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...

Life In Kali Yuga- When will the Dharma of WF be listened to?

They Ain't Laughing Now...
i first wrote publicly about the physiologic, physical, and spiritual dangers of listening to headphones while exercising when "Walkmans" first became popular in the early eighties. Back then i was a columnist for Rocky Mountain Sports & Fitness. I wrote that listening extensively to blaring music piped directly into ears was a physiologic train wreck waiting to happen in the years to come. I also said that, physically, we are going to see a lot more 'accidents' occur out on the trails and roads as people, "addicted to listening to music instead of appreciating and developing their inner listening skills," will become involved in car vs. pedestrian/rider crashes and trail rider crashes.

when the ingenious heads of Outer World technology invented the iPod® with their refined delivery system of ear-pods growing like lotus stems from an unimaginably small housing, i wrote, "...they call them iPods, right? Well, the 'i' stands for Ignorance," and sure enough, today a national study released showed that an astonishing 1 in 5 teens now suffers from hearing loss due to - basically - an addiction to iPods.



Get Used To This Phrase; "Especially dangerous to those with compromised Immune Systems"
Hilariously sad. So, i guess like half a BILLION eggs are being recalled due to contamination with Salmonella. Get used to this. And, i love their warning which has, over the past several years become more of a trite disclaimer from conscious and responsible development, manufacturing, and distribution practices among our nation's food suppliers; "Especially dangerous to those with compromised Immune Systems."

Uh, have you SEEN the typical fat yet undernourished American?
Have you SEEN the statistics of our 'health'?

Hate to tell you, however, most American's DO HAVE 'compromised Immune Systems' owing to their addiction to junk and mass manufactured foods and beverages!

All these 'new disorders' and dis-eases ranging from 'allergies' to 'restless leg' to cancers are simply training effects from poorly nourished Immune Systems!

And you wonder why i and my faithful warriors who gleefully consume MAP Aminos along with the SUNRIDER Herbs haven't seen the inside of a doctors office in decades and just keep cranking Higher and Far Beyond the reach of the common dis-orders and dis-eases of the mainstream?

Let's see, latest figures for the cost of cancer - besides being the worlds top economic killer and well as the most likely leading cause of death surpassing AIDS, malaria, and the flu - reached $895 billion in 2008 according to a report from the Center for Global Development.

$895 billion?
Uh, that would certainly provide more than enough bottles of MAP Aminos and SUNRIDER Herbs for like every person on Earth for their entire lives.

Weird, how the Unawakened just don't prioritize Regenerative, Preventive, Wholistic Health and Fitness until...well, it's too late.


In Other Kali Yuga Head Shaking News...
Pro golfer Phil "Lefty" Mickelson probably earns the Kali Yuga demerit award of the month as he proudly announced that he is "turning vegetarian," after his addiction to poor food choices has left him with a well-earned dis-ease along with his 'weight problem.' The downside is that Lefty, who could have swayed millions more than someone like feeble ilg can toward a more healthy, vegetarian-based nutritional intake, kept his vegetarianism in the closet so he would not negatively impact sales on his national junk-food, dis-ease inviting chain of highly profitable restaurants, Five Guys and A Burger* or something idiotic like that...

Om So Ti...

and
Blessings upon thy Practice this week


Find The Chi,
Develop The Chi,
Live The Chi...
Wholistic Fitness®...since 1982

*Men's Health magazine claims that Five Guys's meals are unhealthy.[8] A standard double patty burger, for example, contains almost 800 calories and 197% of the recommended daily saturated fat intake.[9] Men's Health also rated Five Guys's french fries as the 4th most unhealthy food in America, noting that a standard large order of fries contains almost 1,500 calories (but is said to feed 3-4 people).[10] The Center for Science in the Public Interest placed Five Guys's bacon cheeseburger, which contains 920 calories, among its 2010 list of most unhealthy meals available at U.S. chain restaurants.[11]

of Pain and Practice...

an alpine bouquet for you...photo by ilg two days ago.

Whatever you do, don’t shut off your pain; accept your pain and remain vulnerable. However desperate you become, accept your pain as it is, because it is in fact trying to hand you a priceless gift: the chance of discovering, through spiritual practice, what lies behind sorrow.

“Grief,” Rumi wrote, “can be the garden of compassion. If you keep your heart open through everything, your pain can become your greatest ally in your life’s search for love and wisdom.”
- Sogyal Rinpoche

***

71 kilometers yesterday riding over 4 mountain passes; over 5,000'+ of climbing all between 9,300' and 11,000'. Today? Thomas The Train in Durango with Dewa.
Buddha; "The Art of life is balance."

Blessings upon thy Practice,
ilg

Sarvanga Sadhana; The Brutal Truth About Wholeness Training...calling only the Fearless Warriors!

What makes the Path of WF so unique is her utter devotion toward
everything that we suck at. Other athletes and many yogis focus for decades on
doing those things - including behaviors and tendencies - that they are 'good' at...

meanwhile...only the WF Yogi, the WF Athlete
cherishes that most captivating goal of all; Wholeness.
targeting weakness wherever we find it;
in our Word Choices, in our reluctant displays in overcoming dominant tendencies and patterns, and particularly and most easily in our fitness endeavors.

only the WF Warrior upholds the Ancient Yogic crowning definition of yoga:
"Sarvanga Sadhana"
or
"Wholistic Practice"

i 'channeled' the artful science of Wholistic Fitness® beginning
when i was a chi-ld, listening to and playing with my first Root Teacher, Apache,
a black wolf among the mountains and cool streams of the San Juan's where i still live
today. What kept c(om)ing through me during those early years was;
'push nothing away, embrace It All."

what keeps our Path of WF so small and humble is her fierce thicket of
chronic self-confrontation...
forcing her Practitioners to remain an Endless Beginner...

i feel Sogyal Rinpoche puts this aspect of WF very well in this quote:

"Sometimes when we see too much truth about ourselves suddenly mirrored in front of us by the teacher or the teachings, it is simply too difficult to face, too terrifying to recognize, too painful to accept as the reality about ourselves. We deny and reject it, in an absurd and desperate attempt to defend ourselves from ourselves,from the truth of who we really are. And when there are things too powerful or too difficult to accept about ourselves, we project them onto the world around us, usually onto those who help us and love us the most—our teacher, the teachings, our parent, or our closest friend."


Blessed be thy sweat today,
Divine be thy stillness today..

your feeble teacher of wholeness

How To Make Offerings...

Dewah, yesterday morning at our Daddy and Dewah Breakfast Time at The Brickhouse Cafe. The antique rocking horse's nameis 'Brii' according to Dewah. Brii is only one of several ancient chi treasures in this 108 year-old restored Victorian house. When you sign up for your WF Private Intensive, we'll be sure to take you here as well!

***

At the time of Buddha, there lived an old beggar woman called Relying on Joy. She used to watch the kings, princes, and people making offerings to Buddha and his disciples, and there was nothing she would have liked more than to be able to do the same. But she could only beg enough oil to fill a single lamp. However, as she placed it before Buddha she made this wish: “I have nothing to offer but this tiny lamp. But through this offering, in the future may I be blessed with the lamp of wisdom. May I free all beings from their darkness. May I purify all their obscurations, and lead them to enlightenment.”

That night, the oil in all the other lamps went out. But the beggar woman’s lamp was still burning at dawn, when Buddha’s great disciple Maudgalyayana came to...

Read the Teaching on today's Direct Lines Subscription Format!

Mind-Body-Spirit; Troy Anderson Interviews Coach Ilg

Listen to wonderful, conventionally trained American Fitness Coach Troy Anderson bravely interviews the "Crazy Wisdom of Coach Ilg."

For seasoned WF students, you'll smile along with this 45-minute Dharma Gong as the precious, vast distance between Wholistic Fitness® philosophy and mainstream fitness immediately arises and then magically nears as Coach Ilg closes the obvious gap with his trademark Love of All Fitness Warriors.

click here to visit the Teaching on Coach Troy Anderson's website.

This recording is also available as a MP3 Download (or CD) in the WF Pro Shop right here:

Mind-Body-Spirit; Troy Anderson Interviews Coach Ilg

"My Work Is Embrace." - Ilg; Blizzard Teachings

Doko Oosliid shimmers - mirage like - behind Pine Needle Brother after Flag's most intense blizzard in a decade. this photo and all others except where noted taken by ilg, today.

"My work is embrace.
Whatever it is,
just embrace it."
- steve ilg

it was the Hanuman Wind that did the most damage last night in Kinlani's most intense blizzard in a decade.

two things ilg knows pretty well by direct experience: wind and snow. ilg has embraced at least those two qualities this time around on this Plane.

it might not be wind and snow for you.
for you?
it might be doing what it takes to untie those tight hips.
it might be to finally learn how to walk with feet bare upon Mother Earth.

it might be doing more (and more intense) cardio training...
or, it might be letting go of cardio for more gym...or yoga...or meditation.

it might not be wind and snow for you.
it might be letting go of status, of money.
it might be doing what it takes to spend more time with your chi(ld).

it might just be embracing your passion for drinking or smoking or gossip
and sitting with it
meditating upon it
again and again
until
it Shifts.

READ THE REST AND GET THE CHI OFF OF THE OTHER PHOTOS BY COACH ON DL SUBSCRIPTION FORMAT!

When Will That Drama Come For You?

on today's DL Subscription Format:

Teaching on Impermanence

(and the Three Levels of Motivation)

Human Birth = Birth of Stupidity

The birth of a man is the birth of his sorrow. The longer he lives, the more stupid he becomes, because his anxiety to avoid unavoidable death becomes more and more acute. What bitterness! He lives for what is always out of reach! His thirst for survival in the future makes him incapable of living in the present. - CHUANG TZU

***

Now that i have my Noble Sangha grounded by one Master's words,
let's take some true 'life coaching' from where no 'certification' is required;
the Enlightened Masters...
their only certification papers?
their Life Message and the halo which beams like a beacon
for all others...



READ THE POWERFUL TEACHING ON TODAY'S DIRECT LINES SUBSCRIPTION FORMAT!

As Rare As Stars In Broad Daylight...

a rare DharmaTeaching on today's DIRECT LINES...




"Why waste sweat on anything other than your own Salvation?
Make each droplet count toward your Enlightenment...
not for you...
for All Beings In All Realms."
- steve ilg
photo; Soulstice Mountain Race 2006 - 3 years;3 podiums

Naturally speaking, every Being is beautiful...

"When babies are born our little faces are a canvas of cosmic beauty coming into form. As we grow and our egoic shell toughens by way of habit and conditioning, we lose track of our cosmic beauty. If we don't have Dharma Teachers in our lives, sometimes we can get completely lost in our ego, and as we age we frantically wage war to fight off aging. It's okay if Aspen leaves turn old and yellow and die, right? That's only natural! Well, when it comes to US we arrogantly think we are somehow more superior than a tree and thus should be immune to aging and death. Some people even put plastic into their faces and other invasive cosmetic forms of 'beauty.' Yogis realize that innate cosmic beauty never leaves us. Cosmetic beauty is a dead-end waste of time and vital energies more wisely put toward self-cultivation and inner work."

GET THE WHOLE TEACHING AND THE
WHOLENESS BACK INTO YOUR TRAINING:
subscribe to the Tribal Missive of Steve Ilg's Wholistic Fitness® today!

Soulstice Shakti: 8th Podium in 7th Different Sport of 2009

after riding my mountain bike to the Start Line in sub-freezing temps,
i, photo right, attempt to squeeze onto the
singletrack at Soulstice, which comes only 12 seconds after the Start Line!
the summit of the course is at 8,900'...a climb of 1,100' in only 1.5 miles.
you gotta be ready to go Red Line off the line!

i ran only two times in three weeks before this race...
what i did do?
HP Yoga® and living the WF Lifestyle Principles...

***


"if we really want something sacred from our Fitness,
we must risk comfort.
we must risk becoming more whole and finding Santosha in what i call, "being an Endless Beginner"...

Sacredness is a training effect from Wholeness.
Ego is a training effect from Specialization."

- excerpt from Ilg's Race Report from Soulstice Mountain Trail Race, this past Saturday;
you
DO
NOT
WANT TO MISS THE DHARMA OF THIS TEACHING!
it transcends podium athletics
and dives you into the SPIRIT WORLD!

Metaphysical Teachings#1 From Pagosa Duathlon - Race Report #1

Metaphysical Teachings From Pagosa Duathlon - Race Report #1




"To excel in a sport is not mastery of self-cultivation."
- steve ilg

photo of coach racing at Pagosa Mountain Duathlon last month, shortly before a high-speed crash. coach went on to win by a 20-second margin. photo by Tom Steen

The spiritual advantages of being an absolutely mediocre athlete - or yogi - vastly outweigh the same for the naturally gifted. The reason is simple, yet you may need to concentrate on this key. Here it is: We - the middling fitness warriors - quickly reach our spiritually potent "edge" far faster, far more poignantly than do the genetically and karmically resplendent.

Having stated that, ilg understands all too well that when it is you in the driver's seat of an entire life of middling talent and capacity, such spiritual advantages often appear as "frustration" to our ego. Which is why, most average athletes and yogis quit the long and arduous Path of Self Cultivation through Sweat. Sad. If ilg had a more potent voice and platform from which to influence the masses, ilg would speak boldly and confidently and in support of middling warriors like myself.

So, what i will attempt to do in the course of the next DL's is to draw out the spiritual teachings of an unexceptional (me) fitness warrior whose sole focus is on wholeness, not specialization of fitness, and how that can - sometimes - result in an exceptional spiritual and competitive experience filled with absolute and endless divinity. So, if this type of stuff is what lubes your chain, and you don't mind reading and seeing some true Bhagavad-Gita like blood-and-guts warrior spiritual teachings, ilg humbly invites you to take this Pagosa Race Report Series and enjoy it for what it is.

***

Reaching Our Spiritual Edge - We Must Make It More Available, Not Less

I'm going to repeat the key affirmation from my opening:
We - the average fitness warriors - quickly reach the spiritually potent "edge" far faster, far more poignantly than do the genetically and karmically resplendent.

Growth in a spiritual context cannot come from comfort. A cell must divide. In that intensity of division at the molecular, vibratory level - lies the rajasic quality of our UniVersal nature which is the same yearning toward Enlightenment. Comfort equals stagnation. Genuine growth - and thus, all Healing - must take its origins not from stagnation and comfort, but rather from turbulent intensity. That is, after all, what greets each of us at our Last Gasp, when we eventually exhale and can no longer draw an inhale...

READ THE ENTIRE TEACHINGS OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS ONLY FOR DL SUBSCRIBERS...so, if you vibe with the concept of Competition As A Wholistically Relevant Inner Space? come race with us over the next few days!


up next in this Series:

An InterDisciplinary Journey Of Easily Attainable Edges; Welcome to Wholistic Fitness! for DL Subscribers only

"There is no armor like perseverance."

DharmaTeaching and beautiful photos by coach on today's DL Subscription format

The Won Back Heart...

a unique Teaching from direct experience from coach on Asmita and the Gruntwork of Letting Go...

here is an excerpt:

i can still recall the deep potency of my final few mountain bike rides, runs, and climbs in New Mexico before i left into the great toxicity known as LA. phew. as i drove further west, out past the Navajo Land which i have come to know and love so deeply, tears. even chanting the Mantra was no emotional balm for the ilg which left behind the vast and haunting landscape of the Four Corners region. The sweat and stillness that i've lived each day here touches places within that i scarcely knew existed. I learned, from the decade spent in LA, how naive I can be. up until that drive into the unknown LA cauldron, i always thought that the spiritual journey was about cultivating fitness of body and mind strong enough to warrant the divinely guided amounts of kundalini ascension up sushumna (the spiritual spine). accustomed to practices and healing revolving upon the chakra system, nadic energy, and other forms of 'invisible fitness,' the degree to which my naivety about genuine chakra purifications never truly took root in my soul body until i watched each of my Sacred Peaks disappear into the long ripple of road behind me: my birth mountain; Dibé Ntsaa (Hesperus Peak, Colorado)...Tsoodzil (Mount Taylor, Arizona)...Dook'o'oosliid (San Francisco Peaks,Arizona).

on today's DL Subscription format with beautiful pictures; be there to be Here Now

KLESHA CONCLUSION - A WF Way Through Our Afflictions

BEST SEAT IN DA HOUSE
Taking a Squirrel incarnation could mean that we 'hoarded' and 'gathered' too many possessions in this or another lifetime. The compulsion to 'attain and hoard from others,' is one example of a kleshic tendency of which all Conscious Fitness Warriors, intend on Wholeness, must be watchful. i grabbed this shot yesterday as "Bert" one of our local long-eared Abert Squirrels assumed a great spot atop "Shahky's" Sahasrara Chakra.

NOTE: my "3-Chi Clan" will be taking a few days away from Temple Service as we camp and explore some (warmer and more riparian) terrain in the Verde Valley. i'll also be desperately seeking miles on my road bike as i attempt to gain some adequate fitness for the IRONHORSE 3-DAY Stage Race coming up waaaay too fast on May 23rd-25th. Enjoy the DL Archives and the WF SanghaLounge and Blessed Be Thy Practices...

FROM TODAY's TEACHING ONLY FOR DL WARRIORS:




"...by nourishing our minds and spirit through a focused life built upon Loving and Focused Fun, the essence of our life becomes fluid. we feel ourselves as a river of endless energy, to which the toxicity of death grows dilute. We are all born Divine and within us the Atman dwells in the changeless, all-pervading transcendent reality of Brahman...the supreme essence from which all creative derives. Ramakrishna reMinds us that, "Only the Divine can worship the Divine." so too, only a heart that has been opened can live a heart-based life. many of us are living a chakral experience as we journey through a WF Lifestyle, a lifestyle that cannot help but open our Hearts. Fears are replaced by Love, Compassion, Understanding, and For-giving. where once we did sports and kept healthy out of Fear of not being approved or Fear of being fat, we now workout for what matters within. we've learned to turn up heat of the Sweatlodge not from heating rocks, rather, from heating up our Fears...getting out there in the wind and cold to run or ride...doing what it takes to sit and focus our minds...learning yoga-asanas that open our Heartspace be it through backbends, hip openers, inversions, or twists...whatever it is takes to become Whole; we learn to say, "yes, sign me up for i am WF Yogi; seeker of Wholeness, no longer a subject of fear."
-coach ilg

until we can meet and gather again like this,
and do this Inner Work...
may your Daily Sweat be purely motivated for Higher Ascension,
and may your Daily Stillness be Ascending toward divine motivation...

your faithful friendly warrior along the Inner Workout Way
abbaji

The Skillful Science of Human Suffering; Climbing Through Our Kleshas

"On the withered tree,
a flower blooms."
- DT Suzuki

As we continue - at our own Level and Willingness - our Journey toward Wholeness, there is nothing that we won't face. Among the dizzying depths of years of strength training, cardio training, yoga, meditation, mastery of food, and of course the constant in-our-face Lifestyle Principles which constitute our 9-Limbed Path of Wholeness (Navanada Yoga or Wholistic Fitness®), each of our human qualities will arise. More troublesome than the stiffest of knots, within our cellular bodies are energy cysts filled with stunningly potent gumption gathered from eons of us forgetting who we truly are. Don't take feeble ilg's word for it; just do a hip opener for 8 minutes. or go for a long, hilly run in the high wind. sit still for 40 minutes without flinching. Quit gossiping. Brush your teeth with your Non-Dominant Hand while in yogi squat...do any of these WF yogas and just watch the emotional parade begin; Jealously arrives. Boredom. Annoyance. Skepticism. Doubt. Fear. Anger. It's all in us. In buckets, usually. As we do the Practice and learn to run or pose or lift ourselves through our inner storming qualities, transformation happens. Slowly.

The sourcing of our human suffering comes from clinging. Attachment, the Buddha and Yogi Christ would say. We hang onto our perceived problems; the mortgage, the illness, the injury, the self-pity of resentment within our relationships. That's our 'stuff.' That's our Drama.

Through Wholistic Fitness which has a renown capacity for turning our workouts within, we will eventually arrive at a juncture in our Practice: one fork leads to another less steep, less direct Path of Transformation. we say "adios" to that quirky coach ilg and his Path, his books, his blogs...and that's okay. nothing inherently 'wrong' about hitting the Delete button on a particular Path. yet, in some other time, form, and/or way; you will still run smack up against the very Resistance(s) from which you thought you left.

The other fork? That's right, the other fork in our WF Path leads us right into the heart and heat of our Drama until we get clobbered over our thick skulls that we've been staring at the Truth for a long while:

Our Drama is also our Dharma.


Upon this glorious gift of Insight, our breathing deepens and we begin to feel the immense divinity and sacred joy that makes us quiver with excitement toward our life and our death: as our Breath deepens into our multi-discplined Path, we realize that there is NOTHING we cannot consume as kindling for our unique Awakening and Enlightenment.

Recognizing The Kleshas - turning our Workouts within

"In the process of Awakening, there is only one challenge and one victory: the challenge is to Real-ize we've forgotten our Highest Self; the victory comes when we re-identify with our Atman...our Soul Force."
- coach ilg

Each of us confronts the Science of our Human Suffering according to our etheric gearing...our karma. Here is where we find the Kleshas or the 'afflictions' which keep us mired in forgetfulness of our Divine Self.

DO NOT MISS THIS TEACHING;
THAT MUCH IS FOR SURE...
SUBSCRIBE TO DIRECT LINES THIS INSTANT AND STOP WASTING YOUR WORKOUTS ON THE PHYSICAL BODY ONLY!!!!!!

until we can meet and gather again like this,
and do this Inner Work...
may your Daily Sweat be purely motivated for Higher Ascension,
and may your Daily Stillness be Ascending toward divine motivation...

your faithful friendly warrior along the Inner Workout Way
abbaji

photo by Ananda; coach belays a student at Vertical Relief

Abbaji Speaks- The Kleshas and Our Way Through Them (Part One)

To Access This Two Part Lineage Teaching From Abbaji (coach ilg in his 'Desert Father' aspect) subscribe to DL and enjoy 2,000+ Teachings of NavandaYoga (aka; Wholistic Fitness®) plus 24/7 access to the worldwide Sangha of WF Students, fans, and family. Today's Teaching includes Lineage education and photos.


DIRECT LINES: keeping the multi-disciplined yogic warrior tapped into Dharma-based Sweat and Stillness since 1982.

where is YOUR Path leading you, if not toward wholeness and the highest summits?

The Compassionate Heart Of Opening Thy Hips

The Compassionate Heart of the Awakening Hips


by coach steve ilg
4*09
with bows to ShantiDeva


do not republish without permission

The energy within opening hips is the supreme nectar
 that overcomes the laziness of spiritual slumber.

It is the inexhaustible treasure which eliminates poverty in the wholeness of fitness.

It is the supreme medicine that quells one's inner world dis-ease.

It is the Noble Effort of opening thy hips
- abode of the Princess Kundala -
that exterminates all weakness which still 
wanders and tires the tight-hipped on the path of conditioned existence....

READ THE ENTIRE POWERFUL DHARMA ARROWS BEING SHOT FROM THIS IMPORTANT TEACHING FROM COACH; GREAT PHOTOS...



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photos:
#1: coach in a Malasana Plyometric Jump www.JamesQMartin.com

photos NOT SHOWN ON IDL:

#2: after a long run; back to square one with tight hips...so goes the Journey of a Wholistic Fitness Yogi; it's the story of an Endless Beginner.

#3: laying it down at the 2009 Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon

#4: life beneath a Squat Bar is where Yogis abide.

Beaten Helpless By Karma...

DharmaTeaching on today's DIRECT LINES, subscription format



May your Sweat be Sacred today,
coach ilg