Coach's Dope on the Doping Scandal

basically, it all comes down to the WF Philosophy and my quote which i first uttered back in the late seventies:
"Racing is not about winning, it's about ourselves."

so,
let's spin to win; WITHIN!
{photo by Heidi Snell Photography; Coach races to another podium top step; using ONLY SUNRIDER HERBS and BioBuilde® Amino Acids...

*** EXCERPTS FROM TODAY'S DL Subscription Format:

I have done my best throughout the years to produce visible results across the widest physiologic spectrum of National and World Class Sports one human can possibly achieve - without drugs. yet, my unmatched results and Balanced, Healthy Approach goes largely unheard at the world level of sports. Instead, many pro athletes succumb to Outer Directed Worldly Pressures and take all sorts of chemicals to produce podium results.

***

When i was an editor for Rocky Mountain Sports & Fitness Magazine, i would write publicly and often about alternatives to taking steroids or other performance or recovery enhancing drugs. Today, a huge Drug Scandal ripped out cycling's two greatest stars; Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich the day before the start of the Tour de France; cycling's shiniest event.

***

the very moment an athlete takes a performance enhancing drug, all spiritual merit is lost.
you didn't win SHIT.
you wussed out and took drugs.
all Bardo Training; wiped out.
there ain't no EPO allowed in the Bardo, baby.
you gonna come back as a fucking syringe needle and be jabbed into someone else's ass.
serves you right.

Having said that...

{READ COACH'S FULL ESSAY WHICH INCLUDES A PERSONAL EXCLUSIVE QUOTE FROM ARNOLD AND A SURPRISING VIEW OF THE DOPING SCANDAL plus more pics at
DIRECT LINES; Subscription Format}

namaste,
coach ilg

winner/TOUR de GILA
winner/Sandia HillClimb
winner/Furnace Creek 508
New Mexico State Road Racing Champion

An Anniversary of Sweat, Spirit, and TRANSFORMATION...

Hello my EC (el coache) -

I wanted to mention something i did not include in yesterday's e-mails.

As we finish the month of June i recognize that you EC have been my Teacher for 4 years----june is our yearly anniversary. They have been years filled with blessings, challenge, sweat, stillness and a whole lot of fun................ain't been easy........has been simple though. Choose your Teachers very carefully and then trust and do what they tell you! I am grateful and I grow more beautiful, healthy, and wealthy with time and paying attention to my Journey.

A humble simple and heartfelt thank you.........
student shel

{photo of Most Noble Online WF Shishya Shel during her WF Private Intensive last winter at the Temple H(om)e}

DHARMA ARROWS SIZZLING: Secret WF Teaching Due For Student Release

"At what LEVEL are you REALLY WILLING to play the Game?"
- Coach Ilg


I allowed Ananda to photograph me in the early morning hours, while deep in the Pranic Interchange of my Top Secret Temple Teaching; the Rock Vinyasa® - an Early Morning Practice that can heal ANY lower back pain and open ANYONES tight hips. Currently, the Rock Vinyasa® is available only to WF Online Teachers and Students. i am working on a choreography of it suitable for Non Online Students as well.

the Gems fall rapidly and frequently from this Feeble Conduit of Something FAR FAR FAR more powerful than i...this Temple reSounds with the Voices of the Ancients stylized for today's Western Fitness Warrior...

buckle up Warriors; the Dharma Arrows are FLYING in this DL:



okay, you've read all the scriptures, listened to all the CD's, thumbed through the magazines about spiritual growth...BLAH, BLAH,BLAH.

you've taken a few yoga classes, joined the gym, picked up the Dalai Lama's latest book...BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.

you are still stressed.
you are still not meditating.
you are still scared to die.
you are still "more content to compensate for your negative tendencies than to train them," as WF Teacher Ananda says.
you are still addicted to comfort than you are willing to attack your comfort zones.

i'll say it again, Oh Noble Yogin:
"At what LEVEL are you REALLY WILLING to play the Game at, huh?"

You want to know the ONLY thing worth getting stressed about in your life?

It's this:

{READ THE ENTIRE CHI FILLED ESSAY OVER AT DIRECT LINES; Subscription Format...Coach has unloaded a VOLLEY of DHARMA ARROWS with more photos that will pierce RIGHT THROUGH your weaknesses and kick your spiritual butt precisely where it is needed...when are you gonna realize; it PAYS to be a DL Subscriber Warrior! Trust your Teacher; DON'T MISS ANOTHER DAY; DL is moving at the Speed of Enlightenment, don't get GAPPED!}

Impermanence the only Permanence; the WF Training Principle of "Relaxing into Intensity"

"Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly..."
- John Cage

Coach nearing "Lift Off" in Natrajasasana, the Cosmic Dancer Pose, captured by world famous Marc Romanelli. This photo was taken near one of my favorite rock climbing areas when i lived in the New Mexico towns of Santa Fe, Teseque, and Pojoaque.


***
Tribal Brothers and Sisters of Sweat and Stillness..

you wanna feel like SOARING...you want that yogic sensation of "Laghuva" (bodily lightness)?!?!
WHO DOESN'T?!?! it feels like everyday you are the SKY!


DL is getting WAY CRANKED UP, baby!
You do NOT want to miss today's entry on DL Subscription format! Some excerpts:

"when i was doing extreme winter mountaineering and technical ice climbing, the notion of my impermanence was as heavy upon my soul as was my backpack upon my back...."

"One reason why i created HP Yoga® techniques such as the "Hold and Hover" Technique, is to impart upon the nerves a willpower that retrains the neural fabric to "soften" while under physical duress."

"...since the more advanced yogic practices which condition our subtle anatomy - think here of Mula Bandha - begin as mere physical locks, then transform into psychic + physical, before maturing eventually into..."

"The Energy of Enlightenment is all Trainable, we just have to..."

"There is only one great adventure and that is inwards toward the self."
- Henry Miller


May your Practice be strong and sincere today,

coach ilg

COACH'S RED MOUNTAIN SPA RETREAT FILLING UP!

"Paradise is where I am."
- Voltaire

Archival photo of Coach at Red Mountain Spa, Utah...where Coach and Ananda will present their new workshop; "Lead From The Heart" August 13th and 14th...have you registered yet? Space is filling up...check out the flyer on our Calendar click at the Visitor Cave

Hint; you do NOT want to miss this presentation at one of America's Leading Adventure Resorts!

Perpetuation of Rationalization; PART II - When Our Spiritual Path Runs Over Bugs

{Yesterday, our Coach...absorbed in contemplation. Not just an athlete whose feats are unmatched, Coach is a philosopher whose unique, powerful Teachings are devoted to helping humanity reMember an Ancient Path of Sweat and Stillness known as 'yoga'. It was Coach's amazing vision, many years ago, to use an unmatched caliber of multidisciplined Path of Yoga known as Wholistic Fitness® to re-instill the Passion For Enlightenment and Inner Attainment instead of the current addiction to EnterTainment. i asked him about his natural state of being absorbed in contemplation, he just smiled and replied, "Well...it is hard for me to relate to anyone who is bored with life...to me, especially during these Kali Yuga times, there is always way too much to ruminate about when i am Practicing not-overthinking!" - Temple Manager Ananda}

***


On June 18th, 2006 i did a DL devoted toward a WF Training Tenet:
Perpetuation of Rationalization.

In that piece, i used a Student's philosophical conundrum about killing a bug to illustrate the intensity of the yogic Practice of Ahimsa (non-violence). You may wish to review that particular DL in the Archives, for i reset in it a tough spiritual principle that will break most of our backs; to See all Bugs as our Teachers. In fact, they do not need to be bugs at all, but rather any other creature of endless forms that strike instant Fear in us. Can we accept those "Fear Dragons" as our most benevolent Teachers or deities or gurus; think here of Jesus, Gandhi, God, Whatever/Whomever...could your killing of that spider or snake or mosquito REALLY be compared to you killing the Buddha or slicing the head off of Mother Teresa?

Answer is:
Ab-so-friggin'-lute-ly.

No doubt about it.

"As you sow, so shall you reap."
- Jesus

"Do no harm."
- Buddha

"Do not kill."
- 1st Commandment

{So, whaddya goin to do in this Moment? Leave your yoga on the mat or take your Practice into the handling of this Spider in your bathroom? Will you leave the Spider Being alone or carefully transfer this Spider outside or what? Your choice may dictate a WHOLE LOT MORE than your ego might wish to consider!}

To ANYONE who has reMembered just a miniscule GRAIN of their Yogic Training or Inner Work, they immediately realize the depth of the first Yogic Yama: Ahimsa or Non-Violence. Squash the bug, kill the spider and you absolutely have no stance whatsoever to EVER SAY ANYTHING OF INTEGRITY about the Bush Administration's war policy, abortion, the raping of Mother Earth, Global Warming, increased gas prices, divorce, the high cost of living (which is continually built upon the high cost of killing), etc., etc., etc.

Very high Jainin yogis would actually sweep or have swept for them, the path ahead of their feet so as not to inflict harm or death upon any little bugs. Taken one step further (forgive the pun), these same yogis would be very critical if you or i just flopped ourselves down onto a chair or couch unconsciously. Why? Well, because, the very fibers of the couch are in a process of incarnation and you inflicting unconscious violence upon their matter harms both yours and the 'couchs' chances for a more Higher Incarnation next time around the Wheel of Samsara!

At what level, oh noble yogin, do you REALLY feel capable of playing the Game?

Regardless of your answer, i will say this to you;
One cannot practice violence in their own personal life and then plead innocent in other matters. Or as the Zen saying goes,
"Behind each jewel
are three thousand
sweating horses."

Or, as i have Taught you in this forum for years;
"All Karma is God."

So, having prefaced it this Way, here is how i answered the Student's question about her killing of a bug and my Gift of several spiritual arrows that she can use in the future to help her and the karmic repercussions when faced with this "workout" next time...

May this entry help you and all Sentient Beings Everywhere...

"There is only one great adventure and that is inwards toward the self."
- Henry Miller


namaste,

coach

{Read the rest of Coach's once again, utterly unique and transforming answer over at DIRECT LINES: Subscription}

International Warriors

Noble International WF Warriors~

Greetings to you from the temple h(om)e
beneath the Sacred Peak.

Just received word from our website manager, Hakado Ru, that
our System should be able to take International
orders now for subscriptions to Coach Ilg's DIRECT LINES.

As we are ironing out the kinks, i thank you for your patience.

Please give it another WF go!!!

In humble service,
ananda

Joy 'ananda' Kilpatrick
Wholistic Fitness® manager & teacher

Sedona's On Fire and my Heart Is Too...

The Sunset Sky over Flagstaff from the Sedona Fires...



Good Afternoon Coach,
I've been watching the news about the fires in your area...and people wonder why, how...
I just read your Indirect Lines & wonder just what more it will take for the collective "us" to finally get it.
My prayers & thoughts are with you & Joy daily, not just because of the current situation, but just because...
love ya
Trish

www.childersibs.biz

***
COACH RESPONDS:

Most Noble Trish,

i have not spent my life
teaching Dharma...




teaching Higher Consciousness...




teaching Heightened Awareness...






just because of Spiritual Duty...i have devoted my life to Teaching
these qualities because,
most of all...



My Beloved Red Rock Southwest is dying a slow death...
and i need help from a reAwakened National Tribe...

in my life i have seen much deterioration of my Beloved Red Earth Family
and it hurts me...
personally.


May All Beings WAKE UP and ROAR TO CHERISH ALL LIFE
and
May Appreciation For What Is
Ring Loud and Clear For Mother Earth....

namaste,

coach ilg
founder/Wholistic Fitness®
native son; American Southwest
author/Pagosa Speaks; A Book Of Regional Poetry

Coach's Three Refuge Prayer For Those Of Us With Tight Hips

I offer prayers each morning to the Three Refuges: The Buddha, The Dharma, The Sangha.
I have been doing this for the past 20 or so years. i do this Ritual
in Respect of the Spiritual Warriorism demonstrated by perhaps the greatest athlete of all time;
Prince Siddhartha whom would later become the fittest multidisciplined yogi on the planet during His time,
then had the unbelievable balls to do what no other human being has had the fitness or the inner bravery to ever do since:
just sit upon the ground,
legs folded in Full Lotus,
spine straight,
and
vow:
"I shall not arise from this position, nor fidget my mind nor body, until I have Realized the Nature of All Things."

it's easy to quote other poet's words,
it's easy to open a bible and mechanically recite handed down prayers...

to me,
however,
genuine poetry is that which spills forth from your own heart recollected from sweat and stillness

to me,
however,
genuine prayer is that which releases itself with your own words, from your own Beingness and is pelted out into the UniVerse as a cry for That Which Urges Us Closer Toward Enlightenment...

here then,
is my personal Prayer of Three Refuges For Those Of Us With Tight Hips and Painful Lower Backs...
which was inspired when i was paralyzed and could not walk, let alone sit in a yogi squat and pray...

{SEE COACH'S PRAYER ON SUBSCRIBER ONLY: DIRECT LINES; Daily Meditations From Coach Ilg}

MA has a fever...FLAG's FOREST CLOSED DOWN! WF Principle of Cardio Commuting not at fault!

Study: Earth is hottest it's been in 2,000 years...

Well kids, the 1.8 million acres of the Coconino National Forest was locked down at 8:00 am this morning; no more trail access, no more forest road access, no more nothing in the forest until the monsoons arrive and shower wet Abundance to my Beloved yet Parched Southwest. Sedona is on fire, we nearly lost our Temple H(om)e to fire last week, and the reason is because of an American Addiction To Comfort: driving too much and not be Aware of the tremendous energy use of our Entertainment-For-Our-Egos lifestyles.

There is a reason why i incorporated aggressive Cardio Commuting into my Path of Wholistic Fitness® many, many years ago; the reason was to HELP SAVE MOTHER EARTH from greenhouse gases...
The Earth is running a slight fever from greenhouse gases, after enjoying relatively stable temperatures for 2,000 years.


The National Academy of Sciences, after reconstructing global average surface temperatures for the past two millennia, said Thursday the data are "additional supporting evidence ... that human activities are responsible for much of the recent warming."

THE EFFECT OF SPRITUAL IGNORANCE:
Other new research showed that global warming produced about half of the extra hurricane-fueled warmth in the North Atlantic in 2005, and natural cycles were a minor factor, according to Kevin Trenberth and Dennis Shea of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a research lab sponsored by the National Science Foundation and universities.

THE JOY OF SPIRITUAL AWAKENING:
this should be what our 'dashboards' look like:


May all beings Awaken to the value of Practicing Wholistic Fitness® as instrumental to our Collective Enlightenment...

om so ti,

coach ilg

**
stats above
By JOHN HEILPRIN
Associated Press Writer
Friday, June 23, 2006

ANOTHER REAL LIFE "PEACEFUL WARRIOR" PODIUM FOR TEAM WF!

Lisa "VishnuDoll" Goldsmith, cranks the SUNRIDER® Herbs and WF CHI! to capture a Masters National Championships at Mt. Washington (6,288'), New Hampshire. Lisa, a teammate of Coach's '06 Mt. Taylor Championship Team, will return to Mt. Taylor this February with Coach "Shiva Muscle" Ilg. Lisa trains using the WF Teachings, including the SUNRIDER® Herbs, and HP Yoga.


A collective worldwide WF Bow to our amazing fleet-footed Lady Of The Empowered Lung and Limbs!

***
"SHIIIIIIvaHHHHHH muscle!


A DAY! On Mt. Washington … a good one.

A good warm-up, a few sun salutes to honor my privilege of BEING, a Fortune Delight® down the hatch, and I lopped 4 ½ minutes off my time up from ’04!

I was 5th overall in the race, 4th in the Americano category for the USATF National Champs, and the oldest of that bunch…for a Masters National Championship

Only ‘sad’ news is my 2-wheeler is STILL stuck in the bloody shed…But, don’t you worry teamie, you’ll carry us thru at the Sacred Mountain, oops, I mean, I will be in shape for that ride by February, NO Problem…;`)

Miss you terribly,
VishnuDoll"

***
How about YOU?!
You ready to capture the top step of your OWN personal summits and podiums? The Path of WF is Here Now for you...since 1982, cranking out world-class "Peaceful Warriors" of all types. WF is the Sweat behind the "sentences" of Peaceful Warriorism!

DON'T JUST WATCH A PEACEFUL WARRIOR MOVIE; BE YOUR OWN MOVIE!
Quit Spectating and start Sweating and Sitting along a Proven Path of Transformation; Wholistic Fitness®!

Of Being Alone; of catapulting Isness and a Mourning Dove feather

{SELECTED EXCERPTS FROM TODAY'S DL..
SUBSCRIBE NOW! Today's Entry alone is worth it!
EXCLUSIVE EXTREME SPORT AND FITNESS PHILOSOPHY POETRY, PROGRAMS, AND TEACHINGS
ARE FLOWING NON-STOP OVER AT DIRECT LINES: Daily Meditations From Coach Ilg}

EXCERPT #1:


my Teachers Shift me hardest when i am alone.

i have spent much of my life living alone and am nearly painfully thankful for it!

did you know that the word; "alone' is a contractive form of 'All One'?

in case you have not taken notice...the very NOTION of the CONCEPT of actually BEING ALONE literally scares the 'be-Jesus' out of modern men and women. it is as if the very NOTION of actually BEING ALONE is viewed as a penalty. as some sort of sin for a chiefly humanistic error, a penance for having a personality or cosmetic flaw that deviates from the accepted "coolness factor" to attract and behold(ing) a partner.


***


EXCERPT #2:


nowadays, when i find myself alone for consecutive days
it is a Treasure for my Soul...

a predictable tense of Mind Vayu responds to a flick of an etheral switch from the Divine Plane
and suddenly, alone, i am instantly immersed in Teachings Everywhere
Calmness Everywhere,
Inspiration Everywhere,
Captivating if not Catapulting ISNESS
leaps and dances among the windsong,
birdsong,
breathsong,
pulsesong...

EXCERPT #3:

.... i cannot wait until Age 75
when my own Spiritual Teachers allow me to leave my
slugfest of protecting and teaching the Dharma to
"modern" society behind
and i can take these years with you...
my Sangha
within
and unleash with spiritual intent and world class velocity the amplitude of my
accumulated Practice and Experience
just
for
me.

not you.

not my biologic parents.

not my dead Wolf.

not even Ananda.

just me.

that is what Age 75 will bring me...a spiritual deliverance unto mySelf
as i have come to Know Thyself...and
with a bit of Luck; Enlightenment.

***
EXCERPT #4:

lying in a hammock on Red Fox Deck
i fall into an all too seductive call for silence under
under the whispering sublimity of waving aspens and twinkling ponderosa needles
beneath Father Sky... my mind calls forth a quote a yoga student delivered to me,
"In royal solitude you walk the universe."*
my mind eases into this graceful walk albeit upon limbs still shaky from an earlier visit to
the Iron Temple**...

***
EXCERPT #5:


...from her flutter
descended a tiny feather...

right toward...me.

instantly, of course,
i took this as a High, Auspicious Sign...
that was no Dove,
i thought to myself,
that was a Lama, a Deity, a Guru, a Guardian from Above...
in that feather,
so exquisitely backlit from Grandfather Sun,
now dancing toward me just meters away...
was surely a Sign that this feather was meant for my puja table and
perhaps carried Deep Medicine for me and my Tribe of Faithful WF Warriors!


***
FINAL EXCERPT:

"Let us dig our gardens and not be elsewhere;
Let us take long walks in the open air...
Let us bathe in the rivers and lakes...
Let us indulge in games...
Let us be more simple:
simple and true in our gestures,
in our words,
and simple and true in our minds above all.
Let us be ourselves." ***

i bow to all of you who are not afraid,
yet cherish,
being all(one).
love to all,
Dharma Blessings from beneath the Sacred Peak,

coach

ps; Part II of "Perpetuation of Rationalization" coming soon!


*** Robert Linssen

WEEKEND WARRIORISM; "My Workout Is Everywhere"

"The forces which move the cosmos are no different from those
which move the human soul."
- Lama Anagarika Govinda


"The best things in life are nearest.
Breath in your nostrils,
light in your eyes,
flowers at your feet,
duties at your hand,
the path of right just before you."
- Robert Louis Stevenson


Ananda last week ripping one of her best yet mountain bike descents through the Kachina Wilderness. She has just climbed up to 8,852' from our Temple H(om)e at 7,200'. She has just flown down about 2 miles of world-class alpine singletrack and her smile would result in a 'perma-grin' all the way to Florida where she is visiting her dad.

***


"Nothing is worth more
than this day."
- Goethe

Backlit ponderosa infant. here is how much i Love you; i just had to 'slow my roll,' during the kickass 7-mile descent to take this picture and share it with you all. you know you're in Love with your Sangha when you stop during a nirvanic mountain bike descent to take pics!



On Any Given Monday at the Temple H(om)e;
cycling, yoga, and workout clothing drying on "Red Fox Deck"



"When eating bamboo sprouts,
remember the man who planted them."
- Eastern saying

May this Monday Morning DL help keep your feet grounded
and your breath a delight to be inJoyed and cultivated...

May your Practice Week ahead grant you Great Clarity and Gift you with Inner Wisdom
so All Beings Everywhere May Benefit...

that is all...

om so ti,

your loving coach

{READ THE ENTIRE PIECE including Coach's "Life By Example" of his killer workouts directly into
doing 'domestic duties' with loving appreciation...
let Coach help you find that truly, "your workout is everywhere' in his "Weekend Warriorism" essay and great pics!...}

Coach's WF Tenet: "Perpetuation of Rationalization" -When Your Spiritual Path Is About Ready To Run Over A Bug

I was lucky enough to get this action shot of Jesus, Gandhi, Vishnu, Kali, Mother Teresa, and the Dalai Lama all rolled into one Bug. What if this Bug IS, inDeed, your "God" or "Guru" in drag...testing your Sadhana (Spiritual Effort)?

Bugs symbolize "Fear Dragons"...they come in Endless Forms...
to Battle and Transform yourself through your own Fear Dragons,
you might like to start by learning:

Coach's WF Tenet; Perpetuation of Rationalization-
When Your Spiritual Path Is About Ready To Run Over A Bug

**

Dear Coach,
Thank you for your WF Path...your combination of Eastern Teachings plus incredible (well, unbelievable) levels of Western Fitness is amazing.

Due to your Work the other day i had an Awakening because of a bug. As I was walking through my house, I came across a spider. My pulse skipping a beat, I nearly squashed it as i have for years. then i breathed (because of your Teachings) and in doing so I came upon a moment that seemed to 'expand' as you say. An amazing amount of odd, old, and just weird self talk happened in that 'expanded moment'....

I thought to myself, "What would Coach do in this Moment? Wait a minute, a Yoga Teacher the caliber Coach calls me a 'Noble Yogic Warrior' and here i am about to unconsciously kill this spider out of impulse!"

Then I thought more rationally; "But, what if it bit my children?" This self dialogue went on for a while. I finally could not stand the thought of that spider biting my child, so, i hate even writing it...i killed it.

Coach, i want to practice non-violence since you taught me that non-violence is the first Yogic Guideline...but, well, what should i do about dangerous insects and all the mosquitos, and creepy crawlies? What do you do in such circumstances?

your feeble and now karmically )*&^%!-up Student,
- KB


*
{Read Coach's utterly unique East-Meets-West answer over at DIRECT LINES: Subscription Format
to learn about Coach's WF Tenet; "Perpetuation of Rationalization"
and
attain a couple more Yogic Spiritual Arrows for your Quiver to use next time the "Bug Guru" (or any Fear Dragon) visits your Spiritual Path. Don't leave your Highest Workout behind...and
May All Fitness Warriors not abandon their Sweat or their Scripture when times comes to engage a Higher Way Through Bug Gurus (Fear Dragons.}
*
click to enlarge
"Wanna know just how many times i have nearly gone down hard 'cuz of my Spiritual Path About Ready To Run Over A Bug?"
- coach dodging lizards, rolly-pollies, capillaries (ooops! i mean, CATEPILLARS), horny toads, and Brahman knows what else as he cranks another stellar Cardio Yoga session along the famous SlickRock Mountain Bike Trail near Moab, UT. Photo by Ananda

HeadStand Humor; Unleashed in arms and mind!

Coach in MuktaHastaSirsasana (Free Handed Headstand). Widely pointed toward as one of the most vital postures to set up the inner energetics toward Enlightenment, Sirsasana is highly medicinal from a physiologic perspective as well. Improved blood pressure, enhanced respiration, increased peripheral development of the venous and arterial systems, cranial oxygenation (which is why standing on your head makes you smarter and faster to 'connect the dots' between the physical and metaphysical planes) and an unmatched conditioner for the neural systems, Sirsasana is also used by the Yogin as a superb postural deviation diagnostic tool...at least, that is what i use this pose for! When standing on my head with the inner locks (see DL Archives for Mula Bandha, Uddiyana, and Jalandhara research) activated, i immediately can read the structural distortion nested in my hips; both long term (karmic/birth/adolescence) and short term (as in compaction from recent running, cycling, climbing, etc).

However, i have also noted another interesting component about doing Inversion practices...they make me funny as hell...jokes come to me in my apres-Sirsasana that just crack my ass up!...like this one which came to me yesterday...


"What do you call a bunch of Panda Bears sitting around whining?"

Panda-moan-ium!

and how about this one..

{HOP ON OVER TO
DIRECT LINES Subscription Version
TO HEAR MORE HILARIOUS JOKES FROM COACH and...
VIEW ANOTHER PICTURE AND DESCRIPTION OF COACH's HP YOGA® SEQUENCE TO GET INTO MUKTAHASTASIRSASANA}

FOREST FIRE YOGA Update; 100% Contained!

THANKS TO THE AMAZING WARRIOR FIREFIGHTERS, CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS, and THE COHESION OF COMMMUNITY OF FLAGSTAFF...

the WOODY MOUNTAIN FIRE
has been declared 100% CONTAINED, baby!


{you may recall this DL shot from this past March...i was cross country ski training right near Woody Mountain which is just a few kilometers from the WF Temple H(om)e...today, these same magnificent Tree Beings are but charred remnants of how they appear in this photo. The Woody Mountain Fire was human caused by humans...another fire across the street was started by a human...smoking a cigarette. May ALL BEINGS EVERYWHERE be freed from Ignorance and Care For Their Mother (Earth) by developing Consciousness Through Daily Practice.}


The WF Temple H(om)e is SAFE,
the Temple Cat Beings, Charlie and Jasper, can now stop bugging me and be allowed back outside,
and
Ananda...you can enjoy your time spent with your Daddy
in full knowledge that your Home and Family beneath the Sacred Peak are just cranking.


i experienced a fantastic spiritual/energetic breakthrough during this challenging time and over on DL, i will be most excited to bring to you this DharmaGem arising out of what could have been ashes...

i bow to your Practice of Patience with our humble Temple Beneath The STILL GREEN CANOPY OF THE GIANT PONDEROSAS!

om so ti,

coach ilg

FOREST FIRE YOGA

The first thing Ananda said to me after we were told to prepare to evacuate our WF Temple H(om)e was,
"Shit, we are not going to be able to teach (HP Yoga) class tonight...i have to call the sangha..."

***

Noble WF Warriors...

Don't send us well wishes,
Don't email us asking if we are okay...
and for Buddha's sake don't call us or leave text messages...

we are fine...we are Teachers of Yoga...and yogis are trained to Adapt to the Moment using the strength of our abhyasa.

to find Yoga through having a forest fire rip through our entire home, leaving no Trace, is superb Practice for the Bardo.

i will be imparting Live Teachings from along the Forest Fire Path over at DIRECT LINES.

for now, just know that Ananda is on her way to visit her dad and i remain here at the Temple H(om)e, ready to take our Cat Beings (Jasper and Charlie) and a few items away from the flames should Shiva decide to engulf our home...i willingly and lovingly dedicate our home and belongings to Shiva.

Noble Ones On The Path of Awakening;
we love you more than you can imagine...it is a Great Honor to Serve your Practice and i trust we have many, many years ahead of us to do the Inner Work that Needs To Be Done...
however, if the WF Temple H(om)e does burn down and all the "Stuff" goes away...
you will allWays have the WF Teachings from myself in my books and DL Archives...
and
in the End,
it is the Quality of our Practice during Difficulty
that
matters most...


om so ti,

coach ilg

Coach & Ananda are safe and on the road

Good evening all.

I received a phone call a few minutes ago from Coach Ilg asking me to let the Sangha know that he will be off the Net for a bit. The Woody Wildfire started this afternoon and is quickly spreading due to high winds. Two Tree Manor is in the path of the fire and the surrounding neighborhood has been evacuated.

Coach wanted you to know that he and Ananda are safe and are on the road. He has his laptop and their mountain bikes, so they're good to go.

They will report in when they can.

Let's all have them, the Flagstaff residents, and the brave hotshot crews in our thoughts and prayers tonight.

Hakado Ru

A Smart Way To Knock On The Temple Door...

Taos Pueblo, New Mexico
i wrote a poem about this place in my book, "Pagosa Speaks"
photo by coach

***


Since i basically "rolled the boulder over the WF Cave" by moving DL to a subscription format
i must say,
i am impressed by the Special Warriors that have Sensed i am throwing down and that NOW is the
time to either Step UP
and either become an Online Student of WF
or
at LEAST join as a Subscriber to DIRECT LINES.

So, from the resultant relative cascade of Applications for Online Studentship
that comes through,
i must give the nod to potential Online Student Tom H who wrote this to me a couple of days after
submitting his Application to Study:

*
"I remember first reading desert solitaire from Ed Abbey way back in 1989, shortly after he died....and I remember his opening poem:

'Give me silence water hope
Give me struggle iron volcanoes...
 
The path is the way.'"




Now, this shows me several things about Tom H:
1) he has read DL for several years and thus knows that Ed Abbey is spiritual forefather of our Tribe
2) he comes from the Space that says to me as his potential Teacher, "I'm ready to crawl, bleeding through the sage, to Study Under You,
3) I Get It...Accept Me Now.
4) Tom knows that i know by Direct Experience over many years the intensity of the desert's elemental power and allure. He knows that i know by Direct Experience that her intense heat and thunder storms, rock tossed mountains, vast labyrinth-like canyons are at the center of my heart...he knows that i know the American Southwest and has used the Chi Force of another potent Author to give power to his Knock upon my Humble, yet Highly Sought After Temple Doors...

Chances are likely that i like the Way that Tom has Knocked...

If i accept him,
pray for him...

for you know damn well,
i will Test his Spirit
behind his Knock...

fierce love, perhaps the last on Turtle Island and a Love that Abbey himself would smile upon...

namaste,
coach ilg


* that second photo, taken by WF Teacher Joseph "Haku" Sheader of his son, Kerry in the Escalante region of the Southwest, touches my soul...it speaks soundly of the human/geologic yoga that seems so difficult to bridge in many areas of modern day Turtle Island, yet is still so preciously accessible here in the Southwest.

THE QUOTE OF THE DAY:

THE QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"During the intervals, nothing focuses the mind better than potential loss of consciousness. The 15 hard/15 easy splits were a bitch. Much more so to me than the 45 sec on/1 min off sets. I am not sure what I was seeing at the end of the last set because everything was in a haze. Don't know if I should pass out or throw-up? I love it! Oh, and
I love wearing the WF Blessed Mala beads. I am having fun doing Wholistic Fitness®. I am a better person for starting it.

Namaste,
Harry"

{Student Harry has been an Online Student taking Studies directly under Coach Ilg since December, 2005. Some of his short term goals include doing 10 Pull Ups and 10 Dips, staying in a Yogi Squat for 1 minute, and doing a WF Private Intensive with his Coach within the next year....now THAT my friends, is a Ripe Student!...you ready to Be Like Harry and STEP UP to the Mt. Everest of Personal Training; WHOLISTIC FITNESS® Online Study?! If not...why not?..it's a Proven Path of Transformation through personal fitness since 1982.}

For More Punch To Your Cardio...

For those of you who just want a little bit more PUNCH to your cardio training,
my bicycle racing team posted my report on my recent win in New Mexico:

http://redrockracing.blogspot.com/

COACH NAILS FIRST VICTORY OF SEASON FOR NEW TEAM and does it in true WF WARRIOR FASHION!

Coach Ilg racing for his new team; Red Rock Racers, manufactured a scintillating victory in hellishly hot conditions at the 26-mile, 5,800' Bill McLain Memorial Sandia Crest HillClimb last weekend in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His victory came only one week after a 14th overall in the SUMMIT CENTER CLASSIC 3-Day Stage Race in Flagstaff working for his Team Leader (see DIRECT LINES ARCHIVES for Coach's heart-thumping diary of that race). Above photo: Coach's "powerful yet svelte climbing style," is captured here by Heidi Snell/Visual Escapes Photography. In the above photo, Coach is midway through the tormentingly long climb, after dismantling the legs and lungs of the peleton by launching a Lance Armstrong like attack on the very first hill of the course! Coach's magnificent victory was done in true Wholistic Fitness® Warrior mode; Be Brave and Give 110% Of Yourself.

Get over to DIRECT LINES and read the FULL ACCOUNT BY COACH...the photos and inspiration by this ONE ENTRY will be worth the subscription price alone, not to mention unconditional access to nearly 2,000 articles by Coach on all topics of body/mind/spiritual fitness...

Only on DL; The Tribal Newspaper Rock of Wholistic Fitness®

Subscribe to DL Today...you know DAMN WELL that Coach is going to make it worth your few pennies per month! Don't get gapped by Coach like the rest of the peleton did last weekend by him...Hang onto his Wheel for as long as you can..he is on the Attack Toward Enlightenment through world class conditioning of the body, not around it...and he WILL take you Higher on DIRECT LINES!

And God Replied, "Really? Show me..." Warrior D Arises Out Of Anger Into Love

This Path is magic...yesterday, i responded elegantly to an Angry Dragon because i Sensed the Fear behind his Anger at me. This morning? That Dragon has been Met, Calmed, and now Walks the WF Path again with more CHI FORCE than ever before.
photo above: Coach practicing the Ai Imawa posture; Meeting The Dragon. These Taoist Postures are practiced by WF Students so we are trained to meet Difficulty with Breath and Posture thereby creating the suppleness and space to respond with Compassion and Love instead of reactive egoic defenses. Photo by Ananda, near Red Mountain, Arizona located near the WF Temple H(om)e.

***
Namaste Noble Warriors!

Yesterday's entry was especially poignant...and, after i chose to use "D's" letter as a DharmaTeaching not only for "D", yet for all of us, my heart was still a bit achy... i have lived most of my life struggling for money or sponsorship to enter the next race or climb the next mountain...physical or metaphysical.

So, this morning, when i saw that "D" had replied to my public DharmaTeaching of his email to me which called me names, i must admit i thought to myself, "Oh boy, here we go...he is gonna unleash more anger at me," what i found instead were Divine Words uttered from a most Noble Warrior whose Heart had seen the Opening in my counsel and whose courage rose above his ego. Here is the email from "D" and my response...

this is BIG stuff and we can ALL learn from Noble Warrior D;


***
"Coach,

I must tell you how sorry I am for what I wrote,and ask for your
forgiveness. As I re-read my words I saw how selfish they were.
And when I read what you wrote I cried.

You're right it's not about you or charging for DL.It's about my
anger over what is happening in my life and not taking responsibility
for my part in it. The bike race analogy was right on.The group has
dropped me and how do I react? By getting mad at the group,for doing
the only thing it can do,its job.Very lame and weak of me.

I don't think I'm really ready to become a formal student. If I was
the means would come into my life.Or I've made the statement to God
that I'm ready and He is saying "Really? Show me. Work a crappy job for
the money."

Please keep putting teasers(for lack of a better word) on the InDirect Lines.
I will use them as motivation, and a reminder of an email I wish I hadn't sent.

Again,I'm very sorry for any hurt I've caused.
Love,
feeble,lame,weak d


COACH RESPONDS;
Noble Warrior D,
you are far from feeble, lame, or weak.
in fact, you have just scored an absolutely HUGE inner victory over your ahamkaric (egoic) force. it is i who bow to you...

in my response to your Anger Filled Email, i offered you alone the choice as to how to take my Teaching...
how much you wanted to be changed - Higher or Lower - was left in your lap. You chose the Higher Way... the Way of Love and Fearlessness.

Warrior D,
always remember this; no one forces you to learn,
you must learn to love to learn...EVERYTHING!
even Difficulty.

in honor of your Choice to take the Warrior's High Path, i offer you a standing 15% discount off of any product or service in the WF Tribal Catalog (exceptions; Retreats and Intensives).

my own Practice has been Deepened by yours...

thank you and soldier on, Warrior...soldier on!

upward, onward, and endlessly inward,

your Loving Coach

Coach has "turned his back on us," and is a "used car salesman"...a Warrior encounters a lower chakral experience...

Don't get gapped just because Direct Lines has gone Subscription; put your head down, dig DEEEEEP, and
BRIDGE THE GAP, baby! Photo; Coach Ilg escapes the Peleton and takes a solo flyer at a recent victory in New Mexico.


***

On Jun 9, 2006, at 10:26 PM, "D" wrote:

I saw your indirect lines post about anger and felt that it was a sign to tell you about
my anger that you are charging for Direct Lines (DL). I know that people are taking your ideas and you
have to make a living,and I respect that.But there is a small group of us,maybe just me,
who are doing all we can to learn from you, and you're turning your back on us.

I'm unemployed and my attempts to find a job have hit brick walls.I feel this is Gods
or fates way of telling me "Your only job right now is to work on your self." And I
have become grateful for the free time that I have,the humility that is learned from
going without.And I looked for someone to guide me,and I found you.

I got together enough money to buy your book.Did the work-outs the best I could with
what I have. Read DL everyday. Wished I had enough money to be a formal student. And
felt a change in me begining. Then you started charging for DL and doing teasers on
the free blog, which are used car salesman tactics if you ask me. I thought you where
above this.

Please don't feel that this is a ploy to get anything from you, I won't take it.
I just wondered if you knew about this small minority of people( like I said maybe
just me) who you are losing by doing this because we can't pay for DL. I'm guessing
you hear all the time from people that they can't afford to pay what you ask for
coaching. When what they really mean is won't. But I really can't. If it wasn't
for the kindness of my father, I'd be homeless.

I keep thinking about the line from Star Trek II that Spock says "The needs of the many
out weigh the needs of the few,or the one." I can understand that point of view,and
I am just one,no one really.Some would say, and have said, a loser. But that doesn't
mean I don't have needs,that I don't need help.

I don't know what else to say except thank you for reading this and for what I've learned
from you so far. I'm sad that it has to end so soon.

d



COACH CHOOSES TO TAKE THE TIME TO RESPOND:

Most Noble Warrior of the Higher Way,

hang in there.
have Faith in yourself.

describe yourself as "unemployed" and you are.
describe yourself as a Warrior Hunting and you become just that.

it saddens me that you consider a quarter century of my time, experience, professionalism
given to the worldwide Sangha free
as "so soon."

i am only doing my best to Serve and attempt to pay the rent while doing so,
i will trust you will begin to See a Higher Perspective to protection of the WF Teachings
and my own chakral work to develop my own boundaries as i enter the next stage of my own spiritual life.

you will Rise Above,
you will Subscribe and contribute to the Endless Power of DL...
you will one day become an Online Student, for you are ripe and powerful.

do not give up...hey, give InDirect Lines a chance... likening your Coach Ilg to a "used car salesman" after
all all these years is hurtful to me, the Temple, and your own Practice. Re-read my piece on Anger.

Noble Warrior,
i will endlessly work hard on myself to Serve at a World Class Standard of Body/Mind/Spiritual Excellence
for any Seeker is really, really ready to Find a Way.

there are no shortcuts and you have arrived at a spiritual crossroads where your Teacher is asking you
to do what is required to bridge the Gap to the Next Step. dig down, Warrior, to Step Up! Don't get gapped now
and do not waste your energy on trying to make this about me.

you found a Way,
i have given you many Tools throughout the years...
use them Skillfully and you and i will soon Begin Again the WF Journey at an even Higher Rhythm...

"Do your Practice and all will be coming."
- Pattabhi Jois

i bow to you from beneath the Sacred Mountain,

coach ilg, ryt/uscf/cpt
author/Total Body Transformation

http://www.wholisticfitness.com/

A WF Temple Archive Movement; "The Static Pull Up"...not so static at all!

....Today i am taking you all back to my "Golden Boy of Boulder" era...the mid-eighties when i was among the fittest of the fittest of all multisport athletes anywhere; capable of finishing in the top 20 of a mountain ultra marathon and cranking off 60 consecutive pullups and climbing 5.12 all within the same week. and partying like...well, you know...it WAS the 80's...
in the new DL Subscription Format, you are in for a WHOLE TON of WF Tribal Archive photos, exercises, teachings, and hilariously epic stories from the history of me and WF, baby! the years ahead shine with all sorts of fun! Above pic is Skip (left) and Johnny Mars...you climbers that know your American Rock Climbing history have heard of Johnny, i am sure. Both of these bros were my training and climbing partners during the eighties and well...as you can tell...we had the CHI, baby! 


i wanted to show you young ones a movement that i would do for rock climbing and nordic ski racing. It is tremendous movement that is forgotten these days, which is sad thing. It's called a "Static Pull Up"... you probably have never heard of it and may never be able to do in this lifetime...don't hurt yourself, trying, either. It's notion is simple; hang beneath a Pull Up Bar and then in ONE EXPLOSIVE MOVEMENT, skyrocket your body up, through, and then above the Pull Up Bar. 

Easy, huh?

Note: This movement requires extremely strong shoulder, elbow, and wrist connective tissue to do safely.

The Static Pull Up is a high velocity movement that begins with you dangling at arms length beneath a Pull Up Bar. See the bottom photo? that is the first High Intensity Pull that creates momentum for the upper photo in which Mula Bandha must be engaged and synched up with Hip Extension and DRIVING BOTH ELBOWS SIMULTANEOUSLY into Father Sky which sets your hips and shoulders to finish the final two pictures shown below. Note, that the Pull Up Bar must be a special one with enough space above it not to bash your skull once (if) you get to the Top Position. I am shown here in my self-made "Climber's Courtyard" in Farentinos Gym, Boulder, Colorado. I was allowed a budget and complete freedom from my boss and owner of Farentinos Gym, Dr. Bob Farentinos, to build the nation's first public climbing wall, 2-ton crack climbing tower, and custom made climbing specific apparatus such as a Bachar Ladder, Giant Pegboard (which can be partially seen in these photos), slack line, and Flat Webbing Rings, plus much more. What can i say...i had a great boss back then! In fact, he was my only boss since i went on to build my own gyms and yoga studios from that point onward. 

In these two finishing photos i am shown in the top one approaching the Top Position where gleno-humeral stress is at its peak as i rocket my body at warp speed through Mid Position...

{read the entire story and have access to 2,000+ articles from Coach Ilg at DIRECT LINES: Daily Meditations From Coach Ilg,
...for a few dollars per month, be inspired and informed by the planet's only Multi WorldChampionship Yoga Teacher, Coach Ilg!}



Wholistic Fitness® baby...the last remaining Path of the Physique Culture and, it seems, the only GENUINE PATH of multidisciplined Yoga on the planet!

The Difference between Happy and Joyfullness...Pierce, Do Not Push your Chakral Journey; Actual Coaching Exchange With Online Student S

If there is a Hell on Earth; certainly it lies within and the Fiery Anger of our Inner Hell Realms are soooo fast to arise so long as we remained chained to our samskaras. In this DL, i address the issue of Anger using an actual Coaching Exchange with an Online Student and from past Dharmatalks.

May it help your Radiance of Light and Love with the power of Avalokiteshvara,

namaste,
coach ilg

ps; above photo; coach has captured a devil below and fire above image...similar to how the "devil" resides in our hips/lower back (chakras 1-3) and manifests higher in the form of vented anger; harsh words and harsh actions that do only harm and deepen our karmic load.

***
Most Noble Warriors,

WF is a very confrontational Path; that is because it must be so.
It is a Path of Yoga; a genuine Path of Yoga; urging us at every level to Merge into that which our egoic layers attempt to hide from us.

I know i am beginning to really get somewhere with a Student when Anger begins to arise from their Practice.

If i can get Anger to Arise from a Student,
i know it is go(o)d.

we will need that Anger to arise...you've got a long Journey ahead of you...i am right here...Loving you as the Anger starts to arises and process. i keep my Practice so strong so that i can take on the Anger Arising of Students...cuss at me, scream at me, tell me to go to Hell during such Anger Arising times...i can take it from you if you are Brave enough to let it Vent...
think of how much you smile...
an equal amount of Fear and Anger is behind all the smiling...
it's gotta come through, baby...

All too often, however,
the Student Quits the Path instead of working with the Anger.

Just
as i once Taught you to do a Barbell Curl with more elegance and Awareness of Posture,
i am also going to Coach you through witnessing and Transforming Anger that arises with
elegance and Awareness of (spiritual) posture.

Somehow, other people that have Personal Fitness Trainers
have been Taught that curling a Barbell with elegance
is somehow different than that of curling Anger with elegance.

i tell you this; it is not...

{read the entire story and have access to 2,000+ articles from Coach Ilg at DIRECT LINES: Daily Meditations From Coach Ilg,
...for a few dollars per month, be inspired and informed by the planet's only Multi WorldChampionship Yoga Teacher, Coach Ilg!}

HP YOGA IN IRAQ!

Namaste El Coache,

check 'dis out:

"Hey Chris,

I keep forgetting to mention in class that Steve Ilg's Power Yoga has made its way to Iraq! Dave has done it a couple times, and he appreciates how hard it is. I hope that it will bring him some much needed inner peace!

Carrie"

Carrie is a Yoga Student of mine. Her fiance is serving a 12 month tour in Iraq. Concerned for his physical, as well as mental and spiritual well-being, she asked me about a Yoga video for him, so of course knowing what a Warrior needs, i turned her on to the High Performance Yoga®, Basic Strength DVD.

Love,
WF Online Teacher ko

Stayin' TAPPED baby!

On Jun 7, 2006, at 2:03 PM, Jordan H wrote:
I found your website very interesting, and would like to be on the newsletter/mailing list subscription to hear about new seminars and stuff, especially if they are near Toronto as that is where I am.
 




Most Noble Fitness Warrior Jordan,

head bowed to your reMembering of our Tribe!

the absolute BEST thing you could for your own Practice and to stay abreast of the ever torrential flow of inspiration and 
special events is to become a DIRECT LINES Subscriber while working out on my various DVD's, books, etc.  soooo much
value in each of those.

of course, Online Training is the Highest Level of Service that we offer; it's kinda like the Mt. Everest of Personal Fitness Training...genuine spiritual warriorism stuff!

otherwise,
just keep visiting the INDIRECT LINES forum that is refreshed nearly each day and is complimentary...
and,
by viewing the CALENDAR section of the Visitor Cave,
you can stay tapped into where i will be speaking or appearing next.

in Strength & Spirit...
i bow to you from beneath the Sacred Mountain,

coach ilg, ryt/uscf/cpt
author/Total Body Transformation

http://www.wholisticfitness.com/

Bardo Blues and Southwest Hues...

an excerpt from today's Direct Lines...


i look out over the sage where once a sea had winked at me...
sage as dry as the parchment it is becoming...
as
old and withered
as i feel at times,
times like today
when i see this place where once water flowed,
now only
heat and wind and miniscule life...

"A man who does not learn from life,
grows old like an ox: his body grows
but not his wisdom."
- Dhammapada, 152

now i come to this sacred place
and perform Bardo Meditations...
in the heat and wind
in the heat and wind
the Southwest has fueled my zest for living in utterly unquenchable ways,
today, however...


{read the entire story and have access to 2,000+ articles from Coach Ilg at DIRECT LINES: Daily Meditations From Coach Ilg,
...for a few dollars per month, be inspired and informed by the planet's only Multi WorldChampionship Yoga Teacher, Coach Ilg!

Where is Direct Lines?

Coach,

Just finished up with your yoga DVD, awesome!!! I was feeling pretty lethargic but I forced myself to get moving and now I am energized!!!

I wanted to try some of the sunrider facial products, if I was just to do a couple which would you suggest. I am looking for something to give a more youthful appearance and cleanse.

I cannot get onto your daily blog, is it messed up? I miss it! Thanks for all the great motivation and congrats on your great race finish!

Jim


•••

Namaste Jim!
glad you are crankin' on my HIGH PERFORMANCE YOGA® DVD!

it's only going to get better as you maintain your Practice!

i will contact you directly about which SUNRIDER facial products fit your budget; GREAT CALL!

DIRECT LINES; which has been complimentary for years has now moved into Subscription Format to help protect my Teachings that have become quite and often abused by other "fitness trainers' and "yoga teachers'...so, please, come on over to DIRECT LINES and stay tapped into the REAL JUICE of Wholistic Fitness® directly from its creator; me!

you can subscribe by entering the Visitor Cave at:

www.wholisticfitness.com

or directly right here: www.wholisticfitness.com/dl_order.htm