April 30, 2006
THE UNREAL LIFE: Chronic Anxiety...Los Lobos and then...c'mon, baby! COOL JOE does it again!
If anything eats away at and destroys pliable, "juicy", strong, adaptable, and downright sexy musculature (Can you say, "Muscle Booty"?) ...it's chronic anxiety.
Stress.
Of course, this thing termed, "stress" is as insidious as anything ether can produce. Stress - and the muck of contemporary maladies which now spring forth from it - is borne from spiritual ignorance (avidya). Stress is a spiritual, not biomechanical nor physiological, breakdown. And, what we need to combat the Stress Syndrome raging across Turtle Island like an unchecked spiritual wildfire is more Dharma Teachers. Instead, we rely upon physicians-turned-pill-dispensers and an idiotic array of business mongers that convince us that if we find our legs 'twitching involuntarily from stress,' while we sit upon our asses and watch some stupid TV show, well, guess what? All we need is to buy their fucking pill for $89/month. God Bless Us. Where DID our common sense go? Our Intuitive Wisdom? Oh, that's right, into the iPod (the "i" stands for Ignorance).
Hear ye, Hear ye:
Chronic anxiety and Stress are merely training effects from 'buying into" the illusion of the wealth of the Outer World; chasing, basically, after that which is not Real.
Stress is a training effect from grasping instead of concentrating.
Like right now,
are you feeling all fidgety, as in, "Oh god, i don't have time for another Coach Ilg On His Soapbox Lecture About What Is Wrong With My Practice."
Well, you DO have time.
So Listen up, cuz i gotta Coach you on how to Remember How To Let Go!
It is our Muscles which are the recipient of and contain every ounce, every smidgen of all our of little neurotic pulses which accumulate each UnConscious Moment. (For Cure: see WF Lifestyle Principle #1).
It is Avidya that transforms our naturally supple neural conduits (just watch an infant in a crib) into the biologic equivalent of barbed wire that slowly straggles us from the inside out. Withered nerves from being constantly turned 'on' from chronic anxiety yet serving no practical or functional purpose, just fries us from deep inside. i see this degenerative training effect in your eyes, in your posture, in your skin tone, your shallow chest breathing, i see it in your lack of balanced, cat-like muscularity.
What once was a system of tiny rivers of Divine luminescence that afforded these containers of water (our human body) our movement and consciousness, through a lack of meditation and a fiercely loving Dharma Teacher in our life turns into cancer-carrying physiologic avenues of cellular degeneration. I have Taught you many, many powerful Tools throughout the years to keep your "container of water" fluid, powerful, and absolutely Divinely Sacred and fun to "swim" in. Yet, my Coaching often falls on willpowers as dilute as inkblots.
It is avidya that transforms sexy, smooth, powerful, and peaceful muscles into monsters of tightness and pain. Stress replaces joyful, supple Spaciousness with suffocating grips and locks and pressure. I give you Herman Hesse;
"There is no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many people live such an unreal life. They take the images outside of them for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself."
It is funny, yet sadly true, that in our lifestyle sciences, we have arrived at a point whereupon we must actually 'plot in' specific periods for 'remembering how to let go."
Perhaps, that is what Sunday's are for...?
Just when Ananda and i thought that we would have to be content to return to LA for our killer live music hits (1)...
Flagstaff goes and builds this (thanks, Brahman!):
the grand opening has even HAPPENED YET...
check it out at:
http://www.pinemountainamphitheater.com/
(oh, i guess i should mention that there is a fantastic 6-mile mountain bike singletrack that encircles this venue! Ananda and i just cranked last week...Flag does know where her priorities are, baby!)
Now, the only thing BETTER than having a new outdoor concert venue just minutes from your home to remember how to "just let go?"....
well, it's when the
local Event Coordinator bro whom you were just scoring telemark skiing runs with the other week goes and scores friggin' LOS LOBOS to "unofficially open" the new venue! God i love the Abundance of the Spiritual Path!
i have ALWAYS wanted to dance to this AMAZINGLY VERSATILE band live, especially when they played their #1 hit; La Bamba(2)...and yesterday, it came true, just a few minutes outside our home!
"Para bailar la bamba se necesita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia pa mi pa ti
Ay y arriba y arriba
Y arriba y arriba y arriba ire
Yo no soy marinero
Yo no soy marinero, soy capitan,
Soy capitan, soy capitan.
Bamba, bamba, bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba
Bamba."
okay, okay, so then, just as happy as two Larks at a double header baseball game, we leave Los Lobos, i come back to the Temple H(om)e during a Scintillating Rainstorm!!!sooooo beautiful...
and i see that "my" Colorado Avalanche sent the lil' ol Dallas Stars back to their lowlands and humidity for another off season...
hmmm, b'bye Stars!!!!!!!
geez, i've been telling you guys for years now...if God wanted Texans to win a Stanley Cup,
He woulda given you all some ice!
i know that ONCE AGAIN "Cool Joe" Sakic of Colorado (3) scored the OT goal...
man, i tell you..Joe Sakic is DA MAN, baby!
if i do not make Enlightenment in this lifetime
i have but one wish;
to re-incarnate as close to Joe Sakic as possible
or
at least have his wrist shot...
or
well, hell, can i at least LOOK like him??!!
Finally, congats to Durango, Colorado bro, Tom Danielson who got second to other American and former MTB pro; Floyd Landis (who used to race MTB's in Durango also) at the Tour Of Georgia.
Livin', Trainin' Practicin' and Rockin' in the land of the Free...
no STRESS, baby...Learn to Let Go and let GO(o)D!!!!!
consider it a Coach Ilg direct order!
God Bless America...
(and yes, of course...bless even the Dallas Stars)...
Namaste,
coach ilg (4)
***
(1) wanna visit our favorite live music hang out in LA is just minutes away from our North Hollywood apartment?
http://losangeles.citysearch.com/profile/321795#editorialreview
(2) In 1987 Los Lobos found unprecedented commercial success after director Luis Valdez -- founder of the Hispanic theater troupe El Teatro Campesino and author of the breakthrough East L.A. historical drama "Zoot Suit" -- asked the band to supply the soundtrack for "La Bamba," his feature about the life and tragic death of Ritchie Valens, the first Hispanic rock 'n' roll star. The film became a surprise box-office smash, but the soundtrack album was an even bigger hit, selling two million copies; the Lobos' version of the title track (which Valens himself had adapted from a traditional Mexican "huapango") reached No. 1 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 Singles chart (trumping Valens' original, which only went as high as No. 22 in 1958)
(3) Sakic's goal, the most among active NHL players, came with only two seconds left in the middle period, when he pushed a bouncing puck through Turco's legs...oh, did i mention that our Colorado goaltender, Jose Theodore, played only FIVE games for Colorado in the regular season? You GO Theodore!!!!!
(4) for those of you new to Direct Lines, our Coach has a certain...uh, Gemini Trait when it comes to ice hockey. It was his first sport as a child and his team won a State Championship in hockey. MUCH later in life, Coach Ilg was the Online Coach of 1993-94 - Stanley Cup MVP Mike Richter of the N.Y. Rangers
April 29, 2006
To Teach is to Remain An Endless Beginner
Many wish to Teach
yet few are willing to remain an endless Beginner.
To take a lifetime of study at each of our own Physiologic and Mental Edges is yoga.
To become a "Master" in some area is a mere Gateway to Another and Higher Study.
It is precisely that quality of infinite "Beginner's Mind" that has made my Teachers
such Great Teachers.
I work so hard on myself in so many diverse Edges so i can
Teach the access to the Great Teachings from a Beginners Mind to anyone willing to sweat and sit still,
regardless of age or current ability."
- Coach Ilg
***
Gampopa, Milarepa�s greatest disciple, asked him at the moment of their parting: �When will be the time for me to start guiding students?� 
Milarepa replied: �When you are not like you are now, when your whole perception has been transformed, and you are able to see, really see, this old man before you as nothing less than the Buddha himself. When devotion has brought you to that moment of recognition, that moment will be the sign that the time for you to teach has come.�
It is my devotion to my masters that gives me the strength to teach, and the openness and receptivity to learn, and go on learning. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche himself never stopped humbly receiving teachings from other masters, and often from those who were his own disciples. The devotion that gives the inspiration to teach, then, is also the devotion that gives the humility to go on learning.
- Soygal Rinpoche
"Thereafter, as a result of constant Practice, the yogi attains the state of paricaya (familiarity). At this stage, the breath leaves the Ida (moon) and Pingala (sun) channels and stays steady."
- SivaSamhita; 3;69
My own meditations toward such an elevated State of Being produce a transition State which i refer to as, "Being Hooked Up, baby!" Performance in such a "Hooked Up" State allows the yogin to become more of an "observer" to the pain associated with elite levels of sport or yogic performance without so much as being a full participant in the Pain. Truly, the Pain becomes Seen and Felt for its true nature which is Purification. To attain such a state requires daily Pranayama. my creation of At-Sink Pranayama� is perhaps my shining jewel of contribution to the pioneering of leading Western Students toward Pratyahara and experiencing this State of being "Hooked Up"...a Gateway toward paricaya. At-Sink Pranayama� has proven itself to achieve utter transformation of anyone's constitution and brings any Practitioner toward their elite levels of human potentiality in astonishingly fast progression.
- Coach Ilg
***
PHOTOS by Ananda:
#1; Coach "peering down Sushumna" in Ardha Matsyendrasana...a key posture in Self Healing his fractured spine and torn up pelvis
#2; 'Worked." Coach after another failed attempt on the Agassiz Peak Duathlon Course Record. The yogin knows much more about failure than he or she knows about success. The Path Higher is far too hard for the common man. Thus, the common man remains satisfied with comfort and entertainment instead of sweat and inner-attainment.
#3; Coach with Teacher Q. WF Students are what makes WF Teachers so utterly unique and powerful. The quality of the Student crafts the Quality of the Teacher's teaching skills.
#4; WF Online Student Hakado Ru playing kissy-poo. "Hak" just finished his first Triathlon in several years as he "begins again and again and endlessly again," on his own WF Practice.
#5; Coach attains the Course Record of the Agassiz Peak Duathlon; from 7,200' to 11,500' in two sports within 98 minutes. "I was HOOKED UP, Baby!" said Coach after his triumph.
April 28, 2006
DAY TWO; A Miracle Finish To Student Cerame's WF Intensive!
"A common obstacle in a Western student's grasp of yoga and spiritual work lies in the mistake of Teachings for Transmission. Teachings and Transmission are universes apart. To receive the Transmission of a Teacher, one thing has not changed in the course of several thousands years of Yoga; the Student must take private Pilgrimage to the Teacher every now and then. No matter what. In the WF Path, we offer Transmissions through two ways; a WF Private Intensive and, on a smaller scale so each WF Student can afford a Direct Transmission, our Blessed Mala Beads."
- coach ilg
we pick up Student Cerame's most noble Pilgrimage to the Sacred Peak during Day Two whereupon Father Sky gifted most Cherished and Dedicated Student Cerame with a MOST auspicious and snowy April shower...
appropriately, to balance the searing, red hot energetic Transmission of Mula Bandha into Student Cerame during a morning Meditation in the Zendo..."Father" cooled us off with an opportunity to gulp falling snow... 
"There is no other task but to know your own original face."
- Yen-T'ou
then, it was time to take the energetic new imprint of Mula Bandha and, in typical WF Style; apply it in hard core test fields; we take Student Cerame - not known for his love of heights - to the climbing wall...it will be within the chambers of his Fear that i will coach Mula Bandha application along with other more conventional performance techniques...
"Habit, laziness, and fear conspire to keep us comfortably within the familiar."
- Jane Hirshfield
Student C "pulling plastic" baby...
as i belay him to the vibe of the Beastie Boys...yeah baby! CRANKIN' in the Vertical Temple!
what happens when you push yourself THROUGH your Limiting of the Unlimited?!?!
BOUNDLESS JOY, baby!!!!!! look at those authentic smiles! push through fear, doubt, and laziness and find the Other Side of Unified Field of Love and Laughter! God i love teaching this Path! I love my WF Students...we who are not fooled by other Paths of Glitz and Marketing...go for the Sub-Stance of Mind/Body Training; go for WF!
thus, with pumped forearms and blown adrenal glands...i knew it was time to intensify the planted Transmission...
After an hour of climbing at soaring heart rates, Student MC remarked between gasps, "I have never seen anything as beautiful."
"I should be content to look at a mountain for what it is,
and not as a comment on my life."
- David Ignatow
Breaking the 11,000' level...hey, can you see that speck down there? that is another Mountain Yogi; Ananda cranking upwards and...ever inwards!
"What is in the mind of the spring wind,
blowing day and night in these groves and gardens.
It never asks who owns the peach and plum trees
but blows away their petals without a word."
- Ch'i-chi
Ananda escorted us to the snowline; from here on upward, the Path will require Kahtoolas�...
http://www.kahtoola.com/
...a fantastic mountain yogi invention that i have set several Course Records with...these mini-crampons for your running shoes are made right here where we know how to have world class fun in Mother Nature; Flagstaff!
kickin' steps...attempting to follow the Master's footsteps can be frightening...this is part of Warrior Training. at one point in the ascension of this steep ravine, i had to have Student MC dance yet another dimension of his Fear and allow him to climb solo and attempt to 'track' me up the Sacred Peak..."I will follow you anywhere, Coach," were Student MC's last words before i left my Beloved Student perched like a beautiful Glacier Lilly on the steep snow before moving upwards at my own pace. It was a terribly difficult moment for me personally, yet as a Teacher of the Dharma, i was Told that in his advancing Practice with me, this forced solo ascent would be important spiritual work for him, Bardo Training. "When Coach took off, there came a place where i simply could not see ANY of his tracks! I did not know where he went! I thought to myself, 'Damn, Coach IS good! He is Levitating up this mountain!'...when i got confused on where to go, i knew Coach was preparing me throughout the Intensive for this moment, he kept saying,'When in doubt, go Higher.' So, i just kept going up! Suddenly, he appeared smiling at me...beneath me!"
Attainment of summits for me have always functioned as a Transpersonal sparkplug for attaining the summits within.
Here, my Noble Shishya tops out on his own summit with Mt. Humphreys, still another 1,000' feet higher, looming in the background.
Though my View is as spacious as the sky,
My actions and respect for cause and effect are as fine as grains of flour.
- Sogyal Rinpoche
Noble Online Student Cerame gazes across the Southwest from the ceiling of Arizona while in his new Personal Self Propelled Altitude Record Yogi Squat; 11, 500'!
"All of us are watchers -
of television, of time clocks,
of traffic on the freeway -
but few are observers.
Everyone is looking,
not many are seeing."
- Peter Leschak
What goes up?
Must come down...running down 29% mountain slopes with crampons...that is fantastic stuff! Student MC's smile never wore off as he gamely struggled to find the technique and art of mountain yoga...he did GREAT and it was during the descent that his Devoted Practice was again to be Gifted by Father Sky as most exquisite rush of snow began to blow like a cosmic Ujjayi through our Appreciation of breathing and moving.
"Beyond all dualities,
we WF Warriors sing our humble song of
sweat and stillness..."
- coach ilg
This DL is devoted to Beloved Student Cerame.
Many of the quotes above were contributed by HP Yogini Leslie.
May all Beings be thus inspired to find their workouts within.
that is all,
coach ilg...the mountain yogi
***
WF Private Intensives are usually booked several months in advance. Do not live one more day without scheduling this unmatched experience for the strength of your own Practice and the memories of this lifetime! Each Intensive is deeply designed and customized for your own ability and temperament. Coach has been doing these Intensives his whole professional life and he always gives his utter best for those willing to take Pilgrimage. Available through the Tribal Catalog at www.WholisticFitness.com
***
DL DharmaSummary:
I use the Vehicle of climbing as a Dharma Teaching to vitalize the role of Ascension to the yogin.
Notice the Coaching Choreography of just one day during Student Cerame's Intensive with me: First, we meditated and cemented intellectual and practical application of the Nuts and Bolts of Enlightenment, in this case a maturation of Student's current understanding of the pivotal Mula Bandha Root Lock. Then, in a macrocosm of the Kundalini ascension, i used a Guided mixed disciplined climbing adventure to integrate and vividly impress upon my student the notion of overcoming fear in the spiritual realm. From sport climbing and bouldering to the Sacred Peak, we worked with applying his new Mula Bandha Transmission and his adjusted/refined Pranayama Practices in the rarified pran of the High Peaks. Thus, from the most specific and 'urban' version of mountaineering (indoor bouldering and sport climbing) we merge into the Grandfather of all climbing disciplines; mountaineering, Student Cerame lived by Direct Experience what is best about Wholistic Fitness; start with the Inner and apply to the entire spectrum of a sport. WF IS a Dance of Versatile Diversity using the Inner as the Anchor to the Flight of Self.
May this benefit the solidarity of your own Practice and perhaps encourage the contemporary crop of new Yoga Teachers to use the Ancient Teachings of Mountain Yoga to forward their own Path of Service.
- coach ilg
April 27, 2006
DAY ONE of Noble Student Cerame's Intensive Done!...Day Two Dawns Auspiciously Beautiful...
Noble Online Student Michael Cerame of NYC visiting the Temple H(om)e for a 2-Day Private Intensive... 
Zen Sweeping, a long-time WF engaged Meditation. Here, MC mindfully sweeps using my magical "India Broom."
Chopping wood; i supervise MC's attempts to draw gym-fitness into Traditional fitness. "No, but I've seen it done on TV," was his omnipotently cheerful response when i asked him if he had ever chopped wood before. The sweet perfume of recently split Ponderosa brought him back images and sensations of working with his dad who was a carpenter. It was a great, meaningful, and potent WF Workout...
Even though he took a Yoga Certification course, Michael wanted to learn Headstand (sirsasana) the HP Way...the Way Without Walls...here, Ananda is helping MC break new terrain as he enters Stage Two of my Headstand Learning Approach. To stand on our head requires a LOT of precursory strength training of the neck strapping musculature and exploring the sensitive areas of the skull casing before you can literally stand on your head, which is precisely what Sirsasana is about. It ain't about kicking and flailing your feet up against some wall and using forearm and shoulder strength!
Where once a tree grew in Brooklyn, now a Brooklyn WF Warrior rides through trees! Finishing a singletrack uphill along a custom designed mountain bike route that would eventually end with a roller-coaster, 30 mph descent back into Flagstaff that had Student MC hootin' and hollerin' like some...KID! YEAH BABY!! our MTB ended right at the HP Yoga� Studio space to end our day with a HP Yoga� class with local HP Yogins! 
The Sacred Peak early this morning; she has dawned quite powerfully...would YOU follow me up these rocky heights to apply WF Teachings within the Intensity of the Mountain Gods? As Day Two Dawns and i take my Beloved Shishya into the high Mountain "Yoga Studio"...we first head into the Zendo for a Mula Bandha Meditation and specific Pranayam before heading up to the Sacred Peak and ingest the Rare, Pure Pran!
then, let's see what is else on the schedule...oh well sport climbing, then Bodywork...and you just gotta ask,
WF INTENSIVES...WHAT OTHER PATH CAN OFFER SUCH A DIVERSE and DEEP PERSONAL RETREAT FOR YOUR PRACTICE?!
well, the Temple Bell just rang...i'm off to lead Student MC within..and my Heart Dances with Love for this Warrior of the INNER WORKOUTS!
I love my Students...
that is all,
coach ilg
founder/Wholistic Fitness� Personal Training
April 26, 2006
COACH ILG'S UPDATED PHASE 3 of SUNRIDER� Herbs Now Available
Coach Ilg (aka; "the friggen stud,") in Yogi Squat, mixing up his Phase III Herbs in Taos, New Mexico. Coach has been on the SUNRIDER� Herbs for nearly a quarter century, allowing elite levels of multiDisciplined yoga and sport to be enjoyed each day with peerless immunity and energy levels. Coach has recently upgraded his unique PHASE III of using the SUNRIDER Herbs. read more below!
ATTENTION SUNRIDER� HERBAL WARRIORS IN THE COACH ILG DOWNLINE:
i have Updated my PHASE III Herbs-Only Guidelines, based on experiential, personal, and professional work over the past few years with the Phase III Herbs among all types of people including Dr. Chen's most recent product:
META-BOOSTER!
Lean and Ripped Musculature and a RAMPED UP Cellular Vibration are some of the primary effects of this completely natural, whole food herbal formula; the latest from Dr. Chen!
if you are a SUNRIDER� Herbal Warrior in the ILG DOWNLINE and have been on Phase II longer than one year...contact your Upline or myself to see if you are ready to receive my UPDATED PHASE III HERBS ONLY information.
Below i answer some questions from Noble SR Warrior Scott:
***
Coach Ilg!!
You are such a friggen stud, thanks so much for the wealth of infomation.
Just a couple of things about the herbs....what Sunrider product is good for Stress? I have been
busy with work/house projects/working out/tending my 22 month old son/etc. Sometimes I try
and juggle too much at a time.
� well, essentially, the longer you remain on the herbs...well into Phase III, the Transformation will eventually help you gain Clarity into what your spirit is having fun doing and what is stressing your spirit out. At this point of Intuitive Wisdom arising, it will be a matter of your Willingness to choose true Wealth (quality of life) over just being a member of the Rat Race. so really, the Herbs just keep Upshifting your body/mind/spirit toward the Highest Abundance and Energy possible in this lifetime. How you choose to use this improved Self and Way of Being is up solely to you!
on the Physical Level, you cannot do better for handling stress than the below herbs...i have listed them in order of
QuickFix to long-term:
� periodic hits of VITASPRAY
� Beauty Pearls (2-3 daily for emotive calmness)
� Wu Chia Pi (take as directed on label; fantastic for athletes as well, one of SUNRIDER's most cost effective herbs!)
� ESE (take as directed on label)
� TOP (take as directed on label)
i have Updated my PHASE III Guidelines which address the above matter.
if you are in the ILG DOWNLINE and have been on Phase II longer than one year...contact your Upline or myself
to see if you are ready to receive my UPDATED PHASE III HERBS ONLY information.
SCOTT:
Secondly, my son loves to take sips of my Fortune Delight, is this ok for such a young guy?
COACH:
ABSOLUTELY!
there is NOTHING more beneficial to the world right now than a SUNRIDER fed child; such a child will grow up
balanced and whole from the inside out! SUNRIDER kidz kick ASS on the junk food fed kids!
SCOTT:
It's funny, my wife will offer him a soft drink and he goes yuck, but says yum when I give a
taste of Fortune Delight--pretty cool huh?
COACH:
what was i speaking of above? Intuitive Wisdom?...see, kids live closer to their Pranayama Kosha...their Energetic Sheath than do 'adults'...so, if you feed them Accurate, Whole Foods like SUNRIDER then offer them poison (like a Coke or some crazy form of candy...SUNRIDER kidz will actually SPIT OUT the junk food! it happens often in this Tribe! classic!
SCOTT:
Thanks again,
I love that you talk about old Cactus Ed Abbey...too bad he couldn't get a hold of the herbs before he passed away.
SUNRIDER herbal warrior Scott
COACH:
i bow to the Red Earth...
namaste and keep enjoying your SUNRIDER JOURNEY!
coach ilg
April 24, 2006
YOGI SQUAT as Mantra; What About Wikipedia?
The Masters were no dummies. Back in the peak of Their era, Inner-Attainment efforts were done with as much zeal as we glom for in Enter-tainment and luxury efforts today. Thousands of spiritual athletes, yogis, were taking deep study under the most skilled and versatile Teachers they could find. Such Teachers knew damn well that the common man clomps about everyday life with little, if any, spiritual saturation of Go(o)dness within the fabric of our day to day activities. We use religion and feeble attempts at prayer or meditation as spiritual bandages instead of truly Waking Up and Roaring our Inner Fire with moment by moment Practices of Sweat and Spirit.
So, these MahaRishis - Great Teachers - evolved a science of practical spirituality that can be adapted by anyone. Among the sharpest of these spiritual arrows for the common yogi is Mantra.
On the Mental/Emotive Level, a Mantra, when imparted by an accomplished Teacher who is strong in their own Practice and well situated in a spiritual lineage, accomplishes a most fascinating, joyful, and sacred feat; a Mantra restores purity to our actions and a precious gratitude beyond them - Mantra works its mystical transformation regardless of the degree of mundaneness or the spectacle of egoic drama.
Now, on the Physical Level, i have found and thus consider the Yogi Squat to be a Mantra for the body. Dropping into a Yogi Squat throughout the day restores health, purity, and gratitude for the body. It eases us back into our Tribal Nature; our sense of Wholeness is thus regained. 
yes, i have long forwarded the Yogi Squat since 1982...
it even became known as the "Ilg Wheelchair" in the years following my spinal injury...to this day i must drop into this life-saving posture frequently to relieve nerve entrapment and chronic pain still lodged in my smashed pelvis. Thank God for Yogi Squat! Many of my beginning movements in Toilet Yoga� mimic the natural pooping position which should always be done while in a yogi squat type of intra-colonic compression. I have Taught you much about the importance of this natural squatting position through the years. Now, twenty plus years later, the following email arrived yesterday from Noble Warrior EJ...looks as though Yogi Squat might become a lexical part of pop culture.
"Pop culture."...(isn't that an oxymoron?
***
Hi Mr. Ilg:
You may or may not remember me, but we started off on a bad foot with a book review I did on Amazon. I apologized already for that, so I hope you can indulge my interruption.
Would you consider doing an entry for the yoga squat on Wikipedia. I did a brief description on Wiki, but it is incomplete, nor am I a certified yogi (or a good writer).
You, on the other hand, are one of the few in the "community" to advocate this pose (it is in Bob Anderson's groundbreaking book Stretching). As I recall in your book, you actually squat all the time, not just in your practice.
No need to reply; I know how busy you are. I just thought your knowledge would be really helpful.
Thank you.
EJ Passeos
COACH RESPONDS:
Most Noble Shishya of Sweat EJ!
i will sit with this request before doing so...errr..squat with it anyway.
our Temple is very humble and many our Teachings have made it into 'pop culture' already...often in quite, uh,
interesting - if not always appreciative - ways.
I don't know if "groundbreaking" would be a word to describe Noble Warrior Anderson's book on stretching...i mean,
the science of Asana - far more vast and multitiered than the Western notion and practice of 'stretching' pre-dates Anderson's book by, uh, oh...6,000 years!
the beautiful part of Anderson's book is that it inspires Americans to do that one most vital action; move consciously.
my DL Archives are full of Yogi Squat entries..all complimentary for years; here are just a few:
June 21, 2005
The Miracle of Yogi Squat
October 4, 2005
CHOPPING WOOD, SQUATTING CHI!
September 12, 2005
Yogic Inversions and the Three Realities of the Genuine Human Being
August 14, 2005
TRIBAL BIRTHDAY!..a YOGI SQUAT BDAY FOR STUDENT ASH!
December 1, 2004
"You can't live a full life and sleep in."
- coach ilg
April 20, 2006
Higher We Go Spiritually; The More Earth We Need
head bowed to your Light of Sharing,
ripples make waves,
coach ilg
April 23, 2006
"Imbalanced Man" becoming Balanced Man...
This is an adorable, potent, and just such a precious example of our beautiful little Pathway of WF...
it comes into our life by way a fine new Online Student, Tom Carpenter. Tom is now entering his 3rd Month of Online Training under Teacher Ananda and his rapid Transformation has taken root right where it is needed most for
long term personal fitness and spiritual growth; in his everyday Awareness. Of course, he is a SUNRIDER� Herbal Warrior, which - i swear to Lord Patanjali - makes ALL the difference in speed of Transmission; clear cells=clear, sharp training effect!
enjoy this Gift from a new Shishya who was Brave enough to enter the Online Studies of this Path and is reaping huge
benefits and merit...already he is inspiring hundreds! that is what happens when you take the Jump into the World of WF Online; the World's original and still most humble and powerful and rapid Path of Online Personal Fitness.
i bow to Shishya Tom, a long time fan turned Warrior within our humble Walls! you are GREAT!
inJoy Tom's entry below oh noble DL Sangha! we are Graced by his Practice!
love,
coach ilg
***
Greetings Teacher Ananda:
This humble Vasisthasana is for Coach Ilg. When i first saw that picture of Coach performing Vasisthasana in The Winter Athlete, i knew that Wholistic Fitness was a different kind of deal. i bow to Coach.
Picture #2 is �Imbalanced Man�. Here is another vacation photo that we can put to good use. With all due loving kindness towards myself, here are some imbalances of which i am aware:
My right shoulder is lower than my left. My right shoulder is tighter than my left.
My weight rests predominantly on the right leg. My right leg is stronger and more sturdy than my left in all balancing poses.
My weight is on the outside of my feet.
Left and right pectorals have developed differently.
(What do you think about that styling hat?? i�ll take function over form any day)
My standing poses are stronger than forward bending poses.
Forward bends are easier than side bending pose.
Side bends are easier than backward bending poses.
Back bends are easier than twisting poses.
Twists are easier to the right than to the left.
My left hamstring is tighter than my right hamstring.
My left hip is tighter than my right hip.
i have tendonitis outside my right knee.
i prefer salty food to sweet food, spicy food to bland food.
My lower body is more flexible than my upper body.
i prefer simple roots music to more complex music.
i prefer complex literature to easy reads.
i live in my head more than in my body. We are working on that, right?
That is my loose end from the previous cycle summation. i know you have a ton of e-mails to get through. Thanks for listening.
Off for interval work tonight. When I said �my body is responding well� to intervals at 150 bpm, the big difference is that my heart has not felt so highly stressed during the evening following the intervals. The next day i feel �recovered� prior to the next workout. Previously, i would often catch a cold after hard intervals or skip the next workout because of feeling drained. Then I began to skip the interval work itself. This way is mo� better.
That was a classic photo of you two after your class in LA. :--)
Namaste�
shisya tom
"Everywhere I am folded..."
"Introspection teaches us to respect the sacred cycle that continually nourishes the universe: birth, life, death, and rebirth. Can we see our genuine place in the cosmos, a cosmos so inextricably linked to everything but not elevated beyond anything else? Within the context of the universe, a human dying of cancer is no more dramatic than the death of a gazelle brought down by a lion or the slow death of an aspen leaf in autumn. As we learn to remember our true place in the cosmos, we become nourished by an elevated sense of gratitude for being alive right now."
~ Steve Ilg
***
If you have been reading the WF-Approved or linked up Blogs as i have inCouraged you to do
as a weaning off of "newspapers" and other mainstream media,
and as a Tribal Gesture of Svadhyaya,
you will see that the Practice of Personal Fitness or Yoga
inevitably brings us right up against our Highest Fears,
our Laziest Qualities,
our most sentimental Attachments,
our greediest Roots, and
our Deepest Resistances.
Friends dying
Loved Ones dying
Friends going off to war
Loved Ones going off to war
why do you TAF the Bhagavad Gita takes place on a Civil War Battlefield?
The war that we hate
The suffering that war brings
starts inside.
We Practice what we need to Learn most...be careful before becoming a Practitioner...it is much easier to remain Asleep.
Everything,
even at the subatomic level is in a process of annihilation and birth, continuously, endlessly, infinitely...
That is why i have Taught you that Meditation is an unalienable Discipline of personal fitness;
for in Meditation;
we die.
our Loved Ones die.
our Attachments die.
our Senses die.
How do you expect to skilfully handle Death - in all Her Wrathful Realms -
if you never Practice The Arts of Dying?
When i am Training, i am practicing how to Die.
When i am taking this time, Teaching you...
i am giving Death to many other forms of Creativity and Serving...
When i am smiling, i am giving Death to Fear...
When i am Consciously Breathing, i am giving Death to spiritual slumber,
When i am washing a dish without Mindfulness, death arrives at my Purity.
My Tibetan Teachers were the fiercest in the Dying Meditation Departments...because everything
everybody dies...
i just wrote a DL on, "Even the Buddha dies,"
feeling my Tribe,
reading your Blogs,
seeing and smiling with your Transformation...
i see my Words
my Style
- even my own signature sign offs -
in your own blogs
your own Sweat...
yet i tell you this;
i want to See you in the Higher Stillness...
you know what i mean.
i have lost many, many Loved Ones, Family, and Friends through my years of extreme sport and the Healing Arts..
though trained in seeing the Outer World through Gunic Waves
and
though understanding roles of three forms of Karma,
when death comes knocking...
"Everywhere, i am folded," as Rilke wrote.
My feelings compressed so tightly
all space has been squeezed out
i wheeze within this Dream
usually,
i go back to my Tibetan Death Meditations
yet my feeble human predicament
is slow to disappear into any form of spiritual balm...
so,
endlessly i begin again
and again:
into the hidden, joyous folds of WF Lifestyle Principle #1:
Breath and Posture.
"All Karma is God."
Love, Trust, Birth, and Creativity...
and That,
my Noble Warriors,
is all...
coach ilg
all photos except the "Manipura Chakra Coach Ilg Transmission Sunflower" by coach ilg were done by the LA Times.
April 22, 2006
Coach on "The Nature Of Dance...WF style..."
On location for a segment of a new upcoming WF DVD "Tribal Tapes" = "Sacred Sweat Series;-Pumping Rock; Coach Ilg's Introduction for Bouldering."
***
After racking up some initial Base Miles on my road and cross bike, too much of any one sport makes a WF Warrior too...well, specific. We can't have that, no sireee bob...least, not in THIS Tribe of MultiDisciplined Yogis! In this Tribe...we live to learn to DANCE, baby! So it was time to switch out some leg endurance and pump some granite!!!errrrr...well, this rock outcropping - just a few minutes outside of downtown Flagstaff - is actually basalt. I love climbing on basalt...its of volcanic origin and often features positive incuts, great face climbing, wicked stemming, and crazy curvy cracks...LOVE IT! This outcropping features nearly 45 world-class Bouldering routes alone...and it is just the tip of the 'rockberg' for climbing in the region immediately surrounding Flag. 
Here, Ananda captured me flashing an ascent of a difficult Boulder route, "The Hole Problem." A "flash" means that essentially, i walked up to the route without ever seeing it before and climbed it on the first try with no prior knowledge (beta) from other climbers or the guidebook. It is the purest and highest attainment in the Art of Bouldering. The route begins with a 'sit down start' (ass is on the ground), doing a hard couple of moves and fast footwork to this point...now, see how i am 'resting' on my skeleton at arms length to conserve muscle strength? watch closely as i dance my feet up higher without moving my arms...sooooo much of climbing success lies in intricate, strong footwork...
my right hand has been sustaining a bi-doit..a French term meaning that only two of my fingers can be stuffed into a hole. If you read and practice any of my rock climbing programs in my books throughout the years, you will understand how i made my fingers so strong...like aircraft cable, baby! that is why when i give Bodywork to a student, the experience of my fingers being able to locate and facilitate hard nodules of adhered tissues on your body is, well, world class compared to other massage therapists that have NOT trained their finger strength as much as i have. It always boils down to one thing; the strength of the individual's personal Practice, doesn't it? Now, watch as i still need to crank off the bi-doit and move to my left... the pain on my two fingers as i change the physics of the pull on them is excruciating...however, no summit worth reaching has ever been attained without pain and endurance of mind...
click on photos to see the importance of finger strength in this particular form of yoga...great photos, Ananda! 
"The only absolute rule is: never lose control of the show."
- Johnny Carson
That quote is particularly true to the Boulderer as he or she moves higher off the earth...if i peel off here? i would smash my ankles and possibly crack my skull open upon impact, that is how hard i am cranking here...Yoga Teachers - if they be genuine - don't just talk about control and union of mind and body; they are out there, baby; testing it by Sacred Sweat and Stillness of Mind over Fear and Resistance. That is HP Yoga�, a rarity in today's Kali Yuga...
...high off the deck..compressing for my final lunge for the top exit moves...
dat's a Flash, baby! Ain't no thang for TFO!! Well, back to the bike today...God, thank you for Gifting me with Two Legs, Two Arms, Lungs, and a HeartSpace strong enough to develop ALL of Your Gifts...May i honor Your Gift of life today by never refusing to move toward my resistances and into my Fears of Being Whole...
In WF, America's native yoga, we ask,
"Is spirit having fun as me?"
Keep it cranking, baby...and keep it tuned right here to your Tiny Temple Beneath The Sacred Peak...
OM SO TI,
coach ilg
April 20, 2006
NEXT WEDNESDAY: ASANA, DHARMA & HERBS!
"May your trails be crooked,
winding, 
lonesome, 
dangerous, 
leading to the most amazing view. May your mountans rise into and above the clouds."
- Edward Abbey
ain't it 'bout time to unplug from the iPod and go for a reRead of Desert Solitaire?..
forget the quick link to Amazon.com...
Ed woulda kicked me in my nuts if i allowed you to just quick link to buy his book...
least you could do is hunt for it on the internet...
dear Buddha..when i recall the way we used to have to use Card Catalogs at the library! jesus...
(most photos by coach & ananda, the others were contributed by Student Lees.)
Ed Abbey's words were
contributed by HP Yogini Leslie
***
Namaste Noble Flagstaff HP Yogi's!
well, i KNOW i am back in Flag when i get Welcome Back emails like this from Keri;
*
Dear Coach,
Welcome back! I hope you both had a great trip and I must say you two truly are warriors for making such a long trip and still mustering up the energy to host another fantastic session tonight! Your dedication is admirable!
Luke is out of town working on a renewable energy project in Boulder, CO., and I am recovering from a digger I took on the trail this morning while running with our dogs. I have bandages across both knees and rock rash on both of my palms, however running with the dogs is well worth it!
Hopefully we can join you next week! Have a great evening,
Kerri & Luke :)
*
Well, Yogini Keri,
when i taught you a "down dog" i did not mean it like that!
;-)
so,
did you land on the Inhale or the Exhale?!
Heal up fast! we will see you 'on the mat' again soon!
i love my High Performance Yoga� warriors! We may not be able to do all the fancy poses like the 'studio yogis' however,
you can sure bet we will not limit our Yoga to a yoga mat or indoors! Not this Tribe! We apply our Yoga Practice everywhere; running, cycling, in the gym, you name it baby; THAT is multi-disciplined yoga...THAT is HIGH PERFORMANCE YOGA!
***
Next Wednesday is DharmaTime!
{a Real "Q and A"...WF Teachers Quentin and Ananda evidently deeply engrossed in some form of DharmaTalk?...photo by Ron Jones in LA last week}
next Wednesday will be a shorter class; a little over an hour then Ananda and i will use the rest of the time to answer any questions you might be wanting ask on the Practice and/or Philosophy of Yoga, fitness, meditation, etc. When i first began taking Yoga classes, i always wished the Teacher would set aside time to answer questions every now and then. It is not appropriate -nor Traditional - for Students or us Teachers to talk too much after an asana class. Doing so reveals much immaturity about the Science of Asana and is actually harmful (thus a violation of the first Yama - ahmisa or non violence) to the mental, energetic and physical synthesis following a well constructed asana class and Final Relaxation. So, about once every couple of months i like to shorten one class time to do some DharmaTalkin'....so, next Wednesday come to class with at least one really good question that you have been carrying around with you...
finally,
it is about time to hold a SUNRIDER� Herb meeting...it's time for you all to enjoy getting to know the World Class herbs that i have used for the past 21 years personally and professionally with absolutely astounding success for Fat Loss, Cell Clarity, and Cell Empowerment...not to mention elite Sport Performance. I will show you the basic herbs out of my personal stock and the method involved in my unique 3-Phase Approach that i mention in my latest book; Total Body Training. This Meeting will be about an hour long and is something that you will want to bring ANYONE who truly wants to lose fat, get lean, and completely set up the internal energetics of their body/mind and spiritual power. Ananda and i are thinking about holding this "Secret Herb Meeting" on a Sunday afternoon around 4 pm...let me know if you think that is workable time/day for you. SUNRIDER herbs are definitely the ideal yogi food.
time to step it up another notch along (y)our Sacred Journey...
i bow to you from beneath the Sacred Mountain,
coach ilg, ryt/uscf/cpt
founder/www.wholisticfitness.com & High Performance Yoga�
Lead Director/SUNRIDER� Herbs
Higher We Go Spiritually; The More Earth We Need
"When we speak of being highly developed spiritually,
this does not mean that we float in the air.
In fact, the higher we go,
the more we come down to earth."
- Chogyam Trungpa
contributed by HP Yogini and soon to be SUNRIDER Herbal Warrioress Leslie
* Temple Manager Ananda planting lavender at the Temple H(om)e. In Wholistic Fitness� such Mindful activities such as gardening is termed, "Active Meditation." Such Active Meditations can be recognized because they inevitably feed our Souls. The key, of course, is to keep the mind (and Heart) engaged within the moment by moment action. A wandering, unappreciative mind during gardening will not produce beautiful blossoms. Note how Ananda wisely incorporates the use of Yogi Squat for cultivating more than flowers, using Yogi Squat during gardening will also allow the hips to bloom.
- photo by coach
Back Beneath The Sacred Peak...
Noble Ones,
we are back beneath the Sacred Peak,
the Mojave amplifying our moments of ReConnection with our LA Sangha...
now
only
Ponderosa wind
and
melting snows up high...
love,
el coache and ananda
ps: our Priority will be to regain step with our Online Students and Sunrider Herbal Warriors...more soon!
April 18, 2006
ONLINE TEMPLE NOTICE
My outgoing mail server issues continue to dance...some of my outgoing emails are punching through Shiva's Dance,
while a stack of others are not.
Please remain patient.
Am doing my best.
om so ti
coach ilg
The Exhausted Mind
"Rest in natural great peace?This exhausted mind?Beaten helpless by karma and neurotic thought,?Like the relentless fury of the pounding waves?In the infinite ocean of samsara.
Rest in natural great peace."
- NYOSHUL KHEN RINPOCHE
* photo looking outside our North Hollywood apartment after a hard bike ride. i am in a unique scientific interior environment; 1 year since moving away from LA and over 4 consecutive months of training in altitudes of 7-12,000'+ and now suddenly immersed within the thunderous noise, societal vibration, and particulate pollution of LA. i can intimately register the progressive impact upon my mental, emotional, cellular, energetic, and muscular systems. without a doubt; Big City living is neurally fatiguing - if not frying - and it requires Skillful Practice and ongoing Heightened Awareness to remain Alert, Aware, and Wise when dealing with this pandemonium of input. i See very, very Clearly now, why my Spiritual Teachers sent me here for nearly a decade. I know this Realm and it is fierce. Fortunately, the Gifts inherent to WF Online Training are proving lethal to this Outer Pandemonium and vital for replenishing exhausted minds and fried nerves which create the stage of all dis-ease.
that is all,
coach ilg
April 16, 2006
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE SANGHA, BABY...seen and heard at the HP Yoga� Master Class in Studio City...
"The question is...where karma comes into the chain of causation."
- His Holiness, The Dalai Lama
"It's all about the Sangha, baby!"
After the 2-Hour sweatfest, Teachers Ilg and Ananda reflect the "Glow From The Flow"..."The amount of Love in that Cave was heart-opening," smiled Ananda, "Coach and i will be back soon!"
Some Things Heard:
"Good grief, steve!"
- Connie Ilg during class as coach demonstrates one of his crazy "option" alternatives during the class
"Well, i think i may have met my match for wildness in coach...i have NEVER been to a Yoga Class as hard or where the teacher actually did a Coyote Howl DURING the class! This is GREAT!"
- Mikey
"You are...well, you know...words just can't describe...thank you for coming back to Teach us...i love you."
- Peter
"I always have you right here in my heart...thank you for your Teaching and passion."
- Sue
"Dude, that friggin' CRANKED!"
- Victor
"Oh my GOD! Look at you, ilg...your hair...the beard...you ARE the Mountain Yogi!"
- Teacher Blanchard
"Dude...brother...dude...dude..."
- Ron
Some Things Seen (through the lens of Ron Jones):
WF Devotee & Online Student Mackel with Teacher Q and Peter in the background. Student Mackel won the Most Noble Yogi Award by running for 2 hours BEFORE taking my class. As a reward? His Sahasrara Chakra is now adorned with the very first "Wholistic Fitness Halo Headband" soon to be available on the Tribal Catalog! 
coach with ChiRunner� Gary, one of Student Mackel's running partners...i inflected my Teaching Dialogue with lots of CHI references to help bridge the gap between Prana (yogic word for Life Force) and Chi (Asiatic word for Life Force). Gary definitely brought his Chi to the mat and for that, i bow! i know well the yoga of running 100+ mile weeks...and its transmission of stiffness into the tissues...there are Edges to every form of yoga, every form of sport, every form of activity, occupation, and lifestyle. An ultimate notion of Yoga is to blur those edges until no separation exists; only the Chi remains! 
A special post class moment with long-time Student and SUNRIDER Warrior; Clay Clymore. i cannot tell you how rewarding it is to me and Ananda to visit here in LA and ReConnect Through Sacred Sweat. Thank ALL of you for coming out to Teacher Blanchard's cave! 
Connie Ilg (yes, my sister!) got this picture of myself and Ananda with Ron Jones, a 'DL celeb'. A World Champion in Ultraracing and Front Line Warrior who is doing his best to help save our nation from obesity, Ron just made my class after appearing on National TV for his quote, "Child Obesity is Child Abuse." Ron was the only Warrior who took my Yoga Class on Saturday, and then survived a 30-mile hurtfest on the Mountain Bikes on Sunday with me...think about it, a 2-Hour HP Yoga� Master Class into a 3-hour guided most beautiful elite outdoor experience and workout...all for $20 (the cost of the Yoga Class)...how many other Teachers or Coaches or athletes or personal trainers or book authors are gonna offer YOU that type and caliber of world-class variety, fun and fitness?
not many...
i do.
why?
cuz it ain't about me...
"The Hugging Coach" with Most Noble HP Yogini Sue...
it's all about the SANGHA baby...
YOU!
I'll see if i can get some photos of me and RJ's Part Two of Our Most Excellent LA Adventure...this time, RJ learns first hand about getting "Marlowized"...
until now,
namaste from the land of sea and just trying to be me,
coach
April 15, 2006
Living (and Sweating) in LA
Hey Y'all!!
our LA Sangha PACKED THE CAVE again in Studio City!
THANK YOU ALL who were there with us in presence or spirit!
SOOOO much fun! Warrior Mackel even got the first our new WF Halo� Headbands...
word up: my outgoing email is down for the moment. i will work on it tomorrow...
right now A and i are going to hit Hollywood for some dinner and something...
tomorrow; Reseda to the Sea route! wanna come?
meet at Gelsons sign on Reseda/Ventura with your cross or MTB at 9:30 am!
love and sweat,
coach and ananda
April 14, 2006
THE WOLF HAS LANDED...plus..."DL IS ONE OF MY MUST-READS EACH DAY"
Ahhh...back in LA...the land of 'house cabs' that taste like $50/bottle wines,
fish that is so fresh it joins you for Mealtime Blessing Meditation,
beautiful people that are open minded to EVERYTHING...
and that delectable Dance of that amazing ocean breathing her moist Heaven's breath
over the Santa Monica Mountains in satiny wisps of eucalyptus perfumed cloud fingers...
i LOVE YOU LA!!!!
looking forward to seeing my LA HIGH PERFORMANCE YOGA tomorrow at 1:00pm at:
http://www.progressivepoweryoga.com/
bring your road bike for an apres ride around the hills of Griffith Park!
Mountain Yogi playing Hookey at Sea Level...MAN THERE IS A LOT OF OXYGEN DOWN HERE!!
love,
coach ilg
oh...
below, Most Noble SUNRIDER Herbal Warrior Richard Collins inspires me...maybe you too?
" Coach, i am one of your herbal warriors and am
remaining faithful to the herbs - your blog is my one
must-read each day -
and unlike a year ago (before Ilg
and the herbs) i do cardio (intervals too) strength
training along with the yoga. i stopped smoking six
months ago and my dentist told me today that the
gingivitis is cleared up.
Each am I read something
spiritual - at present, Geshe Roach's Diamond Cutter
(just finished Lama Govinda's The Way of the White
Clouds). i just turned my youngest son on to some
basic buddhist writings and terms for a college paper
he is writing about Boddhisattva Jarvis Masters on San
Quentin's death row. i would emphasize the
"Transformation" in TBF - and at age 59 not a moment
too soon.
Thanks, Coach.
Namaste, rich collins
April 13, 2006
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ANANDA!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GYRL!!!!
Temple Manager and my Beloved Joy "Ananda" Kilpatrick turned 39 Years Young on the 11th...so, i did what any other respectable Mountain Yogi would do for such a Brave Goddess of Sweat and Spirit...
i whisked her away to the Greatest, Grandest Canyon of them all! The Grand Canyon is just up the street from the Temple
H(om)e and the Canyon's Pranic influence is an undeniable factor of the special 'ether' surrounding Flagstaff. Ananda has found Rebirth within the canyons of the Southwest and taking her into this Grand Canyon was a 'Joy to be hold" for sure!
Going for a real 'Joy ride'!!! We rode our road bikes out to Hermit's Rest...a fantastic 20 mile jaunt with the Canyon just yawning her geologic majesty on our side. The Park Service does not allow cars on this stretch of road...just perfect for WF Warriors and Warrioress! 
i am thinkin' i may have trained Ananda too go(o)d! she decided she wanted to make a Duathlon out of her birthday, so we cranked down the famous South Kaibab Trail toward Cedar Ridge...just a couple of thousand foot drop, is all! Ananda was so stoked on the Pran of the Canyon, that we rode our bikes down to the Backcountry Office and took out a Backcountry Permit for a two day backpacking all the way down into the Inner Gorge...we will spend a couple nights right on the Colorado River and just MERGE into the Solitude and Spectacular Serenity. Of course, i have another motive; i want to recon a particular trail for an absolutely crazy athletic event sometime in the future! Stay tuned to this ONE! In this shot (try clicking to enlarge), you can not only see how dramatic the South Kaibab Trail switchbacks through millennia, you can even see the bottom of the canyon several thousand feet below. It is waaaay down there where A and i will descend into later this summer. As we were slaloming through the haggard, panting, complaining young Dorito-fed kids and their parents along the trail, us 'old people' noticed with alarm that these people were literally imploding...due to poor nutrition and exercise, their bodies could not even remember how to break a sweat! i think the quote of the day had to go to the young, overfat girl who whined, "I KNEW i shoulda brought cheesefries with me!" Each year, people die on these extremely steep trails due to 'heat exhaustion." call it what you will... i call it; lack of herbs and WF, baby! just recently a 26-year old woman died at the bottom of the canyon due to poor training and overambitious ego trying to to do the Rim to the River and back in one day. 
Of course, the 260 million year old Kaibab Limestone is just fantastic for bouldering...here, i create a nice little V2 boulder problem along the Path. the formation at the bottom of the Canyon? appropriately and auspiciously named, "The Vishnu Metamorphic Complex" is...get this; 1.7 Billion years old! (i have already Taught you what Vishnu symbolizes of the three Yogic Deities...anybody remember?) 
A and i picked a place to sit and meditate. you can only imagine how easy it is to 'drop in' with this Expanse of Pran and Natural Beauty surrounding your every pore. As we sat with California Condors, Mexican Jays, Hawks and the Expanse, i could not help but recall Sogyal Rinpoche's Teaching;
"What should we �do� with the mind in meditation? Nothing at all.
Just leave it, simply, as it is.
One master described meditation as �mind, suspended in space, nowhere.�
Happy Birthday Ananda, you are the Shining Jewel of This Humble Temple!
i'm already packing for our next adventure...and as the Silician strongman Franco Columbo once asked,
"Why travel light
when you are strong?"
Ananda, you are an inspiration...you ain't gettin' older,
you're getting FITTER!
And to all of you, my Beloved DL Warriors...thanks for reading and
Stay with Wholistic Fitness so you can be healthy and fun for your Loved One's birthdays, not just your own!
cheesefries?
what ARE cheesefries, anyway?
love and off to Teach in the City of Angels...
maybe we will see you there?!
love and sweat,
coach ilg
STUDENT INPUT; Fierce Loving From Coach Draws The Love From the Path of Fire!
A Haiku For Coach:
Feeble he may say (5)
His light and love feed many (7)
all is Not in vain. (5)
i bow in love,
Teacher Q
***
Dear Coach Ilg,
There is not a person on earth who will be able to "close the doors" to the Wholistic Fitness� Temple of I have entered.
Namaste,
Harry
***
Wondrous Coach,
just wanted to express my (delayed) Gratitude. for every-thing. You are One Brave Solider! Thank You for paving the way ...
Mucho Love,
shishya lees
***
Coach and Joy-
Please know that I am praying for you both, and for the success of your modest temple here in Flagstaff. I am dedicating mile 20-21 of my upcoming marathon (my first!) to you both- the increased strength and confidence I have acquired since starting HP Yoga will get me through the really difficult miles ahead. Faith and perseverance in all things, right?
SAM
***
Noble Ilg,
I always go to DL every morning to make my day, a lot better then the newspaper or TV.
Cheers,
Scott
***
Dear Coach,
Thinking of you
"Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds." Albert Einstein
I'm really alarmed by all of the {wellness, marriage, fitness, life, parenting} coaches that are turning up all over the place. WTF??? Thanks for being who you are; DL certainly provides me with inspiration.
all the best,
yogini jeannine
***
Being a online student since fall 1999 i can't begin to express the impact Ilg, yourself, and WF have made on my life and the quality of. i would be a lost and wandering soul without it. i realize from my own constant struggles that it is a difficult and varied path but the divine path it is. it may not be for everyone but for the souls who long for a true path there is no other.
much love,
student moses
(in an email to his WF Teacher, Haku)
***
bro,
so does Kali yuga actually translate to �the candy ass age� ?
;-)
love,
haku
***
Dear Coache',
a bow to student ludgate.
a bow to you...
and fierce loyalty...
so maybe the sudden exodus
has some go(o)d in "it"....
some concentrating..
not grasping....
LOVE,
student dansan
***
Dear Coach Ilg,
keep up the magical DL please, has been REAL inspiring of late.
Awaiting my fate with the new programme.
Humbly
Student Ash
***
RE: DL of 4/4
Dear Coach,
I don't know about 2005, but I nominate today's DL for best so far for 2006. Your essay went right to the heart of WF warriorship!
Namaste.
michael
***
Dear Coach Ilg and Teacher Q,
I now feel better than I ever have in my life and at the same time I am raising a reasonable amount of money for orphans from donations from my many generous sponsors. I feel a lot of balance in my life just now. I am not overconfident, I am fully aware that what I am about to undertake involves some serious risks, all good bardo training though!! I will tread with utmost awareness. I will think often of Whollistic Fitness and look forward to my future walk down this most magnificent and sacred way. My mantra out on the ice will be Om Sa, alternately on each ski. I will try to use this mantra when times are tough.
I extend the deepest bow I can muster to the entire Whollistic Fitness Shangha, you are truly inspirational.
student austin (the wildman!)
***
Namaste Coach and Joy-
As a credit to your teaching and my practice I would like to let you know that I could not have mustered up the gumption to buy this house without the weekly intentions we set in yoga class and the time spent on centering and recharging. My intention each week is to take the first steps and do the things that I always say that I want to do- one of which was to buy a house.
Thank You for teaching us
- Luke
***
Hey Steve,
As I read DL I often see the similarities in our passions for the outdoor sports and it is nice to see how well you promote the joy we can have when we allow ourselves to get away from the comfort of the warm home. Anyway, keep doing what you are doing,
Thanks and love from Karl and Jen.
***
Dear Coach,
I'm a practioner of WF and HP Yoga via the Outdoor Athlete, Total Body, HP Yoga Prop Workout, and HP Yoga Basic Strength. An aspirant to the 508 as well.
Looking at those beautiful photos of you doing Tai Chi gives me an idea.
It seems that producing a DVD of you leading a yoga practice, using a Mini DV type camcorder, would be pretty low cost for you. You could even just set up a tri-pod on a mesa, lead a practice, and burn it to DVD, and have them copied. At $30 a DVD, I'd probably buy as many different practice sessions as you could produce. I think it would be understood that the production values are minimal, but the Chi kicks butt!
You might also think about providing such a monthly DVD as part of a training package.
With a humble bow,
Paul
Berkeley, CA
April 12, 2006
TEMPLE GONG RINGS AGAIN FOR TOMORROW!
Ilgbro!
It's on! It's time for rj to address the national corporate world head on baby!
RJ will be announcing that we HAVE found the Weapons of Mass Destruction--it's the American knife, fork, and spoon! (Note the Wholistic Fitness� chopsticks {as mentioned in TOTAL BODY TRANSFORMATION and in your Teachings} are NOT on this list!)
:o)
WF warriors around the globe...send feeble but FIT rj your chi hits NOW!
I bow to us all that CHOOSE to make a DAILY stand for wholistic health instead of sloth!
Namaste'
rj
----- ------- Original Message ------- -----
From: "Ron Jones"
To: ron@ronjones.org
Sent: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 18:19:58
Hi All,
Just got final confirmation that the Fox News show is on for tomorrow-Thursday. I'll be coming on about 4:30 PM-EST. The show is rebroadcast about 10:00 PM-PST if you're in California and miss the first live showing.
In fitness!
Ron
Ron Jones,MS,LLC
ACSM Health/Fitness Instructor
Licensed Corporate Wellcoach
www.ronjones.org
HIGH PERFORMANCE YOGA@..."an AMAZING experience!"
Good day to you Coach,
I thought I would share my first experience with you, of my first session of HP yoga. What an amazing experience! I must have spent more time in child pose than I did any other, yet I felt such an unbelieveable release. I never realized how constricted, and confined I was, both mentally and physically. As I transitioned from pose to pose, I felt waves after waves of different thoughts and emotions just flush through my body. I have felt such a level of peace since then although I have not been able to have another session, as I "caught" a bad cold soon after. It somehow doesn't feel like merely a coincidence, and I believe that this is merely a symptom of detoxification of the pollutions that I have had stored in my tissues for who knows how long.
Namaste,
Your humble student,
Will Maruszczak
***
THIS SATURDAY, APRIL 15th @ 1:00 pm:
Coach Ilg returns to Studio City, CA to teach a 2-hour HP Yoga� Master Class for only $20/student. If you live near LA and would like to attend this special opportunity, let us know!
***
April 10, 2006
Forget-Full of Student Warriorism
"i have found that Western Students are sometimes forget-full of their incarnations when
they used to have to travel, often barefoot and through high Himalayan passes, distances of 40-60 miles at a time
to have Meeting and attain a Teaching (more often than not, just a grunt of disapproval) from their
Accepted Teacher."
- coach ilg
above photo;
Bodh, India - a endangered human species; a Tibetan monk in exile from the Chinese takeover of Tibet praying in the way all Prayer was traditionally done; with Sweat. This form of Sweat Based Prayer is the oldest and most effective in human spirituality and is known as, "Prostrations". Some Tibetans will do these Prostrations for over 500 kilometers, bruised, bloody, and utterly fatigued...while simultaneously chanting. In our modern day "Yoga Studios" students might know the vinyasa movement of "Chaturanga"...Chaturanga's are a very diluted form of Prostrations. In this country? I have students that complain about a few cents per day for world-class spiritual training or quit the Path the moment the novelty of deepening inner resolve through sweat-and-stillness based Practice wears off.
WF competes against Spiritual candy; "a �why bother� attitude"
Since 1982 coach ilg, pictured above during a DVD shoot with Wayne Williams, has attempted to teach a no-glitz, hardcore Path of Ancient Yogic Wisdom wrapped within the Sweat and Spirit of today's modern fitness world. DVD's, books, CDs, complimentary blogging and newsletters, and most of all. the Dharma Front Line of one-on-one personal training through the world's first, fitness online training system. Is the Tide of Kali Yuga (our current spiritual dark age, prophesied thousands of years ago by the Yogic Masters), just too strong to see Wholistic Fitness� survive the apathy of self cultivation so rampant these days? you and i stand on a spiritual precipice; the Void of the Outer World's addiction to entertainment instead of Inner Attainment may soon see Coach Ilg close the Doors of WF once and for all...what a tragedy that would be for those of us who love his creative, grounded, and astonishing Path of Clarity Through Sweat and Stillness. Below, my fellow Certified Teacher, Joseph "Haku" Sheader demonstrates his own Wisdom gained through his long years as a Student and Teacher of our little, fierce Path up the Steep Walls toward Enlightenment...
om tat sat,
WF Temple Manager Ananda
{Some of the The WF Teacher's Boyz Club clockwise from upper left; WF Teachers Haku, Teacher Q, and 'el coache'. photo by Ananda}
Ilgbro,
We are all competing against the hightide of comfort, safety, and entertainment.
Us highschool coaches were talking about it the other day at the meet...kids could be as fast and talented as ever yet there is not the work ethic, the drive, the tenacity, the interest... When we were in highschool/college most injuries were due to overtraining, now they are due to undertraining.
The path of least resistance, especially when it rewards you, is hard to resist for so many.
There is a whole �why bother� attitude. Spiritual candy is all most want, some red bull for a little zest, just a peak into the Grand Canyon then back to the casino, 5 minutes of �warrior yoga� at least for a couple weeks tell the novelty of the dvd wares off, podiums much easier to acquire on puter game of halo.
I am not even impressed with peoples �intentions� any more. Intentions my ass..those aren't intentions, those are fluffy flakey, feel good little wish bones.
love and tenacity,
haku
"He who seeks not the hard way seeks not the true way."
- Dogen.
***
WF Online Teacher Haku has openings for a new WF Online Student;
what do you want in this lifetime of only 2 billion or so heartbeats?
you want the Spiritual Candy
or
the
Real Path of Steep and Direct Transformation?
April 09, 2006
"Just Today" by WF Master Student Alan Ludgate
Coach's note; in the tiny Temple beneath the Sacred Peak, the last thirty days has been a Business Person's nightmare;
more Online Students than ever before have quit, complained, or otherwise stuffed their Online Studies into some egoic comfort zone appropriate to their Fear.
WF Online Study is the Steepest and Most Direct Path to Transformation that Kali Yuga has ever NOT had the STRENGTH to dismantle by way of greed, money, or in other way; SELL OUT.
Though we be small,
we are Fierce.
Yet, the Students that STICK WITH their Online Studies through all the Songs and Dances of their egoic RATIONALIZATIONS; trust me, i have heard them ALL...
come up with
a
Clarity,
a Wisdom,
and BARDO MERIT STRENGTH that is completely unheard of in KALI YUGA...
yes,
the Students that stick with WF Online Studies and persevere in the TRUST of their Teacher like
Student Alan Ludgate of NYC
write
things like this.
Feel friggin' BLESSED that i even published this DHARMA, straight and true from the HEART of a living, fighting WF Online FAMILY WARRIOR who arises at an hour that most of us choose to sleep to do his WF Practice of several years...feel BLESSED to read these words from someone focused on ENLIGHTENMENT...
i am HUMBLED to call myself
'Coach' to this Noble Warrior;
may ALL BEINGS EVERYWHERE REALIZE THE INVALUABLE IMPORTANCE of staying TRUE to their Dharma Teacher,
no
matter
WHAT!
fierce loving,
fierce sadness,
fierce everything until Enlightenment of all beings...
coach ilg
***
Coach-
Just today I...
Awoke at 3 AM in my hotel room, finding myself staring at a blank laptop screen
Awoke again at 5:30, fully clothed on top of the covers on my bed
Read my daily meditation in Glimpse After Glimpse
Released into Early Morning Ritual, bringing calm, releasing blockages
Went to my morning meetings, but stepped back and let the guys working for me shine
Back to the hotel, mindfully packed and checked out. Soft eyes and smile for the front desk crew.
Now a choice - could (should?) run to the gym, power through Srength Enduro Lower Body, dive into a taxi, and just make my plane...
Don't
Instead, just today, I sat by the river and watched a bird chase a squirrel relentlessly through the grass
Slowly and mindfully ate a wonderful lunch of salmon, jicama slaw, and white wine
Called a sick friend and made her laugh
Strolled with equanimity to my plane, folded myself into the seat.
Sunk deeply into my novel
Allowed sleep to come
Wrote you this letter
Just today.
Tomorrow? I will begin again, and again, and endlessly again. Intervals before breakfast? You bet. Hold my boys tight, and hold Lucas's hand all the way to school? Absolutely. Tell my wife I love her, over and over and over again? Done, done, and done.
But today, my cup was empty, and I stopped by a spring to refill.
Love,
Student L
RISING WF ONLINE STUDENT WARRIOR: HARRY! Check Out This Noble Warrior's Cycle Summation Input!
After completing The Namaste II Program, I now realize that Wholistic Fitness� Programs are so full of subtle changes that though I might not see big changes each week, the accumulation of little changes over a long period will yield huge results.
STRENGTH TRAINING INPUT:
I feel I have a good flow right now in the workouts. Still finding that optimal mix between failure at the last rep. For the Front Lat Pulldowns, Ku Bottom tests my concentration power. You initially think to yourself, I can hold this for 5 breaths and then reality hits in after the second breath. The test (to me) is in the hands, that is what screams during Ku Bottom.
Two Bench Triceps are probably the most intense movement I have done so far. Serious burn in the arms. Who knew 1 minute could be so long.
CARDIO TRAINING INPUT:
Each week brings a little more endurance. I do a spin class at the club on Sat mornings. It is an intense 1 hour session.
One of the biggest challenges is blocking out all ambient noise and sights that goes on at the health club. With music blasting and multiple video screens, it takes a lot of concentration to keep my focus directly in front of me.
YOGA TRAINING INPUT:
Quick Fix Power Yoga with Joy is great, because I was able to keep up. Your WANDERING YOGI routine is a great addition to the quiver. Each week I aim to hold the Hero pose just a little longer and move my edge just a little farther on each movement.
Consciousness of my breath patterns has been the area that I have focused on the most. Making sure I am breathing correctly is what I keep reminding myself.
Frustrating, eye-opening, edge dancing!
One thing I found myself doing was tightening my facial muscles and jaw while getting into this position as best I could. I had to "step back" and relax my face. Putting on half a smile works wonders for this.
My first excursion into yoga made me realize I did not have a clue about breathing, mind focus, and what my body can do.
MEDITATION TRAINING INPUT:
Starting to see better flexibility in my sitting. Am able to concentrate more on "nothing" each time vice my knees.
Over the course of the past 3 months, my whole concept of breath has changed.
"The past is gone, the future is not here yet." "If we don't live in the present, we miss everything" is also really good. I also enjoyed his writing about how anger is really about ourselves and not someone else.
NUTRITION TRAINING INPUT:
I use to completely bypass any menu item from a main course that excluded meat. Now I not only look, I even order non-meat meals.
The SUNRIDER Herbs are now just a normal part of my life. I transitioned to drinking Fortune Delight � during my cardio sessions.
LIFESTYLE TRAINING INPUT:
I Absolutely LOVE WF! I am having a great time!
One other change that has taken place, I rarely wear shoes in my house anymore. I am much more cognizant of what type of shoes I wear.
***
if YOU are NOT receiving so many multi-layered Insights and Benefits for your Body/Mind & Spirit from YOUR personal training...uhhhh...
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?!??!
WHOLISTIC FITNESS� ONLINE TRAINING;
Accepting Applications For New Students Like Harry TODAY!
April 07, 2006
The Window Of Change
"Watch the Way you Walk,
Watch the Way you Talk...
if you do this steadfastly,
the Window of Change
will shake your vision
your mind will become at ease
and the solitude of where you are
who you are
will make it nearly Soaring
to let go of the Past."
- coach ilg in free counsel to a Seeker knocking at the Temple Door of WF
photo by Coach Ilg of Anasazi ruins, Wupatki National Monument outside of Flagstaff, AZ.
***
Mr. Ilg
this is the first "Green Tara program" week of my
training under guidance from your (WF)book. As one who
trains at home by himself, already i am learning to
appreciate that "less is more" being able successfully
negotiate the entire thursday upper body workout of
the program without experiencing the usual
excruciating discomfort in my right shoulder during
and after (which i suspect had been incurred in
earlier training as a result of too much weight being
used by me too soon).
This initial healing has dispelled a lot of my recent
"training phobia" and given me renewed confidence to
pursue my fitness goals without feeling the pressure
to prematurely use very heavy weights (and other bad
habits) to feel like i am making progress - you know,
like the 'magazines' all suggest.
Thank you for your time/additional guidance and for
writing for this world the gift of your knowledge and
experience to which the divine has so obviously guided
myself and so many others.
best regards,
Potential WF warrior
andrew mc cracken
trinidad w.i
COACH RESPONDS:
From passions rise the Beauty of what you truly are...
surrounded by your "bad habits"
yet,
with Practice within the Path of WF,
Watch the Way you Walk,
Watch the Way you Talk...
if you do this steadfastly,
the Window of Change
will shake your vision
your mind will become at ease
and the solitude of where you are
who you are
will make it nearly Soaring
to let go of the Past.
Welcome to the tiny Temple beneath
the Sacred Peak.
Om So Ti,
coach ilg
above: photo of coach in "Traditional Opening" of the Ai Imawa Postures by Wayne Williams.
EVEN THE BUDDHA DIED + METABOOSTER's FIRST TEST IS CRAZY GO(O)D!!
Even Buddha died.
His death was a teaching to shock the naive, the indolent, and the complacent, to wake us up to the truth that everything is impermanent and death an inescapable fact of life.
As he was approaching death, Buddha said:
"Of all footprints?That of the elephant is supreme.?Of all mindfulness meditations?That on death is supreme."
***
Photo 1; the WF Temple H(om)e Buddha caught in early morning light. photo by coach
Photo 2; coach in meditation on a precarious Sandstone Arch Zafu Cushion a few hundred feet off the earth. powerful place for Death Meditations! photo by Ananda.
text opening by Soygal Rinpoche
***
Watch DL Over The Next Few Days as i complete my initial world-class Field Testing of Dr. Chen's crazy ass new Herbal Product that AMPS the Metabolism;
i tell you...i am SOOOO glad to be in the SUNRIDER Herbal Temple...Dr. Chen is just one Whacky Genius of using the world's most superior, whole food herbs to become inner rocket fuel for those of us that LOVE being in and testing the capacities of our bodies...you won't believe my report...i am testing it again today on the Sacred Peak...the best High Altitude Fitness Testing Lab in the nation baby!
April 06, 2006
A Very Special "Clay Jug"...
"Inside this clay jug there are canyons and pine mountains,
and the maker of canyons and pine mountains.
All seven oceans are inside, and hundreds of millions of stars."
- Kabir 
the "clay jug" of which the Sufi Poet speaks is the yogi's body...
a traditional metaphor of the Ancient Teachers. i love this poem,
which i have only excerpted here...*
i recite it often to my Yoga Students,
such as my Beloved HP Yoga� student, "Warrior Clay" (see photo above) whom i first met
and trained in WF privately at the Santa Clarita Athletic Club outside LA.
Today,
after a long while, i heard this from him after he read the DL which announced i would be
returning to LA to teach a HP Yoga� Class on April 15th:
" Noble Coache
I am there baby!!!!
Love,
warrior clay"
For those less familiar with the Warrior Tradition that is Served here in this tiny Temple beneath the Sacred Peak,
Clay's succinct answer to my call,
his Capitalization of my name,
the lack of capitalization of his,
and the word, "Love"...again Capitalized...
is all such perfect Haiku like briefness that i cherish
from my seasoned Students.
such a Warrior remembers from past lives when time came to join me on the various Battlefields...
swords drawn,
integrity at the ready to be tested..
life
or death...
such is the Warrior's Way.
do YOU remember?
or has the Great Sea drifted you astray from your Warrior Spirit..?
God Bless the Warriors that come running when i ring my humble gong...
i have no marketing agency
no bells nor whistles
i do not advance sexy or glitzy or celebrity history for barter of your money to study this Path...
i and my Staff of WF Online Teachers depend upon the only thing that matters in the long run...
your
integrity
of
Spirit
and
willingness
to
Rise Above.
Warrior Clay? i know you will read this because you read DL as the Electronic Dharma of WF:
you know,
the Masters said that out of every 100 aspirants of genuine yoga,
there will one or perhaps two
that will touch the Soul of the Teacher in the most charming, devoted of Ways...
Warrior Clay,
my beautiful Being...
you are one of those Special Students...we have covered much Terrain
to-get-Her...
and my inward smile carries me toward Joy as i look forward to the years
shining ahead of us; full of Practice...
head bowed,
coach ilg
* would you like a copy of this poem to share with your Beloved?
i will send it to you...
just tell me WHY you feel moved enough to want to read the entirety of this poem from such a God-intoxicated
mystic poet!
you know my email.
Coach, Leading "...The Way To Gracious Relevance."
el coache
leads the way to gracious relevance!
http://pastkarmona.blogspot.com/
***
Coach Responds:
Most Beautiful Brave Shishya Karen,
thank you for your Respect,
Acknowledgment,
and Bravery to Live Your Bliss
out Loud!
may all Beings everywhere benefit from your
DHARMA ROAR!!!!!
All One,
One in All...
coach ilg
*Karen Carmona; pictured above is one of our Tribe's most creative, etherically tapped Warrioress...her Blog is not to be missed. Karen began her WF Journey as a HP Yogini, working for us at my LA Studio, then became a SUNRIDER Herbal Warrioress, and is now cranking ever deeper into the multilayered world of WF through THE WINTER ATHLETE; arguably the best Temple Book for overall kickass WF Programs!
A Divine Embrace...
"Mountain does not worry, clouds do no worrying...whenever you can relax you perform better."
- Kaoru Kishiyama, my Taoist Teacher
i awoke this morning to this gorgeous snow plume caressing the crown of the Sacred Peak...
this image invoked within my Soul
a manifestation of Vishnu's hand caught in a seductive mood with Mother Earth...
within moments,
i will risk
the sound of my snowshoes and skis and heaving breath
to disturb the embrace of these Divine Lovers.
"All One,
One in All..."
- MahaNidraRishi in private counsel with Coach Ilg
May Your Practice be Strong and Sincere and full of Divine Insight from Sweat...
your humble Mountain Yogi
***
Coach To Come Down From The Sacred Mountain To Teach in LA; APRIL 15th!
"It's one thing to get more supple and open your stiff area's through asana...
It's another thing to do it while winning endurance sports
and not being afraid to pump iron in the gym...
If i had a dime for every time a "Teacher of Yoga" told me to, "stop running" or "stop lifting weights"
because it is "ruining my Yoga Practice,"
i would be
1) a very rich man and
2) as Ignorant and Chi-less as them!
For a quarter of a century, i have continued to develop, evolve, and most of all TEST my
High Performance Yoga� so that it remains Uniquely Traditional yet laced with Western Sport Physiology techniques
targeting the weaknesses inherent to American constitutions, tendencies, and lifestyles."
- Coach Ilg
***
HP Yoga�, customized by a World Class multisport mountain yogi for those of us
who actually DO OTHER STUFF besides just yoga postures! Feel the CHI, baby!"
- Coach Ilg
creator/High Performance Yoga�...breaking new inner terrain for American Fitness Warriors since 1982
click on photo to enlarge...
Joy and i look sooo forward to seeing you again in the City of Angels!
High Performance Yoga� is a limb of Steve Ilg's Wholistic Fitness�..the most balanced, comprehensive, and powerful Personal Training Path on the planet!
***
April 05, 2006
WF DEVOTEE RJ GOES NATIONAL TO HELP OUR NATIONAL TRIBE!
Oh GAWD!
May Shiva Bless THIS...
this is gonna be GO(o)D!!!!
RAGIN' RJ goes NATIONAL!!!!!
A very popular contributor and WF Devotee, SUNRIDER Herbal Warrior, and of course my ultra-racing Teammate; Ron Jones sent in this Press Release to the Temple. I trust you to catch this Noble Brother of ours as he bravely charges out onto the BattleField of the Outer World in order to Serve the Dharma:
***
Health Friends,
I�ll be live on national TV this Thursday, April 6th. I will be appearing on the Fox News business show Your World with Neil Cavuto. We will be discussing the national crisis with child obesity in the light of recent reports that car seats are now being made larger to accommodate America�s fat children. Your World starts at 4:00 PM EST. I�ll be on around 4:30-5:00 PM EST.
Cavuto is the VP of business news at Fox News and serves on the Fox News executive committee along with anchoring Your World program. See link below for details.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,1267,00.html
My new Ron Jones Dynamic Warm-Up DVD has arrived! I�ll be selling them through PayPal on my website or through personal contacts and appearances. Want to move better with less pain in five minutes? Check out my new DVD and get started today! DVD is complete with a tutorial for each of the ten exercises plus an exercise segment where I lead you through the warm-up series at the proper tempo. DVD with tutorials, exercise segment, and introduction is 46:05 run time. The warm-up itself can be performed in about five minutes once you master the exercises. See link below for details. DVDs will be available �on-line� by late April and will be sold nationally and internationally.
http://www.ronjones.org/Products/DVD/DynamicWarmUpDVD-SALES.html
Hope y�all are moving well. If not�then start now!
In health and fitness,
Ron
Ron Jones, MS
Atlanta-Los Angeles
ACSM Health/Fitness Instructor
Licensed Corporate Wellcoach
www.ronjones.org
"High-Performance Health"
April 04, 2006
Coach Ilg's Herbal Warrior Tribe Remains On The Podium!
FROM TRISH CHILDERS:
Another fantastic month in our organization!
Leading the pack is the ever-expanding Ilg Clan, with the Leader of the Pack topping out with well over 13,000 PGSV for the month!
Joy Kilpatrick's group hit over 5,000 SV! Joseph Sheader and Diana & Larry Sopko also hitting the qualifying mark!
And, even more fun is watching several new Leaders beginning to emerge. Watch for Shawna, Joanne, Sherri, Margaret, and Peggy to be stepping up on the Director podium in the very near future :-)
What a privilege it is to watch everyone grow and expand into the very best they can be!
love ya
Trish
www.childersibs.biz
***
STILL NOT ON THE "SECRET HERBS" of WF? you best git into the Temple Garden and FEEL THE CHI!
Explore Coach Ilg's proven Path of Transformation, Fat Loss, and World Class Energy;
Coach Ilg's 3-Phase Approach to the SUNRIDER HERBS...since 1983
THE WF TRUTH HURTS + AMERICAN AMBULANCES HAVE TO BE SUPERSIZED
Sometime, somewhere you need to take something to be the truth. But if you cling to it too strongly, then even when the truth comes in person and knocks on your door, you will not open it.
- BUDDHA
In the first years of the Spiritual Journey, the sudden realization that we must enter Truth by entering Pain is a concept that frightens 99% of the common man back into his or her worlds of comfort addiction and entertainment...or fitness specialization. 
On the other hand, The Genuine Yogin In Pursuit of Freedom and Truth who endeavors and endures in chasing Pain into Purification accepts that the Truth hurts. Example; our hips hurt, right?...so enter Truth by entering your hips. 
Now, it's one thing to do the steadfast Inner Work to open your hips, yet i tell you Oh Noble Yogin In Pursuit of Wholeness; that ain't It. Getting open hips is a fine cairn to pursue along the Path, in fact, it is a requirement for Enlightenment. Yet, it is another thing entirely to open your painful hips while logging 10+ hours/week of cardio. Very few yogins are brave enough to develop endurance plus suppleness. Oh, and leave those cursed iPods (the "i" stands for 'Ignorance') off your precious ears, while doing at least MOST of your cardio work, okay? How can you inTend to hear the go(o)d music or receive Divine Insight or develop your Chi with your ears plugged up with addiction to entertainment? Run like a real Warrior; run nakedly as possible and LISTEN to the Song Of The UniVerse!
Most yogins or athletes will find a little niche of fitness specificity that they feel confidence in; be it asana, running, cycling, meditation, the gym, etc. Then, they stagnate...they do not push their True Edge in other areas of their body and mind. They hate being a 'beginner' again and again which is precisely where True Wholistic Fitness keeps us; our MultiDisciplined Yoga constantly prevents us from 'excelling' in any ONE physiologic area...in fact, the WF Warrior will likely never excel in one area of their fitness...except one; BALANCE! (*)
The WF Truth hurts; Your Workout lies in every bodypart AND in every physiologic realm! 
Our lower backs ache from an early addiction to Lateral Dominancy (always using one side of our body more than the other), shallow, unconscious chest breathing, furniture, shoes, and non-self propelled movement...so enter Truth by entering your lower back. Even if that means brushing your teeth while wearing YogaToes� using your Non Dominant Hand with one foot up on the counter and the other arm reaching high into Father Sky to unglue the intercostals which we suffocate by lack of Conscious Breathing. The WF Truth that i have been Teaching you since 1982 hurts; Your Workout is Everywhere! AWARENESS, YOGIN! AWARENESS, AWARENESS!!!!! you do not need me to keep doing all this free Coaching of your Desire to Rise Higher; you need only your AWARENESS!!!!
Besides the predictable resistance the common yogi displays toward Endurance Cardio consistency, such a feeble yogin is also frightened by fast-twitch, explosive power training of our deepest fibers...Strength Training! ...So...you don't run away from the "Iron Temple", you run INTO her Hallowed Halls of The Metal Element and enter Truth by doing high intensity strength training! Who taught you that a "chaturanga" is somehow more "spiritual" or "better" than doing DB Flyes using the WF StarDrive Leg Position� while performing the WF Strength Training Technique of "Staccato Technique�" or "3-Stage Technique�" ? Don't be fooled into thinking you can Balance your MindWaves before you've done the Sweat and Focus of bringing Each of Your Bodyparts into physical symmetry. The WF Truth hurts; we keep running away from what we need to work on the MOST!
The pursuit of Truth is the pursuit of Pain wherever we may find it lodged within our tissues, our resistances, and our negative patterns. Why? Do not overanalyze...instead; accept the energetic fact that Pain is blocked Pran. Flip the switch of your consciousness so that you no longer see Pain as an obstacle, rather see it as another opportunity for Purification and Strength and Wisdom. Such are the training effects of the Pursuit of Truth.
May your Practice be inspired and inFormed by my humble offering to you today...
"DL is like INSTANT MOTIVATION!"
- Rich Paul, SUNRIDER Herbal Warrior of Clan Ananda
i will close with just another example of what happens to our National Tribe when we give up the Pursuit of Truth..
namaste,
coach ilg
(*) Temple Manager Note; it may behoove the DL Reader at this point in Coach's essay, to realize that these words come from an outdoor athlete who has competed in 5 World Championships in 4 physiologically diverse sports! Sometimes, the Truth also inspires!!!
***
Sent in by Ragin' RJ:
Wed Mar 29, 4:56 PM ET
LAS VEGAS - An ambulance company has responded to oversize needs in southern Nevada by providing an ambulance equipped to handle patients weighing 500 pounds or more.
"We're getting more and more requests to transport larger patients every day," said Roy Carroll, operations manager at American Medical Response, one of two companies with Clark County Fire Department contracts to provide medical transport in and around Las Vegas.
Crews have called 75 times in the last six months for additional manpower to handle morbidly obese patients, said Chris Piper, a western regional spokesman for Greenwood, Colo.-based AMR. He said the largest patients weighed more than 500 pounds.
Carroll, in Las Vegas, called handling large patients difficult and unsafe for patients, paramedics and emergency medical technicians.
"Not only does this person not fit, there's a chance he or she could fall," Carroll said. "Our job is to get that patient to where they need to be safely and in a dignified manner. Traditional ambulances can't do that."
The company recently put into service a $250,000 bariatric ambulance, which looks like its other 80 ambulances, but is extra-wide and has a larger gurney, a winch and ramps capable of loading up to 1,600 pounds.
Clark County spokesman Bob Leinbach called the need for the larger ambulances obvious.
"If you don't think it's needed, all you have to do is look around," Leinbach said. "Americans are heavier."
The county's other ambulance provider is awaiting delivery of a bariatric ambulance and recently bought four electric gurneys capable of handling patients weighing up to 750 pounds, said Matthew Cox, a spokesman for MedicWest Ambulance.
"There's less stress on the paramedics' backs and it's a better stabilizer for the patient," Cox said.
Of Nevada's 1.7 million adult residents in 2004, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state Health Division estimated that 21 percent, or about 357,000, were obese.
___
Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal
April 03, 2006
TEMPLE GONG: Best DL's of 2005
"March 13 DL on "SIN" so far it takes my nod as favorite DL of 2006. � please return to it's theme again and again...........my El Coache "right on" again and again.
- student shel
***
Okay, you Warriors...
it is April and i still have not gotten more than a few votes for your Favorite DLs of 2005. Now, i KNOW there are a ton of you that read and benefit from the Divinely Charged Flow of DL...
so at least do your ol' coach a favor for all this inspiration and information:
VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE DL OF 2005...they are still up in the Archives; read through them as your Svadhyaya and
let me know! i am working on a "BEST OF" book of DL's and i need your vote!
thank you,
el coache
Teacher Kokanda Cranks Off The Dharma...
"Meditation brings wisdom;
lack of meditation leaves ignorance.
Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back,
and choose the path that leads to wisdom."
- Buddha
Dhammapada, 20:282
a feeble Mountain Yogi wipes more sweat from his brow,
summit winds whip across his face leaving an etheric residue;
solitary whispers of eternity ring within his herb-fuelled Clear and Vibrating Cells...
"Where did the Master go?" asks the Interviewer down in in the Temple..
"Up on the Sacred Peak, practicing...cloud hidden...whereabouts unknown," answers the Temple Manager.
Yogic Body perched upon backcountry skis like Dharma Swords slicing into untracked snow...
he knows: the Steep and Direct Path
- the Path Less Traveled -
is the One that leads to Wisdom...
and so he goes
into the
snow...
'When in doubt,' he tells his Fear Arising, 'go Higher.' - 
such a Path of Individuated Wisdom and Clarity and Creativity
begins at the common man's boundary...
guiltlessly the Mountain Yogi slides over conventional limits
with Sushumna Activated from long years of solo Meditation hours,
thus the yogi knows well the Path which Leads him forward...
the humble Mountain Yogi stares with Raven's eyes from a HeartSpace opened from long years of being with You,
as the Void yawns below him
he feels not frightened, but rather Awakened,
for with Practiced Ease he can commit with intensity to
a graceful descent over such known terrain...
it is his Tracks - often unseen and rarely understood -
that one day will lead others
Upward, Onward, and Endlessly Inward...
in the Teacher's Teachings lie the most important Lesson;
it is indeed the integrity of one's own in-stance...
feeble ilg says,
Whoever you are,
Whatever you do,
SPEAK TRUE!
and
Stand Strong Upon Your Dharma Swords, Oh Noble Warrior!
travel with easy confidence and graceful strength
protected by the Light
of Supple, Tribal Beat...
***
"Ripples make waves," i wrote in my earliest book back in the mid-eighties...
today, scores of Yoga Teachers use High Performance Yoga� chi and teachings,
scores of Personal Fitness trainers whom i know not,
use WF chi and teachings to forward their Work...
more often than not, my humble, tiny Temple beneath the Sacred Peak, is not acknowledged...
such Karma is their own...even my signature sign-offs are now but ripples among the modern Waves
in my Early Morning Meditations,
before ascending once again into the Throne of The High Mountain Gods...
i sit before my puja table and breathe...
and pray
that all my colleagues who impart those most Treasured Human Gifts of sweat and stillness
never stop studying the Ancient Dharma Teachings
nor encase Dharmic prose with intellectual imitation
instead of making It shimmer by their own sweat.
***
There is a Certified WF Teacher,
my Beloved Chris "Kokanda" Roche
who allWays teaches from his HeartSpace...
rarely uses
and never abuses anyone elses Chi...
he is to me,
a most special and sacred Being
so true to his EarthWalk...
right now, Teacher Ko is living a Granthi Piercing..and, you can read about it in his blog entry of March 29th:
www.twistedsageblog.blogspot.com
in sweat and stillness,
your loving coach
April 02, 2006
The Greatest Endeavor In Your Life
"Just as a writer learns the spontaneous freedom of expression only after years of often grueling study, and just as the simple grace of a dancer is achieved only with enormous, patient effort, so when you begin to understand where meditation will lead you, you will approach it as the greatest endeavor of your life, one that demands of you the deepest perseverance, enthusiasm, intelligence, and discipline."
- Sogyal Rinpoche
above photo; bursting out of the "White Lightning" trees last season, i apply some telemark dancing to the snow. This season, learning to tele ski those same trees remains my Yoga and Meditation Practice. i was raised as a competitive speed skier in all the alpine ski disciplines. groomed and icy fast races courses was my entire way of Being on skis...learning how to tele ski in deep powder in thick trees? ooooof! the Lessons of Tree Skiing come as hard as Ponderosa tree trunks. Make mental note again: gotta get some medical insurance one of these years... Photo by Ananda.
***
Meditation In Mountain Yogi Action: Tele Skiing Through Steep and Deep Trees
in March, i skied 19 out of 23 days.
Each of those 19 ski days were my Yoga Practice.
Each of those 19 ski days were also my Engaged Meditation Practice; field testing my Teachings to you to make sure i am Teaching you in the most practical and proven ways of calming the mind.
To me, and to this Path, that means placing the physical body at danger. If the Mental Self is not being trained to be disciplined while the Physical Self is at risk, then, to me...
in this Steep and Direct Path of Yoga...
"Mental Training" and "Meditation" and "Yogic Equanimity" is intellectual bullshit.
***
As many of you know, i was one of the, if not the - first personal fitness trainers to professionally incorporate and teach Meditation as an integral facet of long-term personal health and fitness.
I have been meditating pretty dang solidly for a long time.
To this very day, i always do my best to take my Early Morning Meditations with me and weave their etheric value and principles into my days. Here is what my Yoga Studio looked like in LA. I taught and practiced Meditation within its beautiful walls:
Here in Flagstaff, recently, my main Applied Meditation Studio looks like this:
These are the double-black diamond trees in between two double-black diamond ski runs. click on photo to enlarge. i have been attempting to tele ski (ski downhill on cross-country ski's) through these trees with two Main Priorities to Practice:
1) ski with power, grace, elegance, breath, flow, and empty mind as possible
and...
2) not kill myself.
yesterday, i came close.
here is what it looks like in this Mountain Yoga Tree Skiing Studio...this shot, taken from my phone camera reveals the Steep and Deep nature of this particular "Mountain Yoga Mat":
see how close those old-growth Ponderosa's are? my Yoga is trying to learn how to gracefully tele ski in between these trees and adapting to micro-second reactions on the difficult to turn tele-skis without wrapping my skull casing around the trunk of one of these Beautiful Tree Beings. At 10,800' in altitude, this type of Yoga sends the heartrate and adrenal gland rate into the ionsphere. Tele skiing is a lot of fast-twitch, explosive power combined with agility. Snowboarding or alpine skiing through these trees is something i have already touched Mastery in, so doing that Practice no longer interests me. Tele Skiing through these monsters, however, is, i feel, going to take me quite a while...yet each time i force myself into these trees and start applying my Teachings and my Teachers' Teachings and relax into the intensity...the yoga (union) of breath, snow, trees, and empty self draws just a tad closer...
i love Mountain Yoga...
i love my life...
i love my Path...
i love my Sangha...
in fact, while Practicing my Tree Ski Yoga yesterday, i came up with a Haiku just for you:
***
Face first, into tree (5)
Yoga Practice in progress (7)
When you suck like me (5)
Thank you for reading,
Thank you for Practicing strongly and sincerely and with a Ton of Focused Fun today...
May all Beings everywhere be happy,
and know the causations of happiness.
Maybe see you in the trees today?...
OM SO TI,
coach ilg
"the mountain yogi"