OOOPS! inDirect Lines no longer aqui!!!

hanging out with ilg near Flagstaff, AZ. pic by Bill Galen.

OOOPS!

Sorry, ilg no longer hangs out here...we're all over at our shiny new Head Temple of Fitness Monks the world over at

www.WholisticFitness.com

Coach Ilg is still offering Teachings fresh each day in a multi-media format...just scroll down on the homepage to Coach's Latest Teachings

Enjoy and may all your sweat be (w)holy... coach ilg founder/www.WholisticFitness.com & www.HighPerformanceYoga.com

Two Questions Toward Passionate Balance...

What is it that I am bringing to this circumstance
that is making this a 'problem'?



(in WF, we have no problems...only spiritual challenges we have co-designed with the Divine
in order to make us Stronger, more Whole, more Fit for Enlightenment potential.)

and...

what is my resistance to allowing this moment to be as perfect as it is?

excerpted from my PASSIONATE BALANCE notes for tomorrow's
Member's Only Teleconference.

don't miss it,
member up now
and let's Dharmatalk tomorrow night!

photo by ilg; "de fleur 4 you" taken tonight.

“A Flat Spine: High Performance Yoga™ for Cyclists”

Let’s forget about all the cycling equipment and expensive tweaks you’ve purchased over the past, say 3 years. Let’s trade ALL of it for something that is endlessly more vital to your enjoyment, performance, and spiritual transformation through cycling: a flat spine while riding. Oh, like you have something MORE important to work on over the winter than getting a flatter back, more open, powerful hips, and a stronger core?

Read this Teaching

scroll down to COACH's LATEST TEACHINGS

Passionate Balance - The Path of WF...A Talk and Q&A This Friday With Coach

This Friday evening I’ll be holding a special conference call for ALL
current Online Students and Members
to celebrate the new web site, and a new beginning!

Join me on the phone for “Passionate Balance,”
a DharmaTalk about Wholistic Fitness,
followed by some Q&A with you.

Call Details
Date: Friday, October 15, 2010

Time: 7 PM Mountain time (that’s 6 PM Pacific, and 9 PM Eastern)

Length: About an hour

DWC Championship: buzz kill didn't kill the spiritual victory!

photo by LA Times; ilg racing into the Bardo Night pull during the Furnace Creek 508 race, Death Valley, CA.

I was informed the night before the Road Race by the Race Organizer that my division "C" would not be eligible for an Overall Championship/Jersey. i'd be moved into the "B" division for the rest of the Championships (RR and Crit).

must admit; it was a buzzkill fer sure since i was in first place with my two favorite events ahead of me. yet, podiums i'm not lacking in so it wasn't that big of a deal. would have been nice to flip a Championship in cycling within less than a month of a top 20 AG at Imogene, however, the art of wholeness in racing is pretty much ignored by everyone save for our Tribe, so i woke up on the Road Race Day (Saturday) with a new game plan...

i'd work for my amigo, Miguel, for the 3 laps in the valley. i'd be his domestique, chasing down racers that got up the road in order to save him energy to deliver his crushing blow on the final hillclimb. this is what Road Racing is all about; alliances in sweat.

i felt okay and definitely was animated at the front of the B peleton...current National Duathlon Champion and HP Yogini Marissa Asplund was there, working for another racer, so she definitely caused a higher caloric burn and some sauced thighs before the final hillclimb.

having served for Miguel, i wished him luck at mile 32 and then retreated deeper into the 25+ peleton to find the only racer that threatened my "C" championship...which was now a warped version of a virtual race within a race. after some PowerBar GelBlasts and some Fortune Delight, i bandied up my remaining muscle fibers that still flickered after all my work at the front of the peleton for the last hour and a half. psychospiritually, i determined myself to stick like glue to my marked man up the climb. i had to finish right behind him to tie up the "Virtual C" Championships. i did, finishing 4 seconds in back of him at the top of the always lung-searing Shalona hill which was this finishing hill climb.

Result: won the "virtual C" Championship, plus, amigo Miguel stood up and delivered a 2nd place on the final hill and then won the crit yesterday to win the B Championship! i sat out the crit, choosing Family Time instead of racing, since in my virtual race, i had enough points to win the title.

i finished 10th place in the B division.

also of Warrior note; HP Yogini Dana Shin won the Women's A Championship! Congrats, Dana!

all in all?
a pretty fine week for HP Yogis and another victory for Wholeness-trained athletes everywhere!

i'll be announcing my intended Winter Racing Schedule soon, and probably send out a Sponsorship Plea to help curb the crazy expenses of racing in Kali Yuga while maintaining only a Dharma-based income of Service. if you can help keep your feeble yogi toeing the Start Lines, we will insure that at least someone is still out there teaching from Direct Experience at the front line of genuine, multi-disciplined yogic warriorship.

thank you for your spiritual sends during this week of Championship racing here in the high hamlet of crazy-fit mountain athletes!

head bowed,
el coache

IF I HAD TWO QUESTIONS TO ASK THE BUDDHA (aka in our incarnation: the DALAI LAMA)

Read This Teaching

just scroll down to Coach's Latest Teachings for my new integrated blog refreshed daily...sometimes several new Teachings per day!
this inDirect Lines blog will soon disappear like a Tibetan Sand Painting...

Coach Takes "C" Lead During Epic Time Trial @ DWC Championships

"The Ilg before the storm..."
special thanks to HP Yogi RT for the helmet and Miguel for the Cervelo! photo by Ken.



What can i say?
i felt my Tribe with me this evening...
the Nordic Weather Gods were out in full display...lightning, downpours, scintillating pockets of sunset,
and the end of a rainbow arching toward the Finish Line...
Time Trialing is known as the "Race of Truth" for go(o)d reason;
it's just you against the clock;
come rain, hail, wind, (en)lightning, whatever...
and this evening? we racers had it all; sometimes all at once!
thank you, my Tribe of WF Warriors!
i feel like i really represented all teachers of yoga and wholeness well tonight
against the sport-specific cyclists.

it might make you all smile as well at this:
two HP Yoga™ yogi's currently hold first place in their categories at these DWC Championships;
myself and my super-vajrayogini Dana!

still, after all these decades...
WF out in front...

the following is from the Durango Wheel Club Website...

next event: the Road Race on Saturday...ooooph!


Blessed By Thy Sweat;
Get Out and DO; no matter what the weather!

your feeble teacher

2010 DWC Championship Road TT October 7, 2010

Epic, Cloudy, Clear, Rain, Hail, Thunder, Lightning, rainbows , Variable Wind
Temp.: 66° / 56° F.
Humidity: 32%
Wind: 0-15 mph
Barometer: 30.06 in. (1018.0 mb.)

C	Pts.	Name	Time	+	Avg.
1	25	Steve Ilg	00:37:29.08	+00:00	24.33 mph
2	21	Kurt Blair	00:38:38.75	+01:10	23.60 mph
3	18	Greg Otteson	00:41:02.12	+03:33	22.22 mph

2010 Durango Wheel Club Championships
DWC Championships (Preliminary) Omnium Results,

2 of 4 events,

Oct. 5-10 2010

1	Steve Ilg	2-21	1-25	46
2	Kurt Blair	3-18	2-21	39
3	Steve Morozowich	1-25	0-0	25

Strength Training Q&A

photo of ilg, the day after a 10-mile, high altitude mountain run; getting male (gym) after being so female (running).

Hi there,
my name is christian, from Germany. A friend of mine showed me your “Total Body Transformation” program, and i want to start to do it soon. I am into strength training and cardio a long time, and meditation since a year or so. I find the whole programmappealing...

Read and Learn from this actual Q&A between a WF Warrior and Coach Ilg at:

www.WholisticFitness.com

the most centered, fit place on this plane(t) since 1982

Coach Crashes To A Second Place In Event #1 of 4; DWC CHAMPIONSHIPS

Durango, Colorado -

your “Endless Beginner” of a Tribal Chief made yet another noble – yet unspectacular – effort tonight beneath Sister Rain Clouds and Hanuman Wind Clouds closing in as fast as an October sunset should be over the La Plata Mountains.

finished 2nd in the C race among the Durango Sage and the “extremely rough, wet, and rutted” singletrack in this backyard training sufferfest of world-class mountain bikers since the 1980′s.

especially for New Daddies everywhere – combating an in-casa illness for five days and a near-complete lack of specific mountain bike race training – i reckon my effort tonight scored a B on the WF Noble Meter.

Maybe a B+...

READ MY WHOLE ENTRY HERE

scroll down to COACH'S LATEST TEACHINGS

Coach To Compete...4-day, 4-event Cycling Championships This Week!

First, the Posturing:
i’ve been virtually off the bike(s) since placing in the top 20 AG of the Imogene Pass Run
and i’ve been fighting off an insanely powerful virus that has laid my two girls flat for five days;



Then, the Practice:
yet, when a four-event bicycle racing Championships occurs in my beloved hOMetown of Durango which has more World and Olympic and National class athlete per capita than any other city in the US?

it’s a no-brainer for any Devoted WF Warrior: you GOTTA TOE THOSE START LINES!

Read More

Scroll Down To Coach's Latest Teachings

photo; ilg hammering...sadly, i'm only hammering to attempt to claw back toward the Leaders (never happened) during the Squawker Cycling Classic, this spring in Durango. pic by HP yogi RT

Gaining An Occasionally Rippled Mind…

coach in Meditation, the 4th of the 5 Noble Fitness Disciplines of Wholistic Fitness™/photo courtesy Wholistic Fitness Archives.

It’s the casual questions I get after teaching another Samadhically infused HP Yoga™ class in the Sacred Cave that are always difficult to answer questions about Meditation…I take this as a compliment; any yoga class that ends with students moved enough to ask about Meditation is to me, a sign of Teaching Success in the Highest of Ways. If you’re gonna get a yoga class high, then you better make sure the high ain’t coming from dirty, stale bong water! Keep it clean, keep it Wholy Sweat!

I’m gonna tell you something very special that my Tibetan Meditation Teachers at Naropa taught me…

According to the Ancient Enlightened Ones, the Warrior Energy is summoned...

Read The Full Story

scroll down to COACH'S LATEST TEACHINGS

note: the door opens to new Members this week!

Top Ten Reasons Why Roller Skiing Does Not Suck!

Photo; Multi-time State Nordic Champion coach ilg, ramping up for snow season on East Animas Road yesterday. Pic by Vishnu.

#10) Cuz it cuts up your thighs, calves, abs, intercostals, butt, lats, and delts like NOTHING else can while burning twice as many calories as lower body specific endurance activities!

#9) Union-carbide road ski pole tips gives you the upper hand against omnipotent chasing dogs, paparazzi, bears, serial murderers, etc.

READ THE REST HERE

just scroll down to COACH's LATEST TEACHINGS...

refreshed DAILY if not more!

Ilg’s September Elegy; Thank you September, for thy Grace….

all photos and text by steve ilg...please do not republish without asking, thank you! above;
aspens shimmer before a Missionary Ridge drainage.

What makes the bliss of a Durango September so potent is the fact that you’re standing right in the middle of a gold mine; the aspens turning, the amber rays of fleeting afternoons while ripping some shale singletrack along Raider Ridge…slow pedaling home while marveling at the geese skulling a twilight sky over the Ganges of the San Juans.

The gold mine will soon be covered, equally skillfully and equally beautifully, by a pandemonium of snow. That same snow will inevitably cover my autumn sentiments softly, like a barefoot hobo walking the tracks. My heart swells while I feel my love for autumn in the breeze yet I know that same breeze will soon freeze as it floats away into winter’s cold embrace...

Read & See the rest...

note: the door opens to new Members in one
week!

the NEW WF WEBSITE; "It Just Rocks!" Student Intial Input!!!

El Coache!

And I do mean LAUNCH!!!
I have taken a few minutes last night and today to poke around in our new home and it just ROCKS!
in comparison, well there really is no comparison between the two.

I know that there is more to come, the site feels so rich and the content pops in a whole new light.

Searchable archives by topic is brilliant. When we taf that we need juice in a specific area,,,,, it's clean and easy!

I did some software marketing in a previous life and web content and presentation were part of our chores. I can appreciate the tedious pain, effort and time that it takes to pull that off.

Love it, Congrats

NSMM
AR

***

"It's been WELL WORTH the wait! THANK YOU and CONGRATULATIONS!"
Student KK
NC

***

"INCREDIBLE! PURE MAJESTY UPON THE INTERNET...what else should one expect from ilg?"
RC
CA

***

"GREAT SITE!! soooo well organized- exactly the detailed logic that elucidates the unified nature of WF. Good Job!
in awe,
barely adequate ic
NYC

New WF Website Is Now LIVE!

i wish to dedicate the opening of my NEW WF WEBSITE to my Beloved Partner, Most Conscious M(OM) ever, Lover, Teacher, and Pranic Angel, Joy (Ananda) Kilpatrick. Lord Buddha only knows what she has put up with over the past YEAR it has taken me and Master WF Student Mike "Maha" Singer to produce what you can now see in its formative vision...sooooo much more to come! To you, Ananda, for your Trust, Faith, and unflappable Support of my DreamSpeak; Wholistic Fitness™...still chugging along and going ever Higher while so many others have come and gone since 1982...feels like we are almost There! photo of Ananda by ilg during another glorious September blissful day last week...

***

My Most Precious Sangha of Wholeness Through Personal Fitness...

Gleefully,
and at long last, the new Wholistic Fitness site is live!

Current DL Subscribers,
look for an email from me with details about the changes and all sorts of rewards for your monetary support and Practice of Patience of this nation's original transpersonal fitness Path! now, you are i headed back into the Sacred Cave of WF where i have commanded Maha to roll the boulder over our Cave Entrance and Begin Again the Ascent Higher in a much more protected, freer, and higher tech way than that will touch your heartspace...a Space which you and i began so many incarnations ago...only this time? Enlightenment or Bust, baby!


If you’re not yet a Member
of our unique tribe of multi-disciplined yogic and fitness warriors? the Cave Entrance for new Members will be opening in a week or so. We want to get our precious existing Members into the new site first and tweak things a bit.
In the meantime ...

1. Go check out the new site at wholisticfitness.com
2. Sign up for my Tribal mailing list using the form on the right side of the page

Very soon,
after nearly 4,000 complimentary blogs! and ignitions to all sorts of other personal trainers, yogis, and athletes,
your feeble Teacher will stop posting to Indirect Lines.

The Trendsetters, watchers, spectators, and all those who sit outside the ring of their very own inner Firelight?

Well, as my Tibetan Mountain Yogi Teachers would say to me,

"Travel Well."

ilg breathes a prayer on this night of nights;

phew...finally...i get to be with YOU!

For a few more days, I’ll keep posting here.

See you on the new site!

your feeble teacher of wholeness through personal fitness,

ilg

Stream Entry WF DharmaTeaching and Meditation NOW AVAILABLE ON MP3

one of my brightest young Lights for WF; Online Student "IC" from NYC...i'll be interviewing this astonishingly talented Brahmin Yogi who relies on WF Online Training for his world-class musical endeavors. this kid is gonna blow you away! Below is his response to my latest MP3 release; the classic WF Teaching of all time: Stream Entry.

Dear Coach (Appreciator of That Which Is),

...like a CliffsNotes guide to TBT, Stream Entry delineates the key tenets of Wholistic Fitness.

no longer will i listen to the "experts" on the mere grounds of the three letters following their names- unless those letters happen to be I-L-G!

WF Online Student IC
NYC


***

order your MP3 of STREAM ENTRY
by
clicking here

Perceptions...vs. M(om)ents....

"Perceptions create our problems,
m(om)ents themselves never do."

- Coach Steve Ilg

photo by Ananda of Dewachen yesterday up in the High Country. My 3 year-old Rinpoche is teaching me my highest yoga of my life...each day and in everyWay. click to enlarge Her Transmission into your Practice today!

the quote arrived to me yesterday as i rode up to Andrews Lake (10,748') to meet my girls, culminating 3 days on the bike totaling 9 hours and over 11,000' of climbing. i hadn't been on a bike, hec, i hadn't done any cardio really besides cardio commuting since before my Imogene Pass Run! Amazing, from the intense 3-day cardio immersion, i feel great.

That's the type of yogic wholeness that WF imparts...may all be so Blessed to find this Precious Path.

Dharma Blessings upon your Practice today,

coach ilg

Worlds SLOWEST MTB Ride? Yesterday's Pilgrimage...

enjoy....4 minutes of WF Chi...

World's SLOWEST MTB Ride?

get out and do,
dwell within and be...

your high mountain yogi

Honoring Grandmother...

on this night of Autumnal Equinox,


feeble ilg collects his small,
yet fierce Tribe of WF Warriors
and
collectively
sends a bow to
our
Beloved Grandmother during this Auspiciously Empowering night...
i just finished a two hour Meditation that felt like 10 minutes;
such is the Pranic Potency of tonight! the Wisest and most Devoted of my Students
will be cranking a few more extra rounds on their Blessed Malas!

here is ilg's Offering To Our Grandmother On Behalf Of My Tribe
on this Night of Nights...

(click to deepen the chi hit)

"Daddy, look, God painted NanaTha white!*"

- Dewachen Ilg, pointing up with her little,
delicious finger at this very moonrise
on the eve of her 3rd birthday
as Grandmother Moon arose
so seductively over my beloved San Juan Mountains
hovering over the hamlet of
Ouray, Colorado on September 10th...

May we all reLearn the Awe of Chi-ldren and Moonstruck souls everywhere,
your feeble teacher

*Nana = grandmother in many languages, and Tha = Sanscrit for Moon...as in Hatha Yoga = union of Sun (Ha) and Moon (Tha)


photos:
1) Grandma as captured by ilg, 9/10/10, Ouray, Colorado with Dewa hanging off my right arm.
2) Dewachen the other evening, looking once again, so dang cute i could eat her up in one big bite...note the Auspicious orange globe She is intuitively, symbolically holding near Her Manipura Chakra; Om So Ti

Yogi Squat Of The Week...and the Metaphysics of It...do you know what "Laziness" is?

HP Yogi Squat of the Week
goes to Venerable HP Yoga® student and fellow Durangatang, Brad Tafoya. Shown above during a recent backpack trip into the Weminuche, Yogi BT is not only in an active yogi squat, he is also sawing with his Non-Dominant hand in a wonderful display of two of my basic WF Lifestyle Teachings!

Note: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME! Yogi BT trains with me every week in our Practice Cave, do not attempt this yogic movement without supervision...especially with saws!

***

Yogi Squat Metaphysics
what ilg has been Teaching you through these decades remains outstandingly simple, though most over-think WF. remember, there are only two words in the WF Bible: "Just Listen."

when we Listen to our Outer Worldly (or ego) Mind,
we get superficial fast...gossip, Facebook®, the hectic Things-To-Do Today lists, etc.

when we Listen to our Inwardly Turned (or Dharma) Mind,
we release into the in-dwelling Heartspace within.

the former produces high-breathing, adrenalin, and anxiety.

the latter produces sensual breathing, relaxed alertness, and equanimity.


We tend to continuously choose Ego Mind instead of Dharma Mind due to an ignorance
of WF Lifestyle Principles which are as follows:

1. Conscious Breath and Posture
2. Mindfulness
3. Appropriate Action
4. Practice

ilg began Teaching fitness students the Yogi Squat after my initial Self Healing Shift from spinal paralysis in the early '80s. the physical benefits of this Do-Anywhere-Anytime fitness movement are as Iyengar might put it; 'innumerable' and include lumbar decompression, spinal integrity, hip opening, pranic saturation, mental healing, lymphatic flushing, pelvic alignment, etc., etc.

yet few Westerners do it.

when i assign it to Online Students, and check in with them, the honest among them report that they didn't do it because;

• it looks ridiculous (ego mind)
• i'm too lazy (ego mind)

From a WF Perspective, do you know what "laziness" is?

laziness is less about skipping sets in the gym or sitting out intervals, then it is
not putting the effort into virtue.

there, ilg just gave you another WF Give-Away affirmation
that could possible trigger your next Transformation, so let's adjust our Postures and Breath and say it two-gether Three Times:

• i am Lazy when i choose not to put the effort into virtue.
• i am Lazy when i choose not to put the effort into virtue.
• i am Lazy when i choose not to put the effort into virtue.

Whenever we, like HP Yogi BT, Consciously CHOOSE (Listen!) to sit in Yogi Squat,
be it while brushing our teeth, or in line at the grocery store*, or at our campsite high in God's wild pine palaces
we are creating Merit,
we are cultivating Virtue
by
executing Dharma Mind (conscious effort) instead of what's easy (Ego Ming...sitting in chairs, standing around out of posture, making money from non-Dharmic enterprises, etc).

Now, when we apply Yogi Squat (and CERTAINLY Non-Dominant Hand Assignment), what we are meta-physically hooking up goes far deeper than a new more healthy neuro-hormonal circuitry which positively influences our glandular health far more than your expensive 'supplements' or worse, prescribed pills.

What meta-physically occurs each time we choose to sink our breath into our tight lower back and hips as our quadratus muscles stretch into a Yogi Squat is nothing less than a conquering of Duality Addiction and a psychospiritual accumulation of upward, inward mobilization of our Prana...our Life Force from which our personal divinity, unscarred by religious complication, arises like smoke from an inner fire of tapas.

Those of you still reading this understand that a healthy body - strong and clean - follows Dharma instead of Ego.

Perhaps then, you can understand too, that our Willingness to Yogi Squat - to apply our Non-Dominant Hand when we pour the Silk Soy® into our SUNRIDER Herbs Ilg Supreme Drink - is nothing less than a distillation of the mirrors of our spiritual perception.

and, it is only through our perceptions that we ignorantly superimpose 'problems' upon

that
which
simply
IS.

Today, Noble Warrior Toward Wholeness;

May you Yogi Squat more often,
and
Practice Bravery in your Non Dominant Hand...

and...
you'll Begin to See the Simple Beauty
of this Precious Path, so high above the rest...

Wholistic Fitness®
America's Indigenous Path of Yoga For Westerners
since 1982

head bowed,
your feeble teacher

* how BRAVE do you really want to LIVE and SHARE your WF Study? Please live these Teachings of WF out loud - inspire someone today!

The Imogene '10 Chronicles, Part 4: Getting Compressed

note: ilg has received no product or monetary compensation from ZOOT® for this entry:

GET COMPRESSED TO ATTAIN YOUR NEXT ENDURANCE PR...
...i did!

click to enlarge and you'll see i'm wearing compression garments from heel to shoulder from Zoot®; socks, knickers, and arm warmers. my product review of these high-tech garments below. photo at the finish of September 11's Imogene Pass Run; the Grand-daddy of Colorado Trail races by HP Yogin Logan Noonan.

***

usually, ilg is coaching you
toward varying degree's of expansion. expansion of physiologic capacities, expansion of suppleness, expansion of equanimity and wholeness within our lifestyle and life choices.

today however, i'd like to conclude my Imogene '10 Chronicles in the opposite direction; compression.

enter Melissa Van Sant,
a most noble HP Yogini of mine here in Durango.
she trains with me weekly during my HP Yoga® offering which is, as many of you have come to know, might just well be the ultimate kaleidoscope of purification through compassionate pain of which most will ever regularly partake.

HP Yogini MVS during one of our IPR Training Runs, Jones Creek. photo by ilg.

Yogini Van Sant
whose dancing blond hair during her runs is very nearly a Durango landmark, is an experienced local mountain runner and no stranger to podiums. two weekends ago at IPR, she finished 4th in the 55-59 Age Group.

we've been running some high country runs together in our prep for IPR. early in our training, she immediately turned me onto something of which i've hearing about and reading about for several years; compression fabric for sport performance and recovery.

ilg was, as Little Bear would say, interested.

fortunately, Yogini MVS is an owner of a fantastic Durango fitness clothing store called Rose Pedals, so when it comes to sport performance and fabrics, my Most Treasured Yogini MVS knows a thing or two about a thing or two. She's gotten her husband, daughter, and several World Class Durango females deeply addicted to this notion of compression fabric for training, racing, and recovery such as Kristin McGrath and HP Yogini Marissa Asplund, both of whom have been profiled here in iDL.

you can now add ilg to her list of addicts of compression garments.

if, by the time you finish reading this entry, you are interested in getting some compression fabric? please keep it in the WF Tribe and call Melissa at (970) 385-6989 here in Durango. tell her, "Coach Ilg sent me!"

my array of compression fabric
from ZOOT® absolutely, undoubtedly saved my race, my right calf, my left calf, and my biceps during IPR. so impressed am i with this compression thing, that i have talked to John Jett, Race Director of Imogene Pass Run, to change the name of Colorado's most historic race to "Compression Saturday." just kidding.

there are other compression garment manufacturers. however, Yogini MVS was uh, VERY adamant about her preference of ZOOT over all others. i see why.

ZOOT® Compression Mechanics

over this summer i thoroughly tested the follow Zoot® compression garments:
• Arm Warmers
• Knickers
• Socks

the basic notion of Compression Mechanics through fabrics is to direct and continuously re-direct blood flow (thus, oxygen/nutrients) to working musculature during racing, and then, for recovery, from fatigued musculature toward the heart. simple philosophy. simple things work.

according to ZOOT® literature, there is scientific proof of a:
• 29% Decrease in Lactic Acid Build-up
• 25% Reduction in Perceived Effort
derived from wearing ZOOT® Compression fabrics.

ilg is Here Now to affirm those sterile statistics into vibrant life...

ZOOT® Experiential Instances

perhaps mhy highest standout ZOOT experience of these past months actually came at mile 10.5 during the Imogene Pass Run....this is the single longest and steepest uninterrupted descent gradient on the race course (900 ft. vertical in 0.95 mile; 950 ft./mi or 17.9% gradient). With legs accustomed to moving constantly upward, it is easy to lose control in this first downgrade with its steep grade and treacherous footing. Most injury falls in the race occur in this stretch and i was flying...no, ilg was F-L-Y-I-N-G down this high hazard section perhaps in part due to the 25% reduced perceived effort afforded to me by my ZOOT garb?! or, maybe i was just soooo thankful that my spine injury was nowhere in my kinesthetic awareness and i released out of Fear and into Flow!??

regardless, i was passing people that had beaten me on the ascent left and right, literally. in this instance, on this section, i was attempting to pass a girl. if i am passing a girl at this point in this race, you can bet she is a top woman runner...the LAST thing ilg wants is to somehow hurt her best performance, so i lost precious time in a conscious effort to be....well...polite. if it were another guy as i was passing? hec, i'd shoulder him into the gully or off and into the yawning abyss wish him well among the other Tomboy Mine ghosts...

with ever growing seconds ticking by, i chose a very hard line off and into a near-vertical seabed of fist-sized rocks precariously perched upon a rain-etched gully as i forced my pass, allowing the girl to maintain her safe line.

that's when my right ankle turned and my right calf cramped in a hideously hurtful charlie horse from the high-velocity change in direction on this roller-coaster steep, loose section where many have twisted, or sprain their ankles...still a lifetime high above the finish line in Telluride.

in a spiritually mature expression
of my WF Practice, ilg breathed instantly into the calf cramp and micro-adjusted my foot strikes in whichever way lessened the charlie horse cramp now crimping with grizzly bear like strength and pain my right calf. and ilg tells you this; honest and true; the cramp dissolved 70% within 45 seconds, and 100%within 2 minutes! i couldn't believe it...i'm well familiar with high-velocity induced charlie horse cramps, however this riddance of cramping within 2 minutes bordered on the miraculous! i swear this cramp disappeared so fast due in large part to the compression factor of maintaining connective tissue integrity matched by voluminous blood, oxygen, and nutrient flow to the damaged tissue.

at the other notoriously difficult descent section at mile 14, the same scenario occurred; i had to pass another runner on a more harsh line and my left calf cramped, then disappeared within one minute!

also, the compression fabric of my Knickers kept my still-injured right hip (from a bike racing crash in the spring) bathed in warm nutrient flow and thus kept that synovial fluid supportive to the tangled mess of my battle-scarred lower back and hips.

at the Finish Park with HP Yogi and world-class boulderer, Zak Farmer from Flagstaff who nobly undertook the IPR Pilgrimage! I was fresh as a daisy after this ultra-marathon effort and spent the entire rest of the day with open hips playing with my 3 year-old daughter. this to me, was the ultimate Duathlon! photo by Ananda.

then, at the end of my race?

that is where the wearing of the ZOOT 'suit' really came into heavenly grace as i am DEEPLY PLEASED to report to ALL NEW DADDY FITNESS WARRIORS that i was able to - after a top-20 AG finish in a 3 1/2 hour ultra marathon effort on one of the world's toughest races - i was able to do a full-lotus inspired yoga warm up routine, play with my 3 year-old for the rest of the day and woke up the next morning with NO BLISTERS, NO REAL LACTIC ACID SORENESS ANYWHERE in my body! i was able to teach yoga within 48 hours of the race with full expression throughout my hips and arms...something that i've never experienced in decades of doing IRP and other races like it. my biceps were so sore last year, for instance, that after IPR i could barely pick up Dewa...this year, though she is quite heavier, i was able to toss her about like usual and completely be a present and physical daddy for her which to me, is huge.

ilg TAFs that any nearly-50 year-old would be smiling at this report and take advantage of what ZOOT® compression fabrics have to offer.

the other high points in my ZOOT race came when i passed both a "CROSSFIT®" and a "TRIBE MULTISPORT" bro out on the race course; a sure sign that Wholistic Fitness® remains light years ahead of the other multi-disciplined paths of personal training. love it!

Other ZOOT® Notes:

• during my 6th place AG at the equally-if-not-more-harsh-than-IPR effort of Mt. Kendall Race, it was hot and high at over 12,000' during this half-marathon. i will say that wearing my Zoot Suit really showed that the enhanced cardiac blood flow ramps up core temperature and wearing them during hot events might spell real trouble.

• chafing is an issue while wearing the Knickers. application of Aquaphor®, suggested to me by Yogini MVS, is a sure cure.

• wearing the Knickers during cycling compresses the abdominal cavity and doesn't feel right. i first bought a pair of Size 2's which according to ZOOT's info is about right for my 33-inch waist...however, after testing and investing in another pair of Size 3's, i found the 3's to be much easier to Abdominal Breathe in than the 2's. i now am wearing the 3's most of the time and find the default to a slightly 'looser' size beneficial in hunched-over sports such as cycling.

• i am REALLY stoked to test the Zoot suit during nordic skiing/snowshoeing; with the compression arm warmers, i really TAF that the enhanced blood flow to the shoulders/heart will help as well as the Knickers affording extra spring to the 'stems'! plus, the heat build-up from the compression might just allow me to ski shirtless throughout all winter! ;-)

• i have found the compression arm warmers valuable to wear during computing...reducing the effects of carpal tunnel syndrome.

• the compression socks are usually, according to Yogini MVS, reserved for Recovery. i have used them during short car drives up into the high country and back (about 100 miles roundtrip) and really like them! as noted above however, my intuitive wisdom told me to wear the socks (which come up to knee height and look dorky) during the IPR and well, you've already read how much they saved my race day! beneath the compression socks, i lathered my toes in Aquaphor, put on a pair of Injinji socks, then, pulled like a demon, the compression socks over the Injinji. the result is ZERO BLISTERS from IPR! that is a personal record by far! i, as well most, lose at least one big toenail after racing IPR. not so much a blister this year!

• downside to compression wearing:
plan on a hec of a finger workout and an extra 15 minutes to your Race Morning just trying to pull on the compression garments!

• there is an exquisite, delicious feeling of Warriorism which arises once you stuff and fold your skin and bones into these fancy new compression garments. wearing the Zoot suit MAKES you want to attack the battlefield...good thing too, this inner confidence cuz you're gonna look pretty ridiculous to the baggy clothes culture while you wear this stuff.

• cheating?
is wearing such an 'external ergonomic aid' cheating?
when i was 20? i'd probably say, "yes."
at nearly 50?

hell no!

get compressed and ROCK to a new PR like i did!

my 2010 IPR was my most 'youthful' race EVER, given my zero-pain and full spectrum movement after the race!


Cost:
not cheap. buckle up. worth it.
Knickers retail for around $130, arm warmers and socks around $60 each.

head bowed, coach ilg

Warrrior Leaf Speaks...plus: Potent Quotes

"When man interferes with the Tao, the sky becomes filthy, the earth becomes depleted, the equilibrium crumbles, creatures become extinct."

— Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
— Martin Luther King Jr.

***

yah tah hey coach!

congrats on the IPR sweat!

a 17-mile/sweat-lodge ceremony is an awesome experience, just wish i was there to attend.
nevertheless, a pilgrimage to the sacred arches of Moab was in order.

so fall time is setting in and i'm looking forward to the ski season. i guess the first step is to begin some roller-skating?

followed with some equipment purchase? what are your thoughts on the steps?

in the meantime i'll continue my sweat-lodge practice here in kinlani*

diné


* the Navajo name for Flagstaff, Arizona


photo: my Diné Warrior Leaf, enjoying a sandstone variation of Adho Mukha Vrkasana (Handstand) at Broken Arch, Moab, Utah. Warrior Leaf and i have shared a cOMmon Dreamspeak and are working on it together...perhaps, just perhaps, you'll hear more about it later...

The Imogene '10 Chronicles, Part 3: Toeing The Start Lines = Yoga. The WF Sacred Sport Pilgrmage "Bucket List"

click pics to deepen the chi hits...





"Toeing The Start Line," has long been a catch phrase of mine.

Here is why.

Doing what is required to simply Toe The Start Line of a race (or of a performance) is tantamount to cultivating the Warrior qualities which the Ancient Enlightened Ones advised as key for success on the spiritual journey; steadfast practice (Abhyasa), Faith (Shraddha), determination (sankalpa), and mental collectedness (sama-dhana).

At a deeper, perhaps largely unconscious level among athletes, the desire to Toe The Start Line reflects our ancient Warrior lives and symbolizes our inherent desire to become liberated through intensity of training pain and sweat.

We now live in a very diluted age of Yogic integrity where "Yoga for Athletes" is being taught by dancers, and 'Pilates' teachers' and many other overly limber studio yogis who themselves have never even done what it takes to consistently Toe The Start Lines of races; let alone match the ultra-endurance, high-concussion, and varied physiologic diversity which you'll find throughout my Racing Bio which informs to a large degree the success and Transmission of the WF Path.

Yoga means "Wholistic Practice,"
and as such, a yogi must never push away any aspect from his or her understanding of what Yoga includes. Not one area of our physiologic capacities should ever be considered 'not important' to our yogic fitness.

Toeing the Start Lines of sport (and life) prepare the yogi for our ultimate Start Line; our Bardo Entry which is also the Start Line for cashing in our just how deeply we chose to train for the ultimate podium of the Human "Race"....Enlightenment.

Why do you think They call us the Human "Race"?
Life is a competition; it's a competition in it's truest sense which means, "to arise from within." As you peruse my Race Results, i think you'll find a refreshing, inspiring example of a 'broken back' athlete who keeps toeing the Start Lines in order to Practice what i teach; genuine yoga; genuine wholeness.

That is important to me...as i Trust it is to you, as well.

***
GET OUT AND DO:

TOEING THE WF TRADITIONAL SACRED SPORT PILGRIMAGES
aka:
The "Bucket List" as a WF Yogi

here are the Traditional Three Sacred Sweat Pilgrimages of Wholistic Fitness®; each one should be on your "Bucket List"...guided training and intensives are available for each:

Spring:
The Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, Durango Colorado. Each Memorial Day Weekend. Beginning WF Yogis can just do the Bicycle Tour, Intermediates should do the Road Race, while the Highest WF Aspirants need to do the Omnium. The salient event is the 50-mile Road Race over two 10,000+' mountain passes...often in snowy/rainy weather!

Autumn:
The Imogene Pass Run, Ouray to Telluride, Colorado. Always the second weekend in September. 17 miles; 10 up, 7 down. High point is 13,114' at the famous Imogene Pass.

Winter:
The Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon, Grants, New Mexico. President's Day Weekend (usually the third weekend in February). A four-sport Pilgrimage to the 11,311' sacred summit of Tsidool (Mt. Taylor) and back. Ironman Champion and WF Devotee, Fit Kit of Canada, checked this one off his WF Bucket List last year saying, "That made Ironman's feel like a sprint!"

i Trust i'll see you on these Start Lines, My Mighty Limb'd Yogis!


- coach steve ilg

photos by Ananda:
1) ilg takes a Pre-Start bow to YOU for your inspiration to get New Daddy Ilg here!
The real spiritual victories are already scored by just Toeing The Start Line!

2) the Imogene Pass Run Start Line; Ouray, Colorado.

3) The Gun goes off!

The Imogene '10 Chronicles, Part Two: Genuine Chi Running; Can You See Your Love Running Through Me?

El Coache,
My heart has felt so cold of late. So unfeeling. And the only seeming flicker of Light shown itself as I read about yet another student who's life has been changed by your commitment. ~exhaling~

Run well tomorrow at Imogene, my ole teacher,
run with my love and respect in your heart.
Run for us all who give into our fears.
Who fail time and time again,
who know only that they know so little.

- a long time Student & WF Devotee
East Coast, US.

click to enlarge

Within spittin' distance of the Imogene Pass Run Finish Line...
your ol' broken back yogi/coach
still expressing the
4 Wholistic Fitness® Lifestyle Principles coiled like Kundalini within my finishing kick...Breath and Posture, Mindfulness, Appropriate Action, and...most of all...Practice!
after 17 miles of 13,000'+ high altitude hurt.

ilg is honorably reports that besides finishing 16th in AG,
i was Durango's first finisher in my AG.

viva la garra for all of us who live in chronic pain
yet refuse high-tech medical procedures and pill prescriptions!
ilg knows how easy it would be just to be cut and diced
and dolled out pills to lessen the pain!
ilg prefers for this incarnation, however,
to 'lesson the pain,' instead.

Surgery can cut more than skin, organ, and connective tissue.
It can cut Soul.

though you cannot hold my hand,
nor i yours
through the sufferings in our lives,
we can all-Ways choose
to Let Go into the ocean of our swelling hearts
because,
you like me,
get the breeze of Wholistic Fitness®
and in our Soul of Souls
we Let Go
and are
walking, running, lifting, spinning, dancing, stilling, and stretching
our Way hOMe
again
and again
and Endlessly Again.

ilg Blesses thee who reads these words,
and
knows,
you'll feel the Breeze
at your Bardo Entry...
The Spirit Horse shall arrive quickly...
so,
stay true to your Star
and
choose NOT
to sleep...
no matter how
tired...
how sad...
how lonely...
how confused...

Let go.


your not-so-feeble ilg

photo info:
this chi shot was taken by none other than fellow New Daddy Warrior HP Yogi from Durango; Logan Noonan
who worked triple-time to be Daddy mOM so that Jennifer, his wife and also HP Yogin, could crank out IPR!THANK YOU, Most Precious HP Yogi Logan! Conscious Warrior Yogi Dads, go!!!

The Imogene '10 Chronicles, Part One: ilg cranks toward a top 15 AG!

note: this is first in a series of chi hits centering upon my performance at the grand-daddy of North American Mountain Running Races and one of WF's Most Sacred Pilgrimages: the Imogene Pass Run where ilg was once a top-20 Overall finisher who now just tries to summit near the same time that i once did the whole race in!

click photos to enlarge your aspiration chi hit!

in one of those stunning synchronicities of life, my daughter's birthday falls on the same date as perhaps my most Sacred of all Southwest Sport Pilgrimages; the Imogene Pass Run. here we are, Dewachen and i on Race Day Morning at the fantastic Hot Springs Inn in Ouray, Colorado mOMents before the Start Gun (and yes, here in the wild west it IS a real gun!). what would ensue? 17 of the Highest Miles of a Sacred Worship any Human Being could ever Pray to have...

most of all however, HAPPY CONTINUATION to my Dewachen who turned 3 on 9/11/10...and THANK YOU to all of your worldwide wishes for Dewa's Birthday and my i-forget-how-many-Imogenes-i've-done well wishes! Thanks to ALL of you for your Mantra sends, and your Devotion toward Wholistic Fitness®...ilg and my students pretty much kicked ass across the board...just wait till you hear what i've got to report but DON'T WAIT to sign up and check this amazing WF Pilgrimage off your Life List! (Registration opens on June 1st and pretty much sells out their 1,500 spots within 24 hours.)

Most of all, however, ilg just wants to put out to the UniVerse (OnePoem) how absolutely HONORED both Ananda and feeble ilg are to be given the Gift of an Incarnation to be the Parents of our now 3 year-old Rinpoche, Dewachen.

To Dewa;
Sweetheart, my Precious Absolute of It All...to Be with you these past 3 years (really, four counting your still-in-your-Amma's-tummy time) has been not only the steeeeeeeepest,
most exhauuuuuusting,
and
most EXHIILAAAAAAARATING
time of my life,
it's also
been the
most
Forceful (Hatha)
Union (Yoga)
of
my
Blessed,
yet
Difficult
incarnation.

so,
thank you...my Kamalikka (Little Lotus),
for you
are making
ilg - the founder of Wholistic Fitness -
far more Whole
than ilg could ever
have imagined
without thee.


and to your astonishingly Conscious M(om)?

all feeble ilg can do is
bow
as low
and as deep
as my post-Imogene Pass Run hips
can allow.

and THAT,
my Friends Along The Path
is what
it's all about...

my Race Report with Special Endorsements coming up soon...

hang tough,
breathe soft..

your not-so-feeble mountain yogi

photos:
1) 7:40...Dewa and Daddy 20 minutes before another Imogene Start....photo by Ananda
2) Birthday girl Dewa and Georgey (Curious George...who also happened to be my deepest Guide during my earliest years) on the evening before her 3rd birthday. photo by ilg.
3) my Little Lotus in the Bardo Tunnel at the Ouray Hot Springs Pool.
4) the ilg clan, chilling at the Ouray Hot Springs Pool post Imogene Pass Race, 2010.

OFF TO IMOGENE!!!

OFF TO IMOGENE!!!

WHAT A BLESSING TO STILL BE RACING THIS INCREDIBLE SOUTHWEST MOUNTAIN SPIRITUAL PILGRIMAGE!

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR WELL WISHES...

Note to: WF Online Students;
i'll be updating your programs/facilitations on Monday!

Saying 'bye bye' to any recent gains in opening my hips, cuz tomorrow at this time?
after hammering the 17 stratospherically high altitude miles of IMOGENE PASS RUN ??

well, ask any IPR vet; the body takes a pounding...

yet, that's what being a mountain yogi is all about: fitness across the physiologic spectrum!

KEEP THE MANTRA CLOSE TOMORROW from 7:30 am to 11:00 am MST!

my personal goal is to flood the race course with 10,000 MANTRA's!!!

Om Mani Padme Hung!

photo of ilg performing; 'Camp Yoga' in Indian Creek Canyon, Utah

Student Lim...Inspired To LIVE!

Dear Steve,
I'm a very beginning yogin, Cancer survivor, living with HIV(27 yrs) . Out of shape. But i'm telling you. I picked up your book a few years ago. And when i was at my lowest of my lows. Your book really intimadated me. But inspired me so much to LIVE. And to work at something. Thank you for that. You have no idea what it's done for me.

Keep doing what your doing.

Much Love to you & yours,

Darryl Lim
San Francisco, CA

coach ilg notes:
here's what i love most about this priceless missive to me...i LOVE the way Student Lim refers to himself as, "A very beginning yogi..." Yeah right. How much you wanna bet this "Very beginning yogi" is gonna kick yours and my asses to Enlightenment by at least 6 lifetimes!?!"
The Humble Shall Inherit Enlightenment, that's what ilg says.

HP Yogi JVS...and his final Hum Saah! before IPR!

HP Yogi JVS; he's on the MAP Aminos, he's been flawless in consistently taking my HP Yoga classes at The Hub...he's lost bucketloads of weight, and this Saturday, he toes the Start Line of one of America's most intensely sacred mountain yogic pilgrimages available to any yogi worthy of the name; the Imogene Pass Run. He writes me tonight...

***

Mother Hen Ilg,
Resting comfortably in my recovery compression tights tonight. I'm glad I went to HP PROP tonight, it was my final "hum saah" before IPR.

My summer training has been an amazing adventure. Thank you for all of your support and guidance to get me to the start line this Saturday. I'll keep the Sunrider herb system in mind as an option for my well being.

See you in Ouray.

as you instructed, I will "run with love."

Mighty Nervous Mountain Yogi

JVS

photo by ilg; Mountain Yogi JVS getting it done weeks ago on the famed, Jones Creek Trail; early prep for IPR.

Neighborism...my vote for a retro-religion!

"...And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us...

...And lead us not into Attachment,
but deliver us from laziness...
Om-en."

- Yogi Jesus Christ
translation by ilg

Personally, ilg TAF's that most religions have morphed too much into specificity...kinda like sports. Therefore, feeble ilg suggests a retro-religion, one which all the Enlightened Masters spoke highly of in their philosophy; how about a religion called, "Neighborism."?

May your Practice speak to you today in Divine Whispers...
and,
May You Listen...

love and light,
sweat and stillness,

rev. ilg

photo; while cycling home this morning from errands, i was taken by this view of the Animas River Valley and the cloud-hidden Missionary Ridge (photo right) and Animas City Mountain (photo left). so, i quickly grabbed my camera and darted back across the street from my house to nab this shot for you. though winter is a preferred season of mine, it's tempting to be attached to such fertile, sexy days of a summer ending. click to enlarge...might be yet another Screensaver for you courtesy of WF.