities compare to Sunrider's? If not, those products simply cannot compete with the quality of SUNRIDER products.
***
Student Mackel, an elite Triathlete, coach, and wellness teacher, was near me in Sedona not too long ago as part of a new yoga video for Mark Blanchard. Student Mackel knows all about the preciousness of the SUNRIDER CHI!!!
Coach,
All this about herbs, aminos and everthing else. Well, with two years of SUNRIDER herbs under my belt I still have no idea what's in them or how they work. All I know is that they do work. I eat the herbs and get faster. With another race coming up, I am still under 8% body fat and 165, not bad. Today I taught a Spinning Class and had them step up to 10 X 1 min intervals after a good warm-up. They couldn't keep up with me and we needed a mop to clean up the sweat that manifested from this classic Wholistic Fitness workout.
I TAF I have to put the Coach Ilg's 3-Phase SUNRIDER program on TriThisCoaching.Com next week. I tell everyone I take herbs, they are still my secret weapon. I will mix my Sport Caps and Wu Chia Pi before my Malibu event. Ilg Supremes are the staple of my program and Calli tea is steeped in so much Chi it is unbelievable.
Namaste,
NWSM
***
Dear Coach,
Sunrider Nutrition has already made an impact I can feel. I feel brighter at times during my day and the people that see me daily have commented on how perky I seem. Actually, my friend Patrice told me I have a funny smile on my face, like I know something. Which of course I do! My bowel movements are within an hour of waking now, on average. I can tell that when I eat fish or meat that it slows the process down - very interesting.
- New Wholistic Fitness Online Student Scott C.�
***
You ARE cranking the SUNRIDER CHI aren't you?!?!
If not, look to your left, select a WF Teacher and click to begin the Sign Up Process. They will contact you and guide you or if you want to have Student Mackel or Scott, mentioned above, guide your SUNRIDER journey, just let me know.
The thing is: JUMP!
The herbs can Cleanse, Balance, and FEED all of your major organ systems like nothing else on the planet. Even with DL and my books and videos or even in Online Training, you can only train so far without having your CELLULAR FITNESS become a weak link...SUNRIDER HERBS makes SURE your CELLULAR FITNESS is world class. Trust me...and, you can adapt my 3-Phase Approach to any budget. Or, you can easily eat the herbs for free by simply sharing them with friends and family.
Eat An Herb
and
AWAKEN TO THE CHI!!!!!
See you in the Herb Garden of SUNRIDER,
coach ilg
SUNRIDER Lead Director
November 18, 2005
STRENGTH TRAINING and SPONTANEITY: TBT h(OM)e Student Asks Coach Ilg Some BasicQuestions
It's easy for newcomers to undervalue the unmatched longevity of elite body/mind mastery of Coach Ilg's journey as the creator and to this day; devoted student of the Wholistic Fitness� Path. Although his outdoor athletic accomplishments are more well known, it may come as a surprise to many that our Coach has reached many indoor podiums as well; bodybuilding, olympic lifting, boxing, martial arts, racquetball, squash, track, indoor sport climbing, and ice hockey. Here is a rare shot of a well-permed Coach Ilg preparing for a Regional Bodybuilding Championships in the early eighties. I asked him about this shot...he replied, "Gotta love that perm and those Dolphin� shorts, eh?! {laughing} I got to hang out with Arnold - before he became "ARNOLD" - for a few days before this competition. It was FAAANTASSTIC! {using an Arnold impersonation}. As you can see, i was pretty well "into it" back then. I also trained two National Champions in Bodybuilding around then. Arnold had told me to drink "Kefir" to "bring up my calves." Even WITH a lactose intolerance, you better believe that I drank Kefir until i nearly exploded. Ridiculous, I know, yet, those where very, very go(o)d years. I finished 3rd Place in Lightweight Divsion in this particular competition. I weighed 139 pounds in the above picture." This caption story by Temple Manager Ananda
***
I wish i could answer all the questions that TBT fans ask me. Unfortunately, for liability, karmic, and financial reasons, i simply cannot. I often use my Devoted WF Certified Online Teachers to attempt to help everyone. I don't know any other book author or athlete or coach of my caliber that attempts to serve everyone for free...however, i do my best. My Teachers taught me that much; Just Feed The People; Serve! That is one reason why Direct Lines is still complimentary...something that we will have to change soon unfortunately, thanks to too many people "lifting" my intellectual and imaging property from these lines, and then polluting and using them for their own advancement without so much as a nod to me. Others might sue them, all i say to these deceitful "warriors" is,
"All Karma is God."
What I can do, is offer general counsel every now and then in this forum, as I have chosen to do with Noble "TBT h(OM)e Student Brad" who wrote me today. I will address his questions in my traditional WF Online Study Format:
****
Coach Ilg,
I am a hOMe student of WF using your great TBT book.
COACH ILG RESPONDS: Well, thank you! and...welc(om)e to our humble, yet powerful Temple, Brad!
STUDENT:
My first question concerns the role of spontaneity with regards to the WF path. When presented with the opportunity to ride some great waves, ski after a big dump or otherwise seize the day, is it appropriate to do so in the midst of a WF cycle?
COACH ILG: dude...c'mon...you're talkin' to "America's Outdoor Athlete" here!!!
whaddya THINK AND FEEL (TAF)? OF COURSE! i can only assume that you speaking as a non-sponsored athlete in these sports. i qualify this, because if you are a sponsored athlete in one of these areas and you do them everyday as training, than, the reverse is sometimes True; you need to step outside your specific sport and train your weaknesses via the appropriate cross training discipline.
STUDENT:
If it is appropriate, would one still do the prescribed workout for the day as well?
COACH ILG: Depends on how BAD you want the Training Effect! One reason why i can still compete in so many sports at any given time is that i am BIG on the "WF PRE FATIGUE TRAINING PRINCIPLE" which states; "If the WF Athlete truly wishes to procure the DEEPEST and HIGHEST body/mind/spiritual training effect for long-term deep fiber and spiritual transmission in later performances, then it is best to absolutely demolish yourself in some intradiscipline of WF BEFORE doing the sport or fitness activity. This forces new neural, nadic, and subtle anatomical Pathways to 'step up' and become recruited since the sport or activity is being superimposed upon a fatigued body/mind. For instance, before i even hook up with the local mountain bike studs, i will have made sure that i have ALREADY TRAINED HARDER THAN THEM BEFORE EVEN MEETING THEM FOR THE RIDE! I will have already been sitting in meditation, i will have already done a HP Yoga session, a Pranayama session, or a Strength Session; i consistently do this so that when i begin to TAPER my training for a Peak Performance, i know DAMN WELL that my CHI is going to be crazy strong as begin dropping off my multi-disciplined volumes to focus on just ONE EVENT on ONE DAY! does this make sense? the WF Master Athlete MUST practice SANTOSHA (contentment) with 'poor' training performances when out with sport specific athletes because the WF Master Athlete KNOWS in his or her heart that NO ONE ELSE is training their other body/mind disciplines like we do!
Or, as my ol' Durango friend and MTB Legend, Ned Overend told me, "Most people train too hard on their easy days and too easy on their hard days."
STUDENT:
I understand the need for consistency and discipline, but isn�t play important as well?
COACH:
uh....you mean like this:
Testing my mental and physical skills about 60' off the ground, unroped, in Snow Canyon, Utah. Photo by a very nervous Ananda.
or this;
Just passing 24 mph...on Off Road Inline Skates...Coach prepares for Nordic Ski Racing still utilizing dryland training exercises that he wrote about as far back as 1980...even before his first book, THE OUTDOOR ATHLETE.
or this?
Coach cranks to a 2nd place overall in the "Gaspin' In The Aspen" Mountain Duathlon this past September.
evidently, you are NOT a DIRECT LINES reader or a fan of my other books or dvds like my INTRO TO SNOWSHOEING DVD! hell, FUN is precisely what WF is ALL ABOUT!!! FOCUSED FUN! to this Tribe of WF Warriors, it is FUN to realize, "Shit, i am brushing my teeth again with my Dominant Hand!" then switch over to the other hand to Cultivate Balance In All Things. Or, we find it FUN to realize we are schelping over onto one hip with rounded posture, then, adjusting into a more ELEGANT, CONSCIOUS POSTURE, we smile for we realize suddenly HOW FUN IT IS TO BE CONTINUALLY AWARE of our negative tendencies and habits and RISING ABOVE THEM!! and, when it comes to sports and fitness activities...hell, LINE 'EM UP!!! WF Warriors are "specialists at generalism!...we do it ALL because it is WAY TOO MUCH FUN to just do ONE dang sport or fitness activity! Life is SHORT! DO THEM ALL!
STUDENT:
Secondly, many of the WF strength exercises seem to be linear in nature. Is there not value in practicing spiraling, twisting and transverse plane movements in strength training? Do we rely on yoga to address this dimension?
COACH:
I don't know exactly WHICH TBT Book you are reading, because my book(s) have promoted Olympic Lifts, Plyometrics, and unique techniques exclusive to WF that address each of those plane movements, BESIDES YES!!! We definitely rely on HP Yoga to address non-linear, functional fitness planes of movement. Do have you my HP PROP WORKOUT DVD? It is dangerous to load the spine with Strength Training Resistance while attempting to relearn how to "move like a cat." Thanks to the cross-training of disciplines inherent to WF, I still have the agility and balance, plus strength plus endurance of most people twice as young as I. You see, Oh Noble Newcomer To Our Humble Temple, The Science of Wholistic Fitness is based upon that natural wisdom of breath and movement. We use asana for functional fitness in neuromuscular ways then use the "Iron Temple" for bone mass and joint stability (asana specific 'yogis' are renown for not being able to do anything FUN; like RUNNING DOWN A MOUNTAIN, SKIING EXPLOSIVELY, or any other laterally explosive or ultra endurance type of fitness...not very 'yogic' at all to me!). The WF Athlete also uses the gym to cultivate other Genuine Fitness Requirements: strength endurance, deep fiber power, and explosive coordination as well as making sure our bodies are burning fat constantly due to a high percentage of lean, muscular tissue. 
Coach crankin' a typical movement of WF Advanced Strength Training; Padmasana Sit Ups. This movement requires femoral spiraling, spinal twisting, and transverse plane movements.
Again, your question is obviously not from a non-formal Online Student. If you study Online Training Programs, you will encounter the Real Juice of WF Strength Training; workouts that engage all sorts of crazy ass techniques that require a full command of yogic type of flexibility, once again, superimposed upon deliberate strength training movements.
STUDENT:
Third. Any suggestions for substitute exercise for Lat Pull-Downs and Leg Extensions since I don�t have a gym membership. I can�t stand the atmosphere of big commercial gyms.
COACH:
The very fact that you "can't stand the atmosphere of big commercial gyms" speaks volumes of the progress you need to mature your "pratyharic fitness," or...your capacity to withdraw your Senses inward. I have written much on this topic in DL throughout the years...it's all there, waiting for you. I will say this however, if you "can't stand" certain atmospheres...then I promise you, you will not make it far in the Bardo until you learn how to cope elegantly within atmospheres that challenge your composure.
STUDENT:
Lastly, I have recently been practicing a modified version of �beeper guru� meditation. It�s called �cell-phone guru�. Each time a cell phone rings I focus on breath and posture or whichever the prescribed meditation is for the day. It has helped to turn what I find to be an annoying intrusion into an opportunity for mindful reflection.
COACH:
I bow! Great Job! However, WF Online Students have been practicing the "Cell Phone Beeper Guru" since 1999. Keep up your Awareness, however...for there are as many "Beeper Gurus" are there are the "10,000 things" of the Outer World!
As the WF Maxim goes; "Your Workout Is Everywhere."
STUDENT:
I humbly await your thoughts.
Brad G.
PS- Say hi to Flagstaff for me. I grew-up in Phoenix and learned to ski at Snowbowl. Many great memories!!!
COACH:
Well, check out the recent month of DIRECT LINES...you will see many beautiful pics of Snowbowl...and, absolutely, I will kiss the Kinlani Winds for you on tomorrow's mountain bike ride up Lower Moto!
thank you for the questions and i bow to your Devoted Practice,
coach ilg
November 16, 2005
COACH'S LATEST USSA COLUMN "RUNNING ON WATER" IS NOW UP:
i wrote this column with my Sangha in my my heart,
wishing they will smile at the way i have interwoven Yogic tenets into a 'hard core' outdoor sport!
even the President of USSA sent me a letter saying; "OUTSTANDING!"
please enjoy a cup of Calli Beverage and enjoy!...
http://www.snowshoeracing.com/steve_ilg_2.htm
or go to the USSA homesite at:
http://www.snowshoeracing.com/home.htm
BRING THE MIND HOME
Meditation is bringing the mind back home, and this is first achieved through the practice of mindfulness.
Once an old woman came to Buddha and asked him how to meditate. He told her to remain aware of every movement of her hands as she drew water from the well, knowing that if she did, she would soon find herself in that state of alert and spacious calm that is meditation.
- Sogyal Rinpoche
November 15, 2005
"To meet everything and everyone through stillness instead of mental noise, is the greatest gift you can offer to the Universe!"
- Eckhart Tolle
"The joy we seek lies less in something new happening and more in our opening our hearts more fully to the love in our lives already!"
- Marianne Williamson
November 14, 2005
COMPOSURE THROUGH WEATHERING * WHEN THE BODILY LIGHTNESS HITS, it's..."Holy PRAN batman!"
Noble Teacher Ananda,
Holy PRAN batman! I mean what was that! LOL This mornings vinyasa of Meditation, Level II Toilet Yoga�, Neti and At Sink Pranayama� left me with a lightness and CHI hit that is still flowing within my awakening body.
WF is penetrating and resonating OMbelievably and creating more clarity in my life.
Very light � yet still very grounded.
I bow �
I am trying to find the words, something to reply with as much Grace and Beauty as you express in my programs and to what Coach expresses through DL and the ongoing evolution of this Path.. All I can come up with is �
I love You both...
Thank you for your attention to my new cycle.
And to Coach; Thank you for walking the walk in the way only YOU (ok and perhaps Ananda) can!
In gracious surrender from
a new level of Laghava and much Gratitude,
WF online student lees
NZ
**
COMPOSURE THROUGH WEATHERING
by Sogyal Rinpoche
"Although we have been made to believe that if we let go we will end up with nothing, life itself reveals again and again the opposite: that letting go is the path to real freedom.
Just as when the waves lash at the shore, the rocks suffer no damage but are sculpted and eroded into beautiful shapes, so our characters can be molded and our rough edges worn smooth by changes. Through weathering changes, we can learn how to develop a gentle but unshakable composure. Our confidence in ourselves grows, and becomes so much greater that goodness and compassion begin naturally to radiate out from us and bring joy to others.
That goodness is what survives death, a fundamental goodness that is in each and every one of us. The whole of our life is a teaching of how to uncover that strong goodness, and a training toward realizing it."
TAO MADE MANIFEST: THE ELIXIR OF THE WF LIFE IS ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SCALE
photo by Coach of Student Alex during his recent Intensive. New to mountain biking, this shot was taken of Alex after he used his vast martial art background to faithfully and chifully conquer a 38-minute hillclimb which left him cross-eyed with effort. "I have found new respect for bike racers," he said. the next shot was taken a few minutes and a few falls later as Alex flew down the renown 4-mile singletrack descent of Schultz Pass Trail:
"My beloved Sensei's
My heart sings with melody and melancholy as I departed you and Ananda from my Private Intensive. You have given me so much. The Tao has been made manifest before my very eyes. My practice is to uphold your teachings and transmit the love you have given me into the "everyday" world. Ripples make Waves but you have caused a tsunami to well up within me. I will give a more detailed account of my experience when I am back in Miami. Our sangha must know how powerful your medicine of life truly is. To read and know theoretically and didactically is one thing, but to feel the elixir of life that you possess, is knowledge on a completely different scale.
I love you both
Love and Honor,
Humbled Grappler Alex"
SPEAK TO US OF GIVING...
*
Coach-
Namaste! Great week of DL - keeps getting higher and higher.
Love-
Student L
NYC
*
Namaste Coach Steve,
I read this poem by Kahlil Gibran and it brought You, WF and DL to mind.
Then said a rich man, speak to us of Giving.
And he answered;
You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may
need them tomorrow?
And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the overprudent dog burying bones
in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?
And what is fear of need but need itself?
Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, the thirst that is unquenchable?
There are those who give little of the much which they have, and they give it
for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome.
And their are those who have little and give it all.
These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty.
Their are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.
And their are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism.
And their are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they
seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue;
They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.
Through the hands of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes
he smiles upon earth.
All that You give is GREATLY appreciated.
Thank you.
WF Warrior Todd Bishop
PS: I've been putting down some great first snow shoe traks at HooDoo Ski bowl and
in the high Cascades in search of some Oregon WF, next weekend!, the slopes at
Mt Bachelor, GOD I love winter.
*
Most Noble Warrior Bishop...
head bowed
heart open...
"Share what you have to give..." those were my instructions by my Teacher.
yesterday: snowshoes drying out beneath "YabYum" our Ponderosa Brother at the WF Temple H(om)e
- coach ilg
TOO MUCH THINKING
"Because in our culture we overvalue the intellect, we imagine that to become enlightened demands extraordinary intelligence. In fact, many kinds of cleverness are just further obscurations. There is a Tibetan saying: �If you are too clever, you could miss the point entirely."
Patrul Rinpoche said: �The logical mind seems interesting, but it is the seed of delusion.� People can become obsessed with their own theories and miss the point of everything. In Tibet we say: �Theories are like patches on a coat, one day they just wear off."
- Sogyal Rinpoche
November 13, 2005
NEW DREW LIVES! 
This shot of "New Drew" might touch the hearts of those brave warriors and warrioress's who came to love my HIGH PERFORMANCE YOGA Studio along Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles. New Drew graced the wall of our lobby area. Now, he dances his renown 'reverse warrior' pose above our Medicine Wheel and is happily surrounded by ponderosa pines, Tibetan Prayer Flags, and Quan Yin here at Two Tree Manor beneath the Sacred Peak. This photo shows New Drew in a beautiful pounded copper medium created by Wholistic Fitness Warrioress Tamara of Burbank, California.
***
DL PRIZE QUESTION: THE FIRST PERSON TO SEND ME A PICTURE OF "OLD DREW"...the Stick Figure...to:
Coach Ilg
2733 West Darleen Drive
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
wins a SPECIAL GIFT from the H(om)e Temple!
HINT: Old Drew goes pretty far back, and you would probably have to be an Online Student to have an image of Old Drew!
****
For those of you who don't know "New Drew," he is the logo of my HIGH PERFORMANCE YOGA system which i created in a zen moment of sumi ink calligraphy.
I bow to Noble Warrioress Tamara and to all of you who came to my Beloved Cave on Ventura Boulevard...i miss you all!
Remember, i and Ananda will be teaching a HIGH PERFORMANCE YOGA class at Mark Blanchard's Power Yoga Studio in Studio City on Thanksgiving Morning! you should be at the studio by 11. we can't wait to ReConnect with you!
Coach's Quinary Tea Recipe
You may see a simple "tea packet"...what i see? over 50 herbs ingeniously combined in ratios of up to 12 lbs of raw herb to 1 pound of product, combined in Ancient Ways, purified via Modern Ways that feed and nourish each of my Elements and Organ Systems and helped me overcome a broken back to compete in 5 World Championships in 4 different sports...plus, a new Personal Record up Agassazi Peak Snowshoe Ascent/Descent this very morning, pain free and just feeling surreal at high intensity effort at over 12,000' altitude on highly technical terrain...if you want World Class herbs to feed EACH of your five organ systems; do this; drink QUINARY TEA! - Coach Ilg
***
Coach Ilg,
I am looking into creating something like a morning cup of �chi�..Calli Beverage with a little Silk Soy Milk, a touch of Sunnydew, and wondering about Quinary as an addition? I don�t want to deplete it with hot water...
love,
Teacher Sheader
***
Most Noble WF Teacher Sheader,
Absolutely! your morning cup of CHI sounds way better than a morning cup of 'Joe'!
I have, myself, tried many such variants throughout the years with great results...however,
i find it hard to beat the straight up, "Quinary Tea" when it comes to drinking pure CHI!
however, having said that, the thing about Quinary Tea is that you just need to keep stirring it...
Dr. Chen has so many herbs in it that the heavier ones constantly sink...
so,
STIR and SIP,
STIR and SIP...
nothing better than Quinary Tea, however.
love,
ilgbro
***
RECIPE FOR QUINARY TEA
by Coach Ilg
SUNRIDER Lead Director
ingredients needed; Quinary packets, SunnyDew or VitaFruit, hot water.
1) Bring a kettle of water to boil, then turn to low.
2) Open a packet of Quinary (i have not found opening Quinary capsules to be as useful in Quinary Tea...use the packets) and pour the contents into a coffee type of cup.
3) Pour the hot water onto the herbs, realizing the importance of drinking Quinary(**).
4) Add SunnyDew or VitaFruit (really good!) to taste.
5) STIR and SIP and LIVE THE CHI!
**) Quinary is, in my opinion, one of the greatest Miracles still available on Mother Earth to feed the human body. In this single packet are over 50 herbs that work synergistically to support each of our Five Elements...or in Western terms, each of our Five Organ Systems: 2 immune systems (respiratory and T-Cell, "Conco" and "Alpha 20-C" respectively), circulatory system (Lifestream), endocrine system (Prime Again), and digestive system (Assimilaid). Each of these five herbal formulas are available separately, so that if a yogin knows which Element or Organ System is need of more support, he or she can simply take extra amounts of it. I, for example, always add Alpha 20-C to my intake of Quinary due to the intensity of my Practices. Ananda, who has circulation challenges, eats more Lifestream, especially now that the colder weather has visited us beneath the Sacred Peak. Last night's overnight low was 22 degrees. I used Lifestream when i was doing ice climbing and mountaineering in Canada. Remember; use SUNRIDER as your own Herb Shop! Pick and choose and LIVE THE CHI!
when in doubt; CONSULT YOUR UPLINE! that is why we are here!
SHAMA; One of 6 Gatekeepers of Liberation
Intense, regular Cardio training has been integrated into the seamless body/mind/spirit integrity of my Wholistic Fitness� Path since 1982. I say, Never trust a Teacher of Yoga that tells you 'not to run' or 'don't do strength training'! Yoga is not about pushing things away just so your 'asana' practice looks pretty! That is what the genuine Ancient Masters would have shot down as, bullshit! Wanna know how many Verses of the Yoga Sutra are concerned with asana poses? TWO! Only TWO! Our hindrances and karma will not be overcome by twisting ourselves into contortions, and for many North Americans, those fancy postures can easily damage our joint beds, limiting our abilities to run, dance, and be capable and durable! The Ancient Enlightened Masters knew damn well the spiritual value of ardous Himalayan trekking and chopping wood, carrying water! So should today's yogins! Wholistic Fitness� uses physiological cross training to make sure we push nothing away! Becoming versatile in our fitness efforts brings us right smack up against the 6 Qualities of Mind that must be recognized and cultivated to attain Awakening, and perhaps, Enlightenment in this lifetime.
***
From Dama to Shama
In a recent DL, i taught you about Pratyhara or dama; the self-restraint, the self-mastery, the control over your senses which was likened to horses pulling a chariot. If we cannot control our senses (the horses) the driver of the chariot, and any passengers, are in supreme danger being at the whim of the powerful horses. Our Outer Directed Society loves, cherishes, ADORES to keep us chained and addicted to Sense Satisfaction; gotta have the new cell phone! ohhhh! the New Lexus is out! oh BOY! Gotta have that! You mean, if i extend myself and get THIS PRETTY HOUSE, i get a lower mortgage rate? OOOOH!!! gotta have THAT! And...the beat goes on...
Today, i would like to attempt yet another seemingly impossible feat; to turn you away from the charms of the Outer World and once again, seduce you toward a favorite Spiritual Workshop of mine which is also a mandatory part of Self Cultivation; "Shama". No, not "Shamu" the enslaved whale in SeaWorld, i said, Shama.
It means; tranquility of mind...no matter what.
In the WF Path, i use Cardio Training, including doing Intervals regularly, as an instrumental part of a Student's WF Training to enhance Shama. Why?
For, it is in the effort required to consistently get out and do Cardio, that many obstacles of mind immediately seem to cause a mental ruckus. Rationalizations and excuses start flying around like ponies let out of a stall on a spring morning. It is in this egoic chaos that the yogin must pounce upon a perfect opportunity to produce "shama" or mental quiescence.
In the untrained and spiritually immature mental environment of a poorly coached athlete or yogin, the individual is caught like a frantic gnat in the intricately strong cobweb of Duality; "It's too cold out," "i have to work," "my body hurts too much," "i don't want to have to get all my shit together,"... we all know the Dance...we all know it too well. Particularly after a decade or so of doing Cardio...after the novelty, the weight loss, the progress and compliments and race results taper off. This tapering off of external results is a Divine Design to force the yogin inward. 
* Ananda went Snowshoeing with me yesterday. Her body, previously internally damaged by a famous, yet deeply ignorant 'certified teacher of yoga' several years ago, was full of pain. She felt depressed and battled many inner demons as she began what probably felt like a forced march up the steep ski slopes. Knowing all about doing Cardio with searing pain in my body, i re-Minded her that we will always have our share of 'flat' 'colorless' and pain-filled cardio workouts. We must endure them to see the Spiritual Opportunity inherent within them; in other words, use physically painful or flat workouts to venture within and cultivate Shama. Thus, using mantra and pranayama, Ananda flipped the Consciousness Switch on her workout, released into the beauty and miraculous majesty of the day, and ended up having a fantastically powerful inner workout while racking up karmic points in the face of a mundane, painful physical workout. I bow to High Performance Yogini, Ananda! You too, can play "Shama Judo" with your Cardio Workouts!"
***
DISAPPOINTMENT AND TRANQUILITY; NOT A SPIRITUALLY SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP
The yogin whom, having accepted a wise Teacher, recognizes this egoic pandemonium of 'Monkey Mind," which jumps to the forefront of our consciousness just about every damn time it is time to Practice. He or she is thus trained to keep their spiritual eye focused on the target of Abhyasa (constancy of Practice).
Learn to compose yourself.
Rather than expecting the external world to produce magic, such as using headphones to "motivate" you to train, just take all the hard knocks of life in spiritual stride. I had to do this when i broke my back. Essentially i said to myself when i could not move the left side of my body; "Okay ilg, this broken back is my karma and i will take it in spiritual stride and see where it takes my Highest Self." Where it took me has resulted in such a fantastically Higher Place then i feel regular sponsored athletics would have taken me.
You see, Oh Noble Fitness Warriors, the real Podium lies inside. Expecting things to be perfect leads only to disappointment. The non-Practioner sadly keeps accumulating things in the attempt to grasp for happiness in a world of ever changing circumstances, yet remains spiritually untrained at their moment of death. The Warrior Yogin, on the other hand, has learned Shama; mental tranquility by not being spiritually influenced by external cirmcumstances. The well-taught Warrior learns that disappointment and tranquility cannot co-exist; it is not a spiritually symbiotic relationship. Therefore, Oh Noble Fitness Warrior, extract yourself from the to and fro nature of society's charms and stresses via the stability of simply Trusting in the Path, Working The Path, and taking Divine Joy in the Fruits of the Path.
Summary:
The WF yogin learns to achieve tranquility of mind ('Shama') by accepting the daily opportunity of Cardio Training since Cardio quickly and consistently brings our ego up against rationalizations, duality, and excuses. The Bhagavad Gita mentions that developing Shama is the very essence of a yogin's Practice.
May this DL be of Benefit to Your Practice
and thus All Beings Everywhere
Realize The Importance of Awakening...
namaste,
your humble mountain yogi beneath the Sacred Peak
November 12, 2005
Evoking the power of compassion in us is not always easy. I find myself that the simplest ways are the best and the most direct. Every day, life gives us innumerable chances to open our hearts, if we can only take them. An old woman passes you with a sad and lonely face and two heavy plastic bags full of shopping she can hardly carry. Switch on a television, and there on the news is a mother in Beirut kneeling above the body of her murdered son, or an old grandmother in Moscow pointing to the thin soup that is her only food. . . .
Any one of these sights could open the eyes of your heart to the fact of vast suffering in the world. Let it. Don�t waste the love and grief it arouses. In the moment you feel compassion welling up in you, don�t brush it aside, don�t shrug it off and try quickly to return to �normal,� don�t be afraid of your feeling or be embarrassed by it, and don�t allow yourself to be distracted from it. Be vulnerable: Use that quick, bright uprush of compassion�focus on it, go deep into your heart and meditate on it, develop it, enhance and deepen it. By doing this you will realize how blind you have been to suffering.
All beings, everywhere, suffer; let your heart go out to them all in spontaneous and immeasurable compassion.
- Sogyal Rinpoche
*
Coach's Note; yesterday i applied this Teaching from Rinpoche in my ongoing quest to dwindle my Judgments. I watched for ten minutes Ed Bradley interview Howard Stern. There are many things about Howard Stern's conscious Song that he chooses to Sing into the UniVerse that i find myself really having to breathe through, as i battle away each day at attempting to Protect and Serve the Dharma in this day and age.
Within those ten minutes however, i felt compassion and understanding arise. This surge of Compassion and Understanding was particularly potent when i saw Howard's eyes drop their Adultness as he revealed that as a boy his father's constant line to him was something like, "You don't know anything...you are a moron." I too, was raised as one of those children that were, "To be seen and not heard." Well, now lots of people hear Howard Stern. My compassion for the lack of Dharma Teacher in his life to teach him how to play Judo with that chronic negativity in his upbringing made those ten minutes of TV watching worthwhile.
Oh,
and so was watching Darren Ralves and Bode Miller go one-two in the BIRDS OF PREY World Cup Downhill! Yeah baby!!!
I bow to the Nature and Velocity and High Level of Dharma that you Sing To The UniVerse in that which you consciously choose to do today...
May Your Practice be strong and your Song stunningly helpful to all Beings you contact today...
namaste,
coach ilg
* opening photo of Charlie, one of the WF Temple H(om)e Cat Beings
CATCH THE UNKIND THOUGHT
ON ANY GIVEN INTENSIVE; From Grappler Training to Sedona Sacred Places...
Our Humble Temple H(om)e was recently graced by a most polite, fiercely strong grappler/surgeon, Alex. This warrior stayed with Ananda and i beneath the Sacred Peak for two amazing days of WF Private Intensive training...This shot, taken on Day Two, shows me coaching Warrior Alex through a shared, "Weenie Workout" that left Alex with some key insights and hideously pumped forearms (hey, i know a trick or two about training forearm/finger strength from my rock climbing days!)check out his Padmasambhava steady gaze, the elegant spine, the Connection with earth and breath (sky). This kid was soooo fun to train...oh, did i mention Alex wanted to go rock climbing during his intensive...
...well, here at the Source of All Multisport/Multidisciplined Training, we aim to Serve you Higher than anyone else on the Planet, baby...so i took the sharp end of the rope from Ananda and led up "Duck Soup" at the Overlook to create an upper belay for Warrior Alex...
"After Coach led the climb and it was my turn, i was so nervous...i had to go back to my Breathing Practices to calm myself, i felt like i was getting ready for a grappling match," admitted Alex to Ananda at the base of the climb. Alex, who has mastered several martial arts, though you have to force his mouth open to admit it, has travelled to China and has studied under great Teachers. yet he speaks of reading DL as his, "Lifeblood, every day," and has embraced SUNRIDER herbs like crazy into his life. The people that know the CHI, that, like Alex, LIVE and RECOGNIZE the CHI, immediately tap into both WF and SUNRIDER Herbs...why? Cuz the CHI is just soooooo evidently clear, powerful, and transforming!
This is the final pic of Warrior Alex, giving us a "Thumbs Up, Life is Go(o)d" mudra, as Day Two came to a heart-touching end in the Vortex studded Sacred Land of Sedona...after we left Alex vibrating with a "crystal spine, diamond mind�", he said, "This intensive was sooooo much more than i had imagined...people have no idea of how much Love and Light you guys give...thank you, Sensei." Ananda and i, already under the influence of Sedona's etheric powers, cried like little babies as we watched our Warrior Physician drive away into a flaming red rock sunset. Happy and Centered, may Warrior Alex always hold his scapel with greater calm and chi-enchanced focus and a heart that beats more peacefully as he saves other people's hearts. "Ripples make waves." - Coach Ilg
Ananda and i had some business to do in Sedona (think; Upcoming WF/HP Yoga Retreats!). Then i had some more Vortex Research to perform, so i took Ananda on the 6 mile jaw-dropping, energy body empowering hike into Boynton Canyon Vortex, the Creation Home of the Yavapai. I have been meditating in these Vortices for my entire life and the Information that comes through them is translated through my humble capacities into the Teachings of Wholistic Fitness and HP Yoga. I am working on a book project involving the energetic influence from this Sacred Spaces upon our subtle anatomy and how it relates to our Transpersonal Fitness potentiation. I am certain it will be yet another National BestSeller like all my books have been. (hey, what can i say...i guess the Outer World just can't yet GROCK what you and i live and love so much; Wholistic Fitness!...thus, we remain a humble Temple up on a high desert hill.) Boynton Canyon Vortex is a particularly powerful "introspective" Vortex. Let me just say that our shared experiences within this Sacred Place was too great for my tongue and mind to Connect for you. My vocabulary is neither prolific enough nor potent enough to describe for you what transpired in this dreamlike meditation expedition...a few photos are but whispers from the Eternity which coiled Itself around our crystal spines and diamond minds...May all Beings realize the utter importance of Daily and Ritual Meditation...
example of an "energy cairn�"...my term...these cairns dot the trail into the Vortex by the hundreds. they serve a number of ritual and practical purposes such as amplifying the axial earth energy to enhance meditation. note the obvious defiance of "physics" as this native structure remains bewilderingly balanced on a wet rock, through wind, rain, and snow. i pity the poor Skeptics whose internal cell clarity is not yet Vibrant enough to Feel the Energy of the Land here and make mockery of those who come and sit quietly in these places...
a shot of me near the Medicine Wheel of Boynton Canyon, surrounded by a literal "City of Energy Cairns." the effect from meditating in this particular Wheel is, well, dizzying! i had to PhotoShop several pics from this place, the Energy of the Wheel was so great that it kept defying clear picture taking!
the hike/run we did into and from the Vortex carried us over a carpet of autumnal leaves so thick that at times we lost the trail and were caught in what Ananda described as a, "most dreamlike, brilliant version of Alice In Wonderland."
...when i sit in a Vortex and meditate, i allow the power of the Vortex to Cleanse and re-Amp my personal Mala beads next to the Red Earth...
when we returned h(om)e (5)
snow, on the Sacred Mountain (7)
shimmered like jewels (5)
May your Practice remain Empowered and Inspired...
i'm going snowshoing on some fresh, sacred snow and Dance with the Mountain Gods...
Namaste,
coach ilg
November 10, 2005
"SELFISH ELEGANCE�"; A WF WAY PRINCIPLE OF AWAKENING
"Whenever i act inelegantly - be it in thought, speech, or action - it leads, inevitably, to some degree of pain and suffering for me. In contrast, whenever i consciously choose to behave elegantly, it eventually results in my happiness. Could the spiritual journey be so simple as an ongoing exercise in selfish elegance?"
- Coach Ilg
"The cultivation of Sacredness thwarts substance abuse of all kinds."
- Coach Ilg.
Coach Ilg, shown here skillfully applying his WF Tenet of Selfish Elegance, as he hoists a rare beer with elegant posture and after a gratitude ritual for the beer. He has allowed himself this 'brewski' as a reward after a small spiritual victory attainment. "Although i absolutely ADORE beer...hey, i am Germanic...Shiva has destroyed my inJoyment of it because drinking it makes me immediately fat and screws up my Pranic Vayus instantly," says Coach, "so, not drinking beer for me remains a matter of discipline. When i do have a beer or two, oh man! It feels sacred...which is precisely, to me, how drinking should remain; be it an ILG SUPREME from SUNRIDER HERBS, or a beer while watching a hockey game; both instances should feel special, if not sacred. The cultivation of Sacredness thwarts substance abuse of all kinds."
Within the Staff Teaching Temple, we love this shot of Coach, taken by Ananda recently near Granite Mountain, Arizona, one of Coach's earliest rock climbing haunts. We love the juxtaposition of the beer against his mala beads and Tibetan handbag! Our Coach, the creator of the Path we love so much, typifies his free wheeling philosophical nature backed by his unmatched hard core fierceness of Practice. We bow to our smiling 'Teacher Who Bridges East/West Fitness Technologies Like No Other'.
- WF Temple Manager Ananda
***
For us to survive on the spiritual path, there are many challenges to face, and there is much to learn. We have to discover how to deal with obstacles and difficulties; how to process doubts and see through wrong views; how to inspire ourselves when we least feel like it; how to understand ourselves and our moods; how really to work with and integrate the teachings and practices; how to evoke compassion and enact it in life; and how to transform our suffering and emotions.
On the spiritual path, all of us need the support and the good foundation that come from really knowing the teachings, and this cannot be stressed strongly enough. For the more we study and practice, the more we shall embody discernment, clarity, and insight. Then, when the truth comes knocking, we will know it, with certainty, for what it is, and gladly open the door, because we�ll have guessed that it may well be the truth of who we really are.
- Sogyal Rinpoche
***
November 09, 2005
AT LEAST SOME OF US HEAR THE LOVE BEHIND THE RANT...
Coach Ilg,
These have been some powerful DL's and have affected me deeply. Our consumer society is evidence of the monkey mind run amuck. We are unhappy, so we consume the chi in some product that someone has made. It makes us happy, but only for a moment. So we consume again and again and again in search happiness. Because we are unhappy, we become fat and bloated with our consumption.
WF is a different path. It teaches stillness. I am much happier since I have begun my WF training. I am learning that while consumption is nice, it is only by going within and drawing on my strength that I can find lasting happiness.
I appreciate the Doctors and their brilliance. Truly, they have worked miracles. However, the application of this brilliant resource is sad. Why can't these minds be put to work restructuring our cities so that cardio exercise is much more readily available or finding more healthy food choices for those people that choose to eat in their car.
Keep speaking the truth. At least some of us hear it.
Jim Johnston (of Clan Haku)
photo of Online Student JJ sportin' the killer WF Jersey at a mountain bike race
"ALL KNOW THE WAY, FEW WALK IT."
- Buddha
**
Most Noble Coach and Rantmiester,
Your shock and pain is evident. How could people, who you love as human beings, do this to themselves? That is your real rant underlying the "news" horror. You love too much. People know the right way, they choose the easy way.
There was a large crashing wave that through starfish all along a beach. People came and stared. "What a shame" some said, others cried, some laughed. One man could be seen throwing starfish back into the ocean, one by one. Someone shouted, "You are wasting your time, you can't save them all!". The man relpied "Ask the ones that are back in the water if I am wasting my time."
We are back in the water thanks to your championing this WF path. You are saving more than you know, and each one is chatting it up, each one is grateful. Just keep pitching Coach, individuals will choose the right way because in the end, it is the easy way, easier to walk, easier to breath, easier to think, easier to feel.
Wide Wapiti has spoken!
Om Shanti, thOMas
WF RANT ON: NO NEWSPAPERS!
blessings coach............about this AM's DL-----rant on, rant on, rant on------Don't read newspapers-----Do read DL ! loving you and your voice and through us herb eaters out here we carry your voice further then you know.
No failure
No success
Lovingly practicing..............devoted student shel
Most Noble Student Shel,
glad to hear you say so...
cuz...
love,
el coache
DANCING THE RAZORS EDGE: A WF WAY TO READ "NEWSPAPERS"
Oh My Most Noble WF Sangha...
You Know You Are Living In Kali Yuga When...
the "headline" from a "newspaper" reads:
Tiny razor cleans out clogged leg arteries
WASHINGTON (AP)
...i cannot comprehend the inculcation delivered to our National Tribe, our International Tribe of Humanity,
by the DAILY INGESTION of such CRAP!!!!
i mean c'mon!
is THIS REALLY the BEST that our supposedly
BRILLIANT 'healers' can come up for our HEALTH:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Doctors using a razor the size of a grain of rice are shearing ribbons of yellowish sludge from inside clogged leg arteries.
Later in the article:
"It's the latest therapy for a hard-to-treat disease that slowly chokes off blood flow in millions of people's legs. And the shavings it extracts are more than icky evidence of illness: A drug giant is buying this plaque for research on how to keep arteries from clogging in the first place."
uh, here guys, let Feeble Ilg give you a CLUE on how to "keep arteries from clogging in the first place."
here it comes oh GREAT MINDS OF AMERICAN DRUGGISTS, SURGEONS, and RESEARCHERS...
you ready?!??! Got your computers ready to DOWNLOAD and DISSECT this INVALUBLE CLUE on
how to prevent "Peripheral artery disease, or PAD," which "afflicts at least 12 million Americans as their leg arteries stiffen and narrow."!??
you READY...here it comes...
Playing the WF Advocate...
okay,
i know i probably ain't gonna git all you to quit reading newspapers, move up here beneath the Sacred Peak with me, feast upon the pranic ocean of red rock mesas, pondersosa/aspen forests, and high altitude air guarded by hawks and eagles while tossing away your car and doing Tribal, Natural Human Movement with me like soaring up and down world class mountain bike and ski trails..
yet,
what i can do?
is Teach you how to APPROPRIATELY read a "newspaper"
if you still really find such
things created from Tree Corpses
that deeply valuable to your Life Experience and Practice.
A WF WAY TO READ "NEWSPAPERS"
Technique #1: Write and See the word, newspaper, as "newspaper"
doing so will restore the proper TAF'ing (Thinking And Feeling....a WF Word Choice Tradition) to your otherwise conditioned sense of what constitutes "news".
Technique #2: Engage WF Lifestyle Principle Number One; Breath and Posture whenever reading a "newspaper"; this aligns the subtle anatomy to function in their Highest Current Fitness.
Technique #3: Playing the WF Advocate...This is an outrageously fun and potent engagement of WF Lifestyle Principle Number Three; Appropriate Action. Here is how it goes; as you read a "newspaper" article, play judo with what is being fed into your cells by flipping the Consciousness Switch over to a WF Perspective. For example, let me Play the WF Advocate with the remainder of this absurd article on using a friggin' razor blade to slice off chunks of "yellowish sludge from inside clogged leg arteries..."
ARTICLE SAYS:
Eventually, the lack of blood flow to muscles causes an aching pain while walking, called claudication.
WF ADVOCATE SAYS:
Eventually, the lack of blood flow to muscles causes an aching pain while walking, called a Training Effect from NOT doing CARDIO and eating JUNK!
ARTICLE SAYS:
Yet trouble walking often is wrongly considered a sign of aging instead of disease, meaning too few patients seek help early.
WF ADVOCATE SAYS:
Yet trouble walking often is wrongly considered a sign of aging OR disease, meaning too MANY patients BECOME ADDICTED TO COMFORT, CARS, and ENTERTAINMENT too early!
ARTICLE SAYS:
Two new technologies offer the hope of better alternatives: The tiny razor, called the SilverHawk, is threaded in a catheter through patients' arteries to the blockages. Then the blade emerges and begins shaving; plaque collects in the device's tip for extraction.
WF ADVOCATE SAYS:
Two ANCIENT technologies STILL PROVE better alternatives: The tiny thing, called DISCIPLINE, is threaded in a gentle manner through patients' PRESCRIBED MEDITATION VOLUMES to thwart the uprising of ADDICTION TO OVERTHINKING...which is known to be the cause of lack of DAILY MOVEMENT AND CONSCIOUS BREATHING which results in all dis-ease. Then the DISCIPLINE emerges and begins a joyful return to being a Noble Fitness Warrior and their dis-ease eventually and delightfully becomes replaced with Inner Joy!
ARTICLE SAYS:
"Both of these devices are promising. The kicker is long-term durability," says a specialist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.
WF ADVOCATE SAYS:
"Both of these devices - Discipline and Conscious Movement - are promising. Even better is the long-term durability," says a Wholistic Fitness student.
ARTICLE SAYS:
More intriguing, pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. is buying some SilverHawk patients' extracted plaque, in a $9 million contract with razor manufacturer FoxHollow Technologies that, if the collaboration pans out, could generate up to $31 million more.
WF ADVOCATE SAYS:
More intriguing, is why proven Ancient and even contemporary Paths of full-spectrum health and fitness, such as Yoga and more recently, Wholistic Fitness, have not been integrated into the educational upbringing of our children.
ARTICLE SAYS:
In addition, Merck sees the potential of recruiting SilverHawk patients for drug studies -- allowing analysis of plaque removed from one leg before taking a medication and from the other leg after taking it, to see if a drug directly affects the buildup. "This is a real opportunity to advance the science of understanding plaque biology," says Dr. Richard Pasternak, Merck's vice president of clinical research.
WF ADVOCATE SAYS:
Oh, holy Padmasambhava...the Devil has once again landed...well, to hell with this 'new scientific breakthrough' of razors cutting into my freakin' ARTERIES!...i'm going for a bike ride and eat my herbs! Thanks, but i'll take my chances on Natural, Wholistic, and FUN stuff! Keep your stinkin' razors AWAY from this humble yogi!
------
EDITOR'S NOTE -- 
"There are only, ever, two questions in each moment:
Am i grasping
or
Am i concentrating?"
- coach ilg
November 08, 2005
SIGNS TO LOOK FOR
WHILE ON PHASE ONE and DEEP CLEANSE
of Coach Ilg's 3-Phase Approach to using SUNRIDER� herbs!
By Joy " Ananda" Kilpatrick
WF Certified Teacher/SUNRIDER Director
"Sometimes it requires taking a
"Sacred pause" in order to see the wisdom and benefits of our Path."
- Ananda
How do you know when to move past Phase One or the Deep Cleanse of SUNRIDER? Well, first of all, consult your Sponsor! The beauty of being in the COACH ILG DOWNLINE is that ANYONE who sponsors others has already travelled the terrain of Phase One and can help you maximize the benefits of this Cell Cleansing/Fat Loss phase of your Sunrider Journey!
Here's what i suggest and what i ask of of my SR downline...who are on Phase One or doing a Deep Cleanse:
1) Stay consistent with the intake of herbs! Do not miss ONE DAY!
2) Every week, write me back and share the following:
* what is your elimination (bowel movements) and digestion like?
* have you noticed a difference in your transit time (the time between consuming a meal and its elimination)?
* how is your energy level?
* your emotional state?
* your daily use of SR herbs?
* weight loss or gain?
Be brief yet succinct. Don't be shy; this is just your body; nothing to be "embarrassed about." As Coach Ilg taught me, "Embarrassment stems from ego identification; in this Path we are concerned with your energy and your body, not your ego."
My goal of guiding people on Phase One or a Deep Cleanse, is to make sure that you are cleansing your cells, which is the intent of Phase One
BEFORE
moving you into Phase II (Empowering the Cells and Chi force) of Coach Ilg's 3-Phase Approach to using Sunrider Herbs.�
i look forward to hearing back from you...
Chi Up!
In Breath and Posture,
ananda
Joy 'ananda' Kilpatrick
Wholistic Fitness� manager & teacher
Director/Sunrider� International
joytrain@npgcable.com
and keep reading:
DIRECT LINES...Daily Meditations from Coach Ilg
November 07, 2005
EXPANDING WAISTLINES,
BURGEONING CARE
WHAT? AND YOU ARE REALLY GONNA COMPLAIN ABOUT THE COST OF HERBS & WF?!
Oh man, i gotta watch myself more carefully than ever before...between yesterday and this morning i have had quite the etheric and mental juxtaposition hit my cells;
yesterday, i took Ananda to the Airport Mesa Vortex at sunset Brahmamurhurti...we fell deep into a luscious meditation at this yang vortex until Grandmother Moon and Venus were but dances of Light within and without against an oceanic crush of starlight poised above the Pranic simmering of red rock vibrations. These vortex meditations shift and amplify the current status quo of our cellular, nadic, and chakral energies. You gotta know what you are doing in this vortices. Anyway, suffice it to say that last night, after the most peaceful ascent back to Flag up Oak Canyon, i fell asleep and played witness to the etheric residual afterburn of undigested mental clutter that my Vortex Meditation began to aggressively clear (this is why Airport Mesa Vortex is a "yang" vortex; though extremely nurturing and mothering while you are in the vortex, it is the vortex's cellular aftereffect that, to me, is what makes a vortex either yin or yang). This etheric car washing of my subcellular anti-matter produced my Sleep With Dreams State (remember what i Taught you about the second largest circle in the OM symbol?) with a barrage of crazy ass dreams. pheweee! what a ride!!!?!?! i won't go THERE in this column for sake of your own sanity. let me just say that i awoke Cleared with new Sight in multilayered ways. My morning meditation was an experience of Transparent Mind dancing with Diamond Sharp Intuitive Wisdom...
that is when i fucked up.
because for some reason, i suppose to, in some way, "ground" me back into what the Outer World calls, "reality"...i did something that i have not done in a long while.
i read a newspaper with freshly Cleared Cells and ReAmp'd Insight.
i read a newspaper with the Transparent Mind of Diamond Sharp Intuitive Wisdom...
Holy Father, Blessed Mother...
forgive me
i shall not do THAT again...
holybejesusmotherofgodmahaanandamayimi!
buckle up, Bucko...this could be some rough sailing...i feel an ILGBRO vent comin' on...
LIFE IN KALI YUGA (Current Spiritual Dark Age, according to yogis):
America's surgeons expect to perform 130,000 bariatric surgeries in the year 2005 -- up from about a tenth of that number in 1998, according to research in the October Journal of the American Medical Association. More people than ever are jumping through their insurance companies' hoops to get approval for the $30,000 procedure.
Bariatric surgery (gastric bypass surgery) has had to increase in recent years, to chase a spike in people across the country deemed to be morbidly obese as defined by a Body Mass Index of 40.
In 1986, one in 200 American adults were morbidly obese.
By the year 2000 it was one in 50 adults, or just over 5 percent of the population. And it's reaching people everywhere.
And still, to this day, i have people "scared to get onto the SUNRIDER HERBS," because, "I'm not sure of their ingredients." Oh, jesusBuddhaChrist! Give me a break! Here is what is in the herbs; BEAUTIFUL, INNOCENT, POWERFUL WHOLE FOODS: not medicines and not a team of modern day knifers to cut shit out of you! literally! it's absolutely crazy; people are willing to have their insides slaughtered and risk death, rather than do what we do in this Tribe; run your fat ass off and drink the SUNRIDER herbs like WF Online Student Kristi Lees:
People are afraid of intensity
and addicted to comfort.
Such people ain't gonna git far in the Bardo, baby.
Cutting your guts ain't gonna do the Trick because you are not developing any worthwhile SPIRITUAL FIBER! thus, at the moment of death, you are gonna be that much LESS CONSCIOUSLY POWERFUL to orchestrate the filaments of your consciousness.
Yet, i have been saying and living this stuff for 25 years...few listen. Many continue to look externally for help to their inner suffering; overeating, overdrinking, pills, doctors who are all too willing to slice their insides out, etc. Afraid to sweat, quick to stagnate. T
It's only lately that our fancy Western Doctors of "medicine" are even starting to fully understand the physical risks and complications of all these invasive fat-slaughtering procedures, which can include malnutrition, infection, and bowel and gallbladder problems. Even less clear are the emotional ramifications - and the effects on couples for which one person's extra weight is a trusty ingredient in the relationship.
And yet, millions are "absolutely sure" that cutting out their guts is the way to go for regaining their natural health, emotional stability, and spiritual buoyancy.
feeble ilg says, "WhatEVER." I am tired of defending the natural, wholistic joy of simply beginning the Practice of Sweat and Understanding.
According to a study of 16,500 surgery recipients in the AMA journal, female surgery candidates over age 75 have up to a 40 percent chance of dying within a year after the gastric bypass procedure. Hope you enjoyed all those ice cream cones.
Among patients ages 35 to 44, more than 5 percent of men and nearly 3 percent of women were dead within a year. The risk is higher for men in all age groups. Boy, good thing you chose NOT to get on the herbs, you coulda REALLY hurt yourself! geeezus!
Typical Fat Reducing Surgical Complications:
malnutrition, infection, and bowel and gallbladder problems.
Typical Fat Reducing Surgical Costs:
Average hospital costs for gastric bypass surgery, the most common procedure, is $33,672, including the standard three years of follow-up care. Most insurance companies will cover the surgery in cases of morbid obesity, if a person demonstrates previous failed attempts to lose weight by other means and undergoes a psychological evaluation recommending the surgery, among other requirements.
I love that part, "Most insurance companies will cover the surgery in cases of morbid obesity, if a person demonstrates previous failed attempts to lose weight by other means,"!!! wanna know how many TIMES i, myself, failed and continue to "fail" in my attempts to better myself?!! why the hec do you think my slogan for Wholistic Fitness is, :Just Begin, again and again, and endlessly again!" ???
There is not failure!
There is not success!
There is only the Practice!
The Journey!
The Life of a Warrior Willing to See the foolishness of the addiction to Comfort
and the Noble Warriorism of
Inner Attainment!
wow.
no wonder i don't read "news"papers any more...
that shit ain't "news"...
when i scroll through the Archives of DL...
YEAH BABY!!!
THAT THERE
IS
NEWS!!!
GO(o)D NEWS!!!
May Pratyhara bless your Day and deliver true News, InnerNews
to you during your Sweat and Conscious Posture and Breath.
that is all,
coach ilg
Noble Ones,
i'm sorry, yet the Satya from this Warrior's Blog is just too go(o)d...check it out:
http://www.warriorsamoht.blogspot.com/
namaste,
coach ilg
"OF BEAUTIFUL ENERGY and INSPIRATION" ANOTHER TWO WF TRANSFORMATIONS: 
Living What He Teaches; coach ilg pauses after finishing a 1.25 hour Inline Ski workout before shimmering aspens at the WF Temple H(om)e. photo by Ananda.
{WF TEMPLE NOTE: we will be out of town today, doing some defending of the Temple...please keep your Practices strong and take deep pleasure in knowing just how Blessed we all are, to have found this Precious Gem Of A Path toward Awakening. The Outer World is greedy for what we have, I and Ananda are doing our absolute Best to keep this Path reflecting the Original Yoga; sincerity and sweat, not glitzy marketing and selling out for money. Feel us. We Feel you....Coach Ilg}
" Dear Coach,
I can't thank you enough. It feels like something I've been struggling in the dark with solo for so long is now gelling right before my eyes. The workouts are kicking my ass in the best possible way."
Chris Tucker, Vancouver
COACH ILG, SUNRIDER HERBS, and DL MOVES IN....2 PACKS A DAY MOVES OUT!
"Dear Coach,
I have not taken a total TBF approach to my exercise (no weights for example)
and yet your book and your DIRECT LINES blog entries have inspired me greatly, deepened my yoga
practice, got me running "wind sprints" at least once a week, and assisted me greatly in dropping deadly
2/pack a day cigarette routine."
- Richard Collins
***
CHANGED MY LIFE
Dear Steve,
Thanks for the 3-phase breakdown on the SUNRIDER herbs you sent out.
I met you in 2001 when you came up to Vancouver to shoot your High Performance Yoga video. Yes, I am one of those "crazy Canadians" (is there any other kind, eh?) [You'll find a picture from it attached - I'm on your left, in blue] That workshop changed my life. I've always had a natural affinity to working with body be it strength training, martial arts, running, what-have-you. But a lot of the gym mentality threw me off. Guys telling me I needed to eat half a cow after each workout just didn't click. But yoga sure did. Finally a body-art-science that embraced a world-view I could work with. I was hooked, practicing daily and a couple of years ago began to teach. But the gym suffered...so did my rock-climbing and my cardio.
I recently found Total Body Transformation and re-discovered that spark you set in me four years ago. Your beautiful energy comes beaming out of every page. I can't thank you enough. It feels like something I've been struggling in the dark with solo for so long is now gelling right before my eyes. The workouts are kicking my ass in the best possible way. Even your use of the Sai Baba Nag Champa is helping me break a decade old association with smoking, helping me to leave that habit behind.
I'm back in the gym and dying in the best possible way on the trails. Again, I can't thank you enough.
It's from this place of gratitude that I am slowly managing to overcome to resistance I've had to signing up with Sunrider. I've gone to their web site so many times and gotten confused and discouraged. The breakdown you emailed out helps me clear through the information and get the confidence to just go for it.
Namaste,
Chris Tucker
Vancouver, B.C.
November 06, 2005
Autumn Life At The Temple H(om)e...
Charlie, bottom right, stares somewhat vacantly for hours on end these days at the
ever present Chestnut Backed Dark-Eyed Juncos near Red Fox Deck at the
WF Temple H(om)e. A cold weather truce seems to have emerged between
Predator and Prey...
i bow to you from beneath the Sacred Mountain,
coach ilg, ryt/uscf/cpt
STUDENT LUDGATE SETS PR AT HIS HALF MARATHON! 
I love this shot, i love this Student!!! WF Online Student Alan Ludgate at NYRR Half-Marathon Grand Prix: Staten Island demonstrating his WF Transformation; SUNRIDER carved lean, WF-developed runner's physique, WF Teacher Haku-approved Adidas running gear, and Coach-approved Injinji toe socks and look at Warrior Ludgate engaging the WF "Pistol grip mudra" (hand / finger position)! Alan is using a hydration belt containing "extra gloppy" Fortune Deligtht / Vitafruit combo from SUNRIDER herbs. His face posture is reminiscent of Padmasambhava; a relaxed face and steely gaze. I bow to Noble Runner Ludgate! No one Dances the mind/body fitness spectrum like a WF Warrior!
In his words,
"Coach-
Life is Grand! Thanks for bringing me to the peak of my lifetime fitness and setting a Personal Record in my Half Marathon! I await my new WF Online Program with Trust and Faith!
Love-
Student L"
***
Hey Steve,
Looks like you had a fun Halloween last night, your life looks like a
blast--always living it to the fullest!
I just got back on the herbs about a couple of months ago--feeling GREAT
on the Ilg Supreme and FD/Calli along with the
Slim Caps/ Action Caps.
Keep up the great work with DL, what a wealth of information and I get
such a great sensation throughout my body after I read your daily
thoughts. Dude, you are a friggen stud! Also, what extra Sunrider herb
is good to take during the winter season when everyone is sick..I want
something to keep my immune system STRONG. I work for the airlines and
the airport is always full of sick people.
Thanks my friend and happy training!
Scott
November 05, 2005
HEAD BOWED:
The flags today in New Mexico are flying half-staff as one of my cherished Southwest Artists
is now riding his Spirit Horse through the Bardo.
Thank you for your incarnation, Teacher R.C...
and thank you for being Brave Enough to Be What You Love To Do...
http://rcgormangallery.com/
head bowed,
coach ilg
***
THE NIRVANA OF THE PATH...AND>>>CHITTA VIKSEPA...THE PAIN OF THE PATH
coach cranks another spiritually saturated run among Lower Sonoran Desert spires in Bryce Canyon...Coach knows both the Nirvana and the Chitta Viksepa of the Path...the Key is not being attached to either and to just keep the Practice Strong and Sincere. photo by Ananda
THE NIRVANA OF THE PATH...AND>>>CHITTA VIKSEPA...THE PAIN OF THE PATH
"... i finished a run and this one felt so good, i sat by the canal and went into a dream, spiritual moment, trance, something. i just remember smiling and breathing and the birds singing and the water trickling along, the light breeze. That is still a defining moment for me, it was ...nirvana....pure and perfect peace and joy. That is what i strive to re-acheive, that sense of completeness. If i can feel like that when i exit this life, i will have attained something."
Read more at WF Devotee's Blog; THE HIGH PLAINS WARRIOR only at:
http://www.warriorsamoht.blogspot.com/
"A Coach Ilg Approved Blog"
***
CHITTA VIKSEPA...THE PAIN OF THE PATH
Of all my Teachers, Pain has been and remains my most profound and Highest Mentor of Self Mastery. I have and continue to cherish all of His various masks. In yoga, there are distractions and obstacles (Chitta Viksepa) along the Path of Awakening that have been carefully mapped out for aspirants. Those who have not been Well Taught, run away from chitta viksepa, foolishly thinking that they are doing themselves favor. Those aspirants who have found Wise Teachers, have been taught to run forward into chitta viksepa, knowing them by Direct Experience and Transforming their lower self into a Higher Self; a yogic warrior by doing so.
There are thirteen chitta viksepa which dance throughout our Daily Attempts To Practice and Remain Awake which must be known by the warrior if he or she is to know the territory of their Self Cultivation.
Perhaps soon in DL i will outline these chitta viksepa for you, as i do my Online Students. For now, however, Oh Most Noble DL Reader, i shall give you this Training Hint that is critical for Transformation;
Duhkha - or pain/misery; will lose some of its Sting if you are willing to Accept it for what is Pain's true meaning in the yogin's life; Purification. As i have Taught you many times before in this forum, Pain = Purification. Through steady Purification arrives Strength and more Inner Tools; such as Confidence, Health, and Stability. Through the steadfast gain of Strength in multi dimensional Ways (thus; WF), come Transcendence.
I say this; any so called Teacher of Yoga who says that Pain is to be avoided, has forgotten the Original Yoga and is doing great disservice to the Majesty of the Ancient Awakened Ones. Pain, my Noble Warriors, is go(o)d; Wherever you find Pain hiding or screaming within your body/mind, my humble coaching counsel remains the same; Knock quietly yet steadily upon those Doors of Pain. For one day, they will Open for you and you will smile and be strengthened in Ways unknown to you right now.
that is all,
coach ilg.
***
November 04, 2005
"GRAPPLER" ALEX APPROACHING AN INTENSIVE CHRISTmas!
Hello Sensei,
I am sure this email finds you well. Quick question please! I am scheduled to train with you on wed. @ 9.00 am. Could you please send me the address of the (hombu) h(OM)e temple. I greatly look forward to seeing the both of you. I feel like a kid approaching CHRISTmas. I know I am supposed to maintain equanimity, but when one is taking a pilgrimage that they have been preparing their whole life for, the inner spiraling of energy (prana flowing through the susumna) is manifested throughout my whole being. Look forward to seeing you both.
Love and Honor, Alex
P.S. Could you please save two of the Navaratri Mala Beads. I wish to purchase one for myself and one for my soon to be fiance when I am at the h(OM)e temple
KRISTI LEES ON POST INTERVAL BLISS
Most Noble Teachers,
Those you show me the most patience and guide me along the way �
An UPdate:
Intervals without FORTUNE DELIGHT from SUNRIDER herbs!? I think not! I placed my order for a top up before I headed out and mindfully snuck a few of mum�s remaining packets of peach FORTUNE DELIGHT to see me through. Squirt in a bit of SUNNY DEW, drop down a few ACTION CAPs and I am go(o)d to go. Chi is up and flowing again. Yeah baby!
I was told during intervals, �If the intention is there, the money will be�. This is the truth. I have been shown time and time again the proof of these words. An example: when I placed my order this morning (for SUNRIDER herbs) I had $106 credit that I did not know about. Some was from a returned product and the rest was from my monthly credit! I have finally made enough purchases to be getting some back - SUNRIDER just keeps giving and giving :-)
Intend and it will be so.
I bow to all of you; my Trinity of Noble Teachers, Livers of Light and Walkers of the Path.
Continue to be Brave and Fearless � and so shall I.
In Sweat and Stillness,
student lees
{Student Lees, from New Zealand, has been profiled in DL several times and is an Online WF Student of Teacher Ananda Clan}
November 03, 2005
OF KEMOSABE DREAMING....
John Singleton, cashing in on his WF, HP Yoga, and SUNRIDER devotion at this year's track nationals as he charged out of and down the velodrome banking for the start of his flying 200m time trial. John, placed third with a personal best time. Hey, how many times do i need to say it, "The WF Path works, when YOU work the Path!" i mean c'mon!?! what other Tribe has Students just cranking in so many diverse ways with such Love Based Inner Fire!?!? WF is inDeed; American Made Yoga, baby! WF is; America's indigenous form of Yoga; a multidisciplined Path toward Union; just precisely what the Ancient Masters were teaching; Embrace EVERYTHING as your Yoga; push NO ASPECT of your Fitness Away! Below, John's email to me speaks of a Higher Vibrating Level to his training...enjoy, and Thank you Noble Student Singleton, for your devoted Practice!
***
Dear Kemosabe,
It's been quite a long while since I wrote you
last. If I might share a moment or two with you, I
would be most appreciative. I had a dream last night,
with you in it front and center, and I'm taking this
as my soul shouting at me to at least write and say
"hello".
I dream quite vividly and frequently, and get
very excited when I have one that is worth sharing. In
last night's dream, I was at an intensive with you. 
We
were doing bicep curls, with a weight plate tied to an
elastic cord (hey, it's a dream). As I neared failure
on one arm, you handed me a smaller plate, and I kept
going. Again, as I neared failure, you handed me the
next smaller plate, and I continued. Finally, as you
reached for yet a smaller plate, I struggled through
one last repetition, refusing to take the smaller
plate from you, instead intent on finishing the
repetition with the plate in hand - which I did, after
about 15 seconds and screams of joy/pain and tears
streaming down my face; (not drama, instead
release). Then, onto the other arm!
As we worked that arm, a young lady approached
from around the pool (don't know if you have a pool,
but I have seen a young neighbor in Direct Lines). Her
passion, charm, bright open eyes and open soul rightly
distracted us, we dropped what we were doing, listened
to her story, and agreed to join her on a bike
ride! Yippee!! This bike ride was to take place
down at the local and nearby velodrome (pretty sure
you don't have one of those nearby, but if you do and
have been keeping it secret from the world, I'll be
out there the day after tomorrow to ride it)
{Coach's Interruption; Student Singleton is tapped right in;
where i lived in LA, a swimming pool was outside my front door
and the Encino Velodrome was a 5 minute bike ride away!}
Like all track riders, we fussed around with gear and
stuff to take with us, while the young lady, on
her cute little pink bike with tassels on the
handle bars and cartoon characters stuck to her
helmet, impatiently implored us to please hurry
up.
This was essentially the end of the dream. Thank
you for allowing me to share it with you.
Yesterday, I was asked to coach a women's team
for the Little 500, held each spring at Indiana
University. I know something about bike racing, and
track racing particularly, but nothing about the
peculiarities of the Little 500 event. It should be an
adventure!
I enjoyed Tobe's postings on his experiences of
his recent Intensive with you. Best wishes to you as
you continue to prepare for your big event this
winter.
Bowing deeply to your work with all of us,
the big-boned track-sprinter,?student of a student,
namaste,
john
November 02, 2005
Coach's Training Stats For October=ABHYASA IN BLACK & WHITE
October meant shifting gears was again for me; after a controversial "5th Place" in the Arizona State Road Racing Championships, I am focusing on the Nordic Championships...I wanna see if any of those four skinny-armed guys that "beat me" ('cheaters!') on the road bike at the State Championships can make their arms as strong as their legs this winter! In Wholistic Fitness, we don't just settle for being go(o)d as we can be in ONE physiologic discipline..that ain't what yoga, that 
ain't what Balance is about! Fitness Specificity, be it in yoga postures or endurance or in strength, means little to the WF Warrior! What matters is Fitness Versatility! Such physiologic mastery is chronically humbling: We always remain less experienced in our various endeavors than those that are addicts to their sport and perhaps scared to venture outside their cherished comfort and strength zones. To WF Warriors, we attempt to Dance ALL The Capacities of Being a FULL Human Being! Photo by Ananda of myself inline Skate Skiing near the Temple H(om)e. i know all too well that, "You never get a second chance at your Pre-Season. In nordic skiing and snowshoe racing, the PreSeason begins in September and October!"
***
Abhyasa; Constancy Of Practice.
One of two essential components in the life of a yogin. The other is vairagya (dispassion). In WF, i created and teach a multi-disciplined approach to fitness and life choices which integrates both abhyasa and vairagya as the very infrastructure of the Path. For instance, in the WF Path, we don't just do one form of fitness or sport or lifestyle; we remain open, versatile, and Balanced among the Dance of all physiology, psychology, and lifestyle choices. Then, we use Daily Sweat and Stillness to integrate our Abhyasa."
- Coach Ilg
"Constant practice alone is the secret of success. Verily, there is no doubt of this."
- Hatha Yoga Pradipika, chapter 1, verses 64-6
"In DL, you can read the tidbits of Wholistic Fitness lives and teachings. However, to know where the Spirit behind the Scripture lies, you need only look to the recorded sweat. These monthly glimpses into the constancy of my actual Practice statistics gives the newcomer to WF a feel for the solidarity of my Message...my footprints have been clear since 1976 in daily training statistics."
- Coach Ilg
***
OCTOBER, 2005 = PRACTICE STATS FOR COACH ILG
{NOTE: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO MIMIC THESE STATS WITHOUT THE PROFESSIONAL GUIDANCE OF A CERTIFIED WF TEACHER! VERY IMPORTANT NOT TO ATTEMPT MY LOW CALORIC INTAKE WITHOUT YEARS OF SUNRIDER HERB SATURATION AND PRANAYAMA EXPERIENCE! YOU WILL INJURE YOURSELF IF YOU ATTEMPT TO MIMIC THESE HIGH TRAINING VOLUMES ON SUCH A LOW MATHEMATICAL NUMBER OF CALORIES!}
Strength Training Hours: 2.5 (average length of ST sessions; 22 minutes. most used program; Amitahba)
Cardio Training Hours = 43
Asana Hours: 32.75 hours
Meditation Hours: 22.25 hours
Calories Consumed: 60, 935 calories (average of 1,965/day)
bodyfat %: 2.8
Physical Highlight; snowshoe ascent/descent record; Agazzi Peak Challenge; 3,000'+ up and down in 1:58.
THE GRACE OF PRATYHARA; BALANCE, TRANSFORMATION. Student input; THE LOVE OF SWEAT AND STILLNESS
"The MahaRishis - The Great Teachers - do not Tell too much. Instead, They allow the Message of Their Lives to function
like a finger pointing the Higher Way.
I tell you now, Oh Noble WF Warriors, be very, very judicious about the worldly pleasures and seduction of senses. 
Remember why the fifth limb of yoga is Pratyhara - control of the senses. The Masters taught us long, long ago that the senses are like the horses of the chariot driver; the mind is the reins, the chariot is the body, the driver is the intellect, and the body/mind houses the Soul. just as the chariot driver must first and foremost control the horses, so too the yogin MUST LEARN TO CONTROL THE SENSES, otherwise, no matter how many degree's we have, how many initials after our names, no matter how clever, rich, or wise we may THINK we are, without the ability to manage our psychological and biologic and animal urges and longings, our Spiritual Integrity is weak, imbalanced, and lame. Until we can control the Senses, our Bardo Entry will be full of fear without strong, joyful consciousness retention. In the Outer World, releasing into pleasure and entertainment is easy. Containment of Energy and the Ascent of InnerAttainment, on the other hand, requires a most Noble, fit, and wise Warrior. Today, which do you choose? Predictable addiction to comfort like the mass of men, or to Rise Above and control your Horses? Today, which do you choose; Grasping for that which seems comfortable or concentrating on your Practices? Today, you can use your WF Training wisely and bravely; you can be a lion whose ROAR immediately awakens all sleeping Beings...or, you can remain a sheep, bleating among the fertile pastures of entertainment until you are shaved for your worth and die. All i know is this; nobody herds a lion! Choice is yours, Oh Noble One along the Way...the choice is allWays yours."
- Coach Ilg
Opening photo: Coach and Ananda take a moment in New Mexico to feel the Wisdom and Chi of my new nephew from Ethiopia, Mogius! Trust me when i say, this little guy is a Buddha truckin' around on little, fat feet...waving to All, Enlightening all others while he tends to his own Way. I bow to my little brother Craig and his wife, Gwen, for allowing this BuddhaBeing into our sphere of the world...and i bow to M's biologic parents still in Ethiopia. May All Beings Be Happy. photo/craig ilg.
***
Taking life seriously does not mean spending our whole lives meditating as if we were living in the Himalaya Mountains or in the old days in Tibet. In the modern world, we have to work to earn our living, but we should not get entangled in a nine-to-five existence, where we live without any view of the deeper meaning of life.
Our task is to strike a balance, to find a middle way, to learn not to overextend ourselves with extraneous activities and preoccupations, but to simplify our lives more and more. The key to finding a happy balance in modern life is simplicity.
- Sogyal Rinpoche
***
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
It is later. Bedtime in fact. Just want to take a few moments to unwind my mind. Green Tara prescribed lower body iron temple strength training for today. The last staccato set on the leg extention apparatus was gnarly. The burn so good on my thighs and my mind. i have been able to load on more weight for the sets and finish them in elegant posture. Of course, i appear to have just stepped from the shower i am so wet with sweat. It is the ultimate feeling, emerging at the end of the ritual, breathing deeply and slick with perspiration.
I had the opportunity to champion the WF path to a co worker this evening. He remarked that I look more fit, clear eyed, and thinner. So, being a man of way too many words, I gave him a short tour of DL, Wholistic Fitness� website, the virtue of yoga toes, and the miraculous feeling of SunRider� herbs. It felt good to share this path.
Ok, i will stop now before i burst into mindless babble from lack of rest. Good night my yogi teachers and friends, fellow finders of the path. Sweet dreams.
Namaste,
thOMas ~ (not so) wide Wapiti
***
Dear Coach,
i am grateful and ready to shout the WF Dharma from the mountain, the Sacred Mountain, at that:)
thank you, thank you, thank you. i bow at your feet. Lord knows you've put enough out there on DL to fill a book, FOR FREE! i say, "go for it, BABY!"
Namaste,
ko
***
November 01, 2005
"RIPPLES MAKE WAVES"; Student Shawna Chops Up The WF Dharma To CoWorkers
Teacher Ko,
namaste - noble teacher, you have taught me so well. as i sat at lunch today with co-workers and some clients, there were (6) of us that ate at a chinese restaurant. i attended to my practice of eating with chopsticks. everyone at the table took turns glancing over at me and one finally spoke and said "do you enjoy eating with chopsticks?" i said "yes, and besides it is part of my training. i should switch hands now, thank you for the reminder." then one said "what kind of training, spiritual training?" i said, "you could call it that, it's WHOLISTIC FITNESS� training including nutrition, cardio, yoga, strength, and yes you can say spiritual training." another chimed in and said "yes, if you eat with chopsticks, then you tend not to shovel your food into your mouth", i said "exactly" i then observed while everyone's minds started churning. after awhile another asked, "are you doing yoga this weekend?" i said "yes, and you're welcome to come if you'd like?" 
namaste,
student-shawna