Final iDL of 2006!

"The great problem is bringing life
back into the wasteland,
where people live inauthentically."

- Joseph Campbell


Tonight, Ananda and i are going on a moonlight cross country ski with some fellow yogis. Merging into my most treasured sound of ski across snow, we'll each reflect on the past year before returning to our tiny town hunkered at the foot of the Sacred Peak to watch a "Giant Pinecone" drop from the historic Weatherford Hotel at the stroke of midnight into a small droplet of humanity gathered to watch, to wonder, and to welcome a new year coming. A far, welcome cry from when i once got beaten and knifed in NYC after watching the Apple Drop in Times Square. Oh, life!

What a Year of DL's it has been!

Can you even begin to recollect all the Dharma Transmissions that we have shared?

And can we even begin to measure how each one of those DL's have now assumed appropriate vibrational residence within our cells, preparing us for our Journey Higher? Where else can the near daily dosage - each one unique and original - of such body/mind/spirit effort be found?

Nowhere 'cept right Here Now, oh cherished Sisters and Brothers!

READ COACH's TOUCHING FAREWELL TO 2006


***
photo; Ananda goes down while breaking fresh tracks two day ago at the Nordic Center.

In Memory of CD

The Associated Press today titled their story:
Body found on Chinese mountain ID'd

That body belonged to my old climbing friend and mentor, Charlie Fowler.

I could tell you a number of heart thumping and heart warming about Charlie, as could any number of Colorado climbers that tied into a rope with Charlie. The man, now a snow-covered body on a remote mountain in China, was a singular climbing tour de force. His first ascents, his photography, his travel diaries across the world on both rock and ice will continued to be enjoyed by hundreds and thousands of future generation climbers.

I suppose what i am saying is,
"Charlie, your Mountain Spirit will live on, my friend."

I'm going up to the nordic area.

CD, i'll ski a few kilometers on this day of days for you.

it's gonna be okay for you in the Bardo, my friend;
you got this Lead, no worries mate.
for you have trained and performed your entire life to summit that which is often UnSeen.

CD, thank you for living and sharing so fully that which you love to do.


Om Mani Padme Hung,
your ol' bro from back in the day

Links:
Mountain Madness

Charlie Fowler

***

footnote: throughout the late seventies and eighties, i was a sponsored rock,ice, and high mountain athlete. having lived to age 30 when, at 16 i never even imagined i would survive that long, i kept a promise to myself to stop high level climbing and work on other sports, disciplines, and internal arts if i did mange to live to 30. i did. and i kept that promise to myself. that is why i am sure i am still alive to help others through Wholistic Fitness. Sport specificity - the imbalanced Nature of it - inevitably catches up with you.

Especially if you are a world class mountaineer.

iPod + Nike = SacReligion

So, i understand that Nike has merged with iPod and has thus begun a marketing
(read spirit-deconditioning) campaign to convince the UnAwakened masses
that to go for a run without being 'plugged in' is soooo uncool.

feeble ilg wonders,
"Would Steve Prefontaine train and race with an iPod?"
whatever happened to running while listening to and nourishing one's own Divinity!?!

am i the only one left on the planet unable and uncaring to find my iPod before a Cardio workout?

what the hell is so terribly bad about listening the music of self, of breath, of ones own measured footfalls
with the sacred breast of Mother Earth?!?!???!?! i pause and wonder what the Ancient Himalayan trekking Yogis or
or own Ancient Native American footrunners
would think of wearing an iPod while on pilgrimage among the Sacred Peaks?

now, i reflect on all the runners and cyclists that nearly
wreck into me or are startled like electronically buzzed sheep when i run or cycle upon them while they
are so "plugged into" their cherished, expensive, and idiotic iPods.

did Nike* forget or did they just conveniently choose to...



DO NOT MISS THIS DHARMA ARROW FROM ONE OF THE LAST REMAINING AND STILL SWEATING DHARMA PROTECTORS ON TURTLE ISLAND!

December DL's...creating the "momentum to be there"

Hi Steve,
A steep path indeed my friend. I had dinner with {a fellow WF Online Student} tonight. We talked and talked about the WF Path, the grade, the positive effort, and the mystery that is Ilg.

I thought it might bring a smile to el coache's face to know that we up here in the NW think of you even when we aren't out sweating somewhere on a lone trail.
 
One of the topics that we explored a bit was the idea that every flight of stairs, every trail terminus, every peak, and every time one arrives back at home or the car and begins the process of peeling off layers, that perhaps that IS the podium that some of us aspire to. The ones with no other humans around and only one judge... oneself.
 
Every time I go out my door I am setting records.  The trail may twist and turn, the path may disappear from view at times, yet I always arrive at the finish line in time to cheer myself for having the momentum to be there.
 
Holiday Cheers to you and your family,
 
student chreist

***

Blessings to you Coach on this G(o)od day,
As has been My Blessing for these past 4 plus years, I take sacred time towards the end of each month to review all your DL postings. Re-read them and make notes in my WF Yoga Journal.  Sometimes I must reread a line or posting over and over again to GET it----never pass a word or Teaching until I TAF I have at least got an inkling of its Teaching. December was chock full of JUICE----caffeinated high test fuel for my Practice and Journey......Thank You.

My heart-felt Thanks to You and Joy for your time, attention and generosity in keeping the Sangha heading Inward and thus Upward.  I love you both and send heart to heart hugs in this m(om)ent.  

student shel

PS---since you haven't announced on-line student of the year yet maybe you are accepting nominations? I nominate Student Shawna who not only made it to the Sacred Peak.......she kicked "arse" in SR volume and presents us with such wonderful photos.

Secrest Breaks World Ultra Cycling Record!

TODAY ON DL SUBSCRIPTION!

Coach's friend BREAKS THE WORLD ULTRA CYCLING RECORD FOR 24-HOURS!

don't miss this amazingly inspirational DL!

Coach in YOGA JOURNAL? What Do You Think?

Is this coach ilg now appearing in Yoga Journal? Below, i settle the rummor once and for all!

A handful of Alert WF Warriors wrote in to ask if that was me in the February, 07 issue of Yoga Journal.

"I don't know," came my reply, "i don't subscribe to mainstream magazines. And Yoga Journal sure as hec never asked my permission."

"I'm sure it's you..you are in Vrkasana balanced on tree roots by a lake. You are in your capri's and your WF Training Mala is on your left wrist."

"I don't remember doing a photo shoot like that," i told another who wrote in.

"Dude, no yogi has a backside like you, it's you. i know it is," wrote one more.

then, Most Noble WF Online Student NWSM took it upon himself to cut out the picture and send it to me. It arrived yesterday.

i will officially end the rumor:

FIND OUT ON TODAY's DIRECT LINES Subscription Format!

Wholiday's Continue

"Where are you between two thoughts?"

There is no Practice quite like Holiday and Family Practice!
The yogi is trained to participate fully in the family and Outer World
yet maintains his or her Inner World as the true and steadfast Source of
"Christ's Mass".



Immersed in the Holiday Practice, relying on Early Morning Ritual and the WF Lifestyle Principles...
i Trust that you are being radiant and strong in your Wholiday Practice as well!

Online Students: Ananda and i are back in the office tomorrow...

love,
el coache

top photo: L-R; my nephew Mogius, me and my new Norwegian World Cup Nordic Ski Cap (thanks Santa!), mi madre, and my niece Ella. photos by Ananda.