February 28, 2006
Must Go Beyond The Mind...
"If the mind is not finally surrendered, then the flow of intuitive knowledge and performance
will not flow.
So you have to do two things:� you must learn how to make the best use of your mind, and then how
to go beyond the realm of the mind.� Reading and studying are good pastimes, but reading does not
lead you very far.� You only gather information.� The important thing is to practice,
practice,
practice."
- Swami Rama
Those Damned Misfits...
"Every passing year brings us 30000 miles closer
to the Globular Cluster M13 in Hercules, and yet there are still some
misfits who insist there is no such thing as progress..."
- Ransom K. Ferm
(a character in Kurt Vonnegut's Siren's of Titan..one of Neil's -see below - favorite books in High School)
***
i dunno,
that quote just really struck a great chord in me...
* special thanks to Neil Weintraub who, even though he hasn't YET showed up for my High Performance Yoga� classes,
does a SPLENDID and AMAZING job of being President of the Northern Arizona Trail Runners Association...
please, do yourself a favor and check out Neil's site, keep it in mind when you visit Flag...
his site is a fantastic resource for finding Trails from our Tribe Who Sweat Among The High, Sacred Peaks...
great, honest pics and to the point info!
www.natra.org
MORE RIPPLES...MORE WAVES OF DHARMA THROUGH SWEAT...
Coach Ilg,
I recently purchased your HP Prop Workout DVD and was very much impressed, not only with the exercises, but with your energy and motivation. I showed your DVD to a friend of mine who is a personal trainer and incorporated many of your routines and exercise into my own workout regimen, as well as adding them into my Wing Chun Kung-Fu class workout. I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your knowledge with everyone and making your DVDs available so I could experience first hand your amazing High Performance workout. Thank you so much again.
Cho Cheung
***
Hay Coach!
Thank you again for all you do, it helps me in this crazy world.
Peace out
rich paul
"Still riding that Mt. Taylor high..." Sacred Peak's Pran Gains Another Podium For Lisa
And You Doubted My DL's About The Pranic Empowerment Inherent To The Sacred Peaks Of The American Southwest?
One week after racing, winning, and having her cells become empowered by the Pran of Tsidool (the subtle energy of Mt. Taylor), Lisa "Vishnu Doll" Goldsmith of the WF; Team Mountain Yogi went on to win a Denver Stair Climbing Competition. She now goes to Boston for another Stair Climb Event in March.
Dear Coach,
The race was in Denver this a.m. and I ran it like an �endurance athlete� never changed my pace, therefore was able to hold it! I won in 6:41, 1st guy was 6:15�there were 3 other guys ahead of me. You�d probably go sub-6 no problemo. It was a pretty fun event; 800 peeps! I went off 7th so the stair well was clean and �fresh� still�they started us at 15 second intervals. I had done a session with Scott Elliott in Boulder on Thursday, 10 x 17flights at CU and that was Very Helpful in dialing in a pace I thought I could do for 47 flights, BUT I got pretty sore calves from it, hence some downward-dog sessions the last 2 days and I was just fine for today!
I am going to Boston for a stair event in 3/11 � this Denver event was a �check it out session.�
Still riding that Mt. Taylor high � whot is it about that mountain???!!! I didn�t even go to the top which is also, I can see, going to become quite a lure for me; maybe I solo in �08 too�
Cheers Shiva Muscle,
lisa
Coach's Latest "RUNNING ON WATER" COLUMN!
enjoy:
http://www.snowshoeracing.com/home.htm
and may it help your Workouts grow ever more Wonder-Full in the WinterWonderLand!
we are Blessed to be alive and fit and Awake!
namaste,
the mountain yogi
February 26, 2006
HP Yogini Leslie; Putting The Sweat Back Into Her Zen
"Without the bitterest cold that penetrates to the very bone, how can plum blossoms send forth their fragrance to the whole world?"
- Bassho
(contributed by Flagstaff HP Yoga� Warrioress Leslie Hutchinson)
***
when you think your Practice becomes boring and repetitious
when you think you should just quit because you think you need something 'new' or 'better' or 'more flashy' or 'higher tech'
feeble ilg asks you;
what if Grandfather Sun or Grandmother Moon just quit out of boredom of their repetitious life?
maybe you are not so BORED...
maybe you are just under-APPRECIATING the Miracles of Mindful Living!
(photo of Grandmother Moon rising over Mt. Elden at Two Tree Manor by coach.)
***
"Ananda Desa" at Two Tree Manor. 'Desha' is Sanskrit for an "appropriate environment for yogic practice" which precisely what Joy (whose WF Tribal Name is "Ananda") now provides three lucky yoga Students each Sunday Morning. The students face West, the direction of Bear who teaches us Introspection; the ideal quality for asana practice.
This semi-private, hour and a half class is a "Female Strength and Hormonal Balancing Class." Leslie was one of the first students to sign up for this special class. Coming to us with a strong background in Zen yet having gotten a wee bit off track with some of the physical practices (who among us have not?), Leslie has now regained the Sweat to her Zen. I have the opportunity to teach Leslie on Wedndesday evenings in my local HP Yoga� class and the quality of Leslie's mental focus is a shining testimony to her Zen Practice. i bow in Engaged Gassho. She is a wonderful "ripe" student for HP Yoga�. Ananda and i are thrilled to share the Light of HP Yoga� with this precious gem of a human being.
Read Leslie's words below...for they ring like a Tibetan gong to my motto behind Wholistic Fitness�;
"Just Begin,
again and again,
and
endlessly...again..."
OM SO TI
"May there be happy omens."
coach ilg, RYT
****
Student/Teacher.
Leslie/Ananda. Female/Female. Practitioner/Practitioner. Being/Being.
Om/Om.
OM.
photo by coach
"Hi Joy,
Thank you, so very much, for the Sunday morning class. The session had a lovely quality of 'compassion and passion' and gentleness and strength.
Your practice has a depth of kindness and generosity that was and continues to be tempered by your life experience. A deep bow in gratitude for your willingness to take on lapsed yogis like myself...I feel great gratitude to be renewing my yoga/life with you.
I have enjoyed, so very much, renewing my practice with both you and Steve.
I hope that my chattiness after practice didn't disturb you ( and Steve) I felt such a light heart that it came forth just like that.
A pleasant week to you.
Leslie"
SEASONED STUDENT; FRESH SARTORI !
Student Jones enjoying the Ai Imawa posture, "Holding Up Moon" while on telemark skis this week.
After struggling with the hard core, in your face WF Online Training studies for years, recently, his Abhyasa (constancy of effort) paid off with a Heart Opening Sartori...Student Jones's life is deepening in multidimensional ways and this makes me smile...
***
Most Noble Coach Ilg,
your Early Morning Ritual� is shifting me to being more of a morning person, more alive, alert and motivated early. It is so nice and calm in the early AM. It does feel so good to be up and going and feel alive physically and
vibrationally thru the Prana.I am starting to feel more grace and rhythm, well attempting to be graceful...I can sorta feel what it would feel like to be graceful :). Anyway I feel the effects and think my body is responding in micro ways to the EMR. More room and more energy. Thank you.
Some days HP Yoga� is like jazz... I do what feels good when I can fit it in, sometimes means a yogi squat or hero or child's pose around the woodstove while chatting with kids or wife or stopping and doing some warrior poses
and forward bends during the day.
Your Energy Vent Routine� has me thinking about pathways in my body and energy...interesting cross over in all this and yoga etc and its how it translates into more efficient Nordic skiing.
Notice how my legs are shoulder width here in the attached picture? As you noted this is felt as a more opening and inclusive position!
Life is abundant and I am blessed. I am working to see if I can get back to a level of health and fitness I have had and beyond. I want to feel what else there is to feel in this life. These are the first steps, no going backward now baby!!!!!!
I appreciate all you are helping me with Coach Steve Ilg.
Oh yea...DL is the shnizzle!
Namaste,
Student Jones
Student Maxfield; GETTING REALMED!
Ilgster-
Thanks!! for all the WF work you're doing and have done. It's pushing me...
PPPuuusssshhhiiinnngggg me! I love it.
I am in the midst of the Frugal Realm program in TOTAL BODY TRANSFORMATION (second time around)...on the path to "the beginningless continuum of mind and matter"
Peace and Love
Bob
February 25, 2006
HIS HOLINESS ON HIS OWN BARDO ENTRY
I view death as a normal process, a reality that I accept will occur as long as I remain in this earthly existence. Knowing that I cannot escape it, I see no point in worrying about it. I tend to think of death as being like changing your clothes when they are old and worn out, rather than as some final end. Yet death is unpredictable: We do not know when or how it will take place. So it is only sensible to take certain precautions before it actually happens.
- THE DALAI LAMA
IT AIN'T MAGIC: TEMPLE HERBS GETS YET ANOTHER STUDENT OFF ALL MEDS
...The Bardo don't take kindly to Medicated Consciousness's! Stay real; Stay Whole; Stay A Balanced Human Being;
Stay on SUNRIDER HERBS, baby!
Dear Coach,
Thanks for the clarification of the new Club Member policy. Now I understand my options. I really appreciate how quickly you both got back to me on this. It's a pleasure to be a SunRider� under you.
On a personal note, the combo of 4-5 Conco� and 2 Quinary� each morning has allowed me to stop all asthma related prescription meds. Every once in a while, when I am at the home of someone where there are multiple pets and/or mold allergens in the walls, I have some challenges. In most cases, preparing for those visits by taking extra Conco does the trick. Thank you both for your support in being prescription medication free.
Gassho to you both,
laura
COACH RESPONDS;
Namaste Laura!
Absolutely huge!!!! This is fantastic, particularly for a spiritual warrioress like you...The Bardo don't take kindly to Medicated Consciousness's! Stay real; Stay Whole; Stay A Balanced Human Being;
Stay on SUNRIDER HERBS, baby!
Eat The Royal Dirt Of The Ancients; Eat SUNRIDER Herbs!
coach ilg
SUNRIDER Lead Director
IT AIN'T MAGIC...IT IS FEEDING THE BODY ACCURATELY! 
{Coach's and Ananda's cupboard of The Secret Herbs. I used to have to choose between rent or herbs. I chose the herbs...and that was several World Championships and the overcoming of tremendous physical and emotional challenges ago. Oh, and these days? SUNRIDER� now helps PAY the rent! It's a win/win; Health + a little help in the Wealth department. These herbs are the most powerful Tug Boat on the Planet; eating them daily will POWER you through ANYTHING with strength and verve.}
It is not magic getting people off of prescribed medications. I have been doing this for decades. It is very important to wean oneself from prescribed medications, particularly before Bardo Entry...during The Great Transition, a consciousness that is polluted by prescribed medications is feeble and easily lost in the several dozen Dying Realms which must be navigated.
In Laura's case, the Whole Food Herbal Formulas that i guided her to use to help support her own strength to naturally overcome asthma related conditions - Conco� and Quinary� - allow a steady support of the vayus or Life Force Currents. The Conco� Formula in particular, which is already present in the Quinary� formula, is taken in copious amounts to build what yogis know as Udana-Vayu or the "Upbreath"...in Western terms, this means that Laura built up, very quickly, her Udana Chi which supports all respiratory immunology factors.
SUNRIDER� HERBS - the 22 year old Official Nutritional Path of Wholistic Fitness� is once again changing their policies. Always a tricky Temple to Enter, now is an auspicious and cost effective time to Enter SUNRIDER� as a "Distributor" to enjoy maximum discounts and bonuses on your use of the"Secret Herbs of WF." If you have not joined SUNRIDER� yet, contact one of the WF Certified Teachers on the left margin and begin Phase I of my exclusive 3-Phase Approach to using the most potent, powerful Whole Foods on Mother Earth; SUNRIDER�!
LIke Laura, and dozens of others that i have sponsored within the WF Temple Garden,
you will be sooooo glad you did!
And your Bardo Entry?
Ain't so baaaaaaad!!!!!
February 24, 2006
COYOTES RULE FOR INLINE NORDIC SKIING!
Every winter Olympics i get a rush of emails from people saying how COOL the Nordic Ski Racers and Nordic Biathletes are...let me assure you, unless you want to wallow in unmentionable pain and excruciating intensity for several years until you build up the upper AND lower body strength PLUS the cardio fitness of the HIMALAYAN GODS...you better just keep sittin' back on your comfy couch and watch these SuperHumans...however, if you Dare to Dance the Nordic Dance...ol' coach ilg has just the recipe for you...as discussed in my third book, THE WINTER ATHLETE, the dryland version of Nordic Skate Skiing is perhaps the most superb replicator of nordic skate skiing. the key? a no longer made, off-road inline skate known as "THE COYOTE" by RollerBlade. see photo above.
COYOTES slow the speed of inline skates so that the timing is more realistic to snow skiing and works more harmoniously with various Nordic Skate Skiing Techniques such as V2 Technique (shown above).
...and...COYOTES are kickass fun to downhill in! here i am in a classic Nordic Ski Tuck. note how i am skeletally bracing in order to rest my muscles after a long uphill effort. in Nordic Skiing, it's all about Timing and Efficiency. It's just too brutal of a sport to waste any effort. Nordic Ski Racing is like chopping down a Sequoia Tree with a hatchet in either hand and running a marathon at the same time. Welcome to the REAL Olympic Sports, baby! no riding chairlifts, hopping on a snowboard, and doing 40 seconds of turns and winning a Gold Medal...no sirree...not in Nordic Skiing baby!
****
Dearest Coach,
First, a huge congratulations to you and the Mountain Yogi Team for whoopin' some ass at the Mount Taylor Quad this weekend!!! I dedicated my very feeble mountain bike ride to you and your team that morning..... so proud of you and your team -- not because of your glorious victory, but because of the magnificent courage and effort you all display. You are all shining beacons along the very steep path of WF. Thank you.
i watched some of those crazy cross country skiing races in the Olympics this weekend. They re-ran the 1994 men's relay race. WOW -- have to say my interest in this sport is peaked. Guess I'll start by breaking in those new inline skates of mine as soon as the weather permits.
Noble Stalwart Student MC...
thank you my Tribal Brother and Fine Warrior Student!
The best inline skate to get to mimic the timing of nordic skate skiing is RollerBlades's COYOTES. they are off road versions, yet due to their bulky nature and slower speed, they are IDEAL for inline skiing as described in THE WINTER ATHLETE. Student K found a pair on EBAY for $50. they do not make them any longer. get some.
nama ste!
el coache
OM & CROSS-FIT; WHOLISTIC FITNESS�
One of the meanings of the yogic "OM" symbol is, "Balance Across The Body/Mind Capacities." A well-taught yogi never pushes away his or her weaknesses nor attempts to hide them under an impressive layer of sport-specific, physiologic-specific, or egoic/intellectual-specific strength.
The genuine Seeker of Union (known as a 'yogin') tools his or her weaknesses into strengths; this unification of physiologic balance is required before attempting to unlock the powers of the subtle anatomy. One who has yet to find the Power and Speed in strength training asanas such as, "PowerCleans", "Jump Squats", and "Snatches," should study these asanas before diving deeper into yin disciplines such as fancy yoga poses or meditation practices. The yogi who has yet to endure countless hours of cardio training and toe at least one Start Line of an endurnace or ultra-endurance competition should not attempt to dive deeper into yin disciplines such as fancy yoga poses or advanced meditation arts. Let alone teach them.
Why?
Well, because if we do so, we are missing First Base (see DL: 2/1). Without first spending years exploring and cultivating our physiologic weaknesses into strengths, we will never be able to fully trust our Consciousness. If we cannot trust our Consciousness, how confidently will we enter our Bardo Realms? Everybody dies. S/He who dies with the most Balanced, Strong, and Enduring Consciousness wins. Wins what? Wins the victory over death.
However, let us not get ahead of ourselves:
Without mastering physiologic balance, If you attempt to develop and then, worse, trust your subtle anatomical fitness such as dreams, visions, and Bardo Training...you are doing so with glaring gaps in your subtle anatomy; specifically weak and imabalanced Nadic Lines, feeble and undeveloped chakral energy, unpierced granthis, and imbalanced chi reservoirs. The Princess Kundala, if She DOES arise, will result in a neurotic Awakening in those yogis with such gaps within their body/mind paradigm.
A Cancer?
Here in the West, the recent explosion of asana-based 'yoga' has already begun a cancer of 'certified ' Yoga Teachers who have not explored, let alone having mastered, their natural potential across their physiology. Too scared to leave that which they are 'good at', these 'studio trained yogis' unwittingly violate several of yoga's crowning jewels of self development; the yama's and niyamas. There is a scientific reason why the Masters taught their students moral and ethical Guidelines before teaching them physical and certainly, energetic arts.
The Cure?
The Steep, Direct Path of Wholistic Fitness�. Applied Spiritual Intelligence Across The Physiologic Spectrum. Don't Hit The Bardo Entry with an unbalanced body.
Unbalanced Body = Unbalanced Mind
Unblanced Mind = Kindygarten Spirit
Go Back To School Young One = Go Back To Your Wholistic Fitness� Practice.
Leave specificity to the Insect World; attend to your Wholistic Fitness�...even if it means spending the next decade turning yourself into a marathoner or a bodybuilder or a asana expert. Pick your physiologic weakness; draw a big Divine Bulls-Eye on it; and shoot your Arjuna Arrow into that Target and Begin Again,
and Again,
and
Endlessly Again.
****
Coach's Old Tricks...just being done at an Older Age...
FITNESS CATEGORY:
ENDURANCE/MENTAL TOUGHNESS 
Saturday; February 18th;
Capture the Overall Team Championship at Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon
FIVE DAYS LATER:
FITNESS CATEGORY:
STRENGTH/POWER/AGILITY/FLEXIBILITY 
climb "FLAKE ME OUT" V3+ (5.12-) within 3 attempts
climb "SHOULDER THE BURDEN" V5 (5.12+) within 6 attempts
Give it try sometime...i'll spot you...
enjoy the Gift of your Body/Mind Package today...keep testing Her capacities across the physiologic spectrum. True fitness is not about doing what you are good at, it's about being balanced in all of the body's abilities.
- Coach Ilg
founder/Wholistic Fitness� since 1982
Coach's Halo?
yup,
it's true; i've got a Halo over my head...what? you think they give these 'guru' jobs to chumps?!
you GOTS TO HAVE A HALO!!!!!
http://www.haloheadband.com/sitemap.html
that shot was taken at my team's Furnace Creek 508 victory.
February 23, 2006
THE MT. TAYLOR CHRONICLES; 2006 - The View From The Top Of The Podium (Again!)
Our Running Warrioress of Team Mountain Yogi; Lisa Goldsmith (Tribal Code Name; Vishnu Doll). This is a helluva Trikonasana after tearing the legs off all the other competitors; both male and female! Lisa blistered the 10 mile mountain run in 73 minutes giving our Team a whollop of momentum going into the final bike leg! Below are a few snapshots of my Team's second consecutive Team Victory at the 43-mile, multisport event...enjoy and THANK YOU Temple Manager Ananda for running around trying to get these shots. The event did not have photography available and no one was allowed on the upper reaches of the Sacred Peak where i was.
Driving "Bala" across the high deserts of New Mexico toward the Sacred Peak of Tsidool...they don't give out noses as large as mine unless you can use it wisely; i use my honker to sniff out podiums...hey, look, it looks like i am catching a whiff of another podium already...yep, i KNOW that scent!...the Scent of PAIN, SUFFERING, TACTICS, and PUTTING THE GAWD AWLMIGHTY HURT on anyone else showing up to the Start Line...LOVE THAT SMELL OF WARRIORISM!!!!!!!
Unpacking 'Bala'...getting nervous, baby! If you ain't getting all tingly over events in your life; be brave and get out and PUSH YOURSELF in some competitive event; nothing like testing your Faith and your Yoga Practice against competition; Sports are the ideal battleground for learning your true stance against your egoic structures.
Equipment Check In; shhhhhhh!!!!! top secret mountain yogi technique for running through ankle deep snow in summit winds of over 30 mph and freezing temps; Kahtoolas! 
Team Meeting; 8:00 pm the evening before Race Day. Discussing tactics; in a Team Event coordination of logistics and communication is vital. Clockwise from bottom left; myself (Company Code Leader 'Shiva Muscle'), Angela Verderame with her husband; Richard "Grammage" Verderame our State Champion cyclist, Lisa "Vishnu Doll" Goldsmith studies the vertical gain of her run leg while her husband, Roy "Dharma Brat" Goldsmith wonders what the hell is up with this craziness! 
Race Day Morning; up early; Early Morning Ritual including Toilet Yoga�, Neti, At-Sink Pranayama� and...of course, SUNRIDER herbs!!!!! a yogi without Secret Herbs is like the pope without a chalice. On the Race Day Menu; Sport Caps�, Action Caps�, Fortune Delight�, VitaFruit�, VitaSpray�, Metabalance 44�, and Energy Plus�. I will tell you this; most podiums are won long before Race Day; day to day Nutrition is the KEY TO PODIUMS! i rely on SUNRIDER Herbs� and have done so for 23 years! Need a podium in your life? PUMP THE HERBS and DO THE PRACTICE!
Grammage in full on, WHOLISTIC FITNESS� WARRIOR GARB! Temperature, a balmy 27 degrees. elevation at start; 6,473'. bike leg; 13 miles, 1,800' of climbing with wind. Grammage would crank it in 53 minutes and hand off to Lisa.
Hours before the Start, i had to be bused, then transferred to the 9,500' Level of the Sacred Peak. 
the view from my Transition on the upper mountain. i relied on my mountaineering experience to stay focused, warm, and alert for the hours that remained before Lisa would scorch her way into the Transition Zone for my hand off. i used this time for meditation, pranayam, and visualization...and, creating new WF Programs for YOU!!!!!!
At the Awards Ceremony i spoke up for the mountain; "On behalf of Team Mountain Yogi, i devote our Victory to the Sacred Mountain of Tsidool. Just because She doesn't have a lot of snow upon Her, doesn't make Her any less Sacred." 
With Flagstaff HP Yogin, Jut "Jut Do It" Wynne who finished the event as a Soloist, baby! 6 hours and 19 minutes of WORLD CLASS CHI BUILDING, BARDO TOUGHENING, baby! i BOW to Student Jut! 
Back at the motel room, attempting to recover from the jackhammer like pounding i forced upon my body. i found that watching the Olympics is MUCH BETTER when your own Trophies adorn the TV!
Pancake Belly; ahhhhhhhh!!!!! the Morning After!!!!!!
Best place in the NATION for pancakes and home cookin' with a ton of small mountain town love; 1st Street Cafe in Grants, NM! Don't live your life without experiencing a true "cake in a pan"! Get your 'cake fix along Route 66! 
SUMMARY:
Overall Team Winner:
Team Mountain Yogis
Grammage's Bike Up: 53:30 (2nd fastest)
Lisa's Run Up: 42:32 (1st))
Coach's Ski/Snowshoe Up: 25:10 (2nd fastest)
Coach's Ski/Snowhoe Down: 12:54 (3rd fastest)
Lisa's Run Down: 31:43 (1st)
Grammage's Bike Down: 32:59 (1st)
Total Time: 3:48:14 Overall Fastest Team regardless of age or gender; that, my friends is HIGH PERFORMANCE YOGA�!
Sometimes, we don't especially feel like pushing ourselves. We look around and see that others are displaying little by way of kindness, compassion or consideration of Rising Above their negative tendencies. Often, they aren't even bothering to honor their Divine Light which the yogic Masters like Jesus, Buddha, and Gandhi so beautifully and bravely in-Abled us to do. The non-Practitioner "hides selfishness beneath a thin veneer of social nicety," as Cainer puts it. Why, then, should we get out on the BattleField of our egos and PUSH OURSELVES SO HARD THAT WE WONDER WHY? Because we shouldn't pretend at our life. Death comes fast. For our own satisfaction before we enter the Bardo, make a deep, genuine, wholehearted effort to be truly kind and fair, to be truly brave in our own effort in Self Cultivation regardless of who else is doing or saying what.
You are the creator of your own Sacred Happiness. No One else. Think of yourself as a winner - because that's what you are. You may not yet have it all, however you've got all you need for Enlightenment.
May these Mt. Taylor Chronicles of 2006 do one thing; inspire your Divine Light and Faith of Self.
from the top of the podium,
on behalf of Team Mountain Yogi,
i salute you
for your Spiritual Strength and Support of our humble, powerful Temple of Wholistic Fitness�.
OM SO IT
"May there be happy omens."
coach ilg
****
For more Race Results, go here:
http://www.ccrtiming.com/races/results/2006/06mttaylor.htm#t-oall
February 22, 2006
TEMPLE NOTICE: CODE YELLOW
Due to me being out of the office for a couple of days, my email has had several hundred incoming messages.
Beginning today at this Post, and lasting for the next 48 hours:
ONLY ACTIVE WF ONLINE STUDENTS and ACTIVE SUNRIDER HERB WARRIORS IN THE COACH ILG DOWNLINE
should send me emails directly.
if you do receive an invalid email notification from my email, please resubmit your email after 48 hours.
thank you for your support of my humble, Powerful Path of Wholistic Fitness�.
we might not be "CrossFit" in magnitude,
we might not be YogaJournal Online in gloss...
i am only me,
a feeble mountain yogi and messenger of
America's Native MultiDisciplined Yoga; Wholistic Fitness� since 1982.
i appreciate your Practice of Patience and Polite Respect for my capacities...
"Though we be small,
we are mighty."
namaste,
coach ilg
Overall Team Champion; 2006 Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon
RACING IS NOT ABOUT WINNING...
"Racing is not about winning,
it's about knowing ourselves."
- Coach Ilg, 1989
excerpt; THE WINTER ATHLETE (Johnson Books)
photo/Marc Romanelli, Santa Fe, NM
"No trophy was ever held up by an athlete that was not first won on the inside."
- Coach Ilg, 2001
interview/LA Times
photo/Coach speaks up for the Sacred Mountain at last Saturday's award ceremony at the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon. photo by Ananda
Venerable Wuling
February 21, 2006
"WHEN YOU WIN, NOTHING HURTS."
"When you win, nothing hurts."
i think Joe Namath said that.
which explains everything.
i hurt all fucking over.
i hurt in the way taking a jackhammer to every joint in my body would hurt.
i hurt in the way that even the THOUGHT of doing a yoga pose sends a shock of pain through my acidic body...
Namath wasn't a mountain endurance athlete.
ilg sez; "When you win, EVERYTHING HURTS...
and it hurts in the very HIGHEST, BLESSED, and INWARDLY SACRED WAYS
imaginable!!!"
WE WON!!!!!!!!!!!!
WE FREAKIN' KICKED ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thank you Ananda, for the splendid Race Reporting...
i bow to my Team Mountain Yogi Teammates...
i bow to my treasured WF Sangha, upon whose spiritual strength, i flew up and down that Sacred Mountain...
i will update you, Oh Noble DL Reader soon...
right now, i and Ananda still have some saturation to do
among the ruby rocked crash of Mother Earth and Father Sky as the final molecules of lactic acid ooze from my cells...
Wholistic Fitness�...never, EVER doubt Her humble Strength or indomitable Spirit...the Outer World may we think we are bunch of granola-eatin', new age flakey wakies...
meanwhile,
you and i know
that We are treading a Steep and Direct Path of Self Transformation
that gobbles up podiums
on the Way to the real TROPHY...
The Trophy of Enlightenment in one lifetime...
Thank you for reading,
May your Practice be Strong and Sincere today
and may you make treasured Ascent toward YOUR personal podium...
OM SO TI
"May there be Happy omens."
off to merge within the Rio Grande pranic ocean...
coach ilg
Overall Team Champion; 2006 Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon
*
PHOTOS:
#1: Saturday night Award Ceremonies. i can barely hold up the Team Mountain Yogi trophies for Overall Team Champions; exquisite Nambe silver trophies. photo by Ananda
#2: "La Ventana" in El Maipais National Monument near where we kicked ass at Mt. Taylor. photo by coach.
#3: "Holding Up Moon" Ai Imawa Posture at La Ventana. i came here after the race to breathe, to do some Healing postures, and to luxuriate with Ananda in that incredible post-win sensation that fills me with such endless spirit of knowing that, on this day, me and my teammates were the absolute, undeniable BEST, baby!!!! photo by Ananda
February 18, 2006
Team Mountain Yogi Brings The Chi
Field Report from Ananda at 2:22 PM
As i sit (in WF LifeStyle Principle #1)in a lovely little Internet Cafe here in Grants NM, home to the Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon, determined and dedicated Athletes sweat their way to the finish line of this "42 mile race of endurance."
It was my intent to give you updates through out this race, however,
due to technical difficulties i was not able to get our computer up and running.
Thanks to our loyal web-master, John "hak" Kuhlman, who was gracious enough to
answer his cell phone while buying new running shoes for his up-coming Triathlon,
i am now finally able to give you WF Warriors/Warrioresses what you want...an "un-offical" update on Team Mountain Yogi!
Let's just say...they brought their A, number one, game to this race!
In other words, they put the almighty hurt on the other teams.
In other "un-offical" words, they where the FIRST TEAM across the finish line,
giving them two wins:
1) First Team
2) First Team in their "age division."
Yeah, baby! Age had nothing to due with performance here today.
Only sweat, chi and love for what they do and who they BE!!!
From my understanding, they sliced off about 15 minutes from last years time.
In Richards "Gram Man" words, "Lisa was flying." Leaving male athletes, like the
one who came up to us at the finish line, to say to themselves, "man, that lady
is fast." i get chi-bumps (a WF word for chill bumps) just writing about Lisa.
Meeting her and her husband, Roy, for the first time last night, this athlete
is unassuming and funny, and as Coach said in his DL yesterday,
"this woman can HAMMER"! Thank you, Lisa, for making the pilgramage to Tsidool,
the Turquoise Mountain, to be apart of Team Mountain Yogi! No longer a rookie
here, you're a winner!
As for our Coach... well, we're just going to have to wait. For the safety
of the athletes still on the course, the officials don't allow cars on the road,
so knowing our wacked yet tapped teacher, he's probably running all the way down
to the start/finish line (it's only about 20 miles away) from where he, too,
hammered with "Manjurshree like speed," the Cross Country Ski and Snowshoe portion to the summit of Tsidool also known today as the Mountain Run to the summit, since there was no snow. Regardless of conditions, i TAF Coach's Mission (see yesterday's DL entry)was accomplished with WF Devotion, Grace and Grit!
Congratulations Team Mountain Yogi!
You guys and gal rock!!!
Your 'support' crew,
ananda
P.S. thank you Angela and Roy for supporting your Spouses. Your love
and presence was greatly appreciated beyond my words, i TAF.
February 17, 2006
THE MT. TAYLOR CHRONICLES; 2006 - Meet My Team
One of four Sacred Peaks that define the Navajo Nation, Tsidool - The Turquoise Mountain - is known to the white man as Mt. Taylor. She stands upright at over 11,300+ and is the Sacred Site of the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon...a four-discipline, 42-mile endurance event with which i have had long history with as both a top soloist and defending Team Champion. In this Winter That Has Yet To Be, Tsidool does not have enough snow to hold the snowshoe and ski segments, which are my segments. Instead, the two snow events will be turned into an extreme run through ice, muck, snow, and summit talus and wind. perfect...i can't wait. when in doubt? Go Higher, Baby! Bring it friggin' ON!!!!!!!!!
i would like to introduce to you, Oh Noble DL Readers, my assembled Team for Mt. Taylor this year. I will be meeting them later tonight at our Team Meeting at the glorious Travelodge in Grants, NM...a historic mining town huddled close to the canyon arms of Tsidool.
i know that in years past, you have all written very kindly about my attempts to take my Practice and apply it upon this Sacred Peak...if possible...i will attempt, with Ananda's amazing help, to provide Mt. Taylor Updates as the event occurs. All free, all for your inspiration to get out this Saturday, and send some sweat soaked Tribal Chi into the UniVerse whereupon i, and my Team Mountain Yogi teammates will feel you as we hammer our heartrates into the stratsophere and push our Practice where few yogis are brave enough to go...Multi-Disciplined Yoga, baby...gotta Dance ALL the realms to be a highly skilled yogi. that is why i do things like Mt. Taylor. your faith in yourself is only as vital as your most recent Test of it...
for a description of this brutally beautiful event please visit:
http://mttaylorquad.org/
with honor of their long years of Practice within their Sweat and Spirit, i give you my teammates for Mt.Taylor 2006; Team Mountain Yogi
CYCLIST: Team Mountain Yogi
Richard "Gram Man" Verderame
Bio:
Richard Verderame
Age: 47
5 time New Mexico Race Series Champion
2 time State Road Race Champion
2 time SVA Circuit Road Race Series Champion
Competed in "The Tour of the Gila" several times and finished second twice while domestiqueing for my teammates
New Mexico Criterium series Champion
Completed biking portion of "2000 Mount Taylor" ascending with a time of 51:07 and descending with a
time of 29:13
I do not feel comfortable talking about me!
Looking forward to the competition with my new and fast team!!!
I am a little out of shape today but have dedicated myself to the effort.
Godspeed;
Grammage"
Gram Man's Team Mountain Yogi 2006 Mission: to keep in contact with the Bike Up lead group; needs to equal or better his 48:48 ascent of last year to keep us competitive going into the Run Up. The Bike Up course is a 13-mile, 1,800 hill climb with headwalls of 17% gradient. His other mission is NOT TO FALL ASLEEP while waiting for his Bike Down transition! Needs to nail a national class Time Trial descent as our Anchor Man back to the finish.
Gram Man's Team Mountain Yogi History: former training partner of mine when i lived in Rio Rancho, NM. "Grammage" and i raced together on the regional Team Motorola out of Albuquerque for several seasons. Without 'Gram Man's' help i doubt if i could have become the New Mexico State Road Race Series Champion. I call him 'Gram Man' because he is horribly anal about shaving off micrograms of weight from his bicycle. i love him dearly and cannot wait to see him again and his beautiful wife, Angela.
*
CYCLIST: Team Mountain Yogi
Lisa Goldsmith
bio:
Lisa M. Goldsmith
Age: 40
{Coach's Note: uh, if you don't know who Lisa G is...i reckon you've not ever picked up a running magazine for the past two DECADES!!! i had to edit her Resume for lack of GigaByte Space...;-)
2005:
**Member "La Sportiva/Go-Lite Mountain Running Team"
USATF Master Mountain Runner of the Year
1st overall, age-group course record, "Run To The Sun," 36.2 mi road, Maui, HI (Haleakala volcano w/ 10,032ft elev. gain)
1st overall, "Pikes Peak Ascent," 13.32 mi trail, Manitou Springs, CO (6,200 > 14,000ft)
1st overall, "Mt. Evans Ascent," 14.5 mi road, Idaho Springs, CO (14,000ft at summit)
2004:
1st overall, " Imogene Pass Run,"
2nd place, "North American Snowshoe Championship," Beaver Creek, CO
7th US MOuntain Championships, "Mt. Washington Hill Climb," 7.6 mi, Gorham, NH
**Member "La Sportiva Mountain Running Team"
2003:
1st overall, "Rim Rock Run"
1st overall, "Mt. Sanitas," 1.2 mi trail, Boulder, CO
1st overall, "Color Run," 1/2 marathon, trail/road, Buena VIsta, CO
1st overall "Bergen Peak," 11.5 mi trail, Evergreen, CO
1st overall, "Continental Divide Run," 17 mi, trail, Steamboat Springs, CO
1st overall, "Golden Gate Run," 10 mi, trail, Golden Gate Canyon State Park, CO
**Member "La Sportiva Mountain Running Team"
Other
2001 North American Snowshoe Champion
2001 1st overall, Mt. Baldy, 8 mi trail, CA
3 time Winner Mt Evans, 14.5 mi hill climb, road, CO
2 time Winner, Collegiate Peaks 25 mi trail, Buena Vista, Co
1999, 20th place, Boston Marathon, MA
1998 1st overall, Catalina Island Marathon, trail, CA
1997 US Mountain Running Team, 1st American @ World Mountain Trophy, Czech Republic
Lisa's 2006 Team Mountain Yogi Mission: i have only 3 Team Leader Directives for Lisa:
1) drive down from Nederland, Colorado SAFELY!!!!! and,
2) tear the fucking legs off of any and all other runners - gender does not matter.
Lisa's Team Mountain Yogi History. rookie with this Team and on this mountain. is replacing WF Teacher Joseph "Haku" Sheader who is busy at some World Martial Art Championship or something feeble like that. A DEEEEP bow to Haku for
soliciting Most Noble Running Warrioress Lisa to come down and help us retain our Podium. Lisa has an outstanding chance at setting a Course Record for the Run Up and Run Down...this woman can HAMMER!!!!
*
SKIER/SNOWSHOER : Team Mountain Yogi
Steve "Coach" Ilg
age 43
bio:
mountain yogi
Steve's 2006 Team Mountain Yogi Mission:
Lead the Team capably. Adapt to the crazy cold, mixed conditions on the upper reaches and summit of the mountain. Keep our ace Runner, Lisa, at the high, cold Run/Ski transition for as LITTLE TIME as possible...i must summit and plummet with Manjurshree like speed to get the electronic baton back to Lisa.
Steve's Team Mountain Yogi History:
i have been in the top twenty in this Race three times as a soloist and 3rd overall as a age grouper.
last year, i was the Skier and Snowshoer as well, as Team Mountain Yogi went on to win the Men's Team podium.
This year, with Lisa replacing Haku, i will do my Warrior Best to help my Team stand on top of the Mixed Team podium
in Grants tomorrow night.
*
SUPPORT CREW: Team Mountain Yogi
Joy "Ananda" Kilpatrick
age 38
bio:
movie star turned mountain yogini and WF Temple Manager extraordinaire. my Beloved Partner, my Pranic Princess.
Joy's 2006 Team Mountain Yogi Mission:
get and keep all our shit together. race up and down the Sacred Mountain like a madwoman keeping track of logistics, supporting racers, and in the split seconds in between managing all the details of Team Prep and Race try to send the Sangha some DL Updates. piece of cake.
Joy's Team Mountain Yogi History:
served as an absolutely essential Support for our Victory here last year.
February 16, 2006
STUDENT INPUT! LIVING THE PATH BY WAY OF DEVOTED PRACTICE!
***
RE: DL 2*15
Loved your Half Dome story. If you ever need another moniker, perhaps it should be "extreme storyteller". You're great at it!
Making dal this morning for Indian lunch.
Always a mtn girl...
Yogini J
*
Blessings Coach..
an observation for you.............from DL 2-15 SO HUM breath. Your picture is beautiful.......such clear energy and so vibrant a CHI......such a healthy looking and feeling ILG.........way to go coach.......the outer reflects the inner !
love student shel
*
Teacher Ananda and Coach Ilg,
Your approach to living is inspiring� I bow and will keeping studying. Thanks for your guidance and patience.
Namaste,
Steven Borgelt
***
THE FOLLOWING STUDENTS ARE REALIZING and ENGAGING WHAT IS MOST FRUITFUL ABOUT WF: The 4 Lifestyle Principles:
Ilgbro,
I bow to DL this week--hits home to all of us...today I saw a piece of trash in my parking lot at the apartments. I thought of TOTAL BODY TRANSFORMATION and picked that mofo up--it was an ad for all the booze on sale down the street...i put it in the trash.
I seem to notice and come back to breath and posture more and more--hell at times this is all feeble rj can handle himself! I have a cool exercise for y'all--everytime we see someone slouched with shitty posture we warriors should "pull back." I've been doing this lately--I see the bad posture and I pull my shoulders back and stand even taller--I stand FIRM and TALL for health and fitness Bro!
Hit a double today--trail run and some friggin' iron. By the way, did you feel a CHI hit this last Monday around 11:00 in Flag? It was rj flying over at 30,000 feet!
Still Rockin'
rj
{you can visit World Champion ultra endurance racer, Ron Jones at his amazing resourceful website: www.ronjones.org}
*
Namaste, Sweet Teacher, Ananda~
I'm becoming more aware of breath and posture - not working hard at it; realizing I am working it. Mindfulness has strengthened. Practice is stronger. Trust is lovely. Inner dialogue is more loving.
Had my first HPY experience this evening. Yeowzah!!! Love it!
Gorgeous dreams,
new student susan
***
WF BLESSED MALA BEADS EMPOWERS STUDENT SHAWNA
namaste Coach Ilg,
Teacher Ko presented to me a very special delivery from you after yoga class this evening. as i opened the package, a wave of fragrance met me first. i could sense something very sacred lie within the envelope - receiving the delicious scent, carefully i pulled out your note, pine needles and the Mala Beads. i feel humbled and honored to receive such a gift from you. thank you for such a special offering.
Teacher Ko shared with me that the beads are to be worn around the neck or left wrist and that i should contact you for further direction.
i am at a loss of words...i feel blessed to be traveling this path.
namaste,
student-shawna
***
RE: DL 2/4; THE REAL SUPERBOWL
Noble Coach:
Excellent DL on football and the "super bowl" the other day. There needs to be more emphasis in this country on sports that carry you through to adulthood, if not to the grave, like endurance sports etc. When Lance won the Tour last year, I heard a debate on the radio, the gist of which was that Lance was NOT one of the greatest American athletes ever -- all the best athletes played football/basketball/baseball in high school or college, so a pro cyclist was a "leftover." There is some truth to that. Not so much that Lance isn't one of our greatest athletes - he is - but the fact that many kids end up not playing any sports at all, since they aren't freakishly big, tall, or gifted with eye-hand coordination. My two cents.
Love you,
feather
*
Coach Ilg,
I would just like to add my two cents in about cut programs. As you may recall I wrestled in college and am now an assistant. My dad is the head coach for the local JC (ask R. Jones about him), where his teams have finished 4th, 1st, 1st, and 2nd the last four years in the California community college championships. He was national Jr. college coach of the year 2 years ago, and the program has been by far the best at the school for the last 10 years (both athletically and academically). In that time program has been threatened to be shut down 4 times, and this last year the AD designated him as a walk on coach (dropped his pay) without telling him. The same thing has happened to cross country, tennis, and soccer. At the same time football has 5 paid coaches (they're mediocre), and basketball has 4. The football, baseball, and basketball programs also drain the school of money (and are often involved with the law), while these other sports are pretty much self-supported (a few fund raisers, etc.). I find it ironic that I've never been anywhere where the acting A.D, and the community in general, hasn't expressed to me how much they respect wrestling....how difficult it is both mentally and physically.........how it changes one's life (IT DOES), but still give a half-ass effort to support the program. As usual, you hit the problem right on the head.
In respect,
Joe Gutcher
*
Dear Coach,
thank you! you da man.
loved the "Super Bowl" DL! hey, i'll bet i'm one of the few "freaks" out there catching up on correspondence rather than watching the freak show on tv. i look forward to watching the real "Super Bowl" during tomorrow am's Early Morning Ritual session! yeah, Baby!
Peace,
ko
*
Coach,
Namaste! Saw this and had to forward. File under "greatest zen quote from a man who never heard of dt suzuki":
"you'll be amazed how fresh you feel when you forget everything in your life except what you're doing right now".
-Pittsburgh steeler coach Bill cowher in this week's sports illustrated
Have a beautiful evening.
Student L
***
RE: DL 2*3 COACH'S LETTER TO A YOUNG MAN
Dear Steve,
I'm very grateful for both your recognition of David's talents and your support of him and willingness to inform the many others who also have great respect for you of his work.
I hope you are well in your work and am delighted to hear that you hope to be coming back our way. Please let me know when that will be so that we can enjoy your powerful teaching in person once again!
Namaste'
David {Tate, Sr.}
*
Coach.......blessings
OK now you have gone and done it......have i told you today I Love You
Give it up for Janis Ian........how about the secret life of j eddy fink album ? janis dressed as sherlock. My Janis Ian albums are so so worn they wobble when i put them on the album turntable--yes i still use a turntable. The image of you at your desk tending to our tribal needs listening to janis ----tears well up in my eyes.
May i teach the janis ian music appreciation class at bardo U ? 1/2 unit karma credit if you listen while in savasana--- 1 full unit karma credit if you listen while doing HP yoga.
in breath and sweat and in deep appreciation for my h(om)e team.............may music fill your day and fill your heart ! love student shel
***
RE: DL 2*15
Dearest Maha Rishi, Coach
wow!
humbly i say, "you taught me everything i now teach."
poetry in motion,
ta ;-)
*
Hey Coach,
Great DL today. I couldn't agree with you more about the medical industry. When you suffer trauma, western allopathic medicine can't be beat. But for everyday health and preventative care, too many people refuse to let their own body do the work it was designed to do.
I think the current scare tactics over cholesterol are a perfect example of where the medical industry goes awry. The have a patient who is perfectly healthy, except their cholesterol level is "high." Suddenly this same patient is a timebomb. "This number is high, you need to be medicated immediately, and for the rest of your life!" they cry!
Leaving aside the fact that the definition of "high cholesterol" is changing all the time, and bears a strange, inversely-proportional relation to the stock price of the drug company, your body manufactures its own cholesterol. Every cell in your body needs cholesterol. To say that this one value being high makes you unheathy is ludicrous. Cholesterol level is a function of both genetics and nutrition.
Like most natural systems, you body will always seek to operate around genetically-programmed "set points." Trying to use medication to change the genetic disposition of the body is doomed to fail. Instead, you need to focus on the environmental factors that are causing the body to operate outside that predetermined zone.
Your body is going to tell you what it wants, you just have to listen.
OK, I'm off my soapbox. Sorry for the long ramble.
Enjoy the day,
Paul
***
Coach,
i bow to you and the Path that i have been able to forge with Haku. i have gained so much in the 5 years of practice. Yes, 5 years. Everything changed the day i read Glickman's NYT artcle on the new age jock and rode my bike to Border's to find, hidden in the shelf, THE WINTER ATHLETE.
Namaste!
Bryan
***
hello my kissable coach...........tapped , whacked and wild YES......slobber no ! If you want us to stop kissin on you stop showing us such a HIGH time...........that won't happen so prepare to receive smooches.............a challenge to the tribe to see how many of us can get to god's playground in 2006 and kiss that fuzzy hairy cheek under the sacred peak !
love student shel
***
dear coache',
a moment?
whassup?
1-dl's have beeen ab-salutel-ly out-a-sight'..
especially your teachings to the student with
dope/xxx issues....
2- deep cleanse..just finished....
lost 9lbs body fat/3% of body fat....
3- pulled a hamstring 2 weeks ago...
usually a 2-4wk lay-up...
ice, rest to start..then
wf, healing mediation/breathing, yoga,
and of course sunrider(wu chia pi/sunbreeze)..baby..result?
1 week go(o)d to go...bruise gone..go figure.
4- sheli ..that girl rocks...
well...gotta go..dawn patrol beckons....
love,
student dansan
***
Namaste, Beautiful Teacher Ananda~
Lovely greetings this eve!
The routine is humming along with a quiet balance. A few technique observations and questions?
1. During Seated Leg Curls, I notice that my last two reps are usually quite challenging (going for momentary fatigue) and that my form, keeping my lower back stable, is hard to maintain. Is it appropriate to decrease the weight in order to maintain form, but in doing so, I'm not hitting momentary fatigue?
2. I've read in past DLs about incorporating the yoga blocks to Iron Temple workouts. Is this appropriate in the Namaste program?
3. When performing jump squats, is it acceptable to keep my hands together in front of me instead of behind my head? I feel better body position especially as I fatigue.
4. When performing leg extensions, I feel very light headed. Prior to the exercise, I do not feel any sense of the light headiness. Once the light headiness begins, I feel the sensation (sometimes verging on nausea) for approximately 30-60 minutes.
Nutritionally, I TAF that I am becoming more mindful in the selection of appropriately balanced food, especially during hectic periods at work. Your words about taking care of myself really helped uncovered an important stone. Thank you again! :-)
My workouts have been really lovely. I am becoming more focused on subtle (for me) form adjustments, and going out of my comfort zone for cardio workouts.
In glee and gratitude,
new student susan
***
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1932072683/qid=1138678471/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-4282559-3636644?s=books&v=glance&n=283155
john's book!
***
PHOTO Re-MINDS COACH OF OLD ROCKS, OLD FRIENDS
i guess you could say, that your ol' coach is absolutely, utterly DAFT about mountains...there are karmic reasons for this...above photo: taken this morning; Father Sky splashes His Radiance across the Sacred Peak...
Never Trust A Teacher Who Doesn't Love and Is UTTERLY DEVOTED TO; Climbing UP...
the Highest Source, the Purest Source is all-Ways going to involve Ascent; be it overcoming obstacles in Practice, climbing over personal hurdles, or raising the Kundalini UP the spine...Growth - should it be genuine - is all-Ways about CLIMBING UP! my earliest decades were consumed by professional sponsorship based upon climbing UP the most difficult, beautiful Mountains, Rocks, and Ice that i could find here on "Turtle Island." 
{a 1987 advertisement in a Boulder, Colorado newspaper from one of my climbing sponsors. click on photo to read my 'sworn statement'.}
My spiritual training from my Teachers included long, solo pilgrimages to remote, High Places to practice mountain yogic internal arts. These spiritual and physical lessons from the Rocky Heights have transferred flawlessly, auspiciously, joyfully, and oh so powerfully into the later ashramas (stages) of my spiritual life and is the main reason why WF is so potent of a Transformative Path: she comes through a Mountain Yogi, myself, whose dedication to raw, white, windy Presences of Infinity found upon High Peaks stabilizes and grounds Wholistic Fitness� like no other Path of body/mind fitness available.
***
OLD ROCKS, OLD DHARMASPORTS
Hey Coach,
i thought you might enjoy this pic!
- Yogi Nat, LA
COACH EXPLODES:
Dear Nat!
i do! i do! i do!!!! oh, there goes my Anahata Chakra!!!!!! a surge of hormones cascades through my cells whenever i see pictures of one of my most treasured "HP Yoga Mats"...the 3,000' NW Face of my beloved Half Dome in Yosemite!
i first fell in absolute, total, unconditional LOVE, LUST, and OBSESSION with Half Dome the very moment i cast my eyes upon her in climbing books and magazines. I HAD to have her!!! More than any woman, more than any amount of money, fame, or attachment of life...ANYTHING...i HAD to free climb her! i HAD to apply my strength, endurance, and spirit upon Her...i NEEDED to Dance, hand in hand with her...i had to climb into the folds of her and suck from this gorgeous, sensual mile high nipple of Mother Earth! i did not care about anything else. i wanted Her BAAAAD!!!!! i did not know how long it would take me to finally acquire the skills and fortitude to achieve my granite dreams.
back then, you could drive right through the Park into Camp Curry. Ben Greene and i did just that on our first trip to Yosemite after school ended in our sophomore year in high school. we drove straight through to Yosemite from Boulder in "Vince"...my Sport Pickup with a shell. We had two five gallon containers of baked potatoes and a big wall sack of Harvest Bread and Ramen Noodles thanks to one of my sponsors (see above photo #2). We sang out of tune across the southwest deserts, ate sunflower seeds to stay awake while driving yet still fell asleep at the wheel, howled at the moon on Tioga Pass, dropped into Yosemite Valley, and parked beneath that monolithic cliff that loomed over us like God's own Granite Sombrero!
{coach, at age 17 in Yosemite, climbing the Big Walls during the "Golden Era" of American free climbing. photo/ilg archives} Ben and i were both, since children, absolutely devoted to free climbing Half Dome...however, our first REAL glance up, up, up her enormous glaciated face pretty much paralyzed us both that night beneath the starlight sky. When we could finally move, it was only to pee our pants.... it would take me five years, three attempts, three different partners, and several ounces of blood, yet with Rob Woolf in 1989, i finally free climbed the classic Northwest Face Route over the course of three days. i do not know if Ben ever climbed her. He got really, really hurt in a freak landslide, ironically, in Yosemite several years later. Rob and i free climbed all but a 25' section, rated 5.12c on one of the higher pitches above the "Zig Zags" (see the movie; FREE CLIMB). This section, featureless, blank vertical granite nearly 3,000' above the canyon floor, repulsed our every attempt. tired, bloody, with only tatters of skin on our hands and fingers and in hallucinations from severe dehydration and heat exhaustion...we finally looked at each other in our bloodied Bardo state and said, "fuck it," and used a few points of aid to easily climb the section.
Our route - the NW Face - can be easily seen in this photo...just drop a plumb line from the topmost feature on Half Dome's left most summit edge, known as, "The Visor." See the somewhat fractured gulley at the bottom of the face? That is the start. I would like to go back one day and do it again. However, compared to the days when i could just drive "Vince" up to the base of the various crags in Yosemite, today's expensive, militant like entry fiascos and permit-for-everything-attitude keeps me climbing in the wide open spaces of the American Southwest Desert Crags..
thanks for sending in the pic. obviously, it touched a spiritual chord within this feeble mountain yogi....
see you in LA soon,
love,
coach
February 15, 2006
"So Hum" breath mantra
Noble Guruji:
The "wandering yogi program" that you prescribed for me calls for focusing on "so" on the inhales, and "hum" on the exhales during meditation. Is this done while breathing ujjayi? Or out loud?
Went on a 20 minute run today. The knee feels fine.
Student Feather
Noble Shishya,
when not doing cardio workouts, one may use the very safe,
very effective So Hum mantra
in sync with Ujjayi.
if doing cardio, sometimes,
to calm the fluctuating mind (kishipta state),
you may begin to notice an Inner Urge to do So Hum out loud.
this is absolutely fine and is,in fact, cihna (positive sign of spiritual progress).
Namaste,
coach ilg
DL IS A GREAT GIFT...
Happy Day After Valentine's Day to you Both!
Yesterday's DL was a great Valentine gift from you and Ananda.
Thank you!
Namaste,
Patricia
OF DOCS and INNER DIS-ORDER
FITNESS AS MEDICINE
by steve ilg
"When the tree is ready to bear fruit, she will. When she is ready to drop her leaves, she will. When she realizes she needs stronger roots, she will dig deeper. What matters most is to Tree Beings is the same for us Two-Leggeds; the quality of the soil. I created Wholistic Fitness� to function as a fertilizing agent to the quality of our soil. Self Cultivation is more fun and effective with world-class soil. The willingness to grow, however, and the wisdom of learning what to let go of and what fruit to bear is left up to the individual. Feeble ilg says, 'live like a tree, not like a wildfire'."
- Coach Ilg, JOURNAL OF WHOLISTIC FITNESS�/1986
***
Just because i have not seen the inside of what you know as a 'medical center' for twenty some years does not mean i do not like doctors.
i do.
we have many doctors studying Wholistic Fitness�.
hec, it was a doctor that sewed my tongue back into my mouth.
and another one preserved what is left of my right thumb.
the consequences of me losing focus in what i do as an Outdoor Athlete is not the same consequences as, say a Tennis Player losing focus. i do not just get a second serve if i lose focus. i usually lose a limb or something if i lose focus.
that is why i like doctors.
ER docs are my favorite doctors. hard to beat Western Docs for Emergency/First Aid type of stuff.
If i launch off that gnarly ass drop out on that killer new "bandit" trail down in Sedona next week trying to follow Tattoo Bob and land on my back and drive my bicycle chainring through my mula bandha and tear my upper arm bone off from its little "Anusara Yoga Shoulder Spiral" socket?
i ain't gonna be looking around for a Crystal Healer, or a Accupuncturist. I ain't gonna sit at the trail's edge and start pouring SUNRIDER herbs into my open wounds, no sirreee...i'll be wanting a good ol' American, Ivy-League trained ER Doc to patch me back together right quick.
which reminds me, i have GOT to get some Medical Insurance one of these years....
so, like i said, i ain't got nothing against doctors.
sure, Western Medicine kinda falls apart in the lifestyle side of "health care"...yet, no one forces us to go to doctors. so, it ain't the doctors fault...they might be a bit greedy cuz, they do tend to scare the living snot out of common folk and then proceed to rape and pillage their bank accounts with Viking like tenacity...but hey, it's just life in Kali Yuga, baby!
trust me,
if people would take it upon themselves to do a little more SELF HEALING and utilize their health challenges as their Path of Yoga, then we'd be singing a whole new story and drive most of the medical specialists where they belong: into the Yoga Teaching profession. Which is fine by me. I could use the help. I just don't know if these Ivy-Leaguers would be too hip with our income status; it takes me about 4 hours to prepare for and teach one yoga class. the going rate for a yoga class is about $15...my take-home "pay" for teaching yoga - the Science of Self Healing by a Senior Yoga Teacher with over 20 years of experience? uh, i barely break even most times. if i take Ananda out to get a bite to eat after Teaching? i destroy my profit margin.
Welcome to Sva-Dharma; Sacred Duty.
{Coach in Asalambha Sirsasana, one of the most medicinal postures of the Hatha Yogic system of Self Healing. Hard for dis-ease to take root in the body if this posture is taken daily. photo/ananda}
***OUR BODY IS OUR MEDICAL CENTER
i consider the inside of my body as my medical center. i like playing doctor within the walls of my own medical center.
medical, the word i mean, is a blend of Latin ('to heal') and is etymologically related to a Greek word, 'medesthai' which means, get this..."to be mindful of."
medical means; 'to be mindful of healing.'
now, when i interview (or sometimes just look at) the physical health of today's doctors and nurses, uhhhh...i just don't know now how "mindful of healing," they are...i mean, just look at most of them, for Hippocrate's Sake!
no thank you very much.
so, when i get a, dis-ease, i just do what my Dharma Teachers taught me: breathe and begin to practice.
i breathe and begin to practice mindful, wholistic, natural medicine: this begins by accepting my dis-ease (or injury or stressful situation) as my Yoga. this is where most people get gapped. they are too scared and too confused to trust themselves to heal themselves. sad.
yet, that is what i am; a yogi...one who seeks unification, not separation.
the moment i pick up a phone to call a doctor, i give away that which is the most vital Healing Force within the UniVerse; my own Inner Power of Consciousness.
The only difference between using yoga and allopathic medicine or ayurevda is that yoga requires the application of precisely what common people (non-Practitioners) are terribly frightened of; intensely engaged ongoing Will Power.
*** 3 Forms of Dis-Order
through my various Healing Journeys - consisting of (yet not limited to); paralysis, separation of bones, connective tissue sprains, strains, and ruptures, hernias, slipped discs, prolapsed organs, solar kerotosis, tinneaversicolor, migraines, vertigo, prostate hypertrophy, broken bones, dismemberment, cardiac arrythmia, associated nerve entrapment, et. al - i have learned that before dis-ease exists in the body or mind, dis-order precedes it.
to me, Fitness (which means, 'the knitting together") is the common sense approach to balancing out dis-orders of the body and mind. i mean, just compare the quality of your body and mind before and then after a kickass mountain bike or ski or yoga session! duh!!!! Fitness workouts should all-Ways be the Warriors first go-to doctor; get the sweat in, get the Stillness in and See What Changes. now, the Master Warrior - one who is unafraid to die - nearly looks forward to dis-orders within his or her biological medical center as a chance to Learn, to Rise Above, and to earn the real stamp of Physician (Heal Thyself). however, that degree of Self Confidence in the face of dis-order and dis-ease is Advanced Stuff. i will still suggest you seeing a doctor, after a Appropriate Action of kriya-yoga (see Yoga Sutras, Chapter Two, Verses 1-5). What is Appropriate Action for one yogi is gonna be different for another. it often takes me - because i am a feeble Hatha Yogi - a decade or longer to learn how to Vent a dis-ease or dis-order. Commoners are not this patient (pun intended). All Karma is God.
***
the Yogic Masters realized three forms of dis-orders:
1) Self Inflicted Dis-orders;
lack of wholistic exercise, meditation, breathing techniques, soulful occupation, spiritual relationships is a type of self-abuse. there is a price to pay and it is the steepest price a human being can pay; in yoga this pricetag for lack of Wholistic Fitness practices is known as, 'adhyat-mika-roga,' the abuse of self which invites dis-orders of body and mind.
2) Congenital dis-eases;
they don't call it, 'with genitals' for nothing; if you make babies before doing Inner Work and achieving certain Inner Attainments and Clarity of Consciousness and Health, then guess what; you just pass on through your genitals all the crap you did not do on yourself and 'gift' your spiritual/mental/physical dis-orders onto 'your' children. this is known as, "adhidai-vika-roga' and is to me, the saddest aspect of the human race and why i was told by my Teachers to work with 'grown ups'...attempt to instill the utter importance of Self Cultivation into the people making the babies, because that is source of most human suffering; kids having kids, as i call it.
3) Elemental dis-orders;
known as 'adhibhautika-roga', these dis-orders and dis-eases are essentially training effects from an elemental and/or organic imbalance. for instance, if our earth element (or samana-vayu) is not in order with our other four elements and/or vayus (breath patterns within the body), then we become digestively clogged, encrusted, constipated and we no no longer absorb or utilize nutrients across the cell membrane very well any longer. Our Prana (life force) becomes imbalanced and abhibhautika-roga arises. in the Path of Wholistic Fitness, we use the SUNRIDER Herbs, particularly the "Ilg Supreme" herbal shake that includes "Quinary", a formula of over 50-different regenerative herbs that supports and balances each of our five elements, to address abhibhautika-roga implications.
***Dis-order, Dis-ease, Dis-chi!!!!!!
the true medical center is our own bodies.
if we use this one precious life to constantly run away from developing our inner, natural medical centers (the chakras, nadis, vayus, etc) we destroy our own Sacred gift of willpower.
if we chronically give away our willpower to "healers" outside ourselves (and these external "healers" can come in the form of what i call 'societal analgesia'; too much alcohol, too much massage, prescription drugs, pot, overworking, overtalking, watching too much media, et. al) then we ruin our yoga; our Path of Wholeness from Within.
Wholistic Fitness� starts from the consciousness. My first WF Lifestyle Principle is, "Conscious Breath and Posture." From this Seed of Self Consciousness springs diverse starting points that serve to keep the body/mind/spirit unified, powerful, and so unbelievably fun in which to take residence. Most people are not having fun within their own Medical Centers and thus, their science of self liberation through the cultivation of their bodily fitness (jiva-mukti) is never gained, let alone enjoyed.
this to me is very sad in-deed.
this is why i created, a long time ago, the Path of Wholistic Fitness�. Because i LOVE having fun within my body and mind and spirit.
and, if it ain't fun; why do it?
the world was created for you, not you for the world.
remember this,
and enjoy your Path of Yoga.
"May all Beings everywhere be happy and
know the causations of happiness.
May all Beings everywhere be free from suffering
and know the causations of suffering."
- Buddhist prayer
namaste,
the mountain yogi and beginning healer of self,
coach ilg
photos:
#1; Arizona State Tree; Arizona Sycamore near Montezumas Well, AZ. photo/coach ilg.
#2: Ananda performing midday "Pranayama Appetizer�", another classic WF Teaching to keep our Life Force moving fluidly and in balance throughout our bodies. The more pure the air, the better, although if you live in a City, all the more reason to do Pranayama Appetizers� so that the pranic constitution is re-energized and activated. photo/coach ilg
#3: caption within text.
#4; Coach enjoying "Meeting The Dragon" a Taoist Self Healing Pose that keeps the outer doctors away from me. photo/Ananda.
February 13, 2006
HAPPY, WHOLISTIC VALENTINES DAY!!!
May all Beings that are coupled
find the beauty
the strength
the grace
the undeniable inner music
that forges two souls
towards OneFullNess
on this day...
that couple?
might just be
You
learning
to love
You...
the yogic Tradition knows this coupling as
Prakriti and Purusa
Shakti and Shiva
Atman and Paratman
individual Soul and UniVersal Soul...
the yogic Masters know this coupling as
Enlightenment
it's all go(o)d...
so, at least today,
let your Practice be this:
speak go(o)d,
do go(o)d
be go(o)d...
OM SO TI
"May there be happy omens."
coach ilg
(photo of Coach and Ananda by the remarkable Wayne Williams; www.waynewilliamsstudio.com
do yourself a favor and buy his book; America's Vanishing Landscapes
cuz dis ol' boy shoots true...let me tell you true. coach)
OF FULL MOONS AND AMAZING FITNESS FACILITATIONS
I reckon a pregnant Grandmother Moon does affect me...i get even MORE generous with the MASSIVE CHI FLOW that cascades across my computer each day...today was as if TWO FULL MOONS pulled at my HeartStrings...
must be GrandMother's influence
along with the cedar cracklin' in the woodstove on Red Fox Deck,
yet tonight...
i am gonna let you listen in to some excerpts from Teacher Ananda to a new WF Online Student of hers...wow...i think i might have taught her the Art of Fierce Loving a little too go(o)d!!
oh, by the way, i FINALLY gifted Ananda the most Marvelous Valentines Day Gift a WF Girl would EVER want:
after getting lost 6 times over the course of 7 months, i had FINALLY hooked up the most beautiful, poetic Ponderosa laced 16-mile singletrack that exquisitely looped from our Temple H(om)e up Observatory Mesa, through Thorpe Park, and back
h(om)e along the Rio de Flag... and this afternoon? I rode it with her showcased beside a flaming sunset...OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!
there ain't NUTHIN' in the world
more dazzling than realizing 16 sweet miles of remote Ponderosa sweet heaven has magically appeared for your 'backyard loop"...now THAT is a Valentine Gift; 7 months in the making, losing, finding, cursing, sweating, visualizing, and MANIFESTING!!!!!! hell, even the age old LOCALS haven't hooked up this one!
HOW BLESSED IS IT TO BE HEALTHY, FULL OF CHI, AND APPRECIATIVE WITHIN OUR CELLS of the Majestic Beauty of the UniVerse!?!??!
lemme tell ya,
to some girls Diamonds might be a Girls Best Friend
yet to WF Yoginis...
it's probably more like Entrada Formation Sandstone!
listen close, Oh Mighty Minded and Legged Ones;
cuz this is Straight Up Go(o)d Stuff...
it is my honor and pleasure to Serve your Spirit in this Way on behalf of my AMAZING WF Teachers!
love,
coach ilg
***
STUDENT:
My EMR (Early Morning Ritual...a prescribed assignment for WF Online Students) practice suffered a setback when we changed hotels midweek and I left my neti pot behind and have not been able to find a replacement in town.
TEACHER ANANDA:
As Coach Ilg would say and does often, even to me..." if you were a mountaineer you would be dead."
STUDENT:
The contrast is enlightening. I don't think I have ever drawn better breath than those first few mornings of high altitude neti and kapalabhati.
TEACHER ANANDA:
Well, there's the teaching. You had to loose your "pot" to find the "Light" of EMR.
Coach in his words... "the above awareness is very astute and should not go unnoticed. It tells us that you are picking up on the subtle difference between air and ether, whether you understand it logically or not." More to come on that
subject at a later time.
STUDENT:
Another enlightening moment was during Rasa Eating Assignment on Wed evening. Most meals are "out" this week so i have not had much quiet concentration. Dinner Wed was elk loin and it was very uncomfortable performing the exercise over "meat".
TEACHER ANANDA:
HUGE!
i get it and it sounds like you did too.
taking pause to eat with Rasa meditation the flesh of this beautiful animal being
asks you to question... is this Appropriate?
If so, then the act of honoring the flesh of this elk for its protein source becomes a more Sacred act of Nourishment.
STUDENT:
Last event was at the sink on Wed. As i performed the breathing exercises, my feet came alive and I got a great toe stretch!
TEACHER ANANDA:
Beautiful!
STUDENT:
A neti pot and yoga toes are surely essential ingredients on a ski trip.
TEACHER ANANDA:
Indeed... can i quote you on this?
SHARING THE SECRET HERBS; Where There Is Heart, There Is A Way
"Thank you Coach Ilg for creating the 3-Phase Plan. This Sunrider stuff is having a very powerful effect on my system and I'm really not sure how effective it would be outside of your 3-Phase System."
- Chris Tucker, BC
The power of SUNRIDER Herbs in the office is amazing. As I sat in our weekly team meeting today, I looked up and saw 3 nalgene bottles full of "Fortune Delight" sitting on the table � now that�s some great energy � I had to share these shots with you!
From left to right: Heather, Donna, & myself�..on a side note, both Heather and Donna are new Sunrider Preferred Customers � they both have been drinking Fortune Delight for a few months and love it.
Namaste,
Student-shawna of Clan Ko
WF ONLINE TEMPLE RE-MINDER
Our Online Training Sangha has several new Shishyas under our Teachers...
here is a Coach Ilg Re-Minder to all of you:
"shorter emails
more frequently
result in Greater Training Transmission.�
WF Online is a VERY powerful body/mind Transmission.
The WF Online Path WILL crack open even the most brittle of chakras...
Your HeartSpace will open
You will begin to See things differently
You will FEEL things more deeply...
critical for us WF Online Teachers to be able to safely Guide you through this minefield of inner spirituality arising is YOUR
frequent,
succinct emails to us!
even a sentence or two every other day
is beautiful...
thank you,
from your Sacred Workout Corner,
coach ilg and the WF Certified Online Teaching Staff
New Student Harry; Finding His Workout Is Everywhere�
Dear Coach Ilg,
We got a lot of snow (for us) in Wash DC this weekend. I spent over 2 hours yesterday morning shoveling out. It was heavy wet snow. Your Toilet Yoga�, especially Twisting Agni Sara Pulls, really helped prevent back issues that usually come with an effort such as this. Also, while shoveling I got to thinking about The Miracle of Mindfulness and not using your dominant hand for an activity. I had spent most of the time shoveling by throwing the snow to the right. I changed my hand position and started throwing it to the left. All in all I did not have any back problems or other issues. It was a good workout.
Namaste,
Harry
FITNESS AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE: Student Lees Bringin' The Dharma
WF Student Lees of Clan Ananda in Hanumanasana.
Symbolized within this pose is the great strength and suppleness of Ram's warrior helper, Hanuman. So strong and supple was Hanuman, the 'monkey god', that he was able to leap across the abyss from the phenomenal world to the inner world, thereby imparting spiritual depth to the ignorant, non-Practitioners.
The recent Oscar winning film, "Brokeback Mountain" was a snapshot of two humans who did not cultivate their inner world. With no Daily Practice nor Dharma Teacher in their lives, they both attempted to open their heart by relying upon their outer worldly relationships and sense pleasures. Seeking for external means however, to provide inner fulfillment, is but karmic exercise in futility. Their spiritual grasping was poignantly and artfully expressed by Director Ang Lee.
If you have read my books, listened to my CDs, watched my DVDs, and have read the over 1,300+ entries in DIRECT LINES, then you know that i have tried very hard for a quarter of a century to get Fitness People keyed into the notion of using their Fitness as a Spiritual Practice.
Fortunately, as i grow older and fatigued of pioneering this seemingly common and beautiful sense against the flow of the mainstream's addiction to entertainment and body-only fitness, a new generation of WF Warriors and Warrioreses like Student Lees, are maturing in their own WF Practice. The grace of the Divine Download from the WF Deities, Hanuman included, are really starting to show up in the expressive bravery and willingness of such WF Trained Yogins to Live Their Practice Out Loud...
OM SO TI
"May there be happy omens."
Coach Ilg
founder/Wholistic Fitness� Personal Training
& High Performance Yoga�
***
Fitness as a Spiritual Practice
by WF Online Student Kristi Lees
The idea of using fitness as a means to attain greater spiritual understanding may seem like a strange concept to some. After years of what would appear to be neglect of the body in favour of reaching a higher realm, the concept of embracing the body and training hard physically may come across as some what narcissistic.
In the quest for enlightenment (in times past as well as present) spiritual aspirants and devotees are recognised for transcending and disassociating themselves from the body idea. From a spiritual perspective, it's often viewed that the more detached from the body and its urges a person can become, the more �spiritual� they are considered to be. Spiritual endeavours were, and still are, very much a form of denial and recluse in which it is/was encouraged to leave all worldliness behind; including thoughts and cares of the body, of appropriate exercise and conscious nutrition.
As Steve Ilg, creator of Wholistic Fitness� writes in his recent book �Total Body Transformation� (Hyperion 2005), �We go to church to do our �spiritual fitness� and we go to the gym or lace up our running shoes to do our �physical fitness.� We�ve not put a lot of effort into linking the two�. There seems to be no honoring of the connection of body to spirit in today�s Western society.
***
read more at WF Student Kristi's Lee's blog; "Reflections":
http://www.kristi-trinity.com/reflections.html
i bow to Student Lees and her WF Teacher Ananda for living their Practice out loud...
no more flyin' low on the radar;
the world's needs Awakened Leaders...
February 11, 2006
DL WINTER SPORT QUIZ WINNER!!!!
Hey, you guys you know me...if i am gonna do anything, i'm gonna do my best to set a new Standard for it...so, when the WF Deities told me i had to write THE WINTER ATHLETE...Secrets of Wholistic Fitness� For Outdoor Performance...i took it upon myself to compete in and qualify for as many elite winter sports as any human on the planet. Mission Accomplished, baby! That is why this Noble, yet still essentially ignored book, contains what i TAF is my best training programs and chi filled writing. Countless hours of hypothermic epic workouts through a dizzying array of physiologically diverse sports went into this Sacred Scripture of Cold Sweat! There has never been a book like TWA...i am as proud of this book as a mountain yogi is permitted to be...enjoy your own copy; it is a great value!
***
"Dear Coach Ilg -
Your the coolest of the cool - I'm new to theWF program - I'm reading your book now - I'm really digging it.� I've been slowly heading in the same direction as the WF over last twenty-five years - health/fitness/wellness have been a major part of my life.� I hope we can meet one day.� Good luck with the winter quadrathlon.
�
All the best,
�
EC
Atlanta, GA
****
DL QUIZ WINNER:
God I love this Path! Are we Wacked yet Tapped or What?!
well, i am crowning the EVER NOBLE, EVER QUICK TO ANSWER THE TEMPLE GONG; DAN SALIMONE! of San Jose, CA as the DL WINTER SPORTS WINNER! he came closest to the correct answer which is...10 different, Olympic Medal Sports that i have competed in throughout the years:
Noble WF Student Dansan wrote in last night with this...notice that his hallmark Temple Politeness remains intact even when hitting the Answer Button:
"dear coache',
�
a moment?
�
1-free style skiing
2-alpine skiing
3-snowboarding
4-speedskating
5-biathlon
6-cross country skiing
7-skijumping
8-nordic combined
9-hockey
�
�
love,
student dansan"
***
The only one DanSan messed up was Freestyle Skiing...i was groomed as a young ski racer to do one thing; go fast as hell and tracked like a Porsche on smooth, brick hard, groomed alpine and nordic ski courses...i stayed well, well, well away from the "bump runs"...in fact, to this day i can't help but feel Freestyle Skiing is a contrived "Olympic Medal Sport" and should be replaced by something more historic, more noble...more suffering; such as Sport Snowshoeing or Speed Peak Skiing (having to ski/climb a mountain peak and back down in the fastest round trip time).
Anyway, here is the correct list in chronologic order beginning when i was 8 years old;
ice hockey, speed skating, alpine ski slalom, alpine ski giant slalom, alpine ski super GS, alpine ski downhill, nordic ski jumping, nordic ski classic, nordic ski skating, snowboarding.
Highest Level Reached: US Jr. National Ski Team (nordic combined).
And to close this Quiz,
here is a another list of winter sports in which i have competed yet have not, for SOME SCREWED UP REASON, not received Olympic Medal Status:
extreme skiing, extreme snowboarding, ski joring, speed peak climbing/skiing, telemark ski racing (it's where ALL the skiing sports began for King Olaf's SAKE!!!!!), sport snowshoeing,winter mountaineering, winter mountain bike racing, technical ice climbing.
Highest Level Reached: World Mountain Snowshoe Championships (2x).
OTHER ENTRIES INCLUDED:
bro,
Hockey
Cross country
Nordic Combined
Checking out snow babes
love,
h
***
Blessings to you coach.........I am going to say 3 as my answer to the sports quiz........downhill skiing, nordic skiing and ski jumping.
love� student s
**
DanSan,
you can store all your deep thinking in my complimentary gift to you; the new WF TrackPak!
congratulations and THANK YOU for reading and supporting our little Missive of Muscles and MahaDharma; DL!!!
they come in a beautiful maroon or deep blue...lemme know and we will fire it right out to you...
from beneath the Sacred Peak,
the mountain yogi...coach ilg
OLYMPIC FEVER, REALITY, and DL QUIZ!!!
Winter Olympic coverage is definitely TV Worth Watching for a WF Warrior,
remember however,
the Games are in Essence,
just another World Championship (which happen every year).
as a Yoga Teacher and a multi-World Championship competitor,
i would like you to just keep the Sensationalism
(i.e., Michelle Kwanism) in check okay?
and...don't watch too much;
watch just enough to get your OWN ASS OUT THERE (see above photo)...
your own World Championships happen every day in many ways...
be a Champion MultiDisciplined Spiritual Athlete; Go Big In Your Own Life!
that is all,
coach ilg
Photo: Ananda (i'm gonna git you back!) snapped this shot of me this morning, moments after finishing a 53-mile Training Race in 16 degree, high altitude air. my fingers and toes went numb before the ride even started. two crashes took out 6 riders due to high winds. any wonder why i teach SUSTAINED FOCUS so much? at mile 18, while i was busy battling frozen-and-chafed-private-part syndrome... the decisive attack went off...for two miles i suffered like a clubbed baby Harp Seal to bridge to the leaders, only to get dropped after i just got back on. this was the third consecutive hard workout before i engage a Taper Week going into the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon on Feb.18th.
****
DL QUIZ:
Be the First One to answer correctly and YOU get a FREE GIFT FROM Coach Ilg!
How many Olympic Medal Winter Sports was Coach Ilg a competitive or sponsored athlete in:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
send your Answer to:
ilgtrain@npgcable.com
H(om)ECLEANING: DON'T DO THE PRACTICE if you enjoy sleep walking...
day before yesterday at 11,500' after a 63 minute YakTrak Ascent of the Sacred Peak
***
If you want your home to look spotlessly tidy, just throw all your shit into the cupboards, sweep the filth under the rugs, and wipe the surfaces with a chemical shiny spray.
Hey, as long as you are the only one who has to cook, live, and sleep in there, nobody will see where you keep the magnitude of mess.
We are all like dirty homes. Our chakras are filthy...stuffed with archaic models of behavior, our colons are rammed with junk food and alcoholically fused encrusted matter...our mental control is sooo lame and our bodies so stiff with karmic acid that even the NOTION of arising early and meditating each morning on our Highest Source seems like fiction.
Get HONEST:
We all know what we've got within us...we know damn well the clever, cute little Masks we wear around our dirty house -
We all know - deep down inside - what we've got too much of, what we need more of and what we can never seem to find.
As long, though, as we make a small effort to keep up appearances, nobody else need ever know. Hec, just read the newspapers! You ain't as bad off as THAT GUY...or THAT LADY... Yeah, you are doing just fine, huh?
GET HONEST, YOGI!
Our secret negative tendencies, slothful patterns of mind, and laziness of Inner Spirit and Appreciation, are as safe as we want them to be during our one precious lifetime. We are more than welcome to fly as low on Life's Radar as we wish, for as long as we wish. Hec, most of us have been flying so low on the radar for so many lifetimes we've forgotten that the whole Intent of a human incarnation is to WAKE UP!!!!!
We have forgotten why we are even called the Human RACE!
Most of all, we have lost sight of and thus the Desire to gain the podium of the Human Race; Enlightenment!
YOGI!
STOP SLEEP WALKING!!!!! CLEAN YOUR HOUSE!!!!!!
Only a few Brave Souls have stopped long enough, often enough, and wisely enough to
JUST LISTEN
and
Hear Their Wake Up Call...
even Fewer
honor that Inner Calling
and actually do what is required to
Answer The Alarm of Enlightenment before we die!
most?
if we even hear this Alarm To Take Arms Against The Seas Of Our Ego Layers,
will immediately sense the fierce, technical, scary and seemingly endless STEEPNESS of the Path of Awakening...
and so,
will hit the Snooze Button for yet another Lifetime.
some of us will rationalize sports as a Higher Way of Snoozing.
Whatever.
some of us will rationalize our nifty little asana/yoga sessions as a Higher Way of Snoozing.
Whatever.
some of us will rationalize going to church or temple once a week with perfumed clothes as a Higher Way of Snoozing.
Whatever.
some of us will rationalize that sitting here reading this DL without paying attention to your Breath and Posture is a Higher Way of Snoozing.
Whatever.
FACT:
most of us, will not do what is required to Rise Higher Than Our Addiction To Comfort in our one precious life.
we will be content NOT to sing the most beautiful Song to the UniVerse within the fabric of our potential.
one or two people during an entire Era
might,
like Buddha, like Jesus, like Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Ammachi, Martin Luther King, Swami Rama, Milarepa, Ramana Maharshi, Ramakrishna, Neem Karoli Baba, and a few others...
will actually take that one Amazing
Most Remarkable Step
That A Human Being
Can Take;
The Step
of Self Transformation.
Purification, Strength, Transformation.
How many humans are just SleepWalking in the Illusion of the Outer World? Just polluting Mother Earth? Just enjoying their little 'security blanket' of not Chasing Their Soul's Path while taking miraculous residence upon this remarkable, whirring, suspended planet of gases and compounds...
Your Enlightenment
is up to you.
solo.
How BAAAAAD do you want to Know Thyself, Oh Noble Yogin?
You know the answer to that one.
No One else.
Brahma called me into the Zendo at 3:45 am this morning.
i answered His Alarm.
i sat in the cold and Listened.
Now,
after writing this to you,
i sit with a visualization that in doing so,
that in taking this time and effort and chance at again being ridiculed and snickered at...
that,
perhaps,
somewhere beneath Father Sky Arising
some other human will be inspired in some small way to
do something Graceful, Elegant, and Conscious within their day...
Chances are not likely...
Yet, my Beat Goes On...
and it is time to - tired or not -
go race my bike against over caffeinated sport-specific cyclists to test myself...
to test my Practice,
to test who i think i am...
See you in the funny papers,
namaste,
coach ilg
February 10, 2006
Coach's Phase One of SUNRIDER Herbs Setting The FIRE Again and Again...
Dear Coaches of Joy and Bliss,
Thank you for all this SUNRIDER Herb guidance. I'm pretty excited. Anything that involves drinking more Fortune Delight {Sunrider's main cell cleansing drink} sounds good to me...I'm like an addict for that stuff. Thank you Ananda for the very clear breakdown of exactly how to dose up. Thank you Coach Ilg for creating the 3-Phase Plan. This Sunrider stuff is having a very powerful effect on my system and I'm really not sure how effective it would be outside of your 3-Phase System and outside of a training program such as you present in Total Body Transformation.
Maybe the sedentary office worker would benefit from Sunrider but most likely at a certain point sHe would leap up, rip off hir clothes and jump through the nearest window running out into the forest and up into the hills supercharged with unexpected chi.
I'll keep you posted how things progress and yes, it is quite beautiful to be able to discuss the minutae of {biological things}in such poetic detail. I had paused and thought to qualify my description but knew that you would be comfortable with it. Surely that is part of the process.
Herbally yours,
Chris
Reflections...
EGO
"Ego is the absence of true knowledge of who we really are, together with its result: a doomed clutching on, at all costs, to a cobbled together and makeshift image of ourselves, an inevitably chameleon charlatan self that keeps changing, and has to, to keep alive the fiction of its existence.
In Tibetan, ego is called dakdzin , which means �grasping to a self.� Ego is then defined as incessant movements of grasping at a delusory notion of �I� and �mine,� self and other, and all the concepts, ideas, desires, and activities that will sustain that false construction.
Such grasping is futile from the start and condemned to frustration, for there is no basis or truth in it, and what we are grasping at is by its very nature ungraspable. The fact that we need to grasp at all and to go on grasping shows that in the depths of our being we know that the self doesn�t inherently exist. From this secret, unnerving knowledge spring all our fundamental insecurities and fears."
- Sogyal Rinpoche
Many of us grasp at all sorts of things that our egoic framework accepts as "acceptable" regardless of how idiotic it truly is. we grasp at sports performance at the sake of our health or harmony of our family just to preserve our sense of "i-ness".
We grasp at paychecks at the expense of a truly wealthy life as if our sense of self is comprised of the THINGS we can buy with those paychecks.
We grasp at alcohol.
We grasp at pain relievers.
We grasp at prescription pills.
We grasp at rationalizations of why we "Can't" study under a Dharma Teacher or eat healthy foods.
We grasp at conversations to solidify who we think we are and what we think we know.
Why is it soooo hard to 'stand' on our wrists compared to standing on our ankles?
Grasping, grasping, grasping. That is why.
Who Taught You What It Is That You Know?
Just how original of a Human Being are you
compared to your predictability of a Human Doing?
How did you come to know what you Know?
Today you have two questions to ask in each moment arising;
"Am i grasping?
or
Am i concentrating?"
Om Mani Padme Hung,
coach ilg
photo: Coach moving through his unique HP Yoga� sequence known as, "Opening The Energy Vents Of The Body," This sequence is only available to WF Online Students due to the intense, subtle anatomical training effect from it.
February 09, 2006
YOU MAY NOW TAKE LEAVE...Oh Flashy Young One...
Hello Alexis...
thank you however, please take me off your Mailing List.
before the Internet gave birth to "online studio management software" companies such as yours,
i used to handwrite Wholistic Fitness� Training Prescriptions for my Correspondence Students...
that's right...
handwritten.
and each new Fitness Training Program was delivered to them via Postal Mail with a Cover Paper of Sumi Ink Calligraphy for them, done by me after a period of Ritual Meditation.
times changed.
something called,
The INTERNET was created.
i adapted my Handwritten, Sumi Ink Calligraphy customized training programs
for the Internet.
i was the first one in the world to offer Online Body/Mind Personal Fitness Training Service.
that is right,
your little SPAM email sales spiel just fell into the hands of the Grandfather of Online Fitness Training.
these days, i feel like a dinosaur.
i have not the capability nor the desire to attempt to keep pace with the flashy, hi tech Online Fitness Training sites.
my Students know the difference between Illusion and Substance.
i recall when i broke steps into this pure field of the Internet Fitness Training. i did so with integrity, respect for privacy, and have maintained World Class standards when it comes to caring for, and loving with devotion my Online Students.
i have kept my Temple of Pioneering Online Training as authentic, as humble, and as POWERFUL as would the Ancient Yogi Masters of authentic "BodyMind" training would have wanted it.
so look elsewhere, Young One.
This old Temple is not interested in your Management Software. we focus on Quality, not Quantity.
you will do fine, i am sure.
however, beneath this Sacred Peak,
you may Take Your Leave.
namaste,
coach steve ilg
founder/www.WholisticFitness.com
1982
On Feb 9, 2006, at 1:45 PM, Alexis Ramirez wrote:
Wholistic Fitness,
My name is Alexis and I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know about our new online studio management software. This is a great software package that allows you to manage clients, staff, schedules, and booking online with additional features such as integrated credit card processing. I'd love to set up an appointment to demo the software and answer any questions you might have. To schedule you can email me or call 877-755-4279. For additional information you can check out our website at www.mindbodysoftware.com.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Alexis Ramirez
MindBody Online Sales Assistant
Alexis.Ramirez@mindbodyonline.com
Toll-free 877-755-4279
Local 805-546-2000
http://www.mindbodysoftware.com
OF HERBAL STASH, WF BLOGGIN', and LIVING LIKE YOU MEAN IT!!!!!!
Our intellects are, according to the Yogic Masters, the most subtle and refined aspects of the conscious mind. In the Scriptures, the Intellect is described as sharp as a razor and as clear as a crystal. However, most of us pollute our Intellect with too many books, too many newspapers, too many magazines, far too much junk food both physically and spiritually. Essentially, we pollute our Crystal Intellect with waaaay too much INPUT from non-Practictioners and not having Wise, Experienced Dharma Teachers. We also dull and make one-sided our Intellect by overthinking, and, of course, too little breath and movement. 
I created a unique Path of Multidisciplined Yoga known as Wholistic Fitness� in 1982 in order to provide for my Students a diamond hard body piloted by a Balanced, Clear Intellect that is used for Self Cultivation...do not dull your Razor Sharp Intellect by living a common, polluted life. Do things that force you to concentrate, long to do what is HARD to do...just be sure you have a Wise Teacher to guide you..that is what the World of Wholistic Fitness� with SUNRIDER� Herbs provides; A Proven Path toward your Highest, Sharpest Self!
PHOTO #1: photo by Ananda of myself working on a boulder problem at the BEAUTIFUL "Priest's Draw" canyon a few minutes outside of Flagstaff. though no longer a sponsored climber, i still go bouldering or climbing once or twice a week to keep my Intellect firing sharp and to apply my Meditation Skills into an Active Form.
PHOTO #2: Ardha Matsyendrasana...a classic pelvic girdle stabilizer, uddiyanic ignitor, and spinal twist...i choreograph this posture into many of my HIGH PERFORMANCE YOGA� sequences because for multi-disciplined yogic warriors, we need the organic torsion of this posture to undo tensions created by strength training and cardio work. Very, very few current Yoga Teachers, it seems to me, understand even the rudimentary science of knowing how to appropriately fuse the South Indian asana science to Western Fitness Athletes. In this humble Temple, we do because, well...we DO MULTI-DISCIPLINED YOGA! not just studio asana! photo of coach by Ananda; Red Fox Deck, WF Temple H(om)e
****
Namaste Noble WF Warriors,
Why wake up and start ingesting degenerative food PLUS degenerative MEDIA FOOD?
Whatever "They" are calling "News" in "newspapers" these days...sure as hec ain't what I consider news!
Wanna know how i often start my "outer world day" after my Wholistic Fitness� Early Morning Ritual�?
I take a hit of SUNRIDER's EVERGREEN�,
and chase it with a few shots of SUNRIDER's VITASPRAY�
settle in a variation of Siddhasana in front of my computer with perhaps some SUNRIDER CALLI� BEVERAGE
and read the
Coach Ilg-Approved BLOGS!
These amazing electronic missives from my Tribal Brothers and Sisters
inspire my own Practice like crazy...
i love these BLOGS so much because i love the AUTHORS of them!
so brave,
so willing to share...
that's tight!
Reading these Warrior BLOGS are REAL NEWS from REAL WF WARRIORS who, each day,
are WORKING ON THEMSELVES like you and I.
i read about their Trials and Tribulations along the Path of Awakening...
i read about their many deep and auspicious spiritual victories along that same precious Path...
Many of my Approved BLOGS are written from professional body/mind Teachers, such as Teacher Ko (see below)
a Yoga Teacher and WF Online Teacher in Indiana whose embrace of the SUNRIDER Herbs has exploded the strength,
suppleness, and well being of his Sangha with the power of Mt. Vesuvius...just read one of his Star Students, Shawna, input about
the importance of SUNRIDER whole food nutrition in HER amazing life! What if EVERY OFFICE WORKER had a stash
of herbs as like this Noble Yogic Warrioress?
As i wrote in TOTAL BODY TRANSFORMATION;
nutrition is much more than just what FOOD you put INTO your MOUTH!
it's about what type of MEDIA you CHOOSE to tap into...
it's about what CLOTHES you wear, what FURNITURE you allow yourself to command your posture, what SHOES you
allow to act as twin vampires sucking out your natural root strength and buoyancy, it's about how WILLING you are to
move your computer mouse to the OTHER SIDE of the Keyboard every now and then to learn true Non Dominant Balance..
it's about your embrace of the deep,
colorful,
transformative Path of Wholistic Fitness�....America's native Path of multi-disciplined Yoga.
since 1982
i will close with a current list of WF-Approved BLOGS
that you can enjoy fresh each day
instead of tree-murdered 'newspapers' that purge so much negative bullshit from corporatE amerikA...
tap into the Higher Source of Body/Mind
Love,
Caring,
Sweat,
and
Stillness
from within the humble, yet incomparable POWER of the Wholistic Fitness� Temple...
better yet,
start your OWN BLOG...
and instead of SPECTATING and whining about the condition of the OUTER WORLD...
do something about it;
LIVE YOUR LIFE OUT LOUD
LIVE YOUR LOVE OUT LOUD
and as MahaRishi Gandhi said,
"Be the change you want to see in the world."
in fierce love of
SUNRIDER Herbs
and
WHOLISTIC FITNESS� Sweat and Silence...
see you later,
i've myself a Sacred Peak to Kahtool up...
the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon is next WEEK!
stay tapped to the ROOT BLOG of
DIRECT LINES�
for everyday fresh WF DHARMA to put into your spiritual quiver...
i bow to you,
May your Practice remain Strong and Sincere,
coach ilg
****
CURRENT COACH ILG APPROVED BLOGS:
"Ripples Make Waves."
- coach ilg, 1982
DIRECT LINES; Daily Meditations From Coach Ilg
http://wholisticfitness.blogspot.com/
The "grand daddy" Blog that started all the love...
authored by Coach Ilg; creator of Wholistic Fitness�
status; will go Subscription Format* by 2006
began; 1982 as a printed newsletter pre-internet
Karl's Daily Lines Blog
http://kmptrainingsolutions.blogspot.com/
authored by WF Devotee; Karl MacPhee
status; freelance
began; April, 2005
Reflections
http://www.kristi-trinity.com/reflections.html
authored by WF Online Student Kristi Lees of Teacher Ananda Clan
status; freelance
began; May, 2005
Wholistic Fitness Training Blog
http://wftraining.blogspot.com/
authored by WF Devotee; Paul Mount
status; Approved
began; June, 2005
Twisted Sage Blog
http://www.twistedsageblog.blogspot.com/
authored by WF Certifed Teacher Chris "Kokanda" Roche
status; Approved
began; September, 2005
Journal of Haku Hatsuiku
http://hakutrain.blogspot.com/
authored by WF Certifed Teacher Joseph "Haku Hatsuiku"
status; Approved
began; December, 2005
* more to come on this soon in DL
*****************************
Teacher Ko,
Here�s a picture of my �file� cabinet at work � over time it has evolved to be my �stash�. 
After you were here in the office last week, (2) additional co-workers have ordered Sunrider. There are (7) folks now drinking FD regularly everyday with others sampling here and there. It�s very cool seeing everyone walking around with their shaker bottles.
Vibing higher,
Student Shawna
Now that is Abhyasa with the Herbs!
Wholistic Fitness Student/Twisted Sage Yogini, and devoted SR'r
Shawna Schaub's "stash".
While Shawna has been a SR'r for
several years, it has been her recent Abhyasa that has
helped elicit several Shifts in her Practice and her Life.
"What's in your drawer?"
February 08, 2006
A "BABY" BOW from Coach Ilg
To my beautiful Student Mackel and Michele...
head bowed to the passing over of your beautiful "Baby".
i recall her essence fondly.
i love Four Legged Beings sooo much.
If only my Teachers would have let me do my Work with Four Legged's instead of the Two Legged's...
i will perform a Bardo Realm Blessing for Baby over the next three days...
DL Readers,
Student Mackel's tribute to his and Michele's "Baby" can be found here:
http://www.trithiscoaching.com
May All Beings Know Love and Be Happy Because Of Its Presence In Their Lives
Regardless Of Its Longevity...
om mani padme hung,
coach ilg
February 07, 2006
Thank You, WF Teacher Ko!
We love you too!
Dharma Blessings,
coach y' Ananda
TRACKING COACH: Coach's January Practice Stats
Is it just me or is there tidal wave of "Certified Yoga Teachers" and "Masters" that are hocking "Yoga For Athletes" dvds and seminars that have never even seen a Start Line, let alone the view from a podium?
Ain't that a direct violation of Satya?
Wondering why I don't have a Yoga For Athletes dvd yet? Cuz i don't know enough.
There is not enough validation from the Sacred Scriptures to dovetail into the Western penchant for athletic sports. Even after 5 World Championships in 4 different physiologic sports and dozens of podiums at National, Regional, State, and Local levels in more sports than probably anyone on the planet...Even after 2 decades of coaching professionally athletes of all those same abilities...guess what? i still consider myself too much a beginner to Teach others the world class manner of dovetailing with integrity the Hatha Yogic knowledge of the Ancients into competitive sport.
To learn how to saturate, direct, and cultivate even the basic notions of Pranya-Vayu, for instance, while subjecting the body to the day to day, highly concussive impact of training for sports is, at least for me, a lifetime of study...not TEACHING! None of the Ancient Masters were World Class Athletes, let alone in a multitude of sports. Did The Ancient Masters train across the physiologic spectrum at least? I know that my Tibetan/Mountain Yoga Tradition sure did! However, there is no mention of competitive sport as a Pranic Tool in the Sacred Scriptures of Hatha Yoga. Thus, i would have some prrrrrrrety important questions for anyone out there teaching YOGA FOR ATHLETES who does not have AT LEAST my athletic resume and monthly training stats.
For instance, i would like to know how to transfer the entropic value of engaging Mula Bandha to effect apana-vayu at mile 80 in a 120-mile bicycle race when you are in a five-man breakaway with a :45 lead over Chase Group #1 which allows the Pranic Saturation to provide more internal floatation to let the hips fly and the lumbar to recover to TRANSFER into the management of manas while free soloing a Grade V ice climb when a snowfield, 350' above your frozen waterfall that you are climbing alone, lets loose and sends about a million tons of wet cement snow over you as you attempt to maintain composed strength onto the 1/4" picks of your ice tools and crampons as the deluge roars upon you. I want to know THAT transfer from a pranayamic engagement to a citta nirodhic element from someone with Direct Experience of those types of situations; please email me at ilgtrain@npgcable.com
or, even, how about telling me which Pranayam is safe and effective at countering the heart rate lowering causation effect upon the muscle glycogen depletion during multi-sport transitions that results in lower number of high glycolytic type II muscle fibers to contract efficiently thus NOT reducing leg speed on the Run Leg by infusing Pranic Saturation regardless of the physiologic need to re-engage the adenosine triphosphate system? okay, okay...that is an EASY one...hec, even I know THAT answer! jeez, what do you think i am DOING during all my training workouts? listening to an iPod, for Christ Sakes?
my point is,
there are waaaaaay too many "Teachers of Yoga" that are so willing to TEACH before taking a few decades to STUDY...PARTICULARLY when it comes to the absolutely unexplored terrain of blending Western Sports Science into the Sacred Vedic Teachings of Yoga. I mean, just to win a STATE CHAMPIONSHIP in a sport that you are GOOD AT while maintaining a quality Hatha Yoga Practice probably limits the Human Yoga Population to a few dozen? a Handful? how about World Chamionship competitors that are Hatha Yoga Teachers? NOW how many?
Yet, how many BOOKS and DVDS on YOGA FOR ATHLETES are there being written by False Prophets? probably a lot, eh?
So many willing to Teach.
So few willing to just Practice.
Even fewer willing to Compete.
Just a couple able to win.
That is why i enclose regularly my own Practice Stats...for the sake of other Teachers of Yoga that are interested in convening and opening up a BASIC EXCHANGE about the weaving of a World Class Liberation Path like Hatha Yoga with World Class Athletic Training.
And, if it ain't World Class? Then i ain't interested.
Why settle for less than the Best In The World when it come to Self Cultivation? Why buy any Herb that is not World Class? Why take study under any Path that is not DEVOTED to the ultimate Podium of the Human Race; Enlightenment! I have willed myself to attempt to train even HARDER than the Buddha did during His life, because i live in a Spiritually Darker Age (Kali Yuga). Instead of people being interested in Enlightenment and training for it like they did back in Buddha's day...people are interested today in EnterTainment instead of InnerAttainment. Thus, i created Wholistic Fitness� as a daily Dharma Vehicle that, if Practiced, destroys the sloth of today's common addiction to comfort. Once that is done, we can use the Practice to work on what truly matters; Awakening and, possibly, Enlghtenment in one lifetime.
my public life will end at age 75.
why 75?
more on that in a future DL...sorry, i've got to attend to my Online Students..
enjoy the Stats below and
Remember the saying,
"You can never be better than your genetic limits,
however,
you can ALWAYS be better than you are, right now!"
...and someone, somewhere...felt something Stir from deep within themselves...
May your Practice be strong and sincere,
coach ilg
. *** Above Photo of Coach - Overall Long Course Age Group Winner and Second Place Overall at the Gaspin' In The Aspen Mountain Duathlon last autumn.
***
Coach's January Practice Stats...
Walking My Talk
Strength Training = .75 hours; down by .50 hour (note the increase of HP Yoga� to override my low ST hours)
Cardio Training = 34.75 hours; up by 4 hours (got spanked on my first club bike race, then a week later, took 2nd place)
Yoga Practice= 52.75 hours; up by 13 hours (regularly teaching here in Flag has increased this Discipline)
Meditation = 40.50 hours; up by 11 hours (increased Assignments from my MahaNidraRishi forced huge efforts from me)
Nutrition = average calories per day: 1,764. slightly up by 145/day. Thank GOD AGAIN FOR SUNRIDER HERBS!!!!!!!
Performance Stats;
� 52:00 Ascent/19:00 Descent = 11,500' on Agassiz Peak. mode; Kahtoolas.
� 2nd Place; sprint finish = club training ride. 50 mile loop
� 1st Place; Snowshoe Division. Note; There was no snow. 10k time; 52:13 on a course with 800' climbing at 8,300'
� Bouldering: Flash ascent of "Navel Ring": V3 (5.11+) indoor (www.verticalrelief.com)
NOTE: VERY IMPORTANT NOT TO ATTEMPT TO MIMIC THESE MULTI-DISCIPLINED STATS!
IF YOU DO, INJURY or ILLNESS is likely to result without my two decades of SUNRIDER Herb allegiance and 30 years of WF training! Your Yoga is YOUR yoga!
***
"When in doubt? Just do." - coach ilg. one of the oddest races i have ever done occurred last month as i qualified for The 2006 National Snowshoe Racing Championships on BARE GROUND! The severe drought in the southwest has pushed my Practice into new - and more painful - realms than i have ever known. As a Winter Athlete, first and foremost, the lack of snow has forced me to increase my Pratyharic Fitness; go within. 
Another highlight of January was my 52 minute Kahtool'd Ascent to the 11,500' mark on the Sacred Peak through fresh snow. My descent was 19 minutes. If you plan on following this mountain yogi toward Enlightenment? Bring a full quiver of skills and sweat, baby. Oh, i see all the "Certified Yoga Teachers" selling "Yoga For Athletes," and giving seminars...yet i never see 'em on start lines, let alone see them on the podiums of varied sports! Ain't that a violation of Satya? Life in Kali Yuga, gotta love it. Everybody is a "Master" i reckon. Meanwhile? In our humble Tribe of WF? We are just out there doing it...each day, exploring and learning and working on bettering ourselves through America's original and only multi-disicplined Path of Yoga; Wholistic Fitness�...since 1982.
February 06, 2006
3 Levels of Dharana + Kapalabhati vs. Ujjayi explanation
"Your mouth is for eating. Your nose is for breathing."
- B.K.S. Iyengar
above; here i am working a few Kapalabhati rounds to 'stoke up' the 'agni' or the inner fire. Knowing the basic HP Yoga� pranayams is critical for destroying Kapha (thick, heavy, sluggish, phlegmy) tendencies within the body and mind. Knowing the few basic Breaths that are taught in the study of Wholistic Fitness� keeps the body light, supple, strong, and extremely immune to afflictions of the common, non-Practitioner. when coupled with the SUNRIDER herbs - the official whole food nutrition of WF since 1983 - this cellularly clean, physiologically healthy, and spiritually energetic body carries a peaceful mindstream (see DL below) which makes the yogin enthusiastic for Inner Work instead of being confused and turned outward toward the entertainments of mud-minded society. photo by Ananda.
***
STUDENT:
The Kapalabhati (Skull Shining Breath) feels sorta similar to Ujjayi (Victorious Breath)- how would you describe the
differences?
COACH:
Kapalabhati is concerned ONLY with the EXHALE.
after a moderate nasal inhale...
release between a THIRD to a HALF of your exhale,
then "CHOP UP" - or interrupt - the remaining EXHALE
as prescribed in your Online Program...
sometimes i will prescribe Kapalabhati x 3....so, "chop up" the remaining EXHALE with 3 interuptions,
just like you are chopping wood...except you are chopping the exhale without inhaling.
if i prescribe Kapa x 7, or Kapa x 21...then you know that is a more difficult prescription since you will have to really chop up the EXHALE into those short squirts of exhalation remnants...
by that final expulsion, there should be ZERO air in your lungs!
Ujjayi on the other hand, is the Master of EVENESS...smooth, even inhales and exhales using a Darth Varder type of breath at the back of the throat. Ujjayi is your Bread and Butter Breath...Ujjayi is your main Asana compatriot. Kapa is a laser tool that sharpens, intensifies the Pran and cuts through restrictions.
The yogi who is not Practicing Pranayam (Breath Management) is not a yogi.
Yoga, on a fundamental Level, harnesses the Body and Mind together via Conscious Breathing. That is First Base. Focusing your mind on the breath and allowing that breath to Teach you about your body.
This focusing of mind is known as "Dharana" or Mental Concentration. There are three categories of concentration which lead to Dhyana or Meditation...the three are
� Gross - focusing on the muscular system gym or studio asana or on technique while doing cardiovascular exercise
� Refined - focusing on the breath such as during Early Morning Ritual or Pranayam
� Subtle - focusing on the Nadic Pathways, chakras, astral grid, or a deity image as prescribed by ones Teacher.
om mani padme hung,
coach ilg
MINDSTREAM: it comes and goes...what we have left? Here and Now!
The cells of our body are dying, the neurons in our brain are decaying, even the expressions on our face are always changing, depending on our mood. What we call our basic character is only a �mindstream,� nothing more. Today we feel good because things are going well; tomorrow we feel the opposite. Where did that good feeling go?
What could be more unpredictable than our thoughts and emotions: Do you have any idea what you are going to think or feel next? The mind, in fact, is as empty, as impermanent, and as transient as a dream. Look at a thought: It comes, it stays, and it goes. The past is past, the future not yet risen, and even the present thought, as we experience it, becomes the past.
The only thing we really have is nowness, is now.
-Sogyal Rinpoche
photo of cactus flower contributed by Student Lees of Clan Ananda
February 05, 2006
Of Spiritual Footfalls, and OverCommericalized Football
Okay,
now that everybody has had their oversensationalized fun...
May all the Beings that have monetarily profited from "Super" Bowl #....uhhhh...Whatever...
use at least a FRACTION of their overpaid Abundance to re-Support at least ONE of the following high school programs
that i know,
by Direct Experience and many years of sadness and futile hours of attempting to resuscitate,
have been cut by the immense pressure of a high school "having to have" a 'successful' football program:
� alpine ski program
� soccer program
� nordic ski program
� nordic combined ski program
� girls volleyball program
� boys volleyball program
� girls cross country running program
� boys cross country running program
� girls track program
� boys track program
� girls field sports program
� boys field sports program
� boys tennis program
� girls tennis program
� boys lacrosse program
� girls lacrosse program
� boys gymnastic program
� girls gymnastic program
� ice skating programs (both girls and boys)
� wrestling program
� tae kwon do program
� swim program (both girls and boys)
� archery program (both girls and boys)
� road cycling program (both girls and boys)
� mountain bike program (both girls and boys)
� rock climbing club (both girls and boys)
� kayak club (both girls and boys)
� outdoor appreciation club (both girls and boys)
High School Team Sport Programs that survive in the face of Football Programs:
2 = basketball and baseball
High School Solo Sport Programs that survive in the face of Football Programs:
0 = Zero
so, what happens to the next Lance Armstrong? the next Vegard Ulvang? the next Lynn Hill?
when High School Football Programs overwhelm the choices for a young boy or girl to be forced into Team Sports
because Team Sports are easier to Televise and thus produce more money...
where does that lead our society Leaders?
you do the math.
sometimes, like myself, an adolescent is too intimated by being forced into the whole Team Sports thing...where are these young children to learn Self Esteem? Leadership skills? Self Reliance?
personally?
if i were any member of the Steelers or in any way associated with the advertisers of SuperBowl Whatever,
i would be damn sure to contribute at least some money and energy to the development of
ALL SPORTS
or
FITNESS EDUCATION
at the High School Level.
oh, i forced myself through enough of today's supposedly "Super" Bowl and its parasitic advertisers to feel Go(o)d about one thing only:
My Spiritual Practice.
if Rothensburger or whatever his name was, had any integrity, he woulda done the Noble Act
like solo athletes in the Real Sports...
after his "Touchdown" at the end of the first half, he shoulda just jumped up and told the Ref,
"dude, i know that was not a touchdown...just put the football a few inches away from the Goal Line and on the next play i will make a REAL touchdown!"
(if THAT measly excuse of a TD was in fact a TD?!?! shit, put ME in!!! i could make feeble excuses for TD's like that!!!)
and, having the "Neutral Game" in Detroit, is not, i am sorry...a "neutral" playing field.
they shoulda played it in a cornfield in far east Colorado and disallow any electronic communication between players, coaches, and staff. keep it friggin' REAL, man!!!! how many Hockey Players or coaches do YOU see wearing friggin' Radio Shack Astronaut Electronics all over their heads? that ain't sport...that's...uh....NASA or some shit...
but then again...if they DID play the "Super" Bowl in some lil Unwired Cornfield in Eastern Colorado or Montana...
that woulda decreased TV income profit margins...
and we CAN'T HAVE THAT!!!!!
i mean,
whaddya think this is after all...
SPORT?
to the Steelers; be happy within for your season (and that one cool, "gadget play" that went for a TD)...
otherwise,
be quiet, humble, and next year, do what i did:
SWITCH SPORTS!
let's see how Athletic you REALLY are at heart!
how about Marathon Running?
Sport Climbing?
Extreme Skiing?
yoga?
hell, do something...
but do something ELSE!!!!!!
and use your Big Paycheck to HELP formative physical education and sport programs!
share your wealth...cuz any sport that can afford to hire the ROLLING STONES and have Alcoholic Inspiring commercials run continuously...is a sport that can damn well afford to give back to support other sports for our obese children!
that is all,
keeping it real during Kali Yuga,
coach ilg
THE REAL SUPERBOWL? LOOK WITHIN!
Surprisingly enough, the REAL SUPER BOWL is located within this part of the human anatomy!
What? No other Personal Trainer has taught you this yet?
Go(o)d thing you are a Direct Lines� reader! Cuz, you do NOT want to buy into the whole SUPER BOWL SUNDAY thing
without having the Higher Perspective! No where else; right here on DL, baby!...since 1982...tirelessly contributing toward YOUR Self Cultivation.
"WHOLISTIC FITNESS�:
World Class Multidisciplined Yoga from a World Class athlete�"
***
WARRIORS UP!!!!!
Make sure, as i Taught in our WF Retreat Last Summer,
that you use the WF Philosophy of ACTIVITY INSPIRED EATING� before you enjoy that first tortilla chip watching "the game."
And, - hold on a sec, lemme climb a liiiiiiitle big higher on my soap box here....aaaah...dat's better...
now....
Don't you even DARE contribute to the absurd over commercialism of an arguably 'interesting' parade of million dollar commercials hocking new razors and personal care products that were responsible for countless, horrible acts of animal cruelty (on behalf of 'science'), earth-and-human spirit destroying cars, junk food, alcohol, prescription drugs...oh, and i think there is still some semblance of a 'football game' in there somewhere (though the Kid Rockesque pandemonium of it all would make REAL football players like Gale Sayers, Brian Piccolo, and Red Grange puke). If Coach Lombardi saw what the "Super Bowl" has turned into? He would take his CHI FILLED SPIRIT OF COACHING right back to the high schools, baby. At least at THAT level of the sport there is some actual CHI still being expressed and done so unpolluted by money. To make a SuperBowl interesting these days? Winner Takes All. Loser, like athletes in other 'real' sports, go home in debt from paying their entry fee, gas, and lodging. The NFL (stands for No-go(o)d Financial Looters) oughta pay each football player, manager, coach, trainers, and administration staff - including themselves - the same as can be found in our School System. If they need more equipment or something? Hold a friggin' Bake Sale. And the two teams that make it to the Super Bowl? Well, they get their expenses paid for, however,
only the Winner takes the big Money. Loser tries again next year.
Oh,
and just in case no one else has told you and you are new to Direct Lines...
the REAL SUPER BOWL?
it's in between your hips!
it's called the PELVIC BOWL
and it houses an individuated portal/connection to the Limitless Cosmic Energy of the UniVerse.
the Yogis know that the REAL SUPER BOWL is the opening of the Pelvic Bowl which shelters the
dormant KUNDALINI waiting for you to get off your duff,
stop the insane addiction to comfort,
and start cultivating the Forces that lie within the spiritual/psychological concentration of energy
between our hips.
Three days ago, i used the tiniest particle of this Force to out climb some sport-specific rock climbers that were over 20 years younger then myself.
Yesterday, i used the tiniest smidgen of this Force Between My Hips to take on cycling-specific cyclists that were again, over 20 years younger than me. I finished 2nd.
You tell me, Oh Noble Warriors of the Inward Looking Path...
What is more important to your Self Cultivation today?
Which Super Bowl are you going to spend more time and energy watching?
Head bowed from the Land of the Red Earth and Pure Pran,
coach ilg
above photo: Ananda in the real 'stadium'...the spiritual birthplace of the Yavapai; Bonyton Canyon vortex, near Sedona. Sit here, 'watch' your Pelvic Bowl and become both spectator and participant to the GREATEST GAME a human can inJoy: the Game of Kundalini Rising!. photo by Coach Ilg
February 04, 2006
GETTING STONED
Our Ancient Ones lived among stone for energetic reasons, not just practical ones. rare shot of an Anasazi ruin in remote Secret Canyon near Sedona, Arizona. What's the matter, can't you even see the 5-family unit living space at the bottom of the cliff? Just the point. Compare to our contemporary housing and you tell me which is more harmonious living WITH Mother Earth rather than abusing Her! Photo by Coach Ilg
***
Dear Sigung -
Went for a light run yesterday and the Achilles is 80-90%. The inhibiting factor though is this sport hernia. Wow what a teacher. Every step it feels like a large stone bouncing up and down on top of my pelvis below the naval. I can hold boat pose forever, do the HP Prop ab engagement, all manner of activity with no pain. Weird.
It is having this effect...my running is even more light and deer like than before...I am trusting that will be the effect down the road.
Begin again and again as someone said. ;-)
all the love,
d 
When the Will is strong enough, growth from stone is possible. Cedar growing out of Lower Sonora Sandstone near Sedona. Photo by Coach Ilg.
COACH RESPONDS:
Noble Warrior D:
direct the Ujjayi and Kapalabhati during your Early Morning Rituals into this Pelvic "Stone".
Such "stones" (tumors, cancers, etc) are naught but concentrations of undigested energy;
according to yogis, accumulated from past lifetimes of not Facing, Calming, and Walking our Dragons.
Tumors, hernias, slipped disks, are - in essence - brittle (if not 'fossilized') chakras or fragments thereof.
note the chakral region of the affliction and meditate accordingly.
here is what my MahaNidraRishi would say...if it helps...
(and i have had my share of Internal Stones):
"Allow yourself to stop and listen to this (STONE) carefully. There are
different varying frequencies within the (STONE). Just stop and listen....Then
inquire to the source of this (STONE)....Not just the thought of the (STONE),
but the actual source.
The (STONE) is nothing but Joy and Love....You are missing the
source...You are pretending to be seperate....This seperation brings you
sorrow and pain, and suffering.
The desire to find the (STONE), to find freedom must be the priority of
the life. SOmetimes all hell breaks loose when this desire arises....Where
is your attention??? It is all in the training of the mind. Here is a great
technique.....Just STOP!!!! BE STILL!!!! AND LISTEN for the Stoned Sound which is
calling you inward..... Courage sweet Warrior, Courage and Diligence
....and more Love than you thought possible..."
Love,
Grandfather Teacher ilg
ps; sometimes i TAF i became an expert "rock" climber because of an innate sense of
needing to overcome (surmount, summit) my undigested inner work...
ARGHYA FOR TEACHER ILG
Namaste Beloved Coach,
bowing down ...
Om Shanti,
shishya lees
SKY MIND/SKY BREATH; EVERYTHING MATTERS
"Whatever we have done with our lives makes us what we are when we die. And everything, absolutely everything, counts."
- Soygal Rinpoche
***
"Nothing matters,
but everything counts."
- coach ilg, 1985
***
STUDENT:
I try and I try to meditate and do my best in fitness and working on what you term, "our negative tendencies."
i always fall back into the same old stupid habits and bad self talk.
i will never be fit like you in so many areas.
i will never be Enlightened...i do not even know what that means.
sometimes i just get so depressed i think i should have never started "working on myself."
i think my mind is busier than when i first "met you" through your books and blog.
thanks for listening to my crap.
- G
COACH:
Noble Warrioress G,
Welcome to the Awakened State!
your mind is not busier, you are just more Aware of the Ego Noise! congrats!
that you are at least trying to work on yourself IS the spiritual victory! congrats!
you know what?
i have yet to meet the cyclist that goes out on their first club ride and doesn't get dropped by the peleton for the first few (dozen!) times.
Things Take Time.
It's a long road out of our Unconscious Patterns.
Pace yourself accordingly.
Up until now, you have been living in the world with a restless mind.
if you wish to continue your success in either the Outer or Inner World,
you first must overcome the Restless Mind.
Your Practice right now is to make your mind steady and quiet.
Then, Peacefulness comes as a training effect from your mental steadiness and quietude.
Your mind is restless because of one thing:
Desires.
Practice giving space to those Desires.
Sky Mind/Sky Breath.
Allow the following quote/mantra to be your Main Practice over the next few weeks.
See what Inner Doors the quote/mantra opens.
and,
Never,
Ever,
Give Up on working on yourself.
Here is how bad you gotta want to Rise Above Your Unconscious Habits and Negative Tendencies:
Don't give up until the end of your Human Life;
for
you are too important to the UniVerse.
i mean it!
here then, is your Quote/Mantra. click on the photo to enlarge the quote. Walk with it.
Breathe with it. and SMILE OFTEN when you remember it!...Go(o)d Luck:
love,
coach
***
photo credits
#1: Section of Furnace Creek 508 Race Route, Death Valley, CA. LA Times.
#2: Sunrise, Snow Canyon, Utah/coach ilg
#3: Greg Lemond winning the World Road Race Championships/Graham Watson
#4: Dharmanic Moment with Coach; 1*18*2005/Ananda
February 03, 2006
"HOW IRONIC"
Just as i give Noble Tribal Musician David Tate some DL exposure,
sure nuff...
i get this from David:
"Hey Yall,
Good news,
I made the front page of
CDBaby.com
a website through which I sell my cds. There are thousands of artists on it so it's a pretty cool opportunity. To read thier excellent review of my cd or to buy it, go to cdbaby.com and it's right there. It'll be on the front page until Feb 6th.
Thank you all soo much for your love and support.
- David
***
i only wish i could keep pace with all the "How Ironic" and "how interesting..." and "Wow, what a coincidence" that pass through my Humble Temple each day...
instead,
just know this;
the WF Vibe is a Blessed One...
so keep your Practice Strong and Sincere
Keep your Awareness CRANKED...
and
enjoy the
many Synchronicities which will Arise
as you Rise Higher...
these "seemingly surprising coincidences" are spiritual signposts along the Way,
in-couraging you that you are in-Deed,
on the Appropriate Path...
enjoy the ride,
surf the Conscious Breath,
and
relax into It All...
love,
coach
another killer photo by Ananda; coach surfing the Conscious Breath through thin ski conditions...
COACH'S LETTER TO A YOUNG MAN; "turning breakdowns into breakthroughs"
Dear Steve,
Doing High Performance Yoga has made more of an impact on me than i can put into words. The passion you have is contagious. I am so grateful for your Presence. Your Yoga has helped me turn breakdowns into breakthroughs. Like you say, "From Pain to Pran."
Thank you my Brother!
Dave Tate
datetatemusic@hotmail.com
COACH RESPONDS:
My Noble Beautiful Tribal Music Brother,
i bow to you. thank you for your latest CD; it so rocks i nearly had to be put on belay just to listen to it!
life is a difficult journey for a young man these days to walk with such an Open, Loving Heart as you.
to follow that Open Loving Heart is, to me, the most bravest, noblest action of a human. to live each day
with no safety net,
to live knowing that your next paycheck comes only from your love and effort...no corporation, no money will come that has not be earned from love...that is the yogi's Way...that is the musician's Way.
and, we would rather our Souls wither in Her Own Way, on Her Own Path
than to rake in the cash by following someone else's Path.
for you, at such a young age,
to embark on this Love Based Journey,
and
to do so with such vivid expression by way of song and music is the stuff that hits the High Beam of a person's Soul Radiance.
you, and your beautiful family, have done just that to this feeble mountain yogi.
think about laying some tracks for my next Yoga or WF Training DVD, okay?
see you in Utah this summer among the red lipped canyons which kiss the seemingly endless blue sky.
oh, and engage Heightened Awareness with those LA gigs...that Big City is a helluva Practice Ground!
below is a shout out to my WF Tribe for them to visit your links and say hi, or better yet, order some music!
keep the sweat as the springboard to your lyrics.
namaste,
coach ilg
VISIT WARRIOR TATE AT:
www.davetatemusic.com
****
A CLASSIC COACH ILG DHARMA CD for the week:
pull on your YogaToes�, put your feet up a wall after a long cardio workout, lay back, close your eyes, and
listen to the peerless lyricism and diamond clear angelic vocals of the one, the only;
Janis Ian...
SOUVENIRS
best of Janis Ian
1972-1981
they don't make music like that no mo....
i nominate Track #3; From Me To You as the Tribal Anthem of WF...it, to me, expresses the spirit of our humble little Tribe swimming so hard upstream for so long against the torrential current of ego based fitness chaos and those who consistently have tried or are still trying to 'pull us down the hole from which they climbed..."
oh, and Track #4? "At Seventeen"? C'MON!?!?!!! if this, perhaps Janis's best known song, doesn't make you choke back a tear or two, i am here to tell you; your yin needs a re-pair job with your yang!
i bow to Musicians everywhere...
hell, i couldn't carry a tune if it came with a handle on it...
if i could,
i swear, i would just be a musician/songwriter to spread and protect the Dharma...
however, it is not my karma...
sweat and spirit
is...
thus,
from everyday sweat and spirit
i send each and every one of you...
Dharma Blessings in rhythm and tears,
coach ilg
photos:
1 &2: David Tate/David Tate archives
3; Ananda in a high altitude southern Utah meadow last summer
4; the yin of the southwest; the Escalante...
5; the yang of soaring Wingate Sandstone walls, one the greatest and longest lasting loves of my life...i have wrung the teachings of Wholistic Fitness� from these soaring walls of red earth...this one is in Long Canyon, near Boulder, Utah.
6; self portrait; a modern day warrior from an Ancient Tribe. my only tunes are those of outdoor sweat and nature's spirit. in southern Utah with full WF Commando gear; climbing equipment, cross bike, running shoes, and herbs. i'm go(o)d to go...anywhere, up anything, further than most on less than most...such is my song.
February 02, 2006
HP YOGA� Wednesday Nights in FLAGSTAFF!
Chaturangas at 7,000+' baby!...
Outdoor athlete Sangha with superb focus...
Perfect Mid-Week Training!
Beautiful Facility!
6,0000 Years of Ancient Self Healing and Transformation facilitated with Steve and Joy's combined professional Teaching Experience of over 30 years and thousands of students...
C'mon up to the Flag and Get High On The Pranic Pump delivered the HP Way!
What's not to love?!
click photo to enlarge, print, and share the Sacred Sweat with someone you love or know needs it!
February 01, 2006
IT TAKES STRENGTH TO SIT STILL
More than twenty-five hundred years ago, a man who had been searching for the truth for many, many lifetimes came to a quiet place in northern India and sat down under a tree. He continued to sit under the tree, with immense resolve, and vowed not to get up until he had found the truth.
At dusk, it is said, he conquered all the dark forces of delusion; and early the next morning, as the planet Venus broke in the dawn sky, the man was rewarded for his age-long patience, discipline, and flawless concentration by achieving the final goal of human existence: enlightenment.
At that sacred moment, the earth itself shuddered, as if �drunk with bliss,� and, as the scriptures tell us: �No one anywhere was angry, ill or sad; no one did evil, none was proud; the world became quite quiet, as though it had reached full perfection.�
This man became known as Buddha.
- Sogyal Rinpoche
*** BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE FIRST AND ONLY WESTERN FITNESS TRIBE THAT HAS INTEGRATED MEDITATION INTO ITS PATH OF FITNESS SINCE 1982...
BROUGHT TO YOU BY PERHAPS THE ONLY FITNESS TRIBE REMAINING ON TURTLE ISLAND WHOSE STUDENTS HAVE THE YOU-KNOW-WHAT TO WAKE UP EARLY AND DO THAT ONE, MOST NOBLE THING THAT A HUMAN BEING CAN DO...
JUST
BE
STILL
AND
KNOW
WF Students Sitting Each Day Around Turtle Island So That All Beings May Benefit:
From Clockwise Top:
coach ilg (Arizona), former Formal Online Student Go-Ten (New York), Online Student SassoSan (New Jersey), Sunrider Warrior Brandon Freese (Pennsylvania), Online Student Leeson (Colorado). {click on the photos to enlarge}
Bottom Photo: Shakyamuni Buddha "The Awakened One" still commands with His Symbolic Presence the Buddha Garden in the backyard of the WF Temple H(om)e. In my opinion, "Yogi Shaky" was one of the World's Most Gnarly Tough Spiritual Athletes ever born to Grace our Planet with Their Strength of Inner Integrity and Engaged Practice (Yogi Jesus was the other one and Milarepa, the astounding Tibetan Yogi holds my third spot on the Podium of the Human Race).
Think about it for a second longer
before you yourself start gettin' all fidgety about sitting here and reading this entry before
rushing off to clamber about with all the other GRASPERS of the RAT RACE just to pay the mortgage
or whatever else you so desperately work for each day...
Think about what this mountain/desert/forest yogi did all those centuries ago:
put yourself in his sandals:
one day, just say,
"Fuck all this shit...
i am just gonna
SIT DOWN in my best meditation posture,
and NOT FLINCH
my body,
my breath,
or
my MIND
until ENLIGHTENMENT!"
..holy sacred cow!!!
if i woulda been around back then (actually, i was; so were you...more on that later)...
and if i woulda been a bettin' man..
when ol' Shaky took His asana upon Ma Earth, i woulda chuckled sarcastically, looked around for my bro's and say,
"Yeah, right...as if...
Ol' Shaky thinks HE is gonna not get up until Enlightenment! HA!
i'll bet my last stick of Nag Champa he ain't gonna do it! any takers?"
dat's right, my friends.
i would have been a Doubter...based upon how damned hard and painful it is for me to sit my own lard ass down each morning...fold my legs beneath me..and just SIT!!!!!!!
Yet,
here was a very simple man,
a devoted yogi,
who actually had the Will and the GUTS to
do it...
wow...
How TOUGH is THAT!??!?!
That
is YOGA,
THAT
is Personal Fitness...
my Friends Along The Noble Path...
The Outer World
and particularly the other
so-called "PERSONAL FITNESS" systems just go on and on about lifting this, and running like this, and doing yoga postures like this, and we are just so great because we...blah, blah, blah, blah!!!!!!!
{Insert Nausea Here}
It's all about Entertaining Egos...
Yet in this humble Temple of Wholistic Fitness�
we have had our Students SITTING STILL
keeping in GENUINE TOUCH
with how the ANCIENTS PRACTICED:
Back at the start of the eighties, i began to fashion a genuine Path of Personal Fitness that was based upon The Way Of The Ancient Masters and their Practices:
For instance:
We look to a man known as Siddhartha Gautama...just a man who happened by his Karma to be born into unimaginable wealth and comfort:
here was a former Prince who had ALL the Outer World had to give...and He gave it ALL UP to study Yoga, then even GAVE THAT UP...and just
one day
chose to
SIT
and
BE STILL
until
He Realized Himself and the Worlds Within and Without...
maybe hearing this feeble little entry from a feeble little mountain yogi beneath a Sacred Peak
might
just...
maybe
give you some YOU KNOW WHAT
to live your OWN PATH
your OWN LIFE
your OWN WAY...
bravely.
that,
my Noble Warriors,
is all.
om mani padme hung,
coach ilg
ps; are YOU sitting still?
send me a photo of you in your most elegant meditation posture.
i love human beings most when they are sitting still; not talking, no doing. just being.
a human being sitting still
is to me,
a Lighthouse
on the Shores of Enlightenment