Imagine that you had gone all your life without ever washing, and then one day you decide to take a shower. You start scrubbing away, but then watch in horror as the dirt begins to ooze out of the pores of your skin and stream down your body. Something must be wrong: You were supposed to be getting cleaner and all you can see is grime. You panic and fling yourself out of the shower, convinced that you should never have begun. But you only end up even more dirty than before. You have no way of knowing that the wisest thing to do is to be patient and to finish the shower. It may look for a while as if you are getting even dirtier, but if you keep on washing, you will emerge fresh and clean. It’s all a process, the process of purification.
Whenever doubt arises, see it simply as an obstacle, recognize it as an understanding that is calling out to be clarified or unblocked, and know that it is not a fundamental problem but simply a stage in the process of purification and learning. Allow the process to continue and complete itself, and never lose your trust or resolve. This is the way followed by all the great practitioners of the past, who used to say: “There is no armor like perseverance.”
- Sogyal Rinpoche
I'm taking again for Hopi Land...
an 8k footrace through the oldest, continually inhabited village of Turtle Island.
this will be my final gut-check for speed and concussion on my spine...then, it's time for some long, slow high-altitude runs before a taper for the biggest test of my broken spine yet; the Imogene Pass Race from Ouray to Telluride, Colorado.
it is deep honor for me to be hosted by the Race Director of
The Oraivi 8k Hopi Footrace
Juwan Nuvayokva, who might just win his own race tomorrow!
In fact, i have planted a long-time Dream Seed with several Tribal Elders to consider an Olympic Dream of mine; i want to train a Hopi Runner as a Nordic Ski Racer and have that Hopi Skier represent the Hopi Nation in the Winter Olympics.
if you thought the Jamaican Bobsled Team was cool...
just wait till the World gets a load of THIS!
if ilg can start the wheels rolling on this project,
i will need your help, so listen and respond if i ring the Temple Gong on this
avenue to restoring genuine Tribal Spirit to the Olympics.
My race tomorrow goes off at 7:30 am. Send your Chi; i'll be hammering away as best as i can, letting go into the Native Running Spirit...
May you pursue your own Dreams with the agility and speed of a high mesa harrier...
HEYA!
And do not ever forget Oh Noble Sangha;
where there is no cultivation of perseverance,
there is no yoga.
From the land of sage and sweetgrass and monsoon storms,
your loving coach
photo #1; traditional Hopi Runner. see my DL last month on Hopi Running for credits.
photo #2; sunrise over Hopi Land by ilg.
