Karma As Our Mirror...Ice Climbing As My Karmic Reflection

"No other outdoor athlete can put the "Om" in Extreme Sports as has Ilg for so long."
- Craig Templeton

Whatever is happening to us now mirrors our past karma. If we know that, and know it truly, whenever suffering and difficulties befall us, we do not view them particularly as failures or catastrophes, or see suffering as a punishment in any way. Nor do we blame ourselves or indulge in self-hatred. We see the pain we are going through as the completion of the effects, the fruition, of a past karma. Tibetans say that suffering is “a broom that sweeps away all our negative karma.” We can even be grateful that one karma is coming to an end. We know that “good fortune,” a fruit of good karma, may soon pass if we do not use it well, and that “misfortune,” the result of negative karma, may in fact be giving us a marvelous opportunity to evolve.
- Sogyal Rinpoche

Photo; Vince Anderson on the mirror-like intimidating ice of Bridalveil Falls, above Telluride.
For my buck?
Leading difficult Ice Climbing routes provides the Highest Mirror to access our deepest fears...and the opportunity to penetrate them with courage and self-confidence.
Ice Climbing is High Yoga.
Back when i was an ice climber, this particularly gorgeous ice fall was regularly patrolled by authorities and forbidden to climb....

READ COACH's TALE AND TEACHING ON TODAY's DL SUBSCRIPTION FORMAT...
"No other outdoor athlete can put the "Om" in Extreme Sports" as Ilg."
- Craig Templeton
photo by HP Yogi; www.JamesQMartin.com