March 31, 2006
Of Golden Coins...the essential meditation posture points
The most essential point of the meditation posture is to keep the back straight, like �an arrow� or �a pile of golden coins.� The �inner energy,� or prana , will then flow easily through the subtle channels of the body, and your mind will find its true state of rest. Don�t force anything. The lower part of the spine has a natural curve; it should be relaxed but upright. Your head should be balanced comfortably on your neck. It is your shoulders and the upper part of your torso that carry the strength and grace of the posture, and they should be held in strong poise, but without any tension.
Sit with your legs crossed. You do not have to sit in the �full-lotus� posture, which is emphasized more in advanced yoga practice. The crossed legs express the unity of life and death, good and bad, skillful means and wisdom, masculine and feminine principles, samsara and nirvana, and the humor of nonduality. Rest your hands comfortably covering your knees. This is called the �mind in comfort and ease� posture. If you prefer to sit on a chair, keep your legs relaxed, and be sure always to keep your back straight.
- Sogyal Rinpoche
*Photo A; coach in 'siddhasana' meditation posture. by wayne williams
*Photo B; coach demonstrates 'padmasana' meditation posture. by ananda
March 30, 2006
Another Nirvanic Intensive; Anne and Mark
Namaste Noble Warriors!
i awoke this morning to fresh snow sprinkled over the WF Temple H(om)e like cosmic diamonds as a Nirvanic dawn Illuminated "Shaky"...our Backyard Buddha. 
With peculiar bliss, i realized that the joy i felt this morning was a Divine Acknowledgment for another 'Dharmic job well served," after my 2-Day Private Intensive with Anne and Mark Burnell, famous Chicago Jazz legends. After our HP Yoga� class last night, Anne and Mark treated us to a special 'a cappella' rendition of "Get Your Kicks On Route 66"...a few feet away from Route 66! 
Anne and Mark re-discovering their Inner Child on a screaming, laughing descent on snowshoes after setting their Personal Best, Self-Propelled Altitude Record of nearly 10,000' on the Sacred Peak. 
...in their own words, Ananda and i provided Anne and Mark with, "A Sacred Experience that we will never, ever forget. There is no way to express our feelings right now and we are sure that your Transmission will begin to make itself known in many ways over the next months. Our Intensive with you and Ananda went well beyond our expectations."
"Breathe and Flow," turned out to the Mantra of the Intensive for Mark, pictured here with professional fitness trainer and his wife, Anne...who, is finding out why Coach Ilg is the underground "Teacher of trainers." Snowshoe paceline intervals at 9,550'. in this tiny, humble Temple, our Path to Transformation is Steep and Direct. We impart the Genuine Chi...across the physical and meta-physical realms! Remember, there is a whole lot of "physical" in meta-physical. Can't sidestep around the Body to access your True Spirit.
Mark and Anne's WF Mala Beads being Blessed and Spiritually Simmered in the WF Temple Zendo...trust me, these Sacred Peak Empowered Mala's will turn heads in Chicago...why? cuz, they carry the CHI!!!!!!, baby! Wearing them? Using them? An endless Connection to our spiritual lineage and transmission of Tribal Chi. 
Included with a Private Intensive? our exclusive HIGH PERFORMANCE YOGA� class taught in the rarefied air of Flagstaff...come meet our growing Flagstaff Sangha which already includes champion athletes, professors, doctors, and just a fantastic gathering of good souls!
now,
i don't know what you might be 'waiting for' to schedule your own WF Private Intensive.
and,
i really don't know what you are choosing to spend your money on,
however i do know this:
when i lived in LA as a Yoga Teacher and Personal Trainer, there were and are scores of other 'personal trainers' that have not even been in ONE World Championship,
have never even written ONE book,
have never done what it takes to learn and then to teach a multi-disciplined Path of Yoga...
and
then... they go to people's homes and supervise what they eat - that's right, just supervise what they eat - and guiltlessly charge $5-10k for a few hour visit.
now,
i ain't saying that these "personal trainers" aren't worth this value
and
i ain't saying they have less brains than this guy:
...
all i am saying is...
my Private Intensives? $950/Day; includes the Love and Care of not just me, but Ananda as well...plus; lodging and meals(for Online Students only), and the peerless world class, exclusive quality of body/mind training and the Spiritual Transmission of Wholistic Fitness� Teachings and Chi.
As one Intensive veteran says, "A WF Private Intensive is an opportunity of an Incarnation."
i work hard on my Personal Practice
so i can Teach from a world-class standard like my own Teachers did.
You don't deserve anything less.
Jump now...cuz' i ain't gonna be offering these forever. Now booking into late summer, 2006. First Come, First Served...in a World Class, Utterly Unique Way...
Schedule your intensive today.
March 29, 2006
Wednesday Yoga Practice; Abhyasa
Anne and Mark Burnell...two great Jazz musicians of Chicago, up in Flag training in WF to strengthen their Song To The UniVerse. Vibing off some Aspen chi during a hike near Observatory Mesa yesterday during Day One of their WF Private Intensive. photo by coach
http://www.markburnell.com/
***
Namaste Noble Flagstaff HP Yoga Warriors!
sever the egoic rambling that makes you feel as if you have missed a class or two or several,
that
you are 'just too far behind to catch up,"
or some other rationalization.
such thoughts are what yogis know as, 'kleshas' (obstacles) along the Path of Awakening.
thus,
instead of submitting to such kleshas, do what the Masters advise;
engage Abhyasa or 'steadfast Practice...no matter what.'
in other words:
Just begin again,
and again,
and endlessly again.
We have a couple of Wholistic Fitness� students who will be attending class tonight from Chicago; Anne and Mark...very well known Jazz musicians/singers.
They have been here in Flag for a 2-Day WF Private Intensive playing Jazz of a different sort; Wholistic Fitness� Jazz!
On today's agenda is more "multidisciplined yoga"; snowshoeing at the ski area, a yoga lecture and meditation, and strength training.
Stop by and give these two Warriors some of your own Jazz,
'cuz trust me, by the time 7:00 pm rolls around?
these two Noble Warriors will need your spiritual support!
Hey,
i don't call them "Intensives" for nothing!
Looking forward to your Presence in class...
Om Shanti,
Coach Ilg
***
"The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you,
don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want,
don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and froth across the doorsill,
when the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don't Go Back To Sleep."
- Rumi
***
THE BUDDHA�S ENLlGHTENMENT & WF Temple Buddha In Transition
Ilgbro,
Got this and thought of you floating across the snowy heavens in Flag under a full moon�enjoy�
Namaste�
rj
***
"However young, the seeker who sets out upon the way
Shines bright over the world.
But day and night the person who is awake
Shines in the radiance of the spirit.
Meditate.
Live purely.
Be quiet.
Do your work, with mastery.
Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds!
Shine!"
Shakyamuni Buddha
Enlightenment for Gautama [the Buddha] felt as though a prison which had confined him for thousands of lifetimes had broken open. Ignorance had been the jailkeeper. Because of ignorance, his mind had been obscured, just like the moon and stars hidden by the storm clouds. Clouded by endless waves of deluded thoughts, the mind had falsely divided reality into subject and object, self and others, existence and non-existence, birth and death, and from these discriminations arose wrong views�the prisons of feelings, craving, grasping, and becoming. The suffering of birth, old age, sickness, and death only made the prison walls thicker. The only thing to do was to seize the jailkeeper and see his true face. The jailkeeper was ignorance. . . . Once the jailkeeper was gone, the jail would disappear and never be rebuilt again.
THICH NHAT HANH
- THE BUDDHA�S ENLlGHTENMENT
***
photos:
The WF Temple H(om)e Buddha during seasonal change symbolize and remind me of the Awakened One's unflappable mental composure regardless of external circumstance. photos by Coach.
March 27, 2006
Coach and Joy; A Handshake Captured
"Winning Handshake: Steve Ilg gets a good-luck handshake from Joy Kilpatrick before leaving for the snowshoe/ski transition area on top of Mt. Taylor via bus Saturday morning before the 2006 Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathalon. Ilg's team, Team Mountain Yogis, won the team class with a time of 3:48:14. See how local racers fared on Page 1 of today's Sports section. [Photo by John A. Bowersmith/Independent]"
You know...
sometimes the creative artistry of Brahman is just sooooo beautifully...well, exquisite.
by sheer 'accident' a series of events from within our Sangha led Joy (Ananda) to come across this precious gem on the internet of which we had no idea...
i have had the dubious honor of being on the cover or featured in several books and magazines as the NY Times, LA Times, OUTSIDE, MENS JOURNAL, MEN'S FITNESS, WRITERS DIGEST, blah, blah, blah...
yet,
you know what Tribal Brothers and Sisters?
i have more of a smile within my HeartSpace by this beautiful photo of Joy and i in the Gallup, New Mexico newspaper than anything else...i Love the care and accuracy of the text (see above text beneath photo) and just the Zen of the photo...
call me sappy, however,
heck,
this is precisely why
it is sooooooo important to just
get yourself to Toe That Start Line...
cuz when you do;
Magic, Mystery, and the Divine arises!
my Life Mission is now complete; i've made the NY Times, the LA Times, and....(drum roll...)...the Gallup Independent!
now, i can turn my Senses inward to complete my SamYogic training...
what?
no?
not yet?
oh...okay...
i will hang onto my 'public life' until age 50 as the Ancient Ones and my Teachers told me to...
May Your Practice Be Strong and Sincere Today,
thanks for reading,
thanks for Being Here Now to inJoy the Ride...
OM SO TI,
coach ilg
Student Input; WF Rockin like no other!
WHY COME TO FLAG FOR YOUR PRIVATE INTENSIVE?
Cuz the Warriors In The Know...KNOW!
"It doesn't get any better than this. Every runner knows that Flagstaff is quickly becoming the new Mecca of sorts for endurance sports.
- Kelly Keane, the 2005 Houston Marathon women's champion who moved to Flagstaff recently.
***
How do you know it's Spring in Flagstaff?
Cause even the sport-specific endurance athletes wake up each day actually wondering what type of cross-training to enjoy!...
...oh yeah, and the skill & strength sports like rock climbing don't exactly suck around here either...
photos above; Coach's typical work week in March. Even after a quarter century of creating the most intriguing, powerful, fun, and PROVEN fitness programs for all types of people, Coach still field tests the WF Techniques, WF Teachings, SUNRIDER� Secret Herbs, and Meditations of Wholistic Fitness� just for your Ascent Higher, baby!
"Ain't nothing like the caliber of a WF Master Student...the most highly skilled Fitness Warriors on the planet? They are found right here in our humble, powerful Tribe of MultiDisciplined Yogis! Long live the Wholistic Fitness� Warriors...teaching others the wisdom of Cross Training applied to the physiologic spectrum and...the Life Experience!" - coach ilg
***
Speaking of ROCKIN...let's catch up on some Student INPUT, shall we?!
thank you so much for reading DL and sending in such great Love!
May your week be full of Practice that is poignant, powerful, and full of PRAN!!
yeah baby,
BRING THE CHI!
namaste,
coach ilg
creator/Wholistic Fitness�
note; Ananda and i will be teaching a WF Private Intensive Tuesday and Wednesday. i will do my best to keep DL fluid.
STUDENT INPUT - - -
***
RE: THE INFAMOUS "BUTT DL" (3/23)
Yeh, Shiva-butt!
Gee-suz, keep those Noble Cheeks of yours away from the lions, tigers and bears out there in the Wild-ness � that�s what they�re lookin� for!
It isn�t that You Guys Rock (like I thought) it is that you ARE rock�
Inspired,
Visna d goldsmith,
Now git me me copy of TBT!
*
Boo-boo needs butt...
Steve-
Got the legs, need the butt. May this humble yogini squat on :-P ...
HP Yogini S.A.M. in Flag
*
So...had to outdo us by putting THREE Boootaaaayyyys in your blog today! Right on! Perhaps I should send you nice shot of my new and improved YOGA BUTT. I stretch to you...
when you comin' back to Teach us City Slickers again?! we miss you!
Coco in LA
***
RE: DL 3/25/06; THE BEAN AIN'T MEAN!
dear coache',
a moment?
it warmed my heart to hear that
drink a little of the blessed bean...
being italiano with a sicilano twist means
i enjoy a small amount (4oz) of espresso...
albiet filtered(see below) yet..
very dark and extremely strong...
whaddya think helps fuel those
dawn patrol surf sessions
with air/water temps in the low 50's...
besides...coffee has shown to fight
alzheimer's(the caffeine), colo cancer,
depression,type 2 diabetes..
and filtering removes most of the
cholesteral raising fats...yeah!
love,
student dark roast dansan
***
"I AM AMAZED WITH THE RESULTS..."
Coach,
I have purchased your book (Total Body Transformation) and your High Performance Yoga� Yoga Basic Strength DVD and I am amazed with the results. Especially your style of HP Yoga�. I have yet to do the entire workout without some serious breaks in child pose but already my flexibility, balance and posture have improved. I have parts of your book posted in my car and house to give me reminders. I love your approach to life.
I am interested in Sunrider herbs and products for my own use and maybe eventually as a buisness.
I would like to get more into meditation. I would like to be able to learn some tricks in calming myself in stressful situations like before compititions and work.
Thanks again for the great book and CD. It has made a difference!!!!
- Jim
***
RE; DL on Connective Tissue (DL 3/20/06)
Thanks Bro...awesome...you have more knowledge of putting the rubber to the road than my college professors ever did! Rock on!
rj
*
Dearest Coach,
Head bowed "as deep as my Tensor Fascia Femoris allows me" in response to today's DL. Although i was saddened by the current reality that you and Ron Jones pointed out, i chose instead to redirect my energy to the continual pursuit of Change and Awakening for all sentient beings. i am now fuelled to the brim with Chi and inspiration, and am going out to share my positivity with my fellow Torontonians.
Your Path is so valuable to us all, and i feel so blessed to have stumbled upon. i just wish more people would!! i got talking to someone about WF after a yoga class the other day and i could see sparks of imagination and interest flickering behind their eyes...
With Love and Light,
Herbal Warrior andrew
***
General observation -- loving my WF practice and life! Heart happy thanks to you for amazing guidance and love! :-))))
Bunches of hugs,
new student susan
***
Noble Coach Ilg,
Awesome DLs lately! The vast differences between the WF path and others came screaming into my awareness
today after reading DL (first of course) and CrossFit "comments" back-to-back. Keep the dharma flowin' and
congrats on finally receiving Winter's gift!
Head bowed,
Humble Student BG in Sherman Oaks
***
QUOTE OF THE MONTH:
"On the Path of Wisdom, there is no such thing as sin."
-Steve Ilg
***
March 26, 2006
HP Yoga� Q&A; Cycling, Strength Training and Lower Back Issues
"Be steadfast in yoga,�
oh Arjuna...
Perform your Duty without Attachment.
Remain equal in success or failure.
For such equanimity of mind is�
called, yoga."
- Krishna to Arjuna
Baghavad Gita
photo; coach ilg at the top of the SnowBowl Ski Road after putting in an Arjuna-like effort. photo by Ananda
***
HP YOGA Q & A
to Coach Ilg
#1: Yoga and Strength Training
QUESTION:
I have a yoga-cycling-strength-related question for you, since you're the expert! I'm curious about yoga and strength training. I started going to the gym again around the same time I started doing yoga again and I'm feeling like with my riding hours increasing somewhat that I won't have time to do both for very much longer. Will yoga build strength the same way that the gym will, or do they both have their own special attributes? If I just did yoga would I build the strength that I need for a season of ass kicking?
Thanks for your advice.
K
Dear Yogini K,
The best thing to do is for all athletes interested in how to combine Yoga with Sports Training is to study two of my books, THE WINTER ATHLETE and TOTAL BODY TRANSFORMATION. For precise Training Prescriptions relative to specific sports such as cycling, my book; THE WINTER ATHLETE is superb.
Yoga will not build strength in the same the gym (what in the WF Tradition we call, "The Iron Temple"). Yes, each has their own special -and for athletes, needed - attributes. The Iron Temple creates those deep neural and muscular fibers that Yoga asana simply cannot. There is no substitute for the Hip Chain Power Production benefits in the Yoga asanas, for instance, that can compare even remotely with a PowerClean or 5x15 heavy Back Squats. Can't be done. The Iron Temple produces it's huge power and strength production by a principle known as, Progressive Resistance. As you Adapt to a certain weight in the gym, you toss on more weight, and bingo; you Adapt to that new weight and, you get Stronger, more Powerful, and more coordinated at deep levels. Yoga asana cannot do that.
Two things will help you:
1) Periodization. Cycle your training year wisely. Once the State Championships in road cycling are over (usually late fall), right THEN AND THERE begin a three month minimum BLAST OF CONSISTENT Iron Temple training moving from Strength to Power to Strength Endurance as outlined in my books. Since your burned out from so much cycling, this Iron Temple Retreat will be most welcome to your body and mind. Then, start tapering off the Iron Temple by interweaving more Yoga as you begin your Spring Campaign in specific cycling.
and
2) my utterly unique DVD; High Performance Yoga� PROP WORKOUT. Fifteen years of elite level training went into my production of this DVD which combines some of the best qualities of strength training with a precisely (and dastardly) choreographed sequence of exclusive asana moves that challenge the best athletes in the world and yet still nurture what is needed by all levels of athletes and yogis. You can train on this DVD year round to develop and maintain your best fitness for sport specific transfer.
may this help and i will see you out on the 'cobbles',
coach ilg ryt/uscf/cpt
****
#2: Yoga and Low Back Issues
QUESTION:
Thank you for your Wonderful Teachings on DIRECT LINES: Daily Online Meditations From Coach Ilg!
�
I am doing my best these days�.but I guess I also have a follow-up question.� I also suffer from low-back issues due to years of gymnastics and running at a young age.� I hate feeling like a failure, and sometimes my SI and IT Band (whatever is connected to my L5) are aggravated by certain leg exercises.� Is it okay to skip some, but still get the same workout?� That�s why I�m so excited that your book incorporates so many different things, and that YOU have recovered from such an injury.
�
Allie, NJ
Namaste Yogini Allie!
ANSWER:
Dear Yogini Allie,
you are not a failure.
the very Moment you Accept your lower back inJury* as your Yoga (Path Toward Union), then you Shift your Consciousness and will begin to receive Higher Guidance.
When you say, "or whatever is connected to my L5" that tells me that you are not doing the reSearch into your inJury. You are not Honoring its presence and are likely looking just to get free of the Pain in the quickest, least effortful manner on your part.
The Game don't work that Way however. It is your Karma that this inJury is in your experience. Now, you must become a Karma Yogini...you must devote yourself to this difficulty in order to be freed from it. The more you resist such 'issues', the longer, deeper, and more heavy they will persist in your tissues.
"Be steadfast in yoga,�
oh Arjuna...
Perform your Duty without Attachment.
Remain equal in success or failure.
For such equanimity of mind is�
called, yoga."
- Krishna to Arjuna
Baghavad Gita
Yes, you can train wisely 'around' such inJury's until you have created new neural, musculature, and nadic Pathways. This however, is a Journey Within. This Journey is your Yoga.
namaste and i KNOW you can Dance This Lower Back Pain Dragon!
coach ilg
former member of the 'smashed spine & pelvis club'
(remember, inJury's are just that: they are an Inner Jury, witnessing how well you are paying attention to the Root Cause of the Pain)
March 25, 2006
SPEED is Relative; True SPEED is Wholistic Speed!
"yet True Speed is Warrior Speed,
True Speed is Wholistic Speed;
True Speed requires self propulsion and an
ongoing demand of Inner Spirit and Sweat.."
- excerpt from the below DL entry by coach ilg
photo of coach training in the Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California by Wayne Williams.
Dear Coach,
i know from your DL's (it's my FIRST stop during my Internet Surf!) and from your AMAZING HP Yoga Prop Workout� (INCREDIBLE WORKOUT!!! i LOVE IT!!! THANK YOU! PLEASE MAY I HAVE ANOTHER, SIR!!) that you are way into Nordic skiing (which i have finally figured out is cross country skiing). I have tried it, but i crave SPEED, man! Guess i am missing something, eh?
you are amazing and please don't leave the Planet too soon! stay here and keep doing what you are doing!
sign me,
Sam I Am A Snowboarder and (Alpine) Skier
***
Noble Shishya Sam,
i almost left the Planet this morning halfway through my Nordic Skate Ski Intervals...
One day, my young warrior,
you will be filled with BLISSFUL INSIGHT when you realize that
Speed is Relative.
i have a Kawasaki z1000 sport bike. i crave speed too, and every now and then when i am in LA, i take my sport bike and
soar up Pacific Coast Highway then dodge right into the Santa Monica Mountains and torque up and down and through those canyons with my heart in my throat. Gawd, i love speed!
yet, the most scintillating speed i have experienced on a bike was not a motorcycle.
it has been on those canyons and many more throughout the country on my racing bicycle.
lemme tell ya; clocking 60+ mph on my bicycle, descending off Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado,
in a rain/sleetstorm while attacking to bridge to a 3-man breakaway that attacked on the descent...
phewweeee....those tiny little tires, wet pavement, cold, and racing adrenalin? you kiddin' me!?!?
THOSE are the Moments that build up Bardo Merit; not sitting on a fancy motorized machine.
i love Alpine skiing. Downhill and Super G were my best events as a Varsity racer in Durango, Colorado. CRAVED the sound of soaring skis ripping down groomed racecourses and ducking past gates to reset the next edge as the high speed wobbles shook my ski tips as if in epilepsy. LOVE TO SKI and 'board fast!!!!
yet, alpine skis and snowboards have metal edges, big boots, fastened heels, and chairlifts to cart them up to the top of the hill. that shit ain't Bardo Merit stuff. fun, don't get me wrong. however, anytime you are not Self Propelled and as close to Mother Earth as possible...there is a big ol' spiritual KINK in the Transmission of CHI. Adrenalin is fine, however, CHI is refined and far more potent and healthy to cultivate instead of getting to be 30 years old and having adrenal glands exhausted and broken bones gained without an understanding of CHI and Higher Energetics. The true extreme athlete is the Pranic Athlete who has come to understand an Inner World of Cosmic Life Force than does the athlete who fixates his or her life to a chain smoking syndrome of adrenalin fixes. In the long run, that shit is boring with a capital "B". 
to REALLY experience CHI on SKIs (or a Board), you gotta get REAL and get back to where the sport began;
No Metal Edges, No Heel Fastener, and no Chairlift... 
this morning while cranking off the k's up at the Nordic Center...
it has been utterly fantastic in the most sickest of ways, bro!
this morning's workout including "V2 intervals" at 8,700'...followed by a get this..
Bode Miller like kamikaze downhill tuck descent for a whopping 5 minutes and 1,800' descent!!
dude...LEG BURN in the tuck BIG TIME! way more intense than in racing even a Downhill in an alpine event!
soooo much fun! way tight turns, sketched out carrying humungo speed trying not to wrap myself around a ponderosa,
all the while never allowing myself to scrub speed through the dodgy corners as the pristine snowy track reeled
away behind me like a white ribbon of Pran!
Hey,
it's all GO(o)D in the outdoor sports...whatever gets people out and breathing with Father Sky while dancing upon Mother Earth is totally GREAT by me, Oh Noble Tribal Brother!
Enjoy the Speed,
yet Perfect Speed is not about just going fast...
it's about the Wholistic Effect; how many physiologic systems, mental focus capacities, willpower, endurance, agility, reaction, et. al, does it take to create that Speed?
anybody can "go fast"...
especially if all it takes to go fast is a twist of a throttle or a little pressure from ankle flexion...
whippty doo, big deal!
yet True Speed is Warrior Speed,
True Speed is Wholistic Speed;
True Speed requires self propulsion and an
ongoing demand of Inner Spirit and Sweat.
see you up on the Mountain...smiling within shared Speed!
namaste from the tiny Temple beneath the Sacred Peak...
coach ilg
GET WIRED; HELP MY TEAM BUY TIRES!
You gotta know you've joined a cool cycling team when they MAKE THEIR OWN SIGNATURE COFFEE!!!
Dat's right baby, you can help out my new Cycling Team; Red Rock Racers
www.redrockracing.org/
AND get wired for your next workout, bowel movement, or hec, just buy same damn 'joe to help out my Team!!
Serious stuff this delicious 100% organic coffee appropriately named; Red Rock Racing Roast. It is made by Flagstaff's renown coffee shop(s); Late For The Train. I am more of a Calli Beverage� from SUNRIDER� herbs type of guy, yet, tell me true...want the hec is wrong with a great cup of 'joe? Each bag sold is a fundraiser for my Team.
Call (toll free); 877-572-2300 and ask for Dennis or Tara, owners of our Team's coolest shop; Flagstaff Adventure Sports. Tell Dennis or Tara that "Coach Ilg sent me."
The Crank You Up, Ready To Race brew is only $8 a bag and i know you will love it! i am sipping some right now before my nordic ski workout and...ooooops...sure 'nuff...i feel my next BM comin' on...yeah baby! i'll be skiing hard on an empty belly...able to channel the Pondersosa Pran for hours!!!!
c'mon, baby; get some Red Rock Racing Roast and CRANK with me!!!
thank you for your support...
namaste,
coach ilg
member/Red Rock Racing Team, Flagstaff
March 24, 2006
WINDHORSE and OBSCURED INTRINSIC NATURE
Ananda stands before the Tibetan Stupa in Santa Fe where i studied, practiced, and received. This phase of my contemplative education succeeded my contemplative studies at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado under Rinpoche Chogyam Trungpa's era.
***
WF DHARMA H(OM)EWORK of the week;
watch the movie; WINDHORSE
and
contemplate why, given the scope and dimension of this film, it is essentially ignored in the Outer World.
***
a WindHorse Prayer Banner; early morning light, WF Temple H(om)e.
***
For most of us, karma and negative emotions obscure the ability to see our own intrinsic nature, and the nature of reality. As a result we clutch on to happiness and suffering as real, and in our unskillful and ignorant actions go on sowing the seeds of our next birth. Our actions keep us bound to the continuous cycle of worldly existence, to the endless round of birth and death. So everything is at risk in how we live now at this very moment: How we live now can cost us our entire future.
This is the real and urgent reason why we must prepare now to meet death wisely, to transform our karmic future, and to avoid the tragedy of falling into delusion again and again and repeating the painful round of birth and death. This life is the only time and place we can prepare in, and we can only truly prepare through spiritual practice: This is the inescapable message of the natural bardo of this life.
- Sogyal Rinpoche
March 23, 2006
Kicking Butt with WF Butts
Wholistic Fitness�; Our Babies Got (Functional) Back...
- the Backside of WF Teacher Joy "Ananda" Kilpatrick performing 'Garaduasana' captured beautifully from the lens of Wayne Williams (www.waynewilliamsstudio.com)
WF Online Teacher, High Performance Yoga� instructor, and SUNRIDER Director Ananda knows very well the benefits of our humble, yet powerful Path
when it comes to creating beautiful sensual lines that are functionally fit enough to gain the top of podiums and, most importantly, how the development of Backside Beauty� (a Steve Ilg/WF book project) is imperative to development of the subtle anatomical fitness for spiritual work.
***
A while ago in DL, i Taught you that,
"Along the Path of Wisdom, there is no such thing as sin."
- Coach ilg
*
Well, i lied.
Okay, i didn't lie actually, however, i failed to point out the exception that proves the rule...
there is one sin along the Path of Wisdom...
at least in THIS humble Temple...
that sin?
a flat ass.
{Got Mula? Don't drink milk; drink WF!
The GrandMaster's FortySomething Glutes; still capable of transferring seemingly superhuman strength, power, speed, ultra-endurance, and agility for decades within a highly compressed, rarified world of multi-disciplined yoga. photo of Ilg's mas grande nalgas by www.waynewilliams.com}
show me someone with a flat ass?
and i will show you someone in need of some deep down guts and CHI!!!!!
don't be sitting around on a flabby, flat ass preachin' about Enlightenment and spiritual wisdom to me, bucko!
the very Housing of Kundalini requires you to open and develop all physiologic and emotional aspects of the hips..
a flat ass is devoid of the multilayered energy generated within the 'Hip Chain Musculature" which i write about in TOTAL BODY TRANSFORMATION and more practically in perhaps the best butt-building book on the planet; THE WINTER ATHLETE.
Fortunately for all Humans everywhere, some of the younger generation, like WF Devotee Kristi Lees, are picking up the Sacred Sweat Scriptures of WF and animating it with their own chi:
{Student Lees; Another WF Butt that displays the tapas (inner fire) required for Self Cultivation.}
Kristi writes in her blog; REFLECTIONS today:
"Aaahhh the Divine feeling of being Wholistically Fit �
�
This month I am tackling a program from the Winter Athlete* - another inLightening book by Steve �Coach� Ilg. This particular cycle has an emphasis on cardio and some crazy plyometric workouts that kick butt (literally!)
�... I did my first lower body workout from this cycle yesterday. Man oh man! I have trained my backside before, mainly in the more conventional ways, yet this was/is off the charts!...
read more at:
www.kristi-trinity.com/reflections.html
***
On a subtle anatomical level, a flat or flabby ass bespeaks of a Mula Bandha and Ashwini Mudra that is weak and incapable of stopping and reversing the downward flow of a particular type of Life Force known as apana-vayu. I have Taught you the energetic structure and function of these internal locks and flows in previous DL's. Don't write me and ask me to find them again for you. I am a Coach, not an Archivist. it is up to your Sankalpa (powerful determination) to keep these DLs for your Practice and Wisdom. I give a lot in these forums, and i Listen closely to which Readers and Students are using DL wisely...and respectively.
Now, back to the butts...
The current plague of ADD ("Ass Development Deficiency" syndrome) is a sin-effect from a society Addicted To Comfort.
We sit on our asses too much and do not have the Sankalpa to do the Sweat and Deep Fiber work upon which genuine Enlightenment-Within-The-Body depends. Not enough Cardio Commuting. Not enough Intervals. Not enough Squats in the gym. Not enough skiing, snowshoeing, stair-running... Many of us have desires for a more shapely hind end, yet we do not have the Shakti (means). Training the glutes develops the Sankalpa to achieve the Shakti. Shakti women do not run with the wolves...they run stairs, and mountains, and even treadmills when they have to...
oh, speaking of Stair Running...
i got this email from Lisa "Vishnu Doll" Goldsmith, whom, you may recall, was one of my teammates during our victory at Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon last February...
Seems like Lisa gained yet another Podium...click on the photo to be inspired by this Ripped Goddess of The Functional Glutes...oh, and gee whiz...look at what Scripture she is tapped into:
"Shiva Muscle!!!{aka Coach Ilg},
Vishnu Doll does Boston!�. I am officially undefeated in my stair racing career, and am safe to say it until at least next �season.� Ha. Hahaha�Another �lite-field� of stair racers; 2 guys (20-29 age group) beat me, ah, gee, oh well
I will like to (please) purchase a TBT book, but only with personal auto-graphing ;~)
Hope all is blissful near the base of the Sacred Mountain
Bowing bowing, always bowing,
Lisa!"
***
Congratulations Vishnu Doll!!!!!
and, i will send you your signed TBT book pronto!
Noble DL Readers;
are you able to Sense anything going on here?
Ass Development is more than just struttin' around town with a head-turning hiney...
Ass Development is critical for getting to know the true ROOT of who you are, and
where your Central Seat of All Basic Instinct, Samskara, and Karmic Command Nodule is (Muladhara/Swvadisthana/Manipura Chakras).
Essentially, how well do you know yourself?
Your Glutes will reveal that Truth.
I can build a butt on ANYONE...hell, SHAPE Magazine used to call my office every damn week wanting me to
give them "quick quotes" on How To Sculpt A Shapely Butt
until i grew weary of the quick quotes and tried to impart some Behind Dharma...that scared em off and they retreated back into their I Hate Cellulite Brain States...
However, building a WF Butt means a very real encounter with a lot of stuff, emotional stuff, stuff that you resist, stuff that you have likely resisted for lifetimes - ...so, get ready, get ripped, go for the cross-striated Glutes baby before you die! ...your Journey to a WF Butt capable of both physical super feats, traffic stopping chi, and most importantly, the foundation of energetic development for Enlightenment is right around the next Jump Squat and Interval Session...
Don't go through life with a Flat Ass devoid of Personal Power and Transpersonal Insight...
Go and get the best Butt you can muster..., trust me, you will Learn Many Beautiful Things Along your unique study under your Gluteal Guru!
Any of my books will offer you fantastic Butt and Legs Development, however, the programs in THE WINTER ATHLETE, are by far and away, the most superior Rear End BodyWork routines on the planet.
If you would like a Certified WF Teacher to design a WF Program just for you and your hiney potentiality, you just let me know. 
Head Bowed From The No-Flat Ass Temple up here, beneath the Sacred Peak,
namaste,
coach ilg
March 22, 2006
"TOUCH THE CLEAR"
"Sever delusion
eliminate hatred
touch the clear,
bright mind of wisdom within.
awaken."
- venerable wuling
photo 1; of HP Yogini fan; Michele, beautiful wife of WF Devotee Steve M. Husband and wife yogins make for the ideal Vehicle for touching the Clear, bright Wisdom within...as married yogins, one all-Ways has a Mirror reflecting to the spouse which Points the Highest Way.
photo 2; the Sacred Peak this morning on the webcam at;
http://www.azdailysun.com/frameset.html?http://www.flagstaffwebcam.com
9+ inches fell yesterday on the Sacred Peak...i've got me tele skis loaded in Bala and a Sacred Mantra of Snow, Breath, and Sky awaiting me...
Touch the Clear today and may your Practice be Wise,
namaste,
Hum...SA!!!!!!!!!
coach ilg
the mountain yogi
March 21, 2006
WF MEALTIME RECIPE: Ol� Pozol�! de los el Coach�
Namaste Noble Warriors!
i feel DL's ago (like i can really keep track), i spoke about how being immersed in snow makes me, "irrationally giddy." Well, with another 8-10" of the miraculous stuff having fallen in the past 24,
let me tell you...
i IS ONE GIDDY MOUNTAIN YOGI!!!!!
and
lemme tell y'all sumpthin' else:
the only thing better than
having this particular "mountain yogi mat" under your feet (that's my snowboard, taken while on a chairlift)
while
being Immersed
in
this:
and...
this:
and...
this;
is...
coming home to...
this;
and of course...
making me and my Beloved some of my
Ol� Pozol�!!!!
i got another thang to tell y'all...
a couple of
go(o)d heapin'
helping
healing
servings of my Pozol�???
sheeiiiiiit,
i
don't
care
what kinda crap you think is bummin' you from your
HIGHEST LIGHT WITHIN...
my
Pozol�?!?!
hec....
you'll be halfway to Enlightenment
before
you
realize
just
how
Attached
you've
become
to
your
favorite
ol'
coach's
crazy
Pozol�!!!!
OL�!!!!!!!
lemme know how you like it!
Ananda and i are working on a new (FINALLY!) WF MEALTIME COOKBOOK!!!
OL�!!!!!!!
enjoy, compliments of your...
snow intoxicated 'Big Cheese' from the Tiny Temple beneath the Sacred Peak,
el coache
***********
WF MealTimes
Ol� Pozol�! de los el Coach�!
stylized by Coach Ilg since 1990
Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner!
Appetizer or Main Course!
Hec, why not just
keep a pot of this on your stove and stop by every half hour
for a nice spoonful of CHI!!!
A pranically packed powerhouse of southwest CHI, baby! If you enjoy pathways of Fire and Light, Steep and Direct, Healing and Healthy (hey, i know you do!) then
get dialed into my favorite apr� ski mealtime; Ol� Pozol�!!! Inspired by the incomparable pozole at my favorite downtown Flag breakfast hang; Martannes!
Go to the Farmers Market and appreciatively hunt and gather the following ingredients:
� White Hominy - 3 cups, drained
� Red Chile Sauce (enchilada) - 3 oz
� Green Chile Sauce (enchilada) - 4 oz
� 1/2 Head of Chopped Cabbage
� 3/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
� 2 Lemons, juiced
� 1/2 Onion, chopped
� water
� sea salt to taste
� Oregano, 2 pinches
� New Mexico Green Chile (hot) powder, 1 tsp (if you dare)
� New Mexico Red Chile (hot) powder, 1 tsp
***
1) into a soup pot, place the Hominy and enough water to make it soupy
2) bring to a boil, reduce to an aggressive simmer.
3) add both of the Chile Sauces, the Cabbage, and enough water to keep it soupy.
4) return to a boil, then a moderate simmer for 15 minutes. keep covered.
5) add the remaining ingredients, cover, and simmer for another 15 minutes
6) turn off heat, and may Saint Francisco bless you as you enjoy the CHI!!!!!!!
my mouth is watering just writing this down!
buenos nochas mi hermanos y hermanas de la Espiritu!!!!!!!!
amor,
el coache
(with belly distended with just the APPROPRIATE AMOUNT of Ol� Pozol� for tomorrow's ski session!)
March 20, 2006
Q&A: Believe Me About CT...
"one reason why i created the "hold n' hover" techniques in HP Yoga� - such as those inherent to my uniquely brutally yet bountiful for you "HP Prop Workout�"is due precisely to the need to internally support posture without collapsing upon the CT/skeleton. HP Yoga� is a very organ-ic approach to suppleness and strength and energetic development; it focuses on strengthening the organs so the inner strengthens the outer. if this is not followed, then you just create laxity within joint capsules that will turn you into a specimen of fragile specificity instead of a yogic warrior whose skills can be applied to all disciplines, all sports, all actions..." - coach ilg. photo by; waynewilliamsstudio.com
***
Ilgbro,
Any input on this guy's question? I don't think fascia is something that can be strengthened like muscle--more of an elastic capsule. Yes it can "grow" with muscle hypertrophy no matter what the training methodology applied i.e. body weight exercise, heavy weights, etc.--but not really the same kind of growth for the same reasons. Not sure how to answer this one--you're more on top of this than me...I would like to learn your opinions.
Bowed,
rj
Here is his question:
*
Hello,
I had a few questions concerning fascia in strength. First, can high rep calisthenics (100-500 for example) help increase the strength/growth of one's fascia? What about isometrics? Is it true that those with developed fascia are super strong, even more so than weight lifters? Thanks very much for your time!
-Devin
*
COACH RESPONDS TO RJ
Noble RJ,
i'll do something more formal as a DL later, however, for now
the short answer here is that FCT (fascia connective tissue) does not undergo hypertrophic adaptation
like skeletal muscle. FCT does not have significant neural, vascular, or nadic pathways to do so. at best,
fascia undergoes an elastic/plastic degree of change relative to the musculature and/or structural
adaptations of which it surrounds...which is precisely why asana and stretching
must be artfully, if not scientifically, applied while maintaining a high Priority on an individual's
sense of kinesthesia. This is why one-on-one training with a Teacher is so important. there are
a whole lot of CT injuries out there caused by avidya (ignorance).
one reason why i created the "hold n' hover" techniques in HP Yoga� is due precisely to the need
to internally support a posture without collapsing upon the CT/skeleton. HP Yoga� is an organ-ic
approach to suppleness and strength; it focuses on strengthening the organs so the inner strengthens
the outer.
i will envision that this helps you and your student until i can write more on this.
head bowed,
coach ilg
Noble SnowBud...
Noble Snowbud,
How deeply you coach..
skiing open heart (5)
spirit shift within my Self (7)
these legs so well trained (5)
i bow,
and order the Winter Athlete!
love,
k in Big Bear
Of Flickering Light and Valuable Paths... Warrior Andrew Speaks
Dearest Coach,
Head bowed "as deep as my Tensor Fascia Femoris allows me" in response to today's DL. Although i was saddened by the current reality that you and Ron Jones pointed out, i chose instead to redirect my energy to the continual pursuit of Change and Awakening for all sentient beings. i am now fuelled to the brim with Chi and inspiration, and am going out to share my positivity with my fellow Torontonians.
Your Path is so valuable to us all, and i feel so blessed to have stumbled upon. i just wish more people would!! i got talking to someone about WF after a yoga class the other day and i could see sparks of imagination and interest flickering behind their eyes...
With Love and Light,
Herbal Warrior andrew
--
"On the Path of Wisdom, there is no such thing as sin."
-Steve Ilg
March 19, 2006
Cycling and Sacrum Swaying
One of the many sometimes beautiful, sometimes not so beautiful things about being a cycling coach is that it is part of my job to ride behind (pun?) people's butts. Here, is Ananda's butt. Take a close look it at. Good. Now, read Teacher Ananda's facilitation with a new Student below and remember this shot; see how Ananda's pelvic girdle is horizontal even on this side traverse during mountain bking? this technique of keeping the pelvic girdle horizontal is one of the first things i work with in training cyclists both on the bike and in HP Yoga� sessions! opening up the hips and gaining real estate in your lower back through yoga is key to improved enjoyment and performance on the bike. Remember; the sacrum nor the hips should not sway! 
Ananda's butt from a side view gives credence to the pelvic horizontality notion; see how her spine elegantly sweeps immediately up and out from her pelvis? see how flat her spine becomes right out of the hips? IDEAL! this 'flat back arising from a horizontal pelvis' reduces lower back pain while cycling, reduces the compression of soft tissue (genitalia), and...for those of us into sport performance; it frees the energy of the tremendously powerful 'hip chain musculature.'
let's listen in to an excerpt of Teacher Ananda coaching one of her Online Students after first checking in with me. She does a fantastic job and i TAF'd many DL Readers would benefit.
head bowed from the Tiny yet Mighty Temple beneath the Sacred (and still SNOWING!) Peak...
coach ilg
ps; i am schedule to do one of the nation's most difficult 3-day cycling Stage Races in about four weeks...yet, the snows have kept me off my bike and on my skis! yikes! God, i love the "problems" in my life!
***
Ananda used my 'KPGH Teaching' ("Keep Pelvic Girdle Horizontal" ) to help her win her age group in the Gaspin' In The Aspen Mountain Duathlon and 2nd Woman Overall. Just don't ask me what the fuck is up with normally BEAUTIFULLY POSTURED Ananda's posture...and whassup with the wrinkly pants? Must be fatigue?!
STUDENT:
Cycling question - while riding outside, I had the realization that my lower body moves side-to-side a lot. The movement is very slight, not huge churns to each side. Is this something I should work on to become more still while in the saddle?
TEACHER ANANDA:
Great observation and wonderful question. This is an example of Svadhyaya (which you know from reviewing page 80 of TOTAL BODY TRANSFORMATION).
Yes, as you sit in your saddle (bike seat) you do not want any movement in the lower and upper body.
Your sacrum should be floating in the center, free of movement. The legs spinning like the wheels of a car on either
side of your "Universal Joint Housing." In other words, only the legs are spinning. Everything else is steady and stable.
You should be able to balance a cup of Calli on your sacrum; that's how horizontal it should remain. If one side tips,
the Calli spills...
Your thoracic spine in a slight dog tilt, chest open, shoulders down and relaxed. Jaw and face muscles soft and relaxed.
Make sure you toes are pointing directly forward under your knees and hips. Neutral alignment!
Coach and i highly suggest you take your bike (do you have a name for your bike yet?) to a local
cycling shop that works with professional cyclists, and have them professionally fit your bike to you.
A good time to get a tune up, as well.
H(om)ework assignment:
Let me know if this makes sense to you and once you have had your bike fitted.
i also want to know the name of your bike (read page 278 of TOTAL BODY TRANSFORMATION).
Student Dansan: 'Bout Ready To Exchange A City For A Taos Sunset...
dear coache',
�
a moment?
�
thank-you for the info....
is it true there is a ban
on snowboarding
at taos ski areas?
COACH:
yes, thank god.
Taos is purely devoted to two boards...
Taos is, in my opinion, the absolute KING of tele skiing mountains...Telluride, a very close second.
i can't even make it a third down Taos's best stuff (Highline, West Basin Ridges, etc)
without my heart rate flirting with 200 bpms+
this feeble mountain yogi has to stop in between the Taos moguls the size of the Taos Pueblo itself
just to catch my breath and recup some more Fast Twitch muscle fibers to continue...
no shaved off bumps here cuz of the knuckledraggers
(i love snowboarding, by the way...i'm going tomorrow!)
STUDENT DANSAN:
probably wondering ..what would
cause ol' dansan...to do this..
let alone contemplate it...
well,
after 3 years of hard work
of medical sales
for my distributor company is well...
anyway i'm looking toward New Mexico
as some snow�falls on sacred peaks...
check out attached photos
around silicon valley..
the snow level went below 200'
...first time in 40yrs
that san jose had snow fall
and stayed on the ground...
we be getting ready for the move!
love
student dansan
COACH:
follow the Pran, baby...
follow the Pran...
love,
el coache
NOTES:
http://www.skitaos.org/
* Coach is a former Gold Medal Champion of the Taos Mountain Ski Stampede
March 18, 2006
Another WF Tribal Elder ReDiscovered! Coach and RJ GO OFF!!!!
WF Tribal Warrior Ron Jones writes in today;
"Ilgbro-
click the enlargement of the item and read the chi of this former Physical Culturist...where have they gone?
We but two feeble enduros left today.
This used to be a god damned national culture and movement man! What chi these mofos had man...i bow!
- rj"
COACH RESPONDS:
Where have they all gone?
into Kali Yuga, baby!
somehow, we are now left with vestigial remnants of body/mind Masters...
the closest thing we have these crazy days are coffee-addicted Pilates� teachers that are still pissed that they couldn't make it as a pro Ballet dancer...then we have the eating-disOrdered tribe of Cirque du Soleil� performers followed by the immense Clan of Yoga stars who disdain any other physiologic discipline that requires them to step off their cherished sticky mat, then of course, we can always enjoy the Body/Mind Experts and 'Spiritual Teachers' that intellectually purge and puke their inflated Avidya within glossy magazines and tv shows without any experience in deep fiber CHI or ultradistance sweat! (the initials Ph.D now seem to stand for the ability to "Purge with Honorable Discharge"!)
Bro, i don't know what happened along the Way to Here. You'd think in a Nation dying from overeating, underexercising, drug and comfort addiction, and mental dis-ease, Path's like yours and mine would be in the highest of National Demand! yet alas, here in my tiny Temple beneath the Sacred Peak, a day by day struggle is hard fought to keep the Ancient Light flickering...let alone, ROARING with the might of yesteryear! May Buddha Light continue to shine upon our humble and faithful Sangha until the Outer World Awakens to the Divine treasure within their self-animated sweat and stillness.
Where have the Dharma Protectors gone?
Why don't the Monks squat?
Why don't the Bodybuilders sit still?
Why don't the "Yoga Masters" of today run up and down Sacred Mountains any longer? (1)
Why don't certified "Chi Runners�" have mandatory experiential training in Ancient Chi development? (2)
I don't know why.
Somewhere along the Way, our amazing Species of Spiritual Athletes of thousands of years ago fell prey to the Addiction of Entertainment instead of InnerAttainment. An entropic de-evolution of our versatility grew like cancer within our spiritual bodies and specificity became more popular and more profitable than was a human's capacity for versatility and adaptation.
Though a lonely stance it is, sign me up with the Way of the Versatile...the Way of Wholeness and Balance.
Feeble ilg bows as deep as my Tensor Fascia Femoris (currently tight as a piano key cable from skate skiing) allows me
to Lionel Strongfort...his Fort was Strong!
Lion-el did live his life like a LION!
ROAR!!!!!!!!!!
i bow to Lionel and re-dedicate my Practice and coaching efforts today to upholding the wholistic values and principles of which he spoke and sang through his sweat and dharma!
Lionel's Light today burns BRIGHT in this mountain yogi's Temple!!!!!
Wholistic Fitness�; all-Ways actively honoring the strong shoulders of both Eastern/Western Masters upon whose MultiDisciplined Approach to Body/Mind/Spirit training and appreciation we now stand.
"Why just workout, when you can work WITHIN?"
- Coach Ilg, 1983
RJ...
Thank you...
(DO NOT REPUBLISH THIS PROFESSIONAL PHOTO)
i'm off to do an "Iron Temple" workout as a pre-fatigue directly into a Skate Ski workout. i vow to cultivate artistry within intensity today because of your Devoted Practice and Respect of our Forefathers and Foremothers of Functional Fitness across the Physiologic Spectrum!
OM SO TI
coach ilg/creator of Wholistic Fitness�
***
Photo of Coach doing something peculiar by famed photographer Dorit Thies. coach is wearing a ZenBead� necklace personally designed and created for him by Ron Jones.
www.doritthies.com
ronjones.org
***
*** FOOTNOTES:
1; answer; 'because running ruins yoga practice!' quoted from one of today's leading and foremost Yoga Masters of a "Divine Grace" style. I guess the "Divine Grace" somehow flows around running as yoga?
2; answer; it would take FAR too long to certify such a Balanced Being in both endurance/concussion capacities and strength/suppleness/chi energywork capacities. such a long time spent with each aspiring Teacher would kill Profit Margins!
*** SOME FUN FACTS:
Average Length of Study to earn a ExpertRating Yoga Certification�:
one week
Average Length of Study to earn a Chi Running� Certification:
a couple of weeks
Average Length of Study to earn a Cross-Fit� (Forging Elite Fitness) Certification:
three days (note; the creator of this Elite Fitness style no longer practices nor teaches his own style; he is too injured).
Average length of Study for my Certified WF Teachers (only Five of us are on the planet):
eight years.
do the math
feel the Chi
join WF Online Training� before another day passes without being focused and using every Daily Moment toward ENLIGHTENMENT!
March 16, 2006
Of Aspens, Being Gleefully Lost, and...The Appropriate Way To Shift A Car...
Part I of yesterday's duathlon workout; sport snowshoeing into skate skiing. i volunteer at the Flagstaff Nordic Center as a sort of impromptu Director of Sport Snowshoeing; part of my 'non-job' is to go out and track out the various snowshoe trails so that the beautiful, tanned people from Phoenix don't get forever lost in the Hockderrfer Hills. Now, some of these snowshoe trails were established in like the fifties and thus, trying to follow their archaic yet still so seductive scent, can get a tad confusing. Above photo reveals a typical moment on my 'job'; heart rate soaring, i've lost track of the trail markers,can't make sense of the trail map, and i am certain that i just saw a Big Foot in a nearby rock outcropping that would like to ingest my 148lbs as a lunchtime morsel...just goes to prove my ol' mountaineering saying; "The map is not the territory."
In a world of hurt, near the yurt. This yurt, part of the Flagstaff Nordic Center
http://www.flagstaffnordiccenter.com/
is open for overnight ski-in, ski-out lodging...in fact, Ananda and i are thinking of holding a limited Mountain Yogi Campfest here this summer...in the background right stands the stratovolcano; Mt. Kendrick...another fantastic place to hike and ski and run and bike...when the volcano exploded, it hurled its lava out of this east facing slope for dozens of miles. 
why i nordic ski.
even after all these years, i become "irrationally giddy" as my friend, 2-time Nordic Olympic and pro Mountain Biker Carl Swenson puts it, whenever i am immersed in snow. it's just a magical, mystical, and tremendously empowering element for me...this thing called, snow. must be the richly concentrated negative ions or something. i can't even believe it (snow) happens! it's great! for this simple mountain yogi, gliding through aspen/ponderosa woods like some sort of land-bound bird is, to me, heaven on earth. with each push of ski, with every stride of snowshoe during my winter workouts, i am...undoubtedly...in nirvana. linking breath with movement across this white landscape is, to me, a yoga of the most Blessed Sort.
and to think there are Human Beings, that, "don't like the cold."
whatever.
***
the following is an actual exchange between myself and a beautiful Warrioress, KC - and her partner Yogi Dr. Bob - who both attend - most consistently - my Wednesday evening HIGH PERFORMANCE YOGA� classes here in Flag. i know i am pushing the Upward Tilted Buttons in my Students when they start Sensing spiritual metaphors to the most Mechanical of 'things'...
to both Yogini KC and Yogi Dr. Bob...i bow as deep as my lousy Padmasana allows me this morning (oh yeah baby, i'm feeling yesterday's effort in my legs, lungs, and arms!).
May someone, somewhere Benefit from this entry.
i think it's time to hit the Alpine Hill for some tele skiing! i will kiss the summit clouds for each of you...
OM SO TI,
coach ilg
***
STUDENT KC:
Namaste,
Thank you for another wonderful class...
COACH ILG:
head bowed...i so appreciate and respect your Abhyasa (constancy of Practice).
trust me, i learn and benefit greatly from Teaching you...
Gandhi called it, "selfish altruism."
STUDENT KC:
I laughed when you suggest I was experiencing a "shift", but maybe you were on to something.
Today I got word from "my" mechanic that it is time to say good-bye to my '89 Toyota, a faithful "pony" for 15+ years.
COACH ILG:
head bowed to your faithful "Pony"...such Mechanical Beings are hard to come by...you are Blessed. your Pony's spirit will now be returned, courtesy of Shiva (Lord of Destruction) to the UniVerse, whereupon...i am sure, that Brahman (Lord of Creation) will make sure another Yogin like you somewhere will benefit from your appreciation of your Pony. this is called Lila; the Play of the UniVerse.
STUDENT KC:
I felt so sad, but Bob made the analogy of the my car symbolizing the body - time for an upgrade. A shift perhaps...
- Karen C.
COACH ILG:
inDeed.
now...
it is time for you to go in search of another perhaps...
namaste to It All,
coach ilg
A RISING TIDE...
Hi Coach,
Today I received my order, and I wanted to personally thank you for making and sending it to me. I cannot wait until I get home from work to try this out. I also want to thank you for setting the example of how a human being should, and can, be. You are an inspiration to your fellow man, and as the old saying goes, "A rising tide lifts all ships", you make all of us want to be better people. You are a person of great character, and I am most fortunate to have made your aquaintance.
Namaste,
Your humble student,
William Maruszczak
DL IS FOR THE BIRDS!
my beloved Chestnut-backed Juncos - a clinal variation of the more common Dark-eyed Juncos - have been with me my whole life in these southwest mountains.
Namaste Noble Fitness Warriors!
Yesterday, while nordic skiing at 8,600', i came upon a flock of 25+ Wild Turkeys in the snow covered aspen/pondersosa fields. It was an amazing chi moment; rare and treasured! What percentage of American's have been Blessed enough to enter such a Glorious GodGift of a moment!? Now, that GodGift is endlessly etched within my cells. Such images, when recollected with Conscious Appreciation, are ones which will raise my Vibration during my dying moments. I will enter the Bardo with a smile long and weathered from my many chi moments within high mountains and red rock deserts. It is such Wild Turkey Moments While Skiing that are the supreme benefits of remaining fit - not so much how many trophies you might win or how many calories you burn. Somehow, i must get this notion into Mainstream Americans...inspire their willingness to do whatever it takes to sweat within Mother Nature's unconditional hug. Above (click on photo to enlarge), the Junco's darling and hallmark popping about on top of freshly fallen snow outside the WF Temple H(om)e belies the truth of the matter; these Feathered Beings are starving and desperate for calories after surviving another night-time blizzard. I have spent enough Canadian winter mountaineering nights to feel deeply for any Living Being that lives naked and alone through long, cold winters. Flagstaff is expected to receive another 13-18" of snow again this weekend. So much for my "spring campaign" of road bike training!
Yesterday, my recent DL paragraph, included as a mere footnote, touched several of you...
My ultra-distance racing teammate and World Record Holder, Ron Jones (on my immediate left pictured above, then Keith Kostman and Roy Wallack...photo by LA Times), a DL Fanatic is one of my readers that has learned to sense the Metaphorical Space between and within my DL Meditations. RJ, whose contributions to DL have always elicited great input, writes below:
"bro,
Ilg wrote: "Non Practitioners only feed birds when it is convenient for
them to do so, ignorant that they have conditioned the beautiful birds
to become dependent on their feeder as a Food Source. Snow/cold comes,
and the Non-Practitioners - addicted to comfort - stay huddled in their
warm homes while their Feeder is empty causing hysteria and suffering
among the Bird Beings that they supposedly 'love' so much! here i am
getting Bird Chow to my beloved Bird Beings...yogis must often care for
many other Beings due to the ignorance of Non-Pracitioners."
Stunning DL Bro...it resonates with truth man with the sharpness of a
warrior's sword. How true. How clean is truth man-the cut is direct
without deviance. This "bird" talk has sooo many applications man to
those addicted to comfort mofos that abound...thanks...I bow.
rj"
RJ's new DVD, expected to be released this April, is a fantastic Active Warm Up; applicable to everyone. I saw RJ move through this warm up before we won Furnace Creek 508...you will LOVE it! stay tuned to DL for its official release!
Oh,
and i just created a new WF Warrior Product that each of you will be sure to appreciate and enjoy over and over again! Stay tuned to DL; The Dharma Vehicle of the one and the absolute only;
Wholistic Fitness�; America's Native MultiDisciplined Path of Yoga�
OM SO TI,
coach ilg
March 15, 2006
STUDENT INPUT: GP's, REAL NEWS, SOUL VIBRATION, and...Helping the Bird Beings!
Flag's recent SnowBlessing created all sorts of unique multi-yoga opportunities...here i take fast advantage of some fantastic ice as i attempt a very sketchy first ascent of; "Two Tree Manor Falls" which i tentatively graded WI IV, A3, 5.121b
***
RE: DL 3/13 - "There is no such thing as sin, only ignorance"
Most Intensely Insightful Coach,
Just read DL.
Blow me fucking away. I wish I could hug you right now...I am brother I am.
You are so deeply and wisely speaking right to me man, right to me. You don't even know...or you do.
I am just home today from 8 days of traveling.
My journey was an inward and outward wake-up and your DL is hitting me intensely where my soul vibrates right now.
"There is no such thing as sin, only ignorance"
Head Bowed,
Student J
*
First impressions: interesting how the exact thing that I need in this instant is on DL, interesting how as a tribe we move through similar terrain and empathy, yep I feel for my Tribal Sister because I understand her frustration and feelings of failure.
Student Sasso
*
Bro,
Your DL�s always are rich with wisdom, insight, and classic mountain yogi humor. You KNOW that it in my view it is the number one source for real �news�..and there are very few sources in the first place.
lots of love,
haku
***
STUDENT L; ATTEMPTS TO RACE WITHOUT RUN TRAINING;
Coach;
I elected to get my high intensity Cardio on Sunday by running a 15K race in Central Park to benefit colon cancer research. My mantra for the race was from the pre-event meditation you sent me last fall: "listen to your breath and it will teach you what you need to learn". What I learned when I hit an uphill at mile 9 was that my legs were shot!
They completely went dead, I am sure in part because of the demonic "taper" program you had me doing in the days leading up to the race. I TAF that the training in this cycle is geared to bring strength and tenacity in just these moments. On Sunday, I couldn't find that gear. The closest I came was remembering a passage from your Tour de Gila chronicles, something like "I knew then that I would finish, because if nothing else I could walk my bike the rest of the way". I knew I would endure, I knew I would make the finish, I knew I would live to fight another day.
- Student L
COACH RESPONDS:
WF = Steep, Direct, and often; humiliating. May God grant us the capacity to Dance in all the physiologic realms,
and if i am unable to Dance them all, then
at least
allow me to be brave in the effort...
well done, Noble Warrior; you got a superb Training Effect for Bardo Threshold...
i bow,
coach
***
Dear Coach Ilg,
I forgot to thank you for GP Squats. I have been doing them for years since I read your book, The Outdoor Athlete. I use them as one of the warm-up techniques for my current Namaste program.
Head Deeply Bowed in Appreciation,
Harry
***
Most Cherished Teacher Ananda, Beautiful Joy,
I am just finishing up my last week of the adjusted Cosmic Yang� Cycle and it felt AA to give you an update about now.
I was reflecting earlier in the week; it is in-teresting how the things/exercises/asana you find the most challenging, the ones you just don�t want to face some days, are the ones that teach you the most lessons and bring you the most power. This has been my experience with the knee tuck jumps this cycle. I trained them hard and soft and came out with a new sense of Self and inner strength � as is the way with this amazing work.
I have also been running a little more, an exercise that used to trouble my knees. Thanks to all this cross training, sorry �wholistic� training and muscle integrity building this no longer seems to be an issue.
My practice has dialed in to staying calm and steady amidst the movement and choices, Santosha. Not allowing myself to get carried away with any feelings at either end of the spectrum, just sitting, balanced in the centre. My centre. And continuing to empty my cup daily and remain true to the teachings.
Also, I find that I am being much more accepting of who and where I am than I was in the early WF days.
SUNRIDER is steady. I am working on some things for my site to spread the herbs.
As a side note � High Performance Yoga� kicks arse! (as we already know) LOL when is the mighty Ilg going to have another teacher training � ?
I trust you are well and send you lost of Love and Light from across the oceans. Your image and corresponding words on todays DL brought tears to my eyes.
In Faith and Stillness,
kristi xo
DIRECT LINES; The Complimentary Dharma Vehicle of WF, HP Yoga, and SUNRIDER Herbs...since before the internet was invented...Enjoy the fresh CHI HITS each day and may your Practice benefit from the sweat and stillness of our amazing, worldwide Tribe of America's Native MultiDisciplined Yoga; Wholistic Fitness�!!!
off to the Nordic Center to sweat and send some Tribal Love and Light to each and every one of YOU!
thanks for choosing to Be Here Now...
coach ilg
the Big Cheese at the Tiny Mountain Temple
*i identified four species of birds that were forced to come to my Feeding Station during our recent winterDance from Father Sky. These Bird Beings were beside their feathered selves with hunger during the storm...it pisses me off; Non Practitioners only feed birds when it is convenient for them to do so, ignorant that they have conditioned the beautiful birds to become dependent on their feeder as a Food Source. Snow/cold comes, and the Non-Practitioners - addicted to comfort - stay huddled in their warm homes while their Feeder is empty causing hysteria and suffering among the Bird Beings that they supposedly 'love' so much! here i am getting Bird Chow to my beloved Bird Beings...yogis must often care for many other Beings due to the ignorance of Non-Pracitioners. This is a fact of living and dying in Kali Yuga. Speak and help those Beings that cannot Speak or need our help.
March 14, 2006
WHEN AGING SPORT SPECIFIC BROS STARE INTO THE EYE OF SPECIFICITY
The nature of everything is illusory and ephemeral,
Those with dualistic perception regard suffering as happiness,
Like they who lick the honey from a razor�s edge.
How pitiful are they who cling strongly to concrete reality:
Turn your attention within, my heart friends.
NYOSHUL KHEN RINPOCHE
March 13, 2006
No Such Thing As Sin;" Just Begin, Again and Again and Endlessly Again�"
"Mountain does not worry..." in the attempt to integrate a spiritual, inner-directed Path many of us Westerners encounter great difficulty in realizing that our perfectionism is of no help - and in fact hinders -
the Upward Ascent of our Awakening. below, i use my Taoist Teacher's wisdom to help a student find some footholds along this Steep Pitch of her WF Online Studies...
May the following discourse be of benefit to your own Practice,
head bowed,
coach ilg
above photo; the Sacred Peak, now a fully amp'd 12,600'+ Snow Crystal, radiates Her powerful Pran as i leave for a nordic skiing workout this morning.
***
STUDENT QUESTION:
I did not do any of my prescribed Strength Training workouts and I just cannot become consistent on my Early Morning Rituals. Meditation seems Light Years away from my chattering mind. I hate the thought of meditating alone. Didn�t do it once. Not particularly proud of it. I feel like i am a disappointment to you, to the more Noble WF Online Students in DL, worse I feel like I am a disappointment to myself. What can I do?
COACH:
Most Noble Shishya,
listen closely, this is important. Every Aspirant down through the ages has reached your cusp of Self Disappointment. Lord Buddha knows i sure have! Every great student has had to navigate the emotional terrain upon which you now tread. Without encountering this terrain, you will never be a wise source of Helpfulness - sincere helpfulness - to anyone.
including yourself.
Re-Joice! This Terrain, though a Steep Pitch, is a Blessing!
in the years ahead, as we attempt to advance your Practice into your "HouseHolder" lifestyle,
lack of Abhyasa will occur.� relax. as my Teacher, Sensei Kishiyama would say;
"Mountain does not worry...
River does not worry...
Tree does not worry...
Clouds do no worrying..."
Noble One,
you are not a renouncer.
you have a husband.
you have children.
you have a house.
you have a professional career.
you have longings for Security in your 'old age.'
yes, you and i are attempting to
balance your Inner and Outer Worlds, however,� seeming "mistakes" and lack of Abhyasa will occur...
thus, you will have to develop the ability to make those mistakes WITHOUT condemning yourself.
that is the important part; make mistakes without condemning yourself, okay?
in the Medicine Wheel, there is circular nature for go(o)d reason; the Way of our EarthWalk requires many forms of life, death, and rebirth. just witness your Mind in meditation to authenticate this. Just watch the way snow melts, flowers bloom, birds sing, grass withers. Listen! Relax your perfectionistic grasping and instead focus on your Sankalpa.
As Swami Rama teaches, 'Determine that no matter what happens, no matter how man times you stumble,
it does not matter.� If you have not crawled, you cannot walk; if you have not stumbled, you cannot stand.
In the process of unfoldment you have to crawl, and without crawling you will have psychological problems.
Do not create a complex in your heart and mind by thinking that you are nothing.� Don't start condemning yourself,
and suffering.� Stumbling and committing mistakes are not sins.� �On the path of wisdom there is no such
thing as sin."
why do you TAF i created the saying,
"Just begin,�
again and again,
and endlessly again...."
as a WF Maxim?�
why do you TAF i created the quote,
"In any given moment there are only two questions;
'Am i grasping or am i concentrating?'"
do you TAF i created such Maxims because i never make mistakes?
HA!!!
my Lack of Awareness astounds me every few minutes!
after decades of Practice however, i have learned an adept's Trick when i realize yet another moment of my own ignorance;
smile! �
you are a fine, student.
always have been.
my Coaching counsel?
SMILE!
you are on par for Enlightenment...let's just keep going.
fierce love by your side along the Upwardly Inclined Way,
coach ilg
PHOTOS:
#2; Agassiz Peak, my 'mountain yogi's yoga mat' this morning. by coach
#3; Taos River. Taos Pueblo, NM. by coach
#4; Arizona Sycamore. Montezuma's Well, AZ. by coach
#5; cloudscape over Sandia Peak, NM. by coach
#6; WF Temple H(om)e Medicine Wheel, yesterday. by coach
March 11, 2006
A FIRESIDE CHAT WITH COACH ON "INSPIRATION"
The Power of Knowing cannot be detached from sweat and stillness. Period.
This is a shot of "Red Fox Deck" tonight at the Temple H(om)e of WF.
Much of my DL 'inspiration' comes from 'inspiring' (breathing inward) the tremendous Pran that permeates nights like this one beneath the Sacred Peak.
Yet,
being INSPIRED to write to you each day, take photos like these today...
that INSPIRATION
is
only often less than Half of the End Service that i provide...
the other majority
boils down to my Love for you,
my undying wish to Serve you on behalf of Brahman...
my longing to ease the ache of the suffering of our North American Tribe who are fat, unfit, and unWilling to
experience that most deepest and truest Sense of Self; honoring the abode of the body/mind vehicle...
and training wisely and intensely for each of our inevitable Bardo Entry.
my Willingness to sweat each day
to sit each day...
in order to stay empty enough to Receive Higher Teachings,
and then...to stop my workout,
take out my camera with frozen hands,
or, interrupt my own Meditation to jog down a Brahmanic Whisper
that i TAF might be of singular benefit to just ONE of you...
that, my Friends Along The Path of Awakening,
is the Real coach ilg...
for doing just that type of Appropriate Warrior Action
each day
for a quarter century
is my Standard for what a Coach does.
okay, so
i lose thousands of dollars each month
Serving for free;
yet i tell you;
it is not Free...
it is Karma Yoga; it is my Union Through Selfless Service...
Like icicles that drip from a snow laden roof,
our beautiful expressions of what we choose to express each day
is but a tiny pinpoint of our potentiality.
You and i are all fragments of the Same Divine Source...
yet we cling only to that shard of Self that we think 'might just make it' in the "Real World."
we shut down the rest.
content to let the Enormity of our Potential to just...
melt
under the Fire of the Outer World heat and stress.
our Inner Light, our Sushumna, our Kundalini
lies submerged beneath our layers of ego...those clever little thin skins of sloth,
smooth talk,
drugs,
addiction to busyness,
addiction to entertainment,
giving into the resistance within us that does not like to sweat,
giving into the resistance within us that does not like to wake up early and sit still...
how LONG will you suffocate your Divine Light!?
how many LIFETIMES are you content to SLEEP WALK through?
one thousand, perhaps?
ten thousand, maybe more?
why is it that i try so hard for you,
today,
last week,
last year,
last decade
to IGNITE YOUR AWAKENING!?
***
oh, trust me, i get it all the time;
"Coach! Wow, i just listened to (insert name of fancy TV Speaker/Yogi Star(lett)/"Doctor"/Fitness Expert here)
and he (or she)
is SOOOOOO INSPIRING...they reminded me of YOU!"
Let me make something as Clear as today's sweeping snow across my face during my cross country ski..
Here
is
my
INSPIRATION:
i have heard all the famous, rich, fancy dressed Speakers of whom you speak...
i know all about how many Certified "Teachers" they have and how many people
whose "life they have changed...."
Bravo!
yet,
i still am only allowed to Teach that which i know by Direct Experience...
and
thus i say unto you...
Oh Noble Ones On The Path of Awakening...
inspiring others is easy; all you need is rehearsal (and a good PR/marketing/script writer doesn't hurt).
yet,
i do not teach Inspiration
for i know that being inspired (taking an InBreath) is only - at best - halfway.
i do not Teach Halfway...
i Teach ALL THE WAY;
the WHOLE WAY
the
WHOLISTIC FITNESS� WAY...
and i know that Inspiration requires three other parts:
a pause at the top the Inspiration (antara kumbhaka)
an exhalation (releasing that which has been inspired),
and a pause at the end of the exhalation (puraka kumbaka).
that is why i have turned down several pivotal lucrative TV/PAID SPEAKING/INFOMERCIAL offers throughout my life...
because i KNEW i could INSPIRE people,
yet,
i have my hands absolutely full with just a handful of Students willing to take deep study - WHOLE STUDY - under me...
how could i POSSIBLY SERVE
HONESTLY,
AUTHENTICALLY,
ONE BY ONE
each of the millions of people that i could easily INSPIRE?
go ahead and pay the big bucks; buy the 8-DVD SERIES of some INSPIRING TEACHER...
go for it...
yet
it will fall short...
unless that Teacher is willing to Teach you
one
on
one:
Teacher/Student
Master/Disciple
Guru/Aspiriant
that is the Way
the only Way
rung through the eons
that genuine Transmission
has been achieved.
Essentially,
the Sweat and Stillness
must be done by you.
The rest is just more GUNK
layered like fast falling snow
upon your already accumulated MASS
of
intellect,
trivia,
ego,
opinions,
judgments,
and
belief structures.
my humble Teaching to you today?
Make sure your Spirit that has been Tickled
is aligned with
and guarded by
your
gut deep Sweat
and
Stillness
It's easy to be inspired,
it's a lot harder
WORLD CLASS HARDER
to
act upon that inspiration
with Fitness of Body
across the physiologic realms (wholeness)
and
to Engage the Practice of Lifestyle Equanimity (balance).
just pace yourself; regardless of how high gloss comes the Inspiration:
"There are none so righteous as the newly converted."
that is all,
i trust your Practice upon your own Will...
i love you
it shows
and
you
show me
and that is what makes our WF Tribe
so
utterly
AMAZING
in Kali Yuga...
namaste Noble Ones,
coach ilg
text and photos by coach ilg
Compassion is the best protection
Compassion is the best protection; it is also, as the great masters of the past have always known, the source of all healing. Suppose you have a disease such as cancer or AIDS. By taking on the sickness of those suffering like you, in addition to your own pain, with a mind full of compassion, you will�beyond any doubt�purify the past negative karma that is the cause, now and in the future, of the continuation of your suffering.
In Tibet there have been many extraordinary cases of people who, when they heard they were dying of a terminal illness, gave away everything they had and went to the cemetery to die. There they practiced taking on the suffering of others; and what is amazing is that instead of dying, they returned home, fully healed.
- Sogyal Rinpoche
March 10, 2006
APPROPRIATE VIEWING; For Both Growing Ups and Children
The First Affirmation That I Am Having An Appropriate Warrior View:
After my EMR (Early Morning Ritual�, a Wholistic Fitness� Online Student Exclusive Practice), i have another; Snow Shoveling. The WF Yogi knows that the mantra, "So Ham" is vital to snyc up with breathing through shoveling snow. Working this mantra will alleviate any lower back compression (so long as you switch Dominant Sides, of course). Advanced Yogis substitute "Lam" - the sound of Muladhara Chakra - for "Ham" and thus in doing so, pranic catalytic conversions occur and the Snow Shoveling Yogi gets very high, very fast.
The Second Affirmation That I Am Having An Appropriate Warrior View:
The View in back of my "Pony", whose name is "Bala", contains certain mountain yogi weaponry: Sport Snowshoes and Skate Skis.
The Third Affirmation That I Am Having An Appropriate Warrior View:
The View in front of my "Pony" looks like this; snow, snow, and more snow. Snow so thick, that...after i passed 8,000' in elevation, it became impossible for me to see beyond the front hood.
And you thought i was just joking in yesterday's DL POSTCARD i sent you, eh? You should know by now, a quarter century of All Things Ilg; i do not lie.
The Fourth Affirmation That I Am Having An Appropriate Warrior View:
The Nordic Center let's me crank around on freshly groomed tracks...
while testing new pairs of skis! photo courtesy of Jen at Flagstaff Nordic Center. These specific skis were my favorites...watch DL for an upcoming reView of these great skis! The Flagstaff Nordic Center is GOING OFF!!!!! who the fuck needs a chairlift!?!??!?! only pussies need chairlifts! okay, they're okay to ride AFTER you've put in an APPROPRIATE amount of kilometers on your Nordic Skis and/or Atlas� Snowshoes, baby!!!!!!!
c'mon up to the Sacred, SNOWY Peak and let's glide through giant old growth ponderosa forests and sail through aspen studded prairies like angels in flight:
http://www.flagstaffnordiccenter.com/index.php
and finally...
The Fifth Affirmation That I Am Having An Appropriate Warrior View:
i get to take this:
{Joy "Ananda" Kilpatrick, shot by www.waynewilliamsstudio.com, body by Wholistic Fitness� and SUNRIDER� Herbs!}
and share with my Beloved,
Beloved Things That Have Fuelled My Spirit My Entire Life (Lives); Mountains...
http://www.flagstaffmountainfilms.com/
the Real Academy Awards are found in Mountain Film Festivals...these independent films are just PACKED with Sweat, Love, and CHI, CHI, CHI!!!!!!!!!!
May your View of today be Appropriate for your inner and outer Child!
go PLAY! 
The Winter That Wasn't Now Is!
New Student Tom Checks In While MOVING UPWARD!!!
Dear Teacher Ananda,
Cheers to your recent snowfall. Better late than never, eh? Enjoy.
Moving Up was huge. EMR (Early Morning Ritual�; an WF Online Exclusive Practice) has been great this week and i am now getting the hang of Toilet Yoga� Level II. It is nice to fully concentrate and this location really helps. The Twisting Agni Sara pulls perplexed me last week but i got it big time this week. And who doesn't love the Crapper Catcher? Can't wait to see how much space this helps create.
My sitting position the other day may have actually been Siddhasana. I will try to send a photo next week when the camera returns from a cruise. The Miracle of Mindfulness book arrived this week and i read a chapter each night.
Here are some stats from" Minutes are Forever" which i did tonight at home on a spin cycle. I did a 25 minute walk, hang from tree limbs, watch sunset, run hill warmup and then inside to the bike. A 10 minute warmup at 120 bpm then intervals. I was up to 160 bpm at the end of the minute, then slowed to 140 after each of the first 3 intervals. On the 4th and 5th intervals, i again went to 160 bpm but took 2 minutes rest between intervals and heart slowed to 130 bpm. I spun around 120 - 130 bpm for another 10 minutes to cool down. This was a highly controlled workout so i think it is a useful baseline. As i write this, my heart feels like it worked pretty hard today.
Onward and upward.
In stillness.
new student tom
***
Student Tom C began Online Studies with Teacher Ananda in January and lives in one of the coolest places back east:
Charlotte, NC...once a stronghold for sales of my first book, THE OUTDOOR ATHLETE.
March 09, 2006
WF: "A Better Way"
I'm 59, have just gotten off a year of prednisone due to what's referred to as an "autoimmune condition"; and have been looking for help, knowing there HAS to be "A Better Way" than just helplessly falling into a ruinous heap!! And YOUR website, and the wonderful information and SPIRIT and JOY it conveys, is IT!
I just bought your book; and can't WAIT to begin a New Life!!
Thanks again! You are truly a joy!
Janet I. - Fresno, CA
***
photo; coach in gomokasana by www.waynewilliamsstudio.com
of Spiritual Warriors, the "i" word, and the Ignoramus's Addicted To Sense Pleasures
in Yoga, the "i" such as in - i am great, i am ugly, i am rich, i am poor, i am injured, etc, et. al -
stands for "ignorance". until we break free from the over-identification of pleasing this "i" with entertainment and pursuit of pleasing this "i"...we remain locked in Ignorance and do stupid, selfish things...
{ignoramus's rippin' across fragile desert lands in pursuit of continually feeding sense pleasures into their egos.}
When we do the Inner Work however, and begin to See and Feel Differently...detached from this egoic construct of false self, we begin to Witness through our Awareness Practices, a deep, endless Friend; our Higher Self. This Higher Self is not wantom of constant feeding of Sense Pleasures...this Higher Self communciates to your lower mind (manas) as a friendly mind during meditation, as a powerul chi-filled spirit during fitness training and performances... 
{Roy Wallack, an ultradistance teammate of mine, communing with his Higher Self during a tremendous Warrior pull on his bicycle into hurricane force winds in the Mohave....get his book; BIKE FOR LIFE; you'll find some ilg dharma in there!}
To long to do what is hard to do...this is what separates the Spiritual Warrior from the Ignorant Fools that waste their one precious life...and waste Mother Earth's tremendously beautiful Sources (there is no such thing as 'natural resources'...there is only Mother Earth's Sources...yep, you heard here first again and again...WAKE UP!).
i close now this Spiritual Kick In The Ass with one final Gift to you this this morning for your Practice: a Sogyal Rinpoche teaching:
"In his very first teaching, Buddha explained that the root cause of suffering is ignorance. But where exactly is this ignorance? And how does it display itself? Let�s take an everyday example. Think about those people�we all know some�who are gifted with a remarkably powerful and sophisticated intelligence. Isn�t it puzzling how, instead of helping them, as you might expect, it seems only to make them suffer more? It is almost as if their brilliance is directly responsible for their pain.
What is happening is quite clear: This intelligence of ours is captured and held hostage by ignorance, which then makes use of it freely for its own ends. This is how we can be extraordinarily intelligent and yet absolutely wrong, at one and the same time."
Ignorance; Over reliance upon external need for fun, entertainment, TV, newspapers, gossip, warmth, food, sex, big homes, water uses...you name it; it is still an Addiction to Comfort, it is still and Addiction to Pleasing Egoic Senses...
WF Warrior Keith Kostman being comforted by WF Tribal Devotee Ron Jones; here, Keith is absolutely demolished by a several hour effort on his bicycle across the Mohave before handing off to me...Keith has learned about his True Self, he has communed with his Higher Self through his sweat and inner effort; this produces tiny Awakenings, fragments of Kundalini Awakenings..only when we do great things, only when we sit still without fidgeting, only when we DO THE PRACTICE of INNER ATTAINMENT instead of ENTER-TAINMENT...then,
oh Noble Fitness Warriors,
do we
Rise Above...
May Your Practice Be Strong and Sincere....
i'm going skiing...
love and sweat,
coach ilg
March 08, 2006
Just Three Things...
The Sacred Peak- one of my most Powerful Teachers - packing Her Chi punch at 5:38 pm (MST) today
***
Do not worry about finding the "right" Teachers or doing the "right" thing with your life...
Yogi, you just gotta do Three Things in this incarnation:
1) find the Chi,
2) commit to following that Chi with Sankalpa (powerful determination)...doing so will lead you to Chi Teachers & Teachings; an authentic Teacher will teach you how to follow the chi within yourself,
and
3) LIVE the chi so all Beings Everywhere benefit!
you are a precious gem,
namaste,
coach ilg
C'MON OVER TO STUDENT KARMONA's BLOG = sooooo beautiful!
Karen Karmona, artist, HP Yogini, and special Soul whose Inner Flight can be touched at her beautiful, svelte blog at:
http://pastkarmona.blogspot.com/
***
Dearest, Beloved Shishya Karmona,
i find your Blog enchanting and important to the Ever Accelerating Outer World...
keep up the effort!
a spontaneous Haiku for you this morning:
snow sweeps across sky (5)
a loud chatter of ravens (7)
sound off within mind (5)
i love who you are choosing to be,
coach ilg
re: today's 3*7*06 DL = When Barbells Where Bars With Bells and Men Were FUNCTIONAL Men! SANDOW LIVES
"Oh please, can't we go? I would so love to see a REAL man!"
Australian newspaper cartoon from 1903?
Eugene Sandow visited there in that year.
***
Mother of GOD�feebly 46ish rj PR�d today in DB press Ilgbro! 3 sets of 65s�clean�no bullshit compensations. Smooth and controlled sets of 10, 10, 12! Now for those bad boy mofo wall bastards on DL today!
Rockin� at home in ATL,
rj
***
***
Dear Noble Coach Ilg,
Boy, does today�s DL bring me back to the 70s! That was the same workout that our ski team used�still a great workout today and even better with your WF enhancements. Thank you for the teaching linking my teen years with today.
Namaste.
WF Online Student michael t of Clan Haku
***
Eugene Sandow, one of Wholistic Fitness� Granddad's, was interested not only in functional feats of strength displays, such as his renown One Arm Man Lift pictured above (try it!), yet, he also considered the look, symmetry, general proportion, and leanness of his body to be considered functional art. 
I love this shot of my spiritual Grandpapa...as a terribly, terribly skinny boy, i modeled my physique building attempts after Grandaddy Sandow. Like Wholistic Fitness�, Eugene's philosophy and ongoing years of incredible, unmatched, often misunderstood physique + athleticism would set the Standard for all fitness enthusiasts that, like you and i, would eventually follow in his brave artistry of self.
I bow to Granddad. i bow to all the body/mind pioneers upon whose broad shoulders and keen insights Wholistic Fitness� stands.
Body First, yogis...body first.
Do not start speaking about Enlightenment until you've tooled your body and have controlled your mind to touch mastery in ALL the rooms of your Body Temple: Strength, Cardio, Suppleness, Agility,Mastery of Food, and Mastery of Ego...
Want some more Grandpapa CHI HITS?
sure thang, it is all-Ways an honor to show you young ones (and re-Mind us elders) our Temple History:
www.sandowmuseum.com
{ilg, circa 1984. at the time this photo was shot, i could get on podium of bodybuilding, ultra-distance endurance events, and sport climbing...all at the same time. Eugene Sandow was one of my meditation/visualization anchors during these years.}
May Your Practice be stalwart within the 4 Wholistic Fitness� Lifestyle Principles and may you ask yourself when Laziness strikes today in any way;
"What would Grand Daddy Sandow do?"
nama st�,
coach ilg
founder/Wholistic Fitness� Personal Training...since 1982 keeping int-act the Path of the Ancient Ones...today!
***
March 07, 2006
HOW TO EAT A POWERBAR�...It Just Ain't For Fun!
noble powerbar chompin' coach:
RE: DL, March 3, 2006
So when does one use powerbar, and when powergel? My practice has been to eat powergel (ok, actually Gu) about a half hour before a race. Powerbars I usually eat halfway through a training ride or something. The powerbar pria's I sometimes eat for a mid-afternoon snack instead of a candy bar.
- student Feather
Most Noble Student Feather,
sounds purty right on to me...although you can reverse it as well.
First, let's talk about the optimal way to eat a PowerBar.
Most athletes just try to cram the PowerBar in, and wonder why they get a cramp or sick.
when you are exercising, digestion is NOT the Priority!
all of your body's physiology is giving top priority to sustaining the work output.
thus, it is best to eat PowerBars before and after a training session and use PowerGels DURING training or racing.
the PowerGel's require very little assimilation energy; their uptake is superb. a PowerBar, on the other hand, requires physiologic energy superimposed upon the demand for sustaining the exercise.
Man, this is starting to sound like a Physiology 101 class...sorry!
To make the best use of a PowerBar during cardio activities such as running, nordic skiing, or cycling, take the PowerBar with significant fluid...this is key; you are trying to turn a PowerBar into a PowerGel so to speak. A "dry" PowerBar is not an effective one; better to take a small bite of a PowerBar (which is why triathletes can be seen on their bikes with dozens of little PowerBar chunks just kinda glued onto their handlebars), take a quick drink, chew thoroughly with the fluid still in your mouth to make the PowerBar gelatinous before swallowing.
Activities such as rock climbing, alpine skiing, bowling, etc., (bowling?), lend themselves to PowerBar consumption quite a bit easier than say, mountain biking. Thus, my counsel to eat PowerBars before and/or after such high-heart rate activities and rely on PowerGels during. Of course, when the heart rate is low during such sports, such as on a descent during road cycling, that is an ideal window of opportunity for PowerBar consumption.
Be sure to visualize the PowerBar and/or PowerGel working within your Body/Mind. Don't just be stupid and wolf it down with no Connection to the body/mind factor! i promise you; this is very, very important. In fact, one of the most important ingredients in a PowerBar is not listed on the label; VISUALIZATION OF NUTRIENT UPTAKE! This will press you to know why the ingredient profile of PowerBar and PowerGel makes it so superior to other 'energy foods.'
May all your workouts be bonkless,
i bow to you,
coach ilg (aka; Mr. PowerBar)
Veteran Member/PowerBar Team Elite
BONUS Q&A;
STUDENT:
How should i eat a PowerBar if i am a competitive swimmer?
COACH:
very carefully.
;-)
WF Strength Training Movement: SKI STANCE
WHOLISTIC FITNESS� Strength Training Movement
by Coach Steve Ilg,ryt/uscf/cpt
PROFILE:
Ski Stance Squat
(aka; mother(&_@#$(&@)
(see photos below)
"The Seer is only the seeing; it is pure, even when witnessing the intellect."
- The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Sadhana Pada/11.20
WF TEMPLE HISTORY:
This simple, crazy-effective movement was one of my first En-Lightenments to concentration. My Durango, Colorado ski coaches would basically sit us A-Teamers into this posture, say something to the effect of,
"Okay ladies, hold it."
At which point they would leave the gym and chat and laugh right outside in the hallway, peering in at us every few minutes through a little window in the gym door to see which of us poor bastards crumpled like a broken potato chip to the floor.
We won the State Championship 9 out of 13 years.
Wanna be a Champion?
Okay then, Ladies; Hold it!
Do this exercise as prescribed by your WF Online Teacher.
POSITION:
Standing with back against wall.
DESCRIPTION:
Bend the knees and allow the back to slide down a wall until the thighs are DEFINITELY parallel to the floor. Cat tilt (coccyx curls under) and plaster your spine, including your neck vertebrae, against the wall. Stick this bottom position like glue and meditate on economy of energy, breathing rhythm, and concentration of mind. I place my arms in "Awakening The Spirit" mudra and work to keep my arm bones as parallel and elegant to Mother Earth as possible.
OPTIONS:
Heels Up: Elevate thy heels, perch upon the balls of your feet and enjoy watching the inevitable "Sewing Machine Leg Synrome."
The Bode Miller Special: Raise and then extend one leg and pretend you are racing like Bode at the 2006 Winter Kegger Party...errr, i mean, Olympics.
CAUTION: If this or any other stretch/exercise causes pain, labored breathing, emotional numbness, spiritual conviction or any other normality, immediately continue and consider yourself a Ripe WF Warrior training for the Bardo!
photos by Temple Manager Ananda
THE WEARER OF ALL COLORS
There is some beautiful Martial Art Chi
flowing in the WF Teacher Haku Blog these days:
http://hakutrain.blogspot.com
photo 1: coach pauses during a run, to open the hips and strengthen his spine while "Calming The Dragon" in Sedona
photo 2; coach connects big time with Father Sky/Mother Earth in the Ai Imawa Taoist Healing Posture in Utah
pics by Ananda
March 05, 2006
SEEING BEYOND THE SHAPE OF AN ASANA POSE...
Dear Teachers,
Thank you, so much for including me in Direct Lines. I was truly suprised,
genuinely touched and I thank you for acknowledging my humble practice. I
bow to you and Steve's practiced dharma "eye" - that ability to see beyond
the "shape" of asana practice and encourages the cultivation of an inner
strength and allows for the citizenship in both the inner and outer worlds.
I look forward to seeing you both on Wed. eve. I will bring the treats for
the kit-kats
and in closing a blessing for the elders in your front yard:
"Not yet having become a Buddha,
the ancient pine-tree
idly dreaming."
- Issa
Leslie, kai and yoda
***
Photo #1: of HP Yoginis, Michelle (L), Kwan Yin (C...though MANY of you have already met Her at my LA Yoga Studio!), and Leslie. Taken by Joy "Ananda" Kilpatrick outside Two Tree Manner after Joy's Sunday morning, Female Strength & Hormonal Balancing Class.
Photo #2: an ancient cedar pine, idly dreaming perhaps, taking seemingly impossible root in arid, solid rock in Sedona. Trees grow their roots in Mother Earth. Humans grow our roots within our Attachments. What is the quality of YOUR soil? What Attachments nourish or degenerate YOUR roots? Photo and text by Coach Ilg.
March 03, 2006
POWERBAR� EXTENDS COACH'S SPONSORSHIP; Longest Continually Sponsored POWERBAR� ATHLETE
Out of 4,700 qualified applicants...Coach gets accepted onto the roster of PowerBar� Team Elite...again!
"I have been taught that the Peaceful Warrior looks at the world through compassionate eyes that sees the suffering of all beings. I designed WF (Wholistic Fitness�) as a multi-disciplined Path of Yoga to help us feel our life more fully; be it painful or happy, poor or rich, ugly or beautiful. A Warrior lives their life authentically, not addicted to comfort or sense pleasures. The Warrior continually looks within. That is what matters most in the long run."
- Coach Ilg
photo by LA TIMES
{the above appeared in February in "Reflections," WF Student Kristi Lees Blog}
***
It is with honor and many, many bonks diverted, that i accept entry onto PowerBar's Team Elite�.
Though often approached by other supplement representatives, PowerBar's Performance Bars and PowerGels remain the only synthetic source of 'supplementation' that i use, endorse, and embrace. And, like SUNRIDER� Whole Foods, I have been with this fine company since Brian Maxwell and Jennifer began making us Boulder, Colorado athletes test their "Energy Glops" from their own oven back in the early eighties.
PowerBars remain, like Wholistic Fitness�, the Original and remain the peerless leader in Western Energy Nutrition. Their amino acid profile is superior, their short-to-medium-to-long-term cascade of nutrient integrity and assimilation while the body is undergoing exercise is unmatched in the industry that attempted to copy them and still has not come close. All the rest of the Energy Bars? Candy bars that mess with your blood sugar regulation. If you test, really test, any other bar within the physiologic and pranayamic realms like i do...there is no question about it; PowerBars have that something Special; integrity across the spectrum.
Having said that,
i do admit...i remain utterly Old School with my PowerBar preferences:
Here it is...Malt Nut, baby! Man, if i could take ONE MAN MADE THING WITH ME INTO THE BARDO?!?!
Yup...
Malt Nut PowerBars, baby! I know that they could get me through all of the 100 Bardo Realms, even the the 58 Wrathful Realms..just lemme have my Malt Nut PowerBar's, baby...i can do it! Seriously however, on this Plane, i have field tested the various incarnations of PowerBar Performance Bars across a wider, more elite spectrum of outdoor and inner realm fitness than anyone else i know; including the rest of my PowerBar Team Elite Teammates! Age and stupidity enough to get myself into all sorts of epic high mountain situations have convinced me of one undeniable fact; without PowerBar Performance Bars including a vital profile of Leucine, Isoleucine, and Valine amino acids for working musculature, i would not be here today. They have literally saved my frozen, injured, bonked out, and utterly lost ass on more occasions than i wish to sheepishly admit. Second choice flavor; Chocolate. I know, I know...PowerBar's first two original flavors...awlright then, go ahead, say it; Coach Ilg is still stuck in the 'eighties!...there, you happy, now?
Prevent your next bonk; get yourself a box of PowerBars and don't leave on a workout without one!
Next up: PowerBar's PowerGel�
Aren't these things just overpriced Gluey Yucky Sugar Globules?
Uh..no.
In fact, i am convinced that if the Ancient Yogic studs like Siddhartha, Milarepa, and even ol' Patanjali himself would have had access to PowerGels? They woulda probably lived off of them instead of that honey and ghee crap. I'm serious. Remember, the single most important factor to beginning the Ascent of Kundalini and subsequent control of inner locks and conscious breathing rhythms is...
no blubber belly...no pooch...no nothing except a tremendous pumphouse of consciously controlled organs and subtle musculature. one cannot feast upon dead animals, junk food, and unneeded calories and still expect the refinery of inner potentiation to arrive at unskilled, unworked for command! Thus, any Yogi worth his or her Mula Bandha knows that several hours of no eating is required before a deep Practice of asana, pranayam, or meditation. But you need SOMETHING to keep your Chi Up, right? Well, try this:
Far more than just Sugar Globules, PowerGels (i helped design the following nutrient profile) are intelligently created to sustain energy and replace electrolytes and branched-chained amino acids, and anti-oxidants:
Maltodextrin, Filtered Water, Fructose, Citric Acid, Natural Flavor, PowerBar� Amino Acid Blend (Leucine, Valine, Isoleucine), Potassium Chloride, Salt, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Sorbate (to retard spoilage), Antioxidant Vitamins C and E (Ascorbic Acid, a-Tocopheryl Acetate)
Told ya...
Patanjali probably could have given us a FEW MORE WORDS in his Yoga Sutras if he would had the Energy of PowerGels�!!!
Anyway,
i bow my head and deepen my Padmasasana to my new friends at my old, old company; PowerBar�. It was an honor to set up many of PowerBar's original accounts within the Front Range and Four Corners back in the day...and i am very, very happy for the success of a wonderful athlete (God Bless Your Soul); Brian Maxwell who followed his AUTHENTIC passion and made a lot of athletes better people along the way. Myself included.
PowerBar�; The only synthetic supplement i endorse. It burns as clean as a whisper and gives you the Power you need to just keep
CRANKIN'!!!!!!!!
namaste from an old traveler along the Upwardly Inclined Path,
coach ilg
Member/PowerBar� Team Elite
PURSUIT OF TRUTH MERGES INTO MEALTIME HAIKU!
I devote this DL Meditation to WF Student Andrew Baker...
may all of you enjoy and thank you for reading!
now...PRACTICE!!!
OM SO TI,
coach ilg
ps; remember, you can click on the photos to enlarge them
****
Our Issues are in our Tissues.
- contemporary Hatha Yoga saying
we may think we are being True People until our tissues are compressed and we realize how much shit we've stored in our muscles, connnective tissues, and the Layers of Mind. - Coach Ilg performing his very Steep, very Direct, very Effective form of Structural Bodywork he calls, "High Performance Bodywork�" upon WF Student Alex in the Temple Zendo last summer. PROFESSIONAL BODYWORK NOTE OF CAUTION: Do NOT try this at home!!!
Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.
- Carl Gustav Jung
Temple Manager Ananda, performing Pranayams at 11,500+.
I can see, and that is why I can be happy, in what you call the dark, but which to me is golden. I can see a God-made world, not a manmade world.
- Helen Keller
one of Coach's schematics of basic Hatha Yoga subtle anatomy during an Intensive
The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing knowledge.
- Albert Einstein
La Ventana, New Mexico.
Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but usually manages to pick himself up, walk over or around it, and carry on.
- Winston Churchill
Coach performing Bakasana on sandstone natural arch, Sedona, AZ.
The truth dazzles gradually, or else the world would be blind.
- Emily Dickinson
photo contributed by Lisa Goldsmith.
***
STUDENT S. TAMES HER HYPEREATING (EATING TOO FAST, EATING WHEN NOT PHYSIOLOGICALLY HUNGRY)
Beloved Coach;
SUNRIDER�: all herbs taken........SUNRIDER sunshine sunsalute----fun in the sun(rider) ! the herbs are WORKING!
Yesterday's intake: 2 cups of CALLI BEVERAGE� and an organic yam before my workout. An ILG SUPREME shake, avocado and chicken for lunch after exercise. A few raw walnuts and a half of grapefruit. invited to colleagues for dinner. Dinner----one cracker and some brie cheese. Salmon on white beans, carrots and salad with spinach and beets and goat cheese--one small piece of bread. 1 glass of wine -- Dessert was a small slice of chocolate mouse cake and tea.
All eaten with NON DOMINANT HAND� Assignment intact!
and... i ate slowly at dinner and was the last one to finish.
One bite,
fork down,
chew slowly.
- Blessings, Student S.
COACH RESPONDS!
Student S!!!!!!
i am Soooooooooooo stoked for you!!!!!! What a long way you have come!!! Amazing just how efficient is our NATURAL ENZYMATIC BREAKDOWN when we actually stop LUNGING and SWALLOWING our food unconsciously and instead SLOW DOWN, and allow our NATURAL MASTICATION to occur! We don't need ANY PILLS or anything; we need to SLOW DOWN and CHEW!!!!! APPRECIATE!!!! you got me so psyched on your progress of natural eating that you inspired this spontaneous Haiku.
i devote it now to you:
one bite, fork down, chew (5)
silent appreciation (7)
Nutrition is God! (5)
namaste,
coach
March 02, 2006
A Beautiful, Empty Knock Upon My Humble Temple Door
Noble Coach,
After many hours of deliberation, I feel I have finally emptied my
cup. I am ready to fully surrender and fully commit. I am ready to
experience the Wholistic Fitness Dharma. My ego was whole-heartedly
rebelling, but I am learning to quiet it in order to absorb your
teachings.
I have been reading DL religiously recently, and am thinking and
feeling very differently about death and all the things and people I
hold dear to me. I am ready to learn to humbly embrace death and those
things/people I contantly push away in order to achieve higher states
of consciousness and purpose. I know now I can gradually overcome my
Attachments in order to pursue yoga, the purpose of life.
I want this Path like nothing else in my life right now. I'm so hungry
for it that it's starting to consume the majority of my waking, and
for all I know unconscious, thoughts. I crave the steep ascent every
day now.
I have tried my best to answer your questions honestly and humbly, and
I would be honoured to be accepted into your sangha.
Head Bowed,
andrew
Student S Finds The S in Self Confidence
Namaste, Teacher Ananda~
Tonight's update is self-confidence.
Through WF Online Training, my confidence has gotten a boost. I noticed this today as I walked into the Spin room where 2 other people were on bikes. Pre-WF, I likely would have found somewhere else in the gym to practice, either where I could be alone or where there were a bunch of other people. My purpose is my focus. I no longer agonize about whether or not someone is watching me.
The confidence has also increased overall, not just in the gym. Through the practice, I am confident that I can take on a challenge. If it feels overwhelming, I bring in mindfulness exercises which help calm and focus. Result = success!
With light and love,
new student s
WHEN FAST GUYS DREAM...Just Another Croc� and (Sitting) Bull Story
"I grow old . . .I grow old . . .
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me."
T. S. Eliot: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1919)
by Coach Steve Ilg
leader/Team Mountain Yogi
Team Champions, 2005 & 2006
***
It's been nearly two weeks since Team Mountain Yogi captured our Overall Team Title. Over my right shoulder, my exquisite Namb�ware Trophy shimmers and winks at me like a celestial deity dancing in a shaft of early morning light. A red-naped sapsucker visits a well-frosted aspen tree outside my office. 
On my left, Mt. Taylor's Sacred Sister Peak, Mt. Humphreys, hovers like a majestic canopy over my Ponderosa tucked home. All is fine and well at my Flagstaff training temple on this impeccable late winter morn, right?
No siree, Bob.
Shattered and splintered was my slumber last night. A Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon anxiety dream invaded my sleepstates like a drunken ninja. With unending efficiency, a dreadful drizzle of undigested thought polluted my mindstream. I had about as much ability to drop this dream as I would dropping Josiah Middaugh on the "Run Up". Ain't gonna happen. So, I am going to do the next best thing that any other Fitness Warrior of my feeble status would do; I'm gonna hand it off to you, you poor bastard.
Buckle up, bucko, this could get rough.
***
Time:
Race Day Morning; Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon. Soloists Start.
Place:
Grants, New Mexico. Convention Center. Racer Registration and Equipment Check-In.
I am standing in a long line of nervous racers. I feel confident yet inwardly horribly, horridly unsure of myself. I fein nonchalance, striking up several inane chats with faceless racers. Inelegantly I promote my laurels; a several time top-20 Soloist and consecutive year Team Champion. I rest my hand on the scrawny shoulder of a teenager and, with coach-like authority, counsel him on how to break 3:30 hours. I am wearing a flannel shirt. Why a flannel shirt on Race Day? Hell if I know. It's a damned dream, remember?
Suddenly, the brick hard realization hits me, demolishing my cavalier attitude; I am wearing a FLANNEL SHIRT on Race Day?! Immediate images of the shirt billowing up like a parachute during my Bike Down segment arrive. I've got to get out of this flannel shirt! It will slow me down!! In slow motion, I scan down the front of my body and am astonished to see not my road cycling shoes upon my feet, but...but...oh no...say it is not so...aaaaargh!?!??!
CROCS�!!!!!
You know, those plastic-like, neon spaceage material clogs that were invented in, where else? - Boulder, Colorado? NaNu, NaNu!!!
I am wearing pink-colored CROCS�! Why CROCS� for Christ's Sake?! They looked ridiculous upon me! Normally I wouldn't go near a pair of Crocs� on Race Day with a 12' Stick-Clip! Yet, for all my repulsion, now, on Race Day Morning, I am wearing them minutes before the Start of the Bike Up!...oh man, this is not good!
It was at that moment, that a few former Champions of the race entered the convention-sized room. A respectful hush fell across the entire space. In order to show everybody that I was Somebody Special, I gave a shout out, "Hey Josh!" and nodded my head in the way that guys nod their heads when feeling the Sacred Bro'Hood of Guys. I don't know why I called, Josiah, "Josh"...probably 'cuz I have never met Josiah. He is always up and down the Sacred Mountain, Winner's Check collected, and halfway back to Vail before I finish strapping into my Atlas�'s on the Snowshoe Up segment.
Anyway, "Josh" cast a wayward glance toward my absurd presence and that glance was enough to trigger the crowds' collective unconscious toward two thoughts;
1) wow, that idiot in the Crocs� and flannel shirt really IS somebody special,
and...more importantly:
2) obey without question the Herding Instinct; follow JOSH!
The entire mass of racers surged as a massive entity toward a utility elevator (?) 'cuz that is where "Josh" and the other great Champions were going. The elevator of course, must lead to the Start!
The Race was STARTING!!!
Mass hysteria spread, viral-like, among us...pressure from hundreds of racers cramming toward the tiny elevator was a suffocating Hell Realm. I had to get my Croc�-footed ass out of this pandemonium! Oh shit! I still needed my Ankle Timer Chip! Where was it? Back at the Check In table! I looked backward against the oceanic wave of people...no way I could backtrack now! "It's okay," I told myself, "I've got my Bib Number, that will surely be enough, since I will be in the top twenty...but wait, I am still wearing a flannel shirt and Crocs�! I'm not going to be a WINNER?!?!" My Fear of Failure was a greater force than that of the heaving human stampede about to crush me.
***
ESCAPE PLAN A ENGAGED!:
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a Stairwell to my left...HA!!! I vault over a retaining wall with DO NOT ENTER taping strewn over it. A sudden rush of Laura Croft TOMBRAIDER energy impregnates me with seeming superhuman speed and agility. Gleefully I soar down flights of stairs confident that I will outfox the rest of the competition and be the first one to begin the Bike Up. Down a hidden chamber, jump over another barricade, throw open a final door and burst out into...
THE START/FINISH AREA! Into a wind-torn open area, I emerge, unfortunately stripped from my recent paranormal superhuman shift. In the cold, blowing wind, I squint, searching for some sane sign of the Quadrathlon Start Line. Minus my Laura Croft swiftness, I clippety-clop my flannel way toward an open pumice-mine wasteland where I can see vague images of Bike Holder Racks. Somehow, nearly all the Soloists had already started and were well into the 13-mile Hillclimb to the Run Transition. A few other racers, like myself, move like zombies in and out among the Bike Racks, teetering in warlike winds. I frenetically search to no avail for my "Sudhanami", my Race Bike. Lost, alone, and confused. Terribly confused at this incomprehensible beginning to my Race Day.
***
ENDURING CONFIDENCE:
"I can still do it," I assure myself, "I can make up the time in the Alpine Events (ski/snowshoe segments)." I sit down on a Transition Bench, huddle against the wind to calm myself and compose a new Race Strategy. Giving up is never in the formula. A Race Volunteer approaches me. Can she help? "I don't think they are going to fit," I say to her, referring to my Crocs�/pedal compatibility. No need to mention I haven't found Sudhanami. I am uncontrollably obsessed by these damned Crocs�.
"I don't think they are going to fit," I mutter again in the way Homeless People sometimes speak, "I will have to use them, yet I won't have any ability to use the Upstroke of my pedal cadence," I explain to her. She, having by now transmogrified into, get this, Sitting Bull in a hockey outfit, simply stares at me with a Padmasambhava-like gaze. Okay, this is really getting rather peculiar, I think to myself. 
So, I do what any one of you would surely do in such a Bardo Realm. I accepted a raw form hockey stick from one of my new hockey teammates - the Scorpians - now magically sitting with me on the bench. Stoked, I took it over to our Hockey Stick Team Customizer, who, residing in a blacksmith type of shop behind me, according to my directions, expertly fashioned - by way of a very High Tech, Dr. Seuesseque machine - the precise curve that I like on my hockey stick.
With my new stick in hand, I crawled through a secret hole in the boards and...
took
to
the
ice
with graceful strides.
Confidence surged once again within my veins and spirit.
***
POSSIBLE MORAL OF THIS STORY:
(Author Note: keep yourself strapped in for one final run-on sentence:)
Next year perhaps, when you yourself are at the Grants Convention Center, nervously arranging your Transition Gear and furtively glancing about the gathering athletes, and you do catch sight of a past Champion of this amazing race - Ballengee, Nelson, Middaugh, Overend, et. al, - don't let their cool beauty fool you. These great Champions, each of whom can finish this 43-mile, 5,000' city-to-summit-and-back-again quadrathlon faster than you or I could finish a sashimi salad, only care about one thing:
Hockey.
You see, Oh Noble Warrior Of Breath And Movement, racing is not about winning.
It's about knowing ourselves.
If our Dreamstates tell us anything, they inform us just how vividly we really care about doing great things upon great, sacred peaks. 
Sleep well. Pleasant dreams.
I bow to you.
Coach Ilg
March 01, 2006
WF needed during Kali Yuga
Dearest Most Noble Coach,
Thank you for your sacred reminder of the proper use of mind in your blog of February 28th. i find myself so often burying my head in books like an ostrich buries his head in sand because I feel my "intelligence" will slowly slip away if i do otherwise. i will begin to work harder to surrender my mind in order to more effectively pursue yoga.
Keep doing what you're doing, for so many are in great need during this dark Kali Yuga age.
Head Bowed Low,
andrew
There Is No Win In War
