Ilg’s September Elegy; Thank you September, for thy Grace….

all photos and text by steve ilg...please do not republish without asking, thank you! above;
aspens shimmer before a Missionary Ridge drainage.

What makes the bliss of a Durango September so potent is the fact that you’re standing right in the middle of a gold mine; the aspens turning, the amber rays of fleeting afternoons while ripping some shale singletrack along Raider Ridge…slow pedaling home while marveling at the geese skulling a twilight sky over the Ganges of the San Juans.

The gold mine will soon be covered, equally skillfully and equally beautifully, by a pandemonium of snow. That same snow will inevitably cover my autumn sentiments softly, like a barefoot hobo walking the tracks. My heart swells while I feel my love for autumn in the breeze yet I know that same breeze will soon freeze as it floats away into winter’s cold embrace...

Read & See the rest...

note: the door opens to new Members in one
week!

A Way To Worship Workouts...

***

"A Way (not The Way)...

to worship workouts,

that vehicle of all glorious and truth quality,

is to sweat freely at least once every other day

and

then Sit Still

in Noble Silence,

far removed from all care and worry

at least once every day.

doing so cultivates adoration in every aspect of fitness and keeps the ego humbled regardless of time spent using the body vehicle.

finally, and listen closely:

Attach to no fad, no new device, no new nothing;

just explore deeply thy physiology

in each one of her awesome capacities and abide in that awe. If you do this you MIGHT, just MIGHT, help your chi-ld retain their beautiful sense of awe just that much longer which might make all the difference in the(ir) world."

- ilg with special Metta to my old dharmabrother from Santa Fe; Yogi Shrei losing himself somewhere in India right now

photo:go, ahead, try to follow my wheel. if you can hold my wheel in this Discipline? ilg has MANY other fitness disciplines for you to test yourself against even my meager attainments in Wholeness!
- ilg puts the hammer down during a club ride right in front of the famed, Rock Store, in the Santa Monica Mountains on the same course that the Tour of California did this year...just not as friggin' fast as those guys! i think this photo was by wayne williams, however, i'm not positive.

Burn for the rest of your life: gettin' abs is easy...the Real Situation is: Attaining A Father's Day To Take To The Bardo Entry...

self photo taken m(om)ents ago just to grab your attention to the Real Intent behind the Scientific Artistry of Wholistic Fitness; please, read further...

***

so...all you New Daddy's that are 45+...let's say you go into the bathroom to shower.
i know you do.
eventually.
you take a picture of your Manipura Chakra area; the gut.
what is The Situation which stares back at you?
is there Symmetry?
is there leanness?
is there functionality?
is there an expression of Upliftment in your gut (and butt!)?
or Down-rift-ment?
i mean, really...
truly...
where are You in relation to your Abdominal Situation?
don't default to the "I'm too old," baggage...screw that.
if you studied and STUCK WITH WF?
you'd know that gettin' Abs is the easy part.
far, far, far beyond that is the spiritual fallout which is called dealing with the Inner Jeweled City Which Burns In Your Gut...
isn't time to really just DO THE WORK OF WHOLENESS before you die?

a Proven Path
arises
shining before you
since 1982
ilg suggests;
taking it.

enjoy the following...

wish u wur here...

fires everywhere;
inner ones,
outer ones (Dharma Blessings to my Kinlani brother and sisters)...

if you come to me,

ilg can teach you how to make a fire to keep you warm for the night.

if you choose to study Wholistic Fitness® however...


ilg can torch you
so you can burn
for the rest of your life...

***

like the air that ilg breathes here beneath the Sacred Peak of Dibé Nitsaa, beside the Sacred River Animas,

part of my Dreamspeak which feeble ilg attempts to manifest is the sharing of whole-s(om)e sweat and stillness - the yin and the yang - of living WF right here, in her birthplace; Durango.

***

today, ilg lived a Father's Day for all Fathers Everywhere...

• early morning Practice...hum sah!
• without eating physical food, yet Pranically Satiated from my EMR, the Deities bless ilg to take 3rd in the HillClimb prime and 1st in the Finishing Sprint during the 2-hour Club Ride*
• transition quickly and go swimming at Trimble Hot Springs with my girls into a Ute Blessing and Sacred Dance...see photo's below.

dat's a Dad's Day...
courtesy of the Wholistic Fitness® Personal Training Path.

head bowed upon thy Practice upc(om)ing this week...
feeble ilg

i love this shot taken, like the ones below, at this evenings Ute Blessing and Dance. i grew up with the daughter of a Mountain Ute Tribal Elder. this pic reMinds ilg of her...and of the Sacred Simplicity inherent to honoring Father Sky and Mother Earth as our parents...

timeless...a 6 year-old Ute girl dancer honoring tonight's solstice in the "Sun Dance"

a flash of color expressing the endless bounty of chi inherent to the small, fierce Mountain Utes; the Native American's of the Durango, Colorado area. Their world once extended north to Wyoming, west to Arizona, south to New Mexico, and east to Nebraska. Now? ilg doesn't even have the 'guts' to tell you. let's just say it's very, very local around Durango.

Dewachen and Ananda join in the Friendship Dance along with the Utes...i absolutely adore Dewa's auspicious hand mudra in this blurry yet chiful shot...

Dewa and Amma-ji roll in the grass after the Native dancing...

* so, we're regrouped on the Club Ride at the top of Hermosa Hill; a 2-mile local climbing sufferfest upon bludgeoned pavement which leads toward the trailhead of the now famous Hermosa Creek Trail. anyway, it's the first time i'm on this ride and one of the bro's comes up to me and says,
"Nice climb..."
"Oh, thanks..." i reply resisting the egoic impulse to tell him that i rode the Passes back and forth on Saturday and did Track Intervals yesterday and that my legs felt as dead as tree stumps on the climb.
"Yeah, I couldn't quite follow your wheel...but just wait till you start getting grey hair...it's a lot harder to climb when you get older."

smiling politely, ilg takes the Noble Silence...eventually i find out that he is 7 years younger than ilg.

WF baby; the most important peleton you could EVER hook up with!
especially the older you get.

there is chronologic age.
then there is physiologic age.
then....there is WF age(lessness)!

Dewa Direct MAP Intake? The Vitality of Brain and Neural Fitness Development in Chi-ldren

"I find it a funny thing. People will go to all sorts of stupid expenses to buy shampoo, conditioners, and lotions which promote the importance of Amino Acids...yet, to get those same people to commit to a categorically more important Amino Acid formula for their long-term cellular health? They brand you a snake-oil salesman!
It doesn't matter how many podiums i top, how many dis-eases and illnesses i've thwarted by this simple product, they still think,'Oh it's too expensive.'
To ilg?
The thing that is MOST EXPENSIVE in life
and MOST DETRIMENTAL to sport and fitness performance?
Is NOT getting on and staying on MAP Amino Acids!"

- coach steve ilg
sponsored athlete/yogi; BodyHealth's MAP Amino Acids



Above: Dewachen Ilg with "Sabba"...her Marine of a Granddad (Joy's father).

Below, i ask our Tribe's contact at Bodyhealth, Andrew Nudelman, about MAP Amino Acid intake for my daughter. His reply coming to the WF SanghaLounge in the MAP Cave

***

Most Noble Andrew...

let me know when you are ready for my next testimonial! thanks to MAP Aminos, i've been on a nordic rampage this winter!

7 races
7 podiums
3 OVERALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
at age 47!

my winter racing season is all but over; one more minor race in Telluride in March.

i am more convinced than ever about MAP's critical importance for newborns/toddlers...especially within the area of
bioneural synaptic development in children ages 1.5 - 3 years.

Dewa is unbelievably mentally and physically fit; completely unvaccinated, her Immune Response is awesome! thanks in large part to her cellular fitness she has just a super cool disposition. she refuses TV/DVD's and chooses on her
own to listen and dance to music or color or do counting/lettering practice. her natural food attractions know no junk and her mental sustaining energy (what we call; dharana in yoga)
is exceptional and her sleep quality equally deep.

my intent is to keep this rolling for as long as possible...since, as you know, the six-layers of brain cells do not form completely until around 6 years of age and unconditionally set up her entire intellectual/sensing/conceptual capacities.

my only wish is for all Mothers to be on MAP for their breast milk and for all children to have the opportunity of being in a positive nitrogen balance
during their pre-natal and early years.

my question;
Dewa is 2.5 years young.
she is still breast feeding and we plan to continue to breast feed her as long as she desires.
having said that, and in knowledge of the exceptional demand for amino acids at Dewa's cellular level; in particular brain development and
neural fitness development...if we make a "MAP" smoothie for Dewa; how much MAP should go into her smoothie and how often?

head bowed and Dharma Blessings upon your amazing product that i am sooooooo fortunate to benefit from as an athlete, coach, yogi,
and most importantly; a new father!

coach steve ilg

Dewa Missives; Problems

My most precious daughter Dewachen,
you've been running a fever now for nearly three days. you are pretty miserable yet you don't complain. you look at Amma and i with such confusion from your tear-stained, feverish cheeks, asking, "Why?"

in our Tradition of WF, sweetheart, we train ourselves and our students not to even use the Word Choice, "Problems." for nothing truly is a 'problem' as much as it is an opportunity for enhancing our strength; physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. often, 'problems' improve each of those uniquely Human qualities. instead of using the word, "problems" we use the word, "challenge" or "opportunity" or something like that.

one day, you'll probably giggle at this story;
because your Amma and Abba chose not to vaccinate you, we came up with a different term for what people call, "colds" or "illness"...we call them, IDEO's. it stands for: Immune Developmental Enhancement Opportunity. we have even taught it to our Students! the Teaching in this new term is to re-mind us that colds and sickness are not problems to be solved. they are more like barbells to be lifted to make us stronger.

i know it must be so hard;
you've just arrived a little over 2 years ago from the Astral Plane where sickness, snakes, bugs, and all the crazy Dualities inherent to a Human Incarnation do not exist.

"Why?"

Darling Dewa,
we can never run away from problems...if we try, we will continue to face the same type of problem(s) over and over and endlessly over again - this lifetime or another - until we finally do what it takes from deep within us to arise to the curriculm...

READ THE ENTIRE TEACHING ON DL SUBSCRIPTION FORMAT

10 Snowshoe Racing (and Life) Affirmations

"Everything I've needed to teach my child, I learned from Snowshoe Racing."

- coach steve ilg

champion winter sports athlete

author/The Winter Athlete

NOW APPEARING AT:
the USSA Website

click on RUNNING ON WATER column

My real podium; coach with his 2 year-old daughter, Dewachen, after finishing 7th Overall at Flagstaff's "Snow or No" 10k...a USSSA Regional Qualifier.

Best Posture On The National Cross Circuit!

Most noble El Coache!

How the heck are you? From what I see on DL you and the family are
doing very well. Thanks for the SUNRIDER reminder! I do miss the Sunbars and
will place an order soon. I attempted earlier and the site was down.

We're just getting Cross season underway here in New England and you'll be glad to know I have the best posture of any of the master's riders....thanks to you.

I passed along a couple of pics of my 14yr old
Son Nate taking flight. I'm sure Dewa won't be far behind.

All my best to you and your Clan.

Sammy Morse
Boston, MA

Snapshots and a Sutra from New Mexico; Plus a WF Challenge!

text and photos by steve ilg

What are the whispers shared by ducklings
as their feet paddle in frenzied manner
within the velveteen wake of their Mother?
Family Yoga might best be learned from the wild animals.

photo; Early morning last week; Red River Lake, NM.





When family comes to gather,
ilg advises;
buckle up thy Practice, Oh Noble Seeker Of Wholeness!
Cuz, inevitably, the fortresses of our mental composure
and emotional equanimity surely shall be tested by
an unequivocal barrage of interpersonal dynamics.

ilg knows you know what i mean.

Today's Teaching is about that most difficult, advanced
Practice of all;
Family Yoga.

And Family Yoga is perhaps the highest litmus test of
the state of our Practice.

So, buckle up and bring it!



In this Teaching, i share with you my most-relied upon Yoga Sutra of Patanjali's
to help my feeble Practice retain a degree of mastery while involved
in family gatherings.

photo; my dad and i designed this Family Gathering so we might be able to go fishing. The fact that it was my parents' 55th Anniversary seemed secondary to my dad. Trout were the priority.


DO NOT MISS THIS TEACHING WITH STUNNING PHOTOS AND FITNESS and SUTRA PENETRATION FOR YOUR SERENITY AROUND FAMILY AND OTHERS...


only for DL Subscribers; those who support their humble, powerful Temple beneath the Sacred Peak...

We Interupt This Race Report For A Dewa Sadhana Update

What's it like to have "The World's Fittest Human" as your daddy? Well, find out for yourself, because each week in the WF SanghaLounge there are beautiful exchanges between WF Warriors, including Coach, each of us doing our best as "Conscious Parents"...

***
due to popular request and because for some reason most of you have no idea of the wealth and intimacy and greatness of our WF SanghaLounge where this type and much more personal lives of WF Warriors is being exchanged each day...

here is a Dewa Sadhana, clipped from today's WF SanghaLounge. and, thank you to all of you who write in, asking for more updates on "Conscious Parenting"...

- coach ilg

***

Author: Coach Ilg
Joined: 30 Oct 2006
Posts: 620
Location: Kinlani "The Place Where Thunder Lie"

PostPosted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 3:00 pm



ilg reckons we Daddies and Mommies oughta start our own Cave Chamber so we don't bore the be-jesus outta the single warriors in the Tribe?

this morning; my Dewa Sadhana was:


VISIT THE WF SANGHALOUNGE TODAY!
hit View Posts Since Last Visit
(available only for DL Subscribers)

Camping With Family; A Practice For Awakening The Heart

a moving entry from coach as he himself moves further into
what he calls his, "Domestication of a wild warrior," during
a camping trip last week. beautiful photos from:
Clear Creek Campground, Arizona
Jerome, Arizona.





a couple of excerpts:

If we wish our children to have much,
we must show them how to enjoy having little.
Deny children the dirt and wetness of Mother Earth,
and we teach separateness from the start.
Treat our children with an agenda set upon nothing
save for that which they themselves set
and each thing becomes a natural teaching in the Tao.

bent, as if in humble prayer,
Ananda stands in a wet place
among the unhurried current,
living now in a world of expression and faith
for her child
who must learn to swim in this world of
forms.
The new mother wonders,
why her own mommy never went into the woods with her...
to have her touch the altar of dirt, grass, wood, and stone.
Above their splashing,
an Oriole sings to the tasks we all must face.

Oh Lord,
in these cloudless skies above Jerome,
let my own longing for enlightened life in all Her unified strands
stand as Teacher for my daughter...
let the domestication of my wild warrior nature
take flight even as does Eagle Brother soar
and may my actions be brave and kind and pure
as the Rose
or the Bristlecone above timberline.

so much more...
please help keep the Refuge of Direct Lines available; subscribe today
and help support America's original transpersonal fitness training Temple;
Wholistic Fitness

The Study of Reality...through WF...

"Ever since I came to you," a monk complained, "I haven't been instructed at all in the study of Reality."

"Ever since you came to me," replied the Master, "I have always been pointing out to you how to study Reality."

"In what way, sir?"

"When you brought me tea, did I not accept it? When you served me food, did I not eat it? When you made bows to me, did I not return them? When did I ever neglect in giving you instruction?"

Seeing that the monk did not understand, he concluded, "If you want to see, see directly into it; but when you try to think about it, it is altogether missed."

- Zen


***

The student of Wholistic Fitness has nothing to do but go on living his or her life within the circumstances (around thy own stance) of the Outer World. She rises in the early morning, does her Ritual, puts on clothes with Awareness (and hopefully using Non Dominant hand) and performs her work as devotion toward her Higher Self.

When the WF Student walks, he walks with WF Lifestyle Principle #1. When he sits, he sits, when he feels his samskaric and vasanic tendencies arise, he applies the WF Lifestyle Principles as skillfully as possible and goes on living with Awareness.

WF is not about clever little "Workouts of the Week," which really should be written, "Workouts of the Weakly motivated."

WF is about doing the work of Personal Transformation through union, not ego.

Like the sage says, "If you strive to become Buddha (or Jesus, or...) by any conscious contrivances, your Buddha is indeed the source of eternal bondage."



photo by Ananda
of abba ilg and Dewa...
Dewa sets the Agenda...
even if it means making a plastic collender
into a 'skyride' game...
Abba just listens and responds.
Dewa's outfit custom made by: Your Little Snitch. Ask for Diana, tell her coach ilg sent you!

Follow The Path That Inspires You Most...

on today's DL...


click to enlarge

This morning, Dewachen created her own puja table next to the WF Temple Puja Table in the Tribal Zendo. She took the picture of Yogi Jesus,placed Elmo-In-A-Boat on top of it, and then carefully placed a Animal Medicine Card (she drew Turtle) next to Elmo.

"We all have the karma to take one spiritual path or another, and I would encourage you, from the bottom of my heart, to follow with complete sincerity the path that inspires you most.

If you go on searching all the time, the searching itself becomes an obsession and takes you over. You become a spiritual tourist, bustling about and never getting anywhere. Following one teaching is not a way of confining you or jealously monopolizing you. It’s a compassionate and practical way of keeping you centered and always on your path, despite all the obstacles that you, and the world, will inevitably present."
- Sogyal Rinpoche

photo of Ananda and Dewachen
by www.jamesqmartin.com

Fierce Severing of Entertainment = InnerAttainment

IF YOU ARE NOT A DL SUBSCRIBER, YOU ALREADY MISSED OUT ON 13 ADDITIONAL TEACHINGS THIS YEAR SO FAR! THAT ARE NOT EVEN HINTED AT IN THIS COMPLIMENTARY VERSION OF MY AWARD WINNING BLOG: DIRECT LINES! DON'T GO YET ANOTHER YEAR SIPPING AT THE FRINGE!!!! SUBSCRIBE TODAY WARRIOR!!! WE ARE WAITING FOR YOU!!!








"on mornings when i need to be Mr. Mom,
that is,
on days when my Sadhana (spiritual practice)
is the Conscious CareTaking of my daughter, Dewa

- a very difficult and high practice which i
refer to as, Dewa Sadhana in order to reMind me that Conscious Parenting IS the Highest of Spiritual Work -

my Early Morning Ritual must be done
super early and with fierce severing of entertainments such
as lingering around, making excuses to shove in a few minutes of work, having coffee, reading, etc.

all of that must be swiped away just like it was a Race Day Morning, for the Time/Space Continuum is warped in HouseHolder Yoga.

the priority for training on such days is to:
1) infuse the interior self with Prana,
2) fire up the cellular respiration
3) enhance the selective permeability
capacities of my billions of cells...and most importantly,
4) re-fine and re-establish my Sacred Connection with the Divine
so that my upcoming 'mundane' day becomes a self-empowered
dance with moment by moment miracles thanks to how i chose
to 'kick start' my day."
- coach ilg


***

suggested WF PathWay tools for developing your own Pranic Kick Start
to your days:

* Coach's 3-Phase Approach to using the:
SUNRIDER HERBS (imperative)

* Coach's approach to using:
MAP Amino Acids (vital)

* The WF Early Morning Ritual DVD (fundamental training)

* Hallway Yoga; A Pivotal Practice For Busy Warriors (superb choice)


if you have questions on any of the above PathWay Tools, let me know.
the links will take you directly into your Journey.


May your Practice be punctuated with Divine Insight throughout this Day of Days...

live the 4 WF Lifestyle Principles!


Om Santi,
coach

photo of coach moving into MahaBandhasana by www.JamesQMartin.com

FIND YOUR OWN MEANING DL creating more ripples...

click to enlarge the cute factor (not me, silly, Dewa!)

photo of Dewa and i this past Sunday after finishing my first winter event of 2009; the Snow-Or-No Snowshoe Race. Race Report upcoming for DL Subscribers. photo courtesy of Neil Weintraub, director of Northern Arizona Trail Runners Association

*** from the WF SanghaLounge, FIND YOUR OWN MEANING Cave:

"many cling desperately to the desire for a child.

people say the values of our Outer World are shallow, greedy, and deceptive, yet often we do not willingly give them up ourselves, do we?

in fact, our lives may seem completely dominated by them. Meditation, at first, only sharpens the sting of our inner impotency.

the pursuit of money, power, and sensuality/sexuality is terribly addictive.

be it the caretaking of our inner child or an incarnated child,
the chi
in our chi-ld
may be the only Life Force
strong enough to edge us closer to tasting more often the inner beauty of living in harmony with the Tao of It All.

all the while,
conflict - inevitable -
rages onward and all too often; inward.

after i finish a race these days, people - accustomed to my resume -
innocently ask me,
'Did you win?'

i reply more and more easily these New Daddy days;
'Nah, i don't win races any more...i've got a new Podium,
her name is Dewa.'

c'est la vie"

- coach ilg

FIND YOUR OWN MEANING

If you look to your children
to provide meaning for your life,
your life will be meaningless.
If you need them to be successful
to feel successful yourself,
you will always fail.

Your children were not born
to complete your life.
They were born to complete their own.
When you look inside and discover...

- William Martin
verse 44 of, The Parent's Tao Te Ching


READ THE ENTIRE TEACHING ON TODAY's DIRECT LINES


photo: abba ilg and Dewachen by www.JamesQMartin.com

Shanta through DL; WF Student Hak Gets A Holiday Hit

"He who upon hearing, touching, seeing, tasting, and smelling pleasant or unpleasant {things} neither delights in nor regrets them, is said to be tranquil (Shanta)."
-Lagha-Yoga-Vasishtha 2.1.64 (see Coach's interpretation below)

photo of steve, Joy, and 15 month-old Dewachen taken yesterday by world class photographer James "Q" Martin photographing steve for a Patagonia catalog. please visit his website:
JamesQMartin.com

***

Steve,
Just finished an outstanding Christmas dinner with the family and while the girls get the "Indiana Jones Game of Life" game set up, I'm catching up on a wee bit of my holiday DL reading.

I came across the great DL photos from 12/24 and it finally dawned on me who Dewa looks like:

Joy!

I have always seen parts of each of you reflected in her. Now, this one image shows the light of from which her outward appearance is "built."

From the two little munchkins who have graced my life, I never cease to be amazed at how they look like mom one week, dad the next and the mailman the following. ;)

love,

hak



Most Precious Hak,
like a shadow which follows a man,
our intentness upon the Inner Self
follows us throughout our countless lifetimes
until Enlightenment - consciously or unconsciously -
in one degree or another...

SEE TODAY'S DIRECT LINES
for Coach's commentary!

Wake Me Up When It's Over...

appearing on today's DL;

principles of race prep on little sleep due to
Conscious Parenting...

5% Efficient? Why settle for that?

Cardio commuting to town via the Lower Oldham Trail. bicycles are 80% energy efficient; only 20% of any caloric energy used in bicycling goes to move the bike. everything else is used to MOVE! on race bikes, the stats are even better! photo by Ananda.


***




Live like a tree,



not like fire.



***

as a New Daddy Warrior, there are a whole lot of environmental issues tearing at my spiritual tissues these days...watching my cherished zen-influenced spartan lifestyle begin bulging at the seams is an exercise of WF Lifestyle Principle #1 for sure.

i'm constantly breathing and asking for Mother Earth/Father Sky forgiveness as i run enough water through my faucet to float a boat as i wash baby bottles. that's just the start.

one of the most searing stabs at my increase upon Mothers' resources comes from my near lack of a principle of WF that i first began forwarding as far back as the early eighties; Cardio Commuting.

granted, i am doing about 90% of my New Daddy Warrior errands on my motorcycle (and my POWERBAR backpack has literally split its seams and zippers as i push the limits on the poor thing's carrying capacity nearly each day).

as i whiz past all my Cardio Commuting bros and sista's here in Flag (which is a bicycle-commuting mecca) i wince as i throttle my sport bike into a corner instead of pedaling into it as i was once so accustomed.

then...then arrives the odd day where ilg is forced into a car.

oooof.

cars.

our cars outweigh us by at least 20 to 1. a Pruis weighs 2,900 lbs and a Suburban loads the roads at 5k+!

that means nearly 95% (yes...95%!!!) of the precious Dinosaur flesh and blood is being used to simply MOVE THE VEHICLE.

in what other human enterprise would we settle for 95% INEFFICIENCY!?!?

a bicycle, by contrast, weighs often less than one-fifth of what you do.

less than 20% of the energy goes to moving the vehicle.

contemplate this as we clamber out of the car to fill up our tanks at even the
now archaic price of $4/gallon: $3.80 is simply feeding the machine.

sobering facts as i prepare to move my Clan out to the country where an additional 10 miles per round trip to town will spiritually itch at me each time ilg is forced into a car. upside? this winter (which is when ilg actually drives cars), i'll be reducing my drives to the ski areas in significant volumes and relying on my own nordic/snowshoe courses in my back and front 'yards'.


all of this is an ongoing exercise in WF Lifestyle Principle Number 3: Appropriate Action.


May this DL inspire all my WF Warriors to bike twice, drive once.

i do my best...that's all i can do...or you.


Live like a tree, not like fire.


love,

your mountain yogi


special thanks to Flag bro; Peter Kosso

photo 2: one of my most cherished Tree Beings in the Kachina Peaks Wilderness. this delightfully spiraled Tree Being is located on the Bismark Lake Trail.

photo 2: Oak Creek Canyon, a dozen miles away, up in flames last year. photo by AZ Daily Sun.

photo 3: bike vs. Bala...an ongoing choice which steepens as a New Daddy Warrior! photo by Ananda

Our "Doing" Nature, plus...Such A Precious Knock Upon My Humble Temple Door!

click on the photos for another round of DL Chi Hits...





The Sacred Peak wearing her summer colors. photo by ilg, yesterday.

Dear Steve;
I have been a low-level practitioner of your teaching; I have your
books and DVDs, and I am trying, but that's all I can say. I have one
passion in my life, and I am wondering if you could help me. I am a
surgical resident, and I can tell you without an ounce of cynicism or
false pretense that my passion is to become a surgeon who can heal and
help people in need. I am not that talented, but I am not that clumsy
or stupid either. My problem is I am somewhat feable in disposition,
and I get easily flustered when it comes to tense situation. Can you
help me to obtain the state of mind that maintains zen like calmness
even in the most dire situation?
Thank you
Joon

"As long as you think there is a 'do-er' you are still caught in the wheel of birth and death," said the Buddha.

So, what are we supposed to do? Just sit around and do nothing? Of course not. We earned a human body through lifetimes of miniscule spiritual progress - conscious and unconscious flickers of our Atmanic potential flitting through our lifetimes until you have arrived Here Now; present and Awake to hearing Dharma like this from fellow Spiritual Warriors. Buddha was teaching us not to avoid 'doing' because 'doing' is our human nature. Rather, don't identify with the 'doing.' Do it, whatever it is, impeccably, however, don't think you're the One 'doing it.' Learn to let "it" flow through Thee. Like my Rinpoche Dewachen, at whose tiny feet Joy and i took Dharma Teaching (see above photo) yesterday in an alpine meadow, Teaching is...


READ THE DHARMATEACHING ON TODAY's DIRECT LINES WITH MORE PHOTOS AND TEACHINGS
only for DL Subscribers who realize just how potent of a spiritual arrow is having a DL Subscription for only about $10/month!

SUPPORT THE WORLD'S ORIGINAL EAST/WEST PATH OF WHOLENESS THROUGH FITNESS!

Ragin RJ draws his Dharma Sword for our Children while WF Online Student Carpenter nabs yet another Podium for WF!

" and STILL we remain like a cloud-hidden Temple perched high on a Himalayan pass...fact is, we fly so HIGH, so FAR beyond where the mainstream hangs out that our Bejeweled Path is like virgin singletrack through an inner Land of Bliss...so BE IT!"

photo of Doko Oosliid, the Pranic Power Source which helps me dharmically drive Wholistic Fitness® so high above mainstream Paths...click to enlarge and breathe with...


***

Ragin RJ is on the loose again...no wonder my ol' Teammate is such a DL Favorite...bringin' the "anti-BS" chi yet again:


RJ's 3-minute Dharma Strike


meanwhile...
over in North Carolina, veteran WF Student Tom Carpenter used WF Online Training to score yet another podium for the WF Tribe at the North Carolina Adventure Race Series #1 held at Lake
Norman State Park in Troutman, NC. Alongside Tom was his "most excellent partner," Mike Dickinson, a high school cross country teammate of Toms! Still crankin' the breath-based CHI together! Love it!

i know many of you are disappointed that magazines like Yoga Journal embrace all these 'studio yogis' for their "Yoga for Cyclists" and their little articles on how strength training can actually help yogis, et. al., while choosing to ignore reviewing TOTAL BODY TRANSFORMATION which was the first book to faithfully intertwine all physiologic development into yoga. so be it; Noble Ones! i want you to view the antics of the Outer World with compassion and if you do this, you - like me - will love our little WF Path so much more for the genuine shimmering Summit of ALL transpersonal fitness that she is! Sure, we have more podiums at more levels over more sports over more decades than any other Path on the Plane(t). Sure, my athletic resume will put the hurt on any other 'fitness expert' out there...Sure, i've authored more pioneering books on East and Western spiritual fitness technologies and teachings than anyone and STILL we remain like a cloud-hidden Temple perched high on a Himalayan pass...fact is, we fly so HIGH, so FAR beyond where the mainstream hangs out that our Bejeweled Path is like virgin singletrack through an inner Land of Bliss...so BE IT! REJOICE in our humble, powerful Path! All that matters is using our Practice for our Bardo M(om)ent; to be able to participate in our spiritual evolution to one day, shine sooooo bright that we are able to help All Beings In All Realms. This then, should be our prayer.