Easter Sunday SirMan...

My traditional Easter SunDay SirMan...

on today's Direct Lines...


Happy and Wholistic Easter To All Those Who Realize The World Class, Unconditional Loving Service of a humble, powerful yogi known as Jesus...

Late Night Protein? How To Handle Sweet Cravings!

Most Honorable Coach,

So, I had supper at 5, took my MAP Amino Acids at 8 then worked out at 8:30. Now I'm home and ready for some sleep. Should I eat another high protein meal beforehand or, just drink some Calli Night and get that sleep.

I need to burn off some fat but, I don't want to waste that muscle I've been building. Advice?

I actually usually end up eating late anyways-
If there's something that one who needs to lose a little body fat has trouble doing, is going to bed hungry.

So, at least I had a nominal amount of lentil soup and some rice crackers instead of a big slice of cake. I guess if I'm so tired that I pass right out after my day I won't eat and if I can't sleep because my stomach is growling, I will eat. Simple. Right?
Kurt, Colorado

See my answer in the Dharma Vault of the WF SanghaLounge under the MAP Amino Acid chamber! It has everything to do with knowing how to cleverly use the body's innate mechanism known as a "pranial dip"...plus, i give counsel on how to handle late night sweet cravings!

get into the WF SanghaLounge and check out the LOVE! amazing wealth and inspiration in there; keep contributing; ask questions and revel in the worldwide support of some amazing WF Master Students, beginners, fans, and friends...

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DL Exclusive Interview: HP Yogi Of 2007; Leslie Hutchinson

At h(om)e among the Flagstaff ponderosa, HP Yogini Of 2007; Leslie Hutchinson holds her champion agility dog; Kai with her stalwart other animal companion, Yoda, looking on below.





DL: When was your first formal introduction to yoga?

LH: I was first “introduced” to yoga in the early 1980’s. My teachers were history professor Dr. John Nicholson, a scholar in Asian Studies and Dr. Vasant Merchant, a humanities professor who was also a devotee of Sri Aurobindo, a famous yogi in India. No asana practice yet – however a seed was planted deep within my psyche to search out this mysterious and marvelous “yoga” – a way to the heart of what it means to be truly human.

In the winter of 1990, I just happened into Michael Wolcott’s yoga class at Flagstaff Athletic Club. The feeling of sheer delight is with me still. I practiced Kripalu yoga with Michael for a couple of years. He and I used to fire up his wood stove and do a crazy version of Bikram’s yoga sequence and go out and roll in the snow. I have been practicing ever since!

DL: That's a pretty venerable introduction! So, what do you love most about yoga?

LH: Practicing yoga, for me, is an opportunity to move into stillness every day. Every day, no matter what happens out there in the world or in there in my own mind, the practice of yoga is nourishment and wisdom for my body and mind and heart.

Practicing and studying with a genuine Yogiraj is a rare and perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I feel truly blessed to have crossed paths with Coach right here in Flagstaff. Yogiraj Ilg embodies the perennial teachings of the great wisdom traditions. Students have the opportunity to learn both body practice (asana and athletic training) and wisdom practice (meditation and self-study). A true and gifted teacher, he has and continues to, immerse himself in all aspects of practice.

That said, on a more personal note, I appreciate Coach’s sense of humor, his dedication to what really matters, his kindness and compassion, his abiding love of the natural world – he is truly a person of good heart. And lastly, his willingness to take on this humble yogi - me – a difficult case if there ever was one!

DL: We understand that you and Coach ran in some similar Zen circles?

I was introduced to Zen Buddhism through an English professor, Arnold Johnson. His class included beat poets and writers. We read Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, Gary Snyder, Alan Ginsburg and Shunryu Suzuki. Mr. Johnson was a formal Zen student and invited anyone interested to come and sit zazen on Wednesday evenings. Arnold introduced me to Bodhi Mandala Zen Center in Jemez Springs, New Mexico (here is where Coach has studied as well). There I became a student of Joshu Sasaki Roshi. He is now 100 years old and continues to teach. I consider him my root teacher.

My Zen practice was a zig- zag for many years. I didn’t wake up one morning and say, “It’s a beautiful day. I think I’ll go practice Zen Buddhism.” Most of us, I think, come to practice after experiencing some life-changing events that call into question many of our personal beliefs. Perhaps, this will be a loss, a disappointment, or something we perceive as a personal failure. Zen and yoga practice give us the tools to look inward, to study ourselves, to awaken to and genuinely appreciate our life with all of its light and dark sides.

DL: Is this shared foundation in Zen training what makes Coach speak so highly of you? He truly Recognizes you as a Sister, in a Tibetan sense of the word...

LH: Coach and I share a deep love and appreciation for the natural world – our other family. I walk among the non-sentient with Kai and Yoda, my beloved canine companions, as many times a week as I am able to. I sit by rivers, creeks and potholes. I sing prayers to the moon. I meditate under trees. I feed birds and squirrels every day. Simple stuff, really. The non-human world nourishes me in ways that the human world does not. This is the family that Steve and I share. And my dog Kai, to my great delight, absolutely adores coach with all of her heart.

DL: So, how has your Zen training influenced your Yoga Practice?

DON'T MISS THE REST OF LESLIE's BEAUTIFUL AND POIGNANT INTERVIEW ON
DL SUBSCRIPTION FORMAT!!! INSPIRATIONAL and MOVING!!!!!!

PART II: my "Recession Teaching" completed...

We live on a sphere of extremes and intensities. Unless our notion of Personal Fitness pivots upon becoming very, very devoted to both of the realms of Extreme and Intensity, than, well, we're gonna be in for a BIG SURPRISE upon entering the Bardo.

i have spoken much about the Bardo in this forum and its printed precursor; The Journal of Wholistic Fitness.
. see my footnote, BARDO 101*

PART II of "When Is A Recession Not A Recession" has been up at DL Subscription Format and has received fantastic input from our worldwide Tribe of Wholistic Fitness Warrior Yogis...

please, c'mon on it and change your worldview and notions about what "Personal Fitness" truly involves!

When Is A Recession Not A Recession? When You Understand Its Spiritual Potency...PART I

or:

YOUR CHOICE!!!
i am busy transforming many of my venerable WF Programs into Pay-Per-PDF's (have you checked out the WF Pro Shop recently?!?!) so that in the years ahead, WF affords every warrior on earth, low price point options so that the impact of a 'recession' becomes what it truly is; a 'resuscitation' of Inner Attainment!


***

okay, so the Word is officially out;
the bubble popped.
America and our gloatish attitude toward having the "King of Currency" in global markets is gone. pooof. like incense smoke in my zendo...America's braggart thrusts of currency triumph is now as flaccid as the legions of our sheepish men and women taking prescription drugs* instead of doing the Inner Work to overcome our samskara like genuine warriors. gee, i guess we're gonna HAVE TO really start abiding in that miraculously beautiful phrase that adorns our cherished dinero; IN GOD WE TRUST!

my mom, who was born in the Depression and went on to become the Vice-President of a bank back long before women were ever holding such jobs, foretold this recession when i was but a boy; "Steven," she told me, "a nation cannot just keep extending credit when there is no gold to back up the credit." i did not really understand her then, and to be frank, i still ponder how the hell the whole 'gold' thing really figures into an economic structure so addicted to "phantom wealth"...i mean, if Donald Trump's contractors across the world would simultaneously demand that he "pony up in cash" he'd be as butt ass poor - poorer - than feeble ilg!

when Dewa was born, she immediately 'assumed' her portion of our great nations even greater national debt; something like $31,000.

welcome to AmerikA, my precious daughter! fun, ain't it?

so,
what is the Appropriate Action of a WF Warrior during an 'official' Recession?

i tell you truly; REJOICE!

and then,

ADAPT!


let me explain:

i Trust that my students, having been trained for decades in the WF Word Choice Guru, did not just accept without Question the word; Recession.

it's Latin; means to go back or, more appropriately; gone back.

so, a Recession means for the warriors of the era to "go back" meaning; to return to our previous state of going within instead of spending, spending, spending on things external in order to keep fueling our current addiction to comfort.

"Okay coach," you might be thinking, "so let's say i'm actually starting to see your perspective on a Recession and how you are spinning it to be a positive. but my question to you would be to what are we supposed to be returning??"

that is more than a good question,
it is a go(o)d question.
and to understand the answer, you simply have to reMember with your Ancient Warrior Lineage
which means understanding about Yuga's.
you know how i am all-Ways speaking about you and i sharing this lifetime together in Kali Yuga? the "spiritual dark age" predicted so clearly by the Ancient Yogis eons and eons ago?

well, how far are we into Kali Yuga?
why is it called Kali Yuga?
what the hell is a Yuga anyway?
how many Yuga's are there?
what can living in Kali Yuga mean for my spiritual ascent?

well,
you better buckle up, bucko, cuz this is gonna be a Third Eye Opener for many of you still clouded over by the preconditioned attitudes prevailing your entire worldview and thoughtforms in your life thus far.

i will Teach you about the Yuga's in tomorrow's DL.
you will not want to miss this one...
it might just change your entire Way of Being...



so, when is a recession not a recession?

when you stick close to your WF Tribe and see a 'recession' for what it truly and beautifully is:

a "resuscitation" of all that is truly, honestly go(o)d!


May your Practice be windswept with your Conscious and Appreciated Breath...


head bowed,
your feeble teacher

*= studies now reveal that over 41 MILLION Americans drink contaminated 'approved' water each day...what is our water contaminated with? dat's right; a pandemonium of prescription drugs pissed out by the millions of Non-Practitioners!!! what, and you thought i've been just KIDDING about WF all these years? enjoy your water; you and your children are drinking drugs, baby! Oh, gee, maybe THAT'S why all these 'sudden' dis-eases of ADD, autism, cancer...?!? NOW how fast are you FINALLY going to order my PHASE ONE of SUNRIDER Herbs to make SURE your immune system, lymph system, and overall cellular vibration is potent and high enough to rise above all the crap you drink and breath each day?!?

The WF Path Works,
only when YOU WORK the PATH!

Oh, and if you are reading this and you STILL have not committed the $10 per month to subscribe to DL?

well,
i'll just let you sit with that...
cuz PART II is huge and
only DL Subscribers...the Warriors Willing To Support The Humble, Powerful, and Original Temple of Transpersonal Fitness are gonna git the go(o)d stuff...



the Brave that you are:
subscribe to DL and get into the Tribe that has been waiting for you
for lifetimes...

The Agassiz Uphill - my Final (Frozen) Water Dance of '07/08 Winter Season

click on photos for enhanced chi hits...
all photos by; www.myracepics.com

The First Annual Agassiz Uphill, sponsored by Kahtoola and Arizona SnowBowl.

original event idea by steve ilg.

"Actions mirror a man's personality better than his words.
The yogi has learned the art of dedicating all his actions to the Lord,
thereby reflecting the divinity within him."
- Iyengar












8:00am, Agassiz Ski Lodge, near Flagstaff, Arizona. elevation 9,600'.
i toe, sadly, the final Start Line of my '08 winter racing season.
uncommon emotions push and pull my cells as i take my final few warm up minutes...as my well worn lungs attempt yet again to efficiently assimilate the stingy O2 up here, images and sensations of this most rewarding winter season dance throughout my mindscape...Tour de Ski nordic marathon, USSA National SnowShoe Qualifier, Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon, the Arizona Cup Nordic Series, and now, this 2,000' dead run up my backyard ski hill...an event that i originally approached the sponsors with as a bike/snow climb duathlon back in August.

Not a half-baked season at all for this rookie father of a newborn who, at this time last year, was entering a 3-month battle with Cold-Triggered Exercise Induced Asthma after winning the world's highest Nordic Ski race.

using Zazen Mind, i hit my inner Delete Button on such sentiments. Not room for emotional overlay or burden of any sort for the next half hour or so...
for i've got a Race Line to toe...and more Inner Dragons to certainly slay within moments...



an excerpt from:
www.TheOutdoorJourney
as reported by John "Hakado Ru" Kuhlman:

Honor thy locals.
The Flagstaffians milling around the ski lodge prior to the start race must have been descendants of the Scandinavian gods. I swear, not one, male or female, must have weighed more than 150 pounds. Plus, just about every one of these people were damn good looking folks. I later learned that the second place finisher actually ran up the mountain from the highway as his warm-up. By my calculations, that’s 6-1/2 miles starting at an elevation of 7,300 feet and ending at 9,600 feet.I’m not sure what my coach Steve Ilg did as a warm-up, but I saw him running down a steep ski run and heard the other locals talk in hushed tones about him.“Who’s that crazy guy running down the mountain.”“Dude, that’s Steve Ilg.”After the race where he thinks he finished near the top ten out of fifty racers (no official race results as of today), he went telemark skiing for 3 hours...still without a meal for the day. When we caught up with him a couple hours later, guess what his post race & ski nutrition was? Some of his "MAP"Amino Acid capsules and what looked like a bottle of the SUNRIDER Herbs Fortune Delight tea.That’s it.

READ THE ENTIRE RACE STORY, SEE THE KILLER INSPIRATIONAL PROFESSIONAL PHOTOS OF COACH SUFFERING "AIRPLANE HIGH"...FEEL THE CHI!!!!
LIVE THE WF SPIRIT!!!!!

Subscribe to your Highest WORKOUT PARTNER EVER:
SUBSCRIBE TO DL AND HELP SUPPORT THE ORIGINAL TEMPLE OF TRANSPERSONAL FITNESS!!!!

Quit Searching, Quit Seeking...Just Go Deep

it does little for your Soul to search frantically about for peace.
it does little for your Soul to be anxious after love, freedom, or happiness.

it's go(o)d to allow the process of your Life Pilgrimage remain just that;
a process.

a yogi is a wise person of means;
though one eye is kept always on the Summit,
if the Summit is not reached in this lifetime,
it does not matter.

what matters is the Pilgrimage.


we know what's Appropriate Action* for us, deep done in our bones, our cells, our heart.

i know what is Approriate Action for ilg
and i do it; each day using the WF Science of Self Evolution Without Slopping Away Our Power To Something External.

it ain't easy.

yet the Knowingness of Appropriate Action for my Atman is what feels
so go(o)d,
so powerful,
so beautiful
while Guiding, Protecting, and Nourishing.



Coming Up Tomorrow in DL:
Finding What's Appropriate During The Agassiz Uphill Race; my final winter event of 2008
+
my Practice Statistics from February for those of you tracking the mountain yogi through the deep snows of a Path Less Traveled...


Practice Well Today, Noble One;
and if you seek peace,
drop the seeking
and
Do Peace.


Peace out from the Humble Temple Beneath The Sacred Peak,
el coache

*; the 3rd Lifestyle Principle of WF

photo by www.racepics.com
last saturday during the Agassiz Uphill. click to enlarge