i blow a tire at Oraibi 8k...

To work with changes now, in life: That is the real way to prepare for death. Life may be full of pain, suffering, and difficulty, but all of these are opportunities handed to us to help us move toward an emotional acceptance of death. It is only when we believe things to be permanent that we shut off the possibility of learning from change.
- Sogyal Rinpoche

How ironic is that? A yoga teacher pulls a hamstring during the first k of an 8k traditional Hopi Footrace in America's continuously inhabited village...did i finish?
what techniques did i engage if i did? how did i fare as one of the few 'panaah' or "white man" among a huge, olympic-status field of Hopi Runner on their own turf?

you CAN'T MISS this Race Update
only
for DL SUBSCRIBERS!

Off To My Final Hopi Race before Imogene...

Imagine that you had gone all your life without ever washing, and then one day you decide to take a shower. You start scrubbing away, but then watch in horror as the dirt begins to ooze out of the pores of your skin and stream down your body. Something must be wrong: You were supposed to be getting cleaner and all you can see is grime. You panic and fling yourself out of the shower, convinced that you should never have begun. But you only end up even more dirty than before. You have no way of knowing that the wisest thing to do is to be patient and to finish the shower. It may look for a while as if you are getting even dirtier, but if you keep on washing, you will emerge fresh and clean. It’s all a process, the process of purification.

Whenever doubt arises, see it simply as an obstacle, recognize it as an understanding that is calling out to be clarified or unblocked, and know that it is not a fundamental problem but simply a stage in the process of purification and learning. Allow the process to continue and complete itself, and never lose your trust or resolve. This is the way followed by all the great practitioners of the past, who used to say: “There is no armor like perseverance.”

- Sogyal Rinpoche

I'm taking again for Hopi Land...
an 8k footrace through the oldest, continually inhabited village of Turtle Island.
this will be my final gut-check for speed and concussion on my spine...then, it's time for some long, slow high-altitude runs before a taper for the biggest test of my broken spine yet; the Imogene Pass Race from Ouray to Telluride, Colorado.

it is deep honor for me to be hosted by the Race Director of

The Oraivi 8k Hopi Footrace

Juwan Nuvayokva, who might just win his own race tomorrow!

In fact, i have planted a long-time Dream Seed with several Tribal Elders to consider an Olympic Dream of mine; i want to train a Hopi Runner as a Nordic Ski Racer and have that Hopi Skier represent the Hopi Nation in the Winter Olympics.


if you thought the Jamaican Bobsled Team was cool...
just wait till the World gets a load of THIS!

if ilg can start the wheels rolling on this project,
i will need your help, so listen and respond if i ring the Temple Gong on this
avenue to restoring genuine Tribal Spirit to the Olympics.


My race tomorrow goes off at 7:30 am. Send your Chi; i'll be hammering away as best as i can, letting go into the Native Running Spirit...

May you pursue your own Dreams with the agility and speed of a high mesa harrier...

HEYA!

And do not ever forget Oh Noble Sangha;

where there is no cultivation of perseverance,
there is no yoga.

From the land of sage and sweetgrass and monsoon storms,

your loving coach



photo #1; traditional Hopi Runner. see my DL last month on Hopi Running for credits.
photo #2; sunrise over Hopi Land by ilg.

2008 Olympics...

am i watching the Opening Ceremony...

am i INTO the Olympics this year?

you might be surprised at my take on it all...


check out the WF SanghaLounge which is ALWAYS going OFF in the HIGHEST of WAYS!

In Snow(making) We Trust!

YEAH BABY! for those of you who have been following my support of making snow at Arizona SnowBowl...which has been a legal slugfest for years primarily because of Native American's opposing it due to religious reasons...well...

The Arizona Snowbowl received great news from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Snowmaking and needed improvements at the 71 year old resort will happen. The Snowbowl community is very pleased that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided to rehear the case and affirm the original District Court opinion.

Judge Carlos Bea, writing for the majority, "Were it otherwise, any action the federal government were to take, including action on its own land, would be subject to the personalized oversight of millions of citizens. Each citizen would hold an individual veto to prohibit the government action solely because it offends his religious beliefs, sensibilities, or tastes, or fails to satisfy his religious desires. Further, giving one religious sect a veto over the use of public park land would deprive others of the right to use what is, by definition, land that belongs to everyone."

also,
it looks like i may be moving my "Can Do Clan" from our lovely Two Tree Manor out to the country into an adorable and cozy ranchhouse with what just might be the best view of all Northern Arizona high country...and this means i'll be only about 13 minutes from getting "First Chair" when the ski area opens! we'll also likely have space for WF Retreats right on our property!

more on this with pictures of our possible new h(om)e coming as details unfold!

"Disciple of Light" now available as a Pay Per PDF

due to popular request from my "iDL'rs" i've offered my "Disciple of Light" account of my La Luz Race as a Pay Per PDF...

just follow the link below and enjoy the chi!



Disciple of Light Pay Per PDF

Racing To Become A Disciple of "The Light"

click on photos to enlarge your chi hit...my race report from The 43rd Annual La Luz Trail Race...may this benefit your own Practice:

a big Sacred mountain...

and...

a humble WF yogi...

just getting to the Start Line...
just toeing the Start Line among hundreds of sport-specific runners, many of whom are wearing "Hardrock 100 Mile" t-shirts and speaking in cavalier terms of coming off 90-mile-per-week running volumes can be, i admit, downright scary for us WF athlete warriors who refuse to specialize for the sake of wholeness.

350 runners gathered. we've got 2 miles of 12% uphill pavement until we hit the La Luz singletrack; a sinewy snake of an ancient footpath that takes as direct a possible line up the gut of Sandia Peak to the Finish Line on the summit rim; elevation 10, 678'.




The Start Gun fires.

"There is no self-mastery without discipline," the Simone Weil quote comes to mind as i start my chronograph watch in sync with the "BOOM" of the Gun. i take third row, knowing from my feeble running volumes this summer that i only have a quality 1 hour and 45 minutes of steep uphill running in me.

after an hour and a half?

unknown territory. it'll be a tight squeeze for my run fitness. the winner in my Age Group is gonna crack 1:45. there are 35 in my Age Group. the average age of racers in this classic race is 42 years old. Simon Guiterrez who has won this thing 9 times in the past 12 years is precisely 42. he'll win again this year in another remarkable time of 1:22. dat's right; 1:22. he'll soar up and over the 9 mile, 4,680', 6 -climate zone, single track course covering each horrendously steep mile in 9 minutes and 11 seconds. Ananda figured i could capably run 15-minute miles. i figured she was about right.

ilg just wonders if Guiterrez bleeds red. would love to put him in a Downdog, see what his flexibility is like. wonder what he can Bench? how many pull ups can he crank? then again, that's just ilg...a die-hard Wholeness Professional. i respect sport-specific athletes. i do not, however, worship them. here is what ilg worships: Wholeness, versatility, balance, symmetry.

my Sacred Duty today, being a La Luz virgin is to gun it for what i know i can do; an hour and 45 minutes of uphill suffering, then, hang on. i figure my gas will run out close to the summit where, since everyone is hurting anyway, i can rely on my mountaineering experience and just speed walk the rest and limit damage.

"There is no greater source of discipline than the effort demanded in overcoming obstacles," wrote Weil. As i hit the singletrack in the top 75 of the 350 peleton, i thought; okay; i've got myself my obstacle; 7 more miles of single track up a Sacred Peak. let's party!

my new running shoes:

Nitrus Trail Running Shoe

are gripping the Lower Sonoran singetrack like crazy good. this trail is something like Vishnu Himself created while being intoxicated on whatever it is that the Deities get off on...this thing switchbacks so many times in her first three miles that i was getting nauseous. and high...airplane high. the canvas of the Rio Grande Valley was dropping like a granite boulder away from my flying feet. passing slower runners was an exercise of dynamic and dangerous yoga...

"On your left!" i would huff at my next victim in front of me and then accelerate, shrug my right shoulder and torso past him like an alpine skier brushing past a slalom gate. if misstep? the plunge straight off the narrow path and down the cholla cacti covered slope would be brutal.

back to Discipline.

the word itself means to be a Disciple.
so, i make myself a Disciple of La Luz..."the Light".

to be Disciplined...to be a Disciple requires no wisdom. no talent, nor intelligence. Discipline requires not strength, beauty, or bravery.

to be a Disciple requires but one shining quality...




READ THE WHOLE RACE STORY AND SEE GREAT PICS ON TODAY'S DIRECT LINES; Subscription Format...the LifeBlood of Those Who Understand The Necessity of Spiritual Wholeness Through Sweat


***

the La Luz Race will run it's 44th annual race next august. be there. only 350 runners are allowed to compete in this race which Trail Runner Magazine ranked as one of the top 12 Most Brutal Races In America. website:
La Luz Trail Run

Can Do Clan returns h(om)e...

if your HeartSpace is ready to crack wide open,
click on my daughter's image and She'll perform an instant Healing for you.
if you'd like to contribute to Her "DewaFund", email me or her m(om)...

"The Can Do Clan" has landed back beneath the Sacred Peak...i did purty dang okay at the La Luz Race and after i catch up with my Online Students, i'll be back with plenty of great New Mexico photos and my Race Update...

head bowed,

the big chief of the tiny, powerful Path


photo: Dewa and yogurt in New Mexico. all three of us saw our appetites soar as we ventured further away from the high, pure Pran of Kinlani (Flagstaff). my little Rinpoche Dewa imparted quite a fascinating miracle along the likes of Donald Shimoda in the book, ILLUSIONS. i'll tell DL Subscribers all about it, coming up next.