Everybody Sleeps and Eats...or do we?

What really matters is not just the practice of sitting but far more the state of mind you find yourself in after meditation. It is this calm and centered state of mind you should prolong through everything you do. I like the Zen story in which the disciple asked his master:



READ THIS IMPORTANT DHARMA TEACHING ON TODAY'S DL!!!


* photo; i caught this image of Ananda, Temple Cat Being Charlie, and Dewa playing in the pranically loaded Evening Brahmamuhurti last evening on our front lawn. Both Dewa and Charlie are Upa Guru's for Ananda and i in the realm of the Teaching above; when Charlie or Dewa eat; they eat. When they sleep, they sleep. No clutter from emotional baggage; no judgments interlaced with their eating; they are absorbed in the m(om)ent...as should we. See WF Nutritional Principle; Rasas Eating Principle to revisit this important active meditation conditioner.


PART TWO of "NOT ALL SARCOMERES ARE CREATED EQUAL" COMING UP ONLY FOR DL SUBSCRIBERS!

Not All Sarcomeres Are Created Equal; Why HP Yoga Is Vital For Rock Climber's Tendon Health

leading Country Club Crack (rated 5.11 b/c back then), Boulder Canyon, Colorado, circa 1983. this was one of my last leads before attempting to free solo this route, as well as many other difficult rock climbs of the area, later in my climbing career. Photo by Richard Rossiter. This photo appears in Rossiter's guidebook, BOULDER CLIMBS NORTH, in which i also appear on the cover and wrote the Foreword.

Back (waaaay back) when i was a sponsored climber, i could crank 62 consecutive pull ups and 6 one-arm pullups. Only Pat Adams could beat me in pull ups. but, Pat was a freakin' alien from some other planet, so i don't count him. i'd spend so much time going up and down my self-designed climber-peg board at Farentinos Gym in Boulder, Colorado that a bivouac on the peg board was not out of my realm of thinking. i could hold a full-body front lever with nearly as much poise as John Gill and actually climb things other than out of my bed, which i can barely do these years. During that golden era, i used my position as America's top trainer of climbers to give considerable thought, research, and exploration of tendon and muscle strength. It paid off. Not once in the 15 years i spent climbing (rock, ice, or mixed) nearly every day during that era, did i ever suffer from inflammations of connective tissue or muscle maladies. Nor did my athletes*.

i recall being on a panel of experts at an American Alpine Club Annual Meeting in New York City with the other top climbers of the day like Ron Kauk and Lynn Hill to talk about training for climbers. One of the other experts, a famous rock climbing doctor, took particular debate with me about the value of strength training and yoga as viable training disciplines for rock climbers. He was against them. i was, of course, trying desperately as ever to convince athletes of a wholistic approach to training, including strength training and yoga. What was crazy about this guy going after me was that he was sitting there on the Panel, in front of hundreds, with his elbows all taped up due to extensive and chronic tissue damage!

Today, as i sloth about every now and then on local bouldering problems or in the climbing gym, i am surrounded by a young, explosive generation of climbers that are weaned on routes carrying technical ratings far beyond the 5.12 limits of my climbing career. However, like the taped-up doctor that ridiculed my wholistic approach to cyclic training for rock climbers, the price our young climbers are paying is sadly coming out of their irreclaimable connective tissue damage. If i had a dime for every story that comes across my ears about extremely talented but way too compulsive climbers that just climbed until their connective tissue injuries ruined their love or ability for climbing, i'd be a rich yoga teacher! i see this same injury-producing compulsiveness in runners, cyclists, golfers, you name the sport. Whenever we do anything like it's an addiction, there is bound to be imbalance. The only way out of imbalance is the balance of Wholstic Fitness®, which is really just yoga in the truest, most ancient definition of that word which is; 'sarvanga sadhana' or "multi-disciplined practices for spiritual growth."




Tendon Loving Care
Back to the loving care and feeding of our precious tendons and other connective tissues which lies within the root of my passion for teaching Wholistic Fitness® and, of course, one of its five intra-disciplines of fitness; High Performance Yoga®.

We are only as strong as our connective tissue. Take John Elway, the Hall of Fame quarterback who played for 'my' Denver Broncos as an example. When i was helping Dr. Farentinos and Coach James Radcliffe write the nation's first book on plyometrics - PLYOMETRICS; Fast-Twitch Muscle Fiber Development (Human Kinetics Publishers, 1985), i saw Elway naked. Yup. Dat's right...i saw him as nekked as a baby in the locker room. We were doing a plyometric workshop for a Broncos training camp. Now, you'd think a guy like Elway who could toss a football the length of a football field in the way i can toss a dart at my dartboard, would have arm and shoulder muscles the size of a Southern Californian boob job. At least. Nope. Nada. Nothing. In fact, my 9-month old daughter has better and more developed delts than did Elway.

Why? Tendons, baby. Not only tendons, but the L-word; Ligaments. Essentially; CT or Connective Tissue.

Another example; Bears. Once, while sleeping in my beloved sport-pick up truck with a camper shell in the parking lot of Yosemite Valley's "Camp 4" campground, i was literally shook wide awake by a bear lolling my pickup back and forth under the starlit sky. Bears are incredibly strong, let me tell you. Bears don't have muscles the size of boob jobs, do they? Why? Dat's right, bucko; CT! The bicep tendon of a typical bear inserts waaaay down by their wrist joint. Our humanoid version, inserts waaaay up high near the nest of the elbow. That's what strength is all about; tendon insertion. Elway has tendon insertions (well at least in his arm tendons) much lower on the lower arm bones then you or i. Ain't nuthin on God's great planet dat's gonna change that.

There is, however, something you and i and all who are not bears or Elway can do to strengthen and protect our CT. In a word? High Performance Yoga®. Ooops, that was three words. Oh well. What follows is just one of a myriad of important physiologic ways that HP Yoga, in the way i Teach it, conditions, strengthens, and protects all athlete's CT. Read on if you are interested in growing your brain cells as well as creating tendons with the strength of bears. If not, then, just remember this much:

Do HP Yoga!


Part Two of NOT ALL SARCOMERES ARE CREATED EQUAL coming up ONLY in DL!





* If they listened to me. And that is a pretty big "if." Climbers, even moreso than other more structured competitive athletes, have an anti-authority thing which tends to snakebite them in the long run when it comes to not being open to being coached.

Snow-Intoxicated Duathlon; A Patki Das Birthday Pilgrimage

click on pics to enlargen and enliven your DL Chi Hit!

"While unperishing love melted my bones,
I cried,
I shouted again and again,
louder than the waves of the billowing sea,
I became confused,
I fell,
I rolled,
I wailed,
Bewildered like a madman,
Intoxicated like a crazy drunk,
so that people were puzzled
and those who heard wondered."

- Manikka-vacakar's 9th century love songs to Shiva
Manikkavacakar means; "He whose utterances are rubies"

Why is this WF Devotee smiling so stupidly?
Because it's his BIRTHDAY, and he always does something "stupid" on his birthday!
And if you REALLY want something stupid, then enlist the Crazy Wisdom of coach ilg for your Birthday stupidity!

Come on, Oh Mighty Limb'd Warrior of Modern MultiDisciplined Yoga...
come along with me as i share with you some Birthday Fun for Most Noble WF Warrior, Ben "Patki Das" Sullivan this past Sunday...

as Patki says, "Stupid is, as stupid does!"

***

DO NOT MISS THIS CLASSIC ILGONIAN ADVENTURE!!!!!
50 miles, 6,000', and absolutely STUPID photos of MINI-SKIING on the Sacred Snows, far, far above the world of worried men!



Subscribe to DL Today!

See Ya Wednesday!

DL will return Wednesday with a HECCUVA KILLER FUN ENTRY on something i just did yesterday...until then; ENJOY THE ARCHIVES and the WF SanghaLounge!

right now i am in a WF Private Training Intensive for today and tomorrow..



which is probably where you should be!

have you scheduled your WF Private Intensive for the next year?


5 of 5 Stars scored on my Private Intensives...for a quarter century...
schedule yours today and find out why...

photo: two WF Students practicing the Ai Imawa Taoist Yoga Postures with Coach at the WF Temple H(om)e.

Student Quote of the Week...better git on the SR Ship

It's my own sister who got the WF Quote of the Week! photo of my sister, Connie, who is four years older than i, by Wayne Williams. can you tell we're related? Can you tell we are SUNRIDERS? Connie is 49 years old. How many times do i need to say it and live it for you? "The Path works, when YOU work the Path!"

***


For those of you STILL not on the

Secret Herbs of Wholistic Fitness

...SUNRIDER Whole Food Herbs which have been the
Official Regenerative Nutritional Program of WF
since 1983
and
don't receive the cascade of miracle stories of pain erasure,
pranic empowerment,
and
fat loss that pour through the WF Temple each week,
just let it be known that ever since i first toured the
SUNRIDER World Headquarters, i KNEW that Dr. Chen would pour every ounce
of money and spirit into preserving his world-wide stranglehold on Mother Earth's
juiciest, most potent, and healthy food-grade herbs on the planet.

after one of my SUNRIDER emails to my ILG SUNRIDER DOWNLINE where i posted pictures of just ONE of Dr. Chen's global SUNRIDER Herb Facilities (see below)...

you CANNOT find a more sterile, expensive, and carefully monitored environment than a SUNRIDER Herb processing facility! It's AMAZING! There is NOTHING like SUNRIDER Herbs on the planet; not EVEN CLOSE!!!!!! World Class Herbs for my World Class students of Wholistic Fitness! Nothing but the BEST!!!!!!

Dr. Chen himself, at one of his bijillion dollar Herbal Purification and Concentration Machines...

it was my sister, Connie Ilg of Long Beach, California that got the quote of the week:

Can I get a job as a janitor in his factory? It seems I wouldn't have much to do...right up my alley!


Point Being:
as the rest of the world stews in salomnella tomatoes, poisoned spinach, dead zones of oceans due to fertilizers...
us SUNRIDER WARRIORS
feast upon the most concentrated, anciently enhanced, and secretly formulated whole food herbs on poor Mother Earth.

as if i would feed my own family anything else, right?

what about you?

what about your family in the decades ahead?

what Food Source are YOU trusting?

i've trusted Dr. Chen's whole food, regenerative herbs for over 25 years which helped me through a paralyzing spine injury, huge emotional ups and downs, and not to mention 6 World Championships in 5 Different Sports...and, at age 46 and a new daddy? you might be quite surprised at the Level of output i still produce each week...athletically, professionally, and domestically...
all i say is:

THANK BRAHMAN FOR DR. CHEN's DEVOTION TO WHOLE FOOD HERBS!

if you are NOT a SUNRIDER yet,
PLEASE,
for the years ahead; JOIN TODAY!
email me!

SUNRIDER's prices are going up in JULY...join and order NOW!


Eat the Best Plants On Mother Earth as everyone else settles for...
well...
poisoned plants.

Overcoming Conscious Breath Ignorance = Purity

"Turning our minds to our Breath produces a moment of purity. No clutter. No random thoughts. No drama."

-- Steve Ilg

From a soon to be released feature in HOMEGYM Magazine

DL SUBSRIBERS get the exclusive Sneak Peak!

Mosquitos, Ants and Ahimsa

click on pic to enlarge












this morning,
i took the life of mosquito.

just hours ago,
i taught another "great" yoga class to 15 students.

yesterday, i murdered a flying ant...mother of many children. as i chanted the Sacred Mantra with tissue poised between my fingers as a guillotine, i missed my first three attempts to kill her. in between my attempts, Her damaged wings flapped awkwardly against the window as She struggled toward Her children in desperate, inelegant movements.

when finally my fingers crushed, audibly, Her beautiful exoskeleton i looked at Ananda (who tried to kill Her first, yet could not) and...
and...
and...


Playing God is not Go(o)d for me...

such a feeble,
feeble yogi
is ilg.

why do you choose to Listen to me?

i am a fake.

i am nothing.

certainly, no yogi am i.

shouldn't you be a Subscriber by now?
i mean,
from a Karmic Standpoint?...

really.

Shiva is watching.

WF Devotee Kildahl on the Front Lines of my Silent Sports

click on pic for another ilg CHI HIT from footage by Bill Galen of ilg suffering during a 1k uphill sprint interval at 10,300' during the filming of my FLIGHT WITHOUT WINGS; Sport Snowshoe DVD. which remains the only Sport Snowshoe DVD on the planet...although no one seems interested in distributing it for me! so, things remain the same as they have for the past quarter century: let all the others talk about "cross training" and being "cross fit" and "yoga"...yet, fact remains; Wholistic Fitness is the Mt. Everest of Personal Training due to Owner Expertise; compare my athletic resume with any other Personal Trainer or yoga teacher and that, my Noble Friend, is what makes all the UNION of YOGA!

"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."
- Sogyal Rinpoche

***

Coach--

I pray this e finds your family well.

I humbly request your permission to use your term 'Silent Sport' in each of my articles,
booklets, books, educational material, web sites, speaking gigs, consulting business,
endurance events...in reference to Sport Snowshoeing and SandShoeing w/ proper attribution.

Meditation during my extended downtime has unleashed diverse opportunities
from within to promote our sport, sustainable living measures, environmental and
animal stewardship, and the benefits of mindful living. I will forever refer to
the fierce yet soft Wholistic Fitness lifestyle principles and your work as the fitness
guy w/ the USSSA.

I have big plans to come full circle w/ the foregoing through my work. There are several
projects and thoughts I would like to discuss w/ you in the coming months. I remain steadfast
in my effort to purchase Snowshoe Magazine. Ryan Alford and I expect to meet next month
to discuss several topics.

I expect to be mobile enough to commence my resurrection via your Divinity in mid-October.

In the artistry of sand-and-snowshoeing....
Be well.

Namaste,

- J. Kildhal, The Mad One

Most Noble Warrior on the Front Lines of our Beloved Silent Sports...

permission granted
from the Big Cheese
at the Tiny Temple
beneath
the Sacred Peak...


keep the chi, brother...


coach ilg

One In A Friggin' Million...

Steve-
One in a {friggin} million...all these analysts and journalists and pundits and entire fucking networks....about one million pundits on Russert and the only one who gets it is Steve Ilg....

Nobody said....the truth...except you..Nobody pointed out that "while heralded as bright," he ignored his health, took palliatives instead of action, as he worked himself to death...most importantly, by not knowing the pleasure of lungs screaming for air as he ran intervals up hills, he died in fear as his body ran out of life,"...

Feeble Ilg. Humble Ilg. One in a million....

I am in...the online studies ...what kind of damn fool would I be if I ignored this light in the darkness...

Will be out of the country through July 7th, can we start the 8th...My DL runs out then, lets just do it all at once..I will be getting the PDF's downloaded..I arrive back on the 7th late...

And the powersits...just wtf I needed...grasping...instead of sitting...indeed, you are in motion...

I bow.

Tommy H.

wow!
the last week of DL's have touched off an AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL, ARTICULATE, PRACTICAL, and WISE series of threads in the WF SanghaLounge!

get in there and tend the Tribal Campfire!

always open for DL Subscribers worldwide...

WF Word Choice Guru; Heart "Attack"

10,000 Bardo Blessings for the recent Bardo Entry of a few Turtle Island warriors whose image and words were felt by millions.

please compare the energetics of the Third Eye Chakra and entire face of the following two Warriors.

the first is a product of a Western, intellectual upbringing.
the second is a product of an Eastern, spiritual upbringing...

American Intellectual Warrior Tim Russert entered the Bardo last week at age 58
via "natural causes from a heart attack." He was fully medicated and self-admittedly did not 'enjoy exercising.

'

Swami Satchidananda entered the Bardo Consciously Controlled at age 88 looking as Radiant as a teenager while in self-regulated state of Samadhi (Divine Bliss) and forecasted His next incarnation. Like many other great Saints, Swami Satchidananda believed all religions could lead sincere seekers to the same goal. His interfaith motto was the principle that "Truth Is One, Paths Are Many."

Although i certainly would have leaped at the opportunity to train Jim Mckay or Tim Russert - both of whom obviously had tremendous brain chi yet, especially Warrior Russert, did not seem to have the presence of a strong Dharma Teacher to reMind him that the intellectual fitness must ALWAYS be balanced by the Body Vehicle Fitness.

Thus, my Work remains with you, my Noble WF Sangha.

To you, those who Fly High Enough to understand the skillful artistry of a WF Lifestyle which endlessly balances intellect, body, and soul
i say unto thee:

When warriors like Russert are fed "Heart Medicine" from the Western Doctors, we must open our Compassionate Heart and realize the best Medicine for the Heart is a WF Lifestyle...


Thus, it's important that i get across to you this much this morning;

When the non-Awakened Outer World says that warriors like Russert "died of natural causes stemming from a heart attack,"

DO NOT BUY INTO THAT BS!

as the Buddha Taught you an eon ago:
"Question Everything."


Our beautiful Hearts, Noble Ones...
never,
ever,
ever
"Attack"
us...

the Truth is quite the opposite;

we often Attack our Hearts...



DO NOT MISS THIS VITAL, HEART-AWAKENING
TEACHING FROM COACH
only
at

DIRECT LINES Subscription Format; it might just change your Life
for the Highest!

WF "PowerSits"...A Return To Natural Ease

"Even though the meditator may leave the meditation, the meditation will not leave the meditator."
- Dudjom Rinpoche

In my Online and Private work, i have finally come around to the realization that it is better for Westerners who 'want to meditate' to do the complete opposite of how i was formatively trained in meditation in the Zen tradition; just sit for a brief time. Forget about forcing yourself to sit long periods with your unDisciplined mind until you make some headway into Quiet Mind by completing shorter sessions. start by sitting for say, one minute,chanting the Tribal Mantra or counting your inhales, for instance. Then, stop the meditation and go back to whatever Hurry you were in...just dive right back into all the chronic grasping after whatever it is that you consider to be so much better than taking your time and feeling, slowly, deeply the events, people, activities, and circumstances of this thing called the Miracle of your life.

I've found that if i can get my Students to do a "PowerSit" of even a minute, then, amazingly enough, they become more mindful of whatever they are doing. Thus, Beingness instead of their addiction to Doingness, gains a slight foothold.

After a loooooooong while of my coaching, these "WF PowerSit*" students of mine begin to sense when they begin to lose their natural ease. They then alert their Higher Self and sit again.

As Sogyal Rinpoche says, "If you do many short sessions like this, your breaks will often make your meditation more real and more inspiring; they will take the clumsy, irksome rigidity, solemnity, and unnaturalness out of your practice and bring you more and more focus and ease."


Gradually, in the way Grandfather Sun dissolves the darkness of night, through this WF Teaching of "PowerSits," some of my Students begin to attain that critical Threshold to which i have devoted the entire Science of WF toward; blurring the zone between meditation and everyday life. Suddenly, your mundane life leaps with endlessly fresh opportunities to overcome negative habits and samskaric-building lazy tendencies; your egoic addictions begin to wither, and your conditioned contrast between mundane and spiritual will dissolve. You find yourself, as Rinpoche says, "increasingly in your natural pure presence, without distraction."


May This Be Of Benefit To Your Practice,

coach ilg




*WF Teaching by Steve Ilg

photo of coach doing Mala Meditation by Melissa Grimes.

Got Mula?

click pic to enlarge









What you are missing by not subscribing to DIRECT LINES today and yesterday?

a Teaching on Mula Bandha, an Actual Student facilitation on dealing with a hopelessly undisciplined mind in meditation, a hurting student is facilitated with a medical condition, a drop dead gorgeous Podium Girl, and a sneak peak at my HP Yoga RUNNERS WARM UP VINYASA soon to appear in Roy Wallacks new book!


it simply does not pay not to Subscribe to DIRECT LINES!

each day comes Dharma Fresh from the "World's Fittest, Fastest Yogi"...


it's the most helpful spot on the Internet for your Sadhana...i promise!


head bowed,

coach ilg, "The Mountain Yogi"


photo by Roy Wallack of one of my movements - the Yoga Squat - in my HP YOGA; RUNNERS WARM UP VINYASA. Studio City, CA.

MY EYES ARE REGENERATING...+ STUDENT INPUT

click on photos to enlarge




down to wearing my final pair of contacts. make an eye exam cuz they won't let me re-order without one. so i go. doctor forms. as a yogi, i must answer their little forms with Satya;

Occupation: Wholeness Professional

Years At Current Job: Lifetimes

Physican: Self

Date of Last Exam: this morning, in Meditation

Insurer: God

about an hour later,
"Well Steve, unlike most men your age, your eyes are actually regenerating. most men your age i see, are losing both their hair, like me, AND their eyesight!...what are you doing?" asks the 'doctor' of feeble ilg...

so i say the same dang thing i've been telling everybody from doctors to athletes to yogis for over 25 years; "SUNRIDER HERBS, plus MAP Amino Acids, plus living a WHOLISTIC FITNESS lifestyle."

he looked at me blankly. instead of being interested, i could sense the overwhelming of his intellect on this subject. which all-Ways fascinates me. i'd think "experts in healing" would be fascinated by how i keep regenerating instead of aging and deteriorating.

"Hmmmph," was the doctors only response.

Our Eyes reflect the physiologic and energetic clarity and harmony of our internal organs. Our Eyes, as the saying goes, reflect our Soul. so, if the WF Path obviously regenerates our organs and our Soul Nature,
why
aren't more people interested?


that's what makes our Precious Path so Precious;
it's rare.
it's High.
it's so Sweet to live...

we are Blessed, Noble WF Yogis!


now,
off to just a fraction of your STUDENT INPUT...THANK YOU for writing and those of you who are not making your weekly visits into the WF SanghaLounge are missing utterly and equally PRECIOUS exchanges and teachings and sharings among our WorldWide Tribe! visit today and take a turn at tending the WF Campfire!


head bowed to your Practice,

your loving coach


photo; last week in Oak Creek Canyon. Walking Practice with Dewa. by Ananda.

***

Please share this with the coach and let him know that without our collective work this would not have been possible for me:
George @200ft checking out the wreck of the Typo, a 140yr old three masted schooner in Lake Huron. The water temperature was 39F!
WF Student George Watson
Boulder, CO

***

Hi

Wow... are you really Steve Ilg, author of The Outdoor Athlete? That book was my bible back in my whitewater kayaking days in Washington State -- actually, it was a frequent topic of conversation among my buddies.

Thx
Nancy
Flagstaff

***


Coach Ilg,
Thanks for the email and the encouragement. Took awhile to get back to you, grueling week at the fire station, about 12 hrs sleep over the course of 5 days. But enough whining about that, Joy's HP Yoga class was amazing, challenging yet nuturing, what a gift. I left class with a greater understanding of HP Yoga, and a light hearted blissful feeling throughout the day! Decided to try another first that same day and took the family to the rock climbing gym for the better part of 4 hrs and had a blast. My 3 yr old son thought he was spiderman. Anyhow, we will be back in Flag. June 11-14 hope to try and catch your thurday class,(from what I've heard it sounds painful). possibly more rock climbing as well. Also, before i forget, the question i have relates to being at a very busy and physically demanding station where time and energy/recovery can be issues as far as training goes. Would the ROCK VINYASA DVD be a good fit at home in the morning pre and post shift, and possibly the QUICK FIX YOGA DVDwhen at the station? Coach, any input would be greatly appreciated.

With humble gratitude, Sincerely, Marty Salomon
Tucson, AZ



COACH RESPONDS:

Most Noble Warrior of the Fire,

the Rock Vinyasa would be absolutely, utterly PERFECT!
you just gotta find a Sacred Stone (tis a mandatory and traditional pilgrimage of sincerity)
although some have found success with using just a couple of yoga blocks, a railing, ...whatever Brahman provides!

Joy's QUICKFIX is perhaps the simplest, most artful, most time-effective asana session ever created...
3 ten-minute segments to fit your available time or link all 3 together for a BEAUTIFUL 30-minute Practice!

jump on BOTH now!

oh, and don't think of my Prop Workouts each Thursday as painful; think PURIFYING!!!!
in the DEEP FIBER PURIFICATION Way of the Ancient Warrior Yogis!!!

you'll love it!

see you in the Practice Cave soon...
be sure to introduce yourself!


head bowed in mountain sweat,

coach ilg



***


Steve,

Hi, I am reading your book Total Body Transformation and I am up to the green tara (the first phase)
and I am looking forward to starting it.
I was just wondering if you could help me out with some ideas/recipes/meal plans for food. You mentioned
in the book that you ate a lot of tofu and raw foods. Anything you could offer would be very helpful.

Thanks,
Kelly



COACH RESPONDS:

Most Noble Yogi Kelly!

great to hear you are crankin' along on Green Tara...She will
provide much inSight, protection, and chi.
just keep Practicing awareness during your Journey.

there are recipes and much nutritional Guidance in TBT as you continue your journey.

to be fair to my online students however, private counsel - which i am happy to provide for you -
is available via online or phone consultations available on my website catalog.


let me know if i can Serve you further,
and be sure to subscribe to my Daily Blog; DIRECT LINES...
i promise,
it's the best Training Partner you can have for $12/month!

head bowed along the Upward, Inward Way...


coach ilg




***


Dear Coach

Yes, i've just placed my order for my EARLY MORNING RITUAL DVD and MULA BANDHA CD !! THANK YOU for all the work you put in. The very least i could do is trek the path as steadfastly as i could muster from my highest self.

Blessings to the CAN DO CLAN!

Namaste,
suet
London



***
Coach:
Thanks for the reply. I was not expecting personal attention, but since I have you on line, let me tell you that your book TOTAL BODY TRANSFORMATION has been a gold mine for me and formed the basis of a couple of successful fitness courses I taught in Toronto for three years. I just wish I lived closer so I could tap in to "the source" more.

thanks again,
shanti
Mike Fox

TEMPLE MANAGER NOTE:
i just have to...well, smile when i read such letters. where others in Coach's position capitalize on clever "Teacher Trainings" or outright sue beautiful people like Mike for copyright infringement and intellectual property rights for using Coach's published works in courses without permission, Coach just smiles and continues to offer his Lifework publicly as he has for decades. "All Karma is God, and well, Ripples make Waves..." is his steady reply when i approach him on such common, unacknowledged use of his Work. "The Ancient Dharma Protecters never sued anybody, did They?" is his back up response if i push the issue. because i live with our Beloved Coach, i see and marvel at how deeply Open is his Heart, regardless of his Work being often abused. he carries his hurt nobly. i reMind people however, that if you are going to use Coach's Teachings or writings, please at least ask permission. thank you!
WF Temple Manager Ananda

***

Dear Coach,

Got to watch my mind pitch a fit tonite in your HP Yoga Slow Flow Class...”let’s just pack up and get out of here”....well...”we/me” stuck it out but I was really interested in how “mad” I was about ???? That said, thanks for addressing my question and thanks for the opportunity to watch a temper tantrum in slow motion....
love ya Student LH



COACH RESPONDS:
Most Precious Yogini LH,

our Anger arises from tight hips (Brahma Granthi) and rounded spines (clogged Sushumna).
yoga very Self-Confrontational.
it's that way by design...weeds out the Finders from the Seekers.
you know all this, i know.

i did my best to pepper my Dialogue with Suzukisms just for you...
i could feel Thy's anger
and
feeble ilg
bows to the Invincible Practitioner known as Leslie H.


got you in for next Wednesday...

Dharma Blessings oh Maha Yogini...

ec





***

Namaste Noble Sangha,

Once more that hat is off to our No-Bull Coach Who Don't Ever Poach (i.e. lift ideas from other people or writings) How many times have I heard neti recommended during sinus infections? Well enough times to really screw up my recovery from various colds by trying to do it. I eventually learned not to attempt to fight my body's own defense mechanism of massive snot production and just go with the blow. So it's refreshing to read Herr Ilg's likely experience-based suggestion to can the neti until you're basically clear.

What's more the whole concept of IDEOs (Immunological Defence Enhancement Opportunities) really gave me a fresh perspective on a recent cold. Instead of getting really depressed and franticly taking a bazillion different types of remedies (that probably made me sicker) I just chilled out, put my feet up, ate some chicken soup, and took time to let my body, mind, spirit clean itself of some excess. It actually felt GO(O)D!

During this down time I read a book called the Paradox of Choice that discusses how our afluenza ridden society has really gotten so mixed up. It summarizes a lot of good research on how expectations and "coulda, woulda, shoulda" thinking really confuses us. One such study really made me think of our WF tribe: a study of Olympic medallists showed that bronze medal winners were consistently happier with their results than silver. How's this? While the silver medalists are all thinking "damn, two less seconds and i could have been #1!" the bronzers are all thinking "pfew, two more seconds and i wouldn't even be standing here!" Smile

cheers,
ct
China


***

Namaste

Wonderful sage advice coming from a moment of learning, this Direct Lines. I admire a teacher or coach who teaches from direct experience. Your tempered tenacity is inspiring even when it takes the form of an admission that something did not turn out as hoped. I have had a little of that going on lately myself and Ananda's words are just what I needed to hear. Thank you!

Bowing,
Rick
Pasadena

***

Thank you, Steve, for posting your morning Teisho ( dharma talk). This week, I listened to myself rattling on about this and that and listened to others rattling on about this and that. My early morning practice of tending to the garden, tending to the birds, hanging with my dogs, in silence has become my morning vinyasa. I hand wrote your final meditation to carry with me - to be memorized perhaps as a kind of mantra, to bring myself back when the rattling on begins !!! as it always does!!! and come back to the WE lifestyle principles that point the way through the thicket and reminds us that our basic sanity and good heartedness does indeed matter and is always there.

Leslie and Kai and Yoda


**

HP YOGA is World Class Yoga from a World Class Athlete...

click to enlarge:









don't worry, if you can't crank the World Exclusive Prop Workouts with me here in the rarefied Pran of Flag?...just order my PROP WORKOUT DVD and get sweatin' the one and ONLY
SACRED SWEAT OF HP YOGA PROP WORKOUTS!



"Coach,
each one of your HP Yoga classes leaves me feeling euphoric!"

- Kristen Hayden-Phillips, Pro Mountain Biker


"Your PROP WORKOUT is arguably the best workout I've ever experienced."
- Gary Phillips, Semi Pro Mountain Biker

photos of coach cranking the PROP WORKOUT® by www.waynewilliamsstudio.com

Turning The Mind To Dharma; A How-To Guide. Part III

THIS 3-PART DHARMATEACHING WHICH HAS APPEARED IN ITS ENTIRETY FOR DL SUBSCRIBERS IS NOW AVAILABLE AS A PAY-PER-PDF for $5.00 in the WF Pro Shop:

Turning The Mind Toward Dharma

above photo by "my" Kagyu Shenpen Kunchab Bodhi Stupa in Santa Fe from where i learned the DharmaMind Teachings from Lama Karma Rinchen and Lama Karma Dorje

Turning The Mind To Dharma - A How-To Guide. Part II of III.

This DL picks up where my Teaching of 6/3/08 left off...



click on photos for greater Transmission effect.

please keep your spine elegant and breath conscious while receiving this DharmaTeaching. thank you.











The second of the Four Thoughts which Turn The Mind To Dharma is FOR DL SUBSCRIBERS ONLY. Nothing in any of the Six Realms goes on endlessly. Why is it then, we adhere our thoughts to the things with which we happen to come into Contact? Contact is very karmic. Your Contact with me, this Path, your trip to the Marketplace...the picking up of the apple, the cell phone ringing, the starting of the car, the holding of our baby. These adhesions fasten us within the Relative World and thus separate us from our True Nature (Atman) which is un-conditional. There are Eight Worldly Dharmas that cause our emotional (lower self) to rise up and down. This emotional roller-coaster creates the obscurations of our True Nature. The Eight Worldly Dharmas that you MUST sever with the Sword of a Dharma Warrior enraged are;

FOR DL SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

The third of the Four Thoughts is FOR DL SUBSCRIBERS ONLY . Over our trillions of lives, we accumulate samskara - intensely dynamic psychic forces which propel consciousness into action. these countless accumulated forces create indelible imprints in our subsconscious resulting in habits and tendencies many of which retard spiritual evolution which we then pass onto our children creating the current epoch known as Kali Yuga- the spiritual dark age. Relentlessly consistent Spiritual Workouts, guided by our Trust in our Teacher, reveals...

THE REST OF THIS DHARMA TEACHING IS FOR DL SUBSCRIBERS ONLY:

KNOW YOUR KARMIC WORKOUT: SUBSCRIBE TO DL TODAY! DON'T DELAY YOUR SPIRITUAL FITNESS ANY LONGER!!!!!

photos:
#1) as Gibran taught; "Our children are not our children. They are God's children. They come not of us, but through us." i take Dewa for her First Swim while working my Mantra and Her Mantra...reMinding my Higher Self of non-Attachment to Her. Extremely High Practice, this. Photo by Ananda. Sedona.


#2) A gecko calls to me from a withered fence post in Boynton Canyon. Until Enlightenment, we do (k)not know whether the countless Beings we Contact are rising or stalling in their current incarnation. This Lizard Being may have been selfish or mean-hearted to others in a former life, lacking gratefulness and thus its Atman must experience the solitary, cold-blooded existence of solar dependence in order to Rise Higher. Or, he could have been a Fungi just recently and 'worshiped' the Light soooo deeply, he is rapidly moving toward Enlightenment at a pace far, far greater than you are in yours. "Be kind to every Being," taught the Buddha, "for every Being experiences suffering and difficulty." And, even a lizard or a spider might just be your Guru in drag, testing your Practice. Practice Kindness and your spirit will allWays rise higher. photo by ilg.

Coming up for DL Subscribers only;
i conclude my Teaching on The Four Thoughts



May my time spent here, writing this from my HeartSpace,
be of benefit to your Sadhana...


Stay Awake,

your loving coach

Teammate Profile; Kent Sherman

as Chairman of the Board for Red Rock Racing here in Flagstaff, i like to introduce my fellow teammates on the RRR Blog...






New RRR Teammate Kent Sherman looking fine atop Mt. Elbert, Colorado.


***

Hello Steve and RRR!

I’ve become interested in road cycling in the last couple of years. Last year was my first year of “serious” riding and I entered my first organized ride (Taylor House 65 miler). This year, I got out on the road bike in late February, increased my mileage steadily, and recently cranked out two 100 mile weeks. I’ve had to back off in the last couple weeks due to a strained muscle, but hopefully can bump up the mileage soon. I am primarily a road cyclist and use my mountain bike mostly for errands around town.

I completely agree with RRR mission and etiquette statements. I plan on submitting a clothing order to Cosmic soon. I look forward to becoming involved with RRR and getting to know members
………………Regards, Kent


***

Kent Sherman, age 56, spent most of his youth near Portland, Oregon. He earned a BS is Forest Science from Oregon State U. in 1976. The next four years consisted on odd jobs, traveling in winter, and forest fire fighting in summers. While preparing to enter graduate school, he was offered work with the U.S. Geological Survey, in Portland. He began work with the USGS in January, 1980, four months before Mt. St. Helens blew. An offer to transfer to Flagstaff in 1982 was accepted. Kent worked the next 26 years with the USGS performing water quantity and quality studies throughout northern Arizona. He retired in January, 2008. Linda and Kent were married in 1985. Their sedentary hobbies are watercolor painting and woodcarving, respectively. They have a passion for the outdoors and take at least one major hiking trip per year. Cross country skiing is a favorite winter activity. Kent has been a year-round cyclist in Flagstaff for over 25 years.

***


Welcome to RRR, Kent!
see you out on the cobbles!



WE'D LOVE TO PROFILE YOU!
send me your pic and a short piece on yourself or request an interview!

Turning The Mind To Dharma - A How-To Guide

click on photos to enlarge. all text and pictures except where noted by myself. do not republish without my permission.

It is a great m(om)ent when the mind of the aspirant becomes filled with Dharma instead of random thought and habituated emotional patterns. Until our Mind turns to Dharma instead of Drama, spiritual progress is very difficult, hazy, and unsure. Without a Dharma Teacher in your life, it makes it very, very difficult to mine meaning from daily life and activities; even our treasured sports and pleasures grow vacant without Dharma Mind.

So, how do we allow Divine InSight to dance within the fabric of our daily life and spill Sacred Joy and Brahmanic Humor into the Play of the UniVerse in a way that our afflicted Mind can recognize It and Cherish It?


***


There are Four Thoughts That Turn The Mind To The Dharma
and in the Mountain Yogi Tradition, training the Mind to turn to these Four Thoughts
are often the initial Teachings that a Master assigns a new Student. i will briefly outline them as accurately as possible for those of you not raised in Eastern Teachings...

#1) The First of the Four Thoughts is realizing the utter miracle and importance of having The Precious Human Body.

There are countless (trillions and trillions) of potential births that can be taken in the Bardo Realm which would have "us" re-incarnate in any of the Six Realms of Samsara - which i've already taught you about in this Hall (God Realm, Demi-God Realm, Human Realm, Animal Realm, Hungry Spirit Realm, Hell Realm). it is only within The Precious Human Body that, according to Lama Karma Rinchen, "the mind has the technology and resources needed for spiritual Awakening." the sooner we realize this the more chi-filled will be our temperament for steadfast Practice and training and Trust in our Teacher(s). my "Dewa Sadhana", for instance, is to realize that my daughter could disappear from Ananda and i tomorrow. One never knows the length of our karmic term in this Precious Human Body which is precisely why we must never, ever lose the tremendous gratitude of our Precious Human Body to choose Self-Cultivation and Inner Attainment over Entertainment and wasting our time in gossip, negativity, laziness, short-term pleasures, and feeble Practice. i took this photo while playing with Dewa's Precious Human Body in Her baptism canyon; the Boynton Canyon vortex.

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Photos:

photo #1; while in Sedona, a powerful "Om So Ti" in a new-age bookstore manifested this amazing missing-digit Ganesha for me...i took Ganesha immediately into the Boynton Canyon Vortex and got this shot of Son of Shiva as Grandfather Sun slipped behind the Mogollon Rim.

photo #2; my daughter Dewachen's Precious Human Body re-incarnated under a year-long pilgrimage of Auspicious Signs.