The Yoga Sutra's reflect disparity not union?!

"There is no higher God than Intervals."

- Coach Steve Ilg
1989 Journal of Wholistic Fitness®




west wall, bookcase, of my Durango H(om)e office. click to enlarge Original print by HP Yogini Susan Deterling - Granite Camp, Grand Canyon. the three books which are always ready for me to grab while enroute to either the toilet during my Slim Cap moments and my reading chair facing the Mother Animas River: from left to right: The Yoga Sutra's of Patanjali, Sibley's Field Guide to Birds of Western North America, and - of course - the Bhagavad-Gita. Nag-Champa is burnt daily as devotional offering in the Buddha incense holder. the Feng Shui of one's office is of vital import...especially to us struggling feeble Dharma Protectors!

***

"...The yoga sutras have some gems yes (including two that i have tattooed on me, so I can't be that critical:) , but they are also very clearly an amalgamation of many paths and concepts that were around at the time compiled by someone who -- judging from the writing and from his other works -- may not have even been a practitioner. He starts off basically borrowing the buddhist structure of mind/consciousness but then throws a bone to the eternalists by saying: "well, ok, ishvara (god) is important too..." and never really ties together how his concept of ishvara relates to the ultimate "goal" of yoga, aka having freedom over mental constructs. the buddhist writings on mind are more thorough, the bhakti writings on ishvara are more thorough, and the shaivite writing on achieving recognition of the ultimate reality are more thorough... his writing pretty much fails to take an actual viewpoint in the end. I never realized this until now, when I'm actually studying them in depth at the source.... Anyway, enough nerd blabber... :)" - Josh Shrei

COACH RESPONDS:

Precious Brother JS S(om)ewhere in India,
ilg realized that inherent contradiction of Patanjali's immense effort on my first read...and then again it was driven home during formal studies (University of Marymount, CA), yet, His overall astral blueprint toward Enlightenment has done a lot of go(o)d to keep many of us feeble minded neer' do wells off the streets and into Pratyhara!

Hec, my own books are 'amalgamations' of existing knowledge/techniques which i (and hopefully my own pupils) use as springboards for own contributions to the Uni-Verse.

Then, again, Words are Forms and Forms only point toward Truth which gets us all into these wonderful messes of Avidya! keep sweating, keep sitting still and THANK YOU for your offerings!

Now, this Rever-End is off to run intervals on a hot track; "There is no higher God than Intervals." - Coach Ilg, 1989 Journal of Wholistic Fitness.

sutra #4, Chapter 2...Innocence vs. Ignorance - Part 3

continued from DL April 15th...

my Hopi Brother; Michah. Plant talking. Michah? Not much spiritual ignorance. S(om)ething tells ilg that this Teacher of feeble ilg will soar through the Bardo...Michah can also kick my ass in Hopi Traditional Footracing...see DL Archives. photo by ilg.

The third type of Avidya (spiritual ignorance) described in this Sutra is my personal favorite; interceptive.

ilg knows what my seasoned warriors are thinking:
1) uh...aren't yogis trained not to have 'favorites'...(it fosters Duality)
and
2) interceptive field of ignorance...uh, say again?

to which i answer:
1) yes and that is why another shining example of why ilg is such a feeble yogi
and
2) yes, interceptive. ain't that a great word and notion? ilg loves things that intercept. ilg loves disturbing the predictive.

ilg relates to interceptive fields of ignorance because ilg is a beginning Practitioner along the Path and when we begin to 'intercept' arising obstacles toward Enlightened Behavior then the Game REALLY gets pretty fun.

okay, you need an example, don't you.

i would too.

hmmmm....so, let's say we are

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sutra #4, Chapter 2...Innocence vs. Ignorance - Part 2

appearing on today's DL Subscription Format...

why sweat

without spiritual merit?

duh.

since 1982

we've been sweating for spiritual merit

and

care for it

Sutra #4, Chapter 2...Innocence vs. Ignorance - Part I

Rinpoche Dewachen and Easter bonnet. photo by ilg on Easter Sunday

***

"Oh your baby is sooooo uttterly precious!!! Don't you just LOVE how INNOCENT they are?!"

When your entire lifestyle is lived barely an arm's reach away from an adorable Rinpoche like Dewachen, you get this comment a lot.

i mean, a LOT!

and yes, She is of course utterly precious...as Precious as Precious gets this time around.

and yes, She is of course innocent.

what strikes me is how often that same word is used by so many regardless of their spiritual (or lack thereof) training or religious affiliation.

why, "innocent"?

Innocence seems to be our natural birthright.

and in the Yogic Tradition, Patanjali soars very deep into this very important quality in His Yoga Sutra #4, Chapter 2:

Avidya Ksetram Uttaresam Prasupta Tanu Vicchinodaranam

which, as Swami Satchidananda translates;

Ignorance is the field for the others mentioned after it, whether they be dormant, feeble, intercepted, or sustained.

Because babies and small chi-ldren are still fresh from the Formless Bardo, their Atman (Soul Energy) is in-deed, what we can call, Innocent. they are, seemingly, a 'fresh slate'...ready and quite capable to be 'brainwashed' by any form of parenting that their Guides so choose or are capable of imprinting. a simple visit to a small chi-lds playground or gathering will soon elevate these impressions surfacing in the quixotic behavior of the chi-ldren.

However, as chi-ldren grow, so too does their kleshas or inborn dispositions. Babies do not remain innocent. This is obvious to each of us in our own lives. Kleshas blossom or ripen in tune with destiny. Parents - mere Guides of these God-sent Souls - can only provide what they TAF is the most loving, safe, and empowering inner and outer environment for their chi-ldren to soar.

Speaking of Soaring...
ilg has got to go get the Baby Chariot and mountain bikes ready...Ananda and i are cycling Dewa down to another 'preschool interview'...big m(om)ents...these.

Ilg will be right back with more Sutra Study...

May Father Sun stream Divine Light into each and every one of your cells today and may your Sweat be sacred and helpful to All Beings Everywhere...

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...

Animated Sutra Study; Everybody Should Practice The 4 WF Lifestyle Principles

Abbaji and Dewachen practicing Vrkasana or Tree Pose, thanks to a most beautiful Arizona Sycamore near Clear Creek last week. photo by Ananda. click to enlarge the chi hit.

The energy of the body is intelligence.
The energy of the mind is consciousness.

Everybody wants Happiness; for themselves, for our chi-ldren, for our Animal friends, for our Mother Earth and Sky Father, for our nations.

Even the gunman holding up the convenience store or the rapist just is seeking Happiness.

Even the compulsive athlete who runs a marathon every weekend for a year is just seeking Happiness, fulfillment, approval of peers.

Even the woman who plops out more and more kids - while herself is just a kid in spiritual sense - is just seeking Happiness.

Thing is;
because of avidya* we've mistaken "Happiness" for "Sacredness" and thus run into and co-create all sorts of miseries and sufferings for ourselves, our chi-ldren, our Animal Friends, for our Mother Earth and Sky Father, and for our Nations.

Happiness is transitory; it can never last - nor would we want it to.

Sacredness however, is what a Buddhist might call, 'nirvana.' now, that's a funny word. it is usually understood as meaning a "heavenly realm" yet the actual meaning is "extinction." Extinction? Yes, in a Shiva-type of way; when we reach Nirvana, we have reach the extinction of our...

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do NOT miss this important Teaching through which Coach touches the fabric of government through individual Practice of the 4 WF Lifestyle Principles!

HOMEGYM MAGAZINE debuts with Coach! + My Scriptural Reasoning For Accepting Certain Media Exposure

Please enjoy the debut issue of HOMEGYM MAGAZINE featuring coach ilg

HOMEGYM Magazine, a beautiful and noble offering for Fitness Warriors, is now available at most major bookstores...i would LOVE it if you would subscribe to this magazine to help the lift-off of this new venture designed to ultimately not to turn people on, rather to turn them inward! i was one of the first editors and contributors of ROCK & ICE MAGAZINE when that mag was nothing but an idea of scattered papers littering the den of George Bracksieck's home near mine in Boulder, Colorado in the late seventies. So, i figure there is no reason why HOMEGYM MAGAZINE cannot eventually achieve the same longevity and quality that did R&I.

Here is what my publisher wrote me the other day;

***

Good morning Coach,

Got confirmation from Barnes and Noble today that Home Gym Magazine has been
on sale officially since Dec 21. It's also available at 500 plus bookstores,
newsstands and specialty fitness stores as listed here


HOMEGYM MAGAZINE distribution lsit


Thanks for your help.

Happy New Year! Charlie


***

Now, for those Noble Warriors of you that are interested in why i choose to write for only a few magazines these days, i must turn you toward the Sacred Scriptures.

Buckle up, most Fitness Warriors will get dropped over this headwall:

In this case, Verse 40 of Chapter 4 of the HATHA YOGA PRADIPIKA was the main reason why i chose to write for HOMEGYM MAGAZINE. This Sutra states:

"Some people are confused by the agamas, some people are confused by the nigamas and logic. They are bewildered, not knowing how to be liberated."

*

Huh?
Precisely.
In our current yuga (spiritual eon) which is the yuga of Kali (eon of spiritual darkness and ignorance), people are confused quickly by the ancient shastras (authoritative treatises on spiritual philosophy and practice). Our confusion and quick tendency towards the recent spike-on-the-graph of such mental dis-eases as A.D.D. and Fitness Warrior's who tend to shy away from anything requiring depth of contemplative study and extrapolation is due to the de-evolution of our inner-attainment fitness. Essentially, as more and more parents who ...

READ THE ENTIRE TEACHING ON TODAY'S DL SUBSCRIPTION FORMAT...

and...

"may the precious waves of reality that feed the Souls of all men in any age arise In The Human Realm Awaken Us To The Necessity Of Life As Sadhana...

oh, and please pick up an issue of HOMEGYM MAGAZINE, another unlikely Dharma Vehicle of your crazy wisdom coach...

Working from the inside,
your loving coach

Sutra Studies continued...

beating the Dharma drum to affect my vibrational status before meditation in the Tribal Zendo.

"Attachment follows the experience of pleasure -
Aversion follows the experience of pain -
Clinging-to-life is the sentiment which causes its own potency to flow equally even in the wise -
Their operations are to be got rid of by meditation."

- Bengali Baba's translation of The YogaSutra of Patanjali, 2: 7-11

***

"Attachment follows the experience of pleasure -"

i have Taught you much about Vairagya - or Attachment - in this forum throughout the years.
another translation of this sutra: sukha-anusayi ragah is:
"Attraction is clingling to pleasure."
the Sanscrit key word here is: sukha or easy (remember Sukhasana or Easy Pose in the asana? a simple cross-legged position?). nowhere in the Sutra's does Patanjali pass judgment on what is 'right' or 'wrong'. Here, He is just reMinding us that it is not Pleasure itself that is the obstacle toward Enlightenment, rather it is 'our' clinging to it that begets all of our difficulties in liberation of our True Self. remember, we are just DreamWalking in our normal consciousness. what 'we' think pisses us off or makes us happy is utter illusion, just like the dreams we experience in our physical sleep. we are only the "seer"...the "experiencer" yet, we are being instructed here that what we think "we are" is merely a rolling along of Awareness that is going to be attracted and inevitably cling to the experience of pleasure. we take a Sleep Aid and we enjoy the pleasurable shutting off of our rattling mind by sleeping. we then look forward to, over and again, this taking of sleep aid. we enjoy the rush from our morning coffee and we want to replicate that pleasurable experience; over and again until we develop a habit. we find out at an early age, the scintillating sensations of masturbation and perhaps, of sex...and we DEFINITELY WANT to replicate that pleasurable experience; over and again until we develop a sex habit. we win a race and we enjoy the clapping from the people below us on our podium; we become so entranced by the pleasure of such accolades that we become addicted in one sport to the harm of our wholistic development and balance in life and relationships. contemplate on the implications of what i am saying here.


"Aversion follows the experience of pain -"
When i went to preliminary schools, there was a Physical Education class. if we caused trouble, we were instructed to "go run five laps." thus, running became viewed as a form of penance; painful. many kids then equated physical fitness (running) with pain. their obstacle in the spiritual path grew metaphysically into not understanding that aversion is merely the...

DO NOT MISS THIS TEACHING as Coach provides a Fitness Warrior's commentary on these important ancient Sutras...plus more photos! SUBSCRIBE TODAY and DON'T FALL ASLEEP IN CONNECTING THE DOTS FROM YOUR FITNESS INTO YOUR SPIRITUAL ASCENT!!!!!

OF ALL BANDHAS GREAT AND SMALL (aka; Where Babies Come From)

(Note; for Student Use, i will keep a copy of this essay in the WF SanghaLounge within the "Yoga" cave.)



"As a kid, i used to practice Mula Bandha on long chairlift rides nearly every winter day. Though i did not know the Source of these Inner Instructions, nor even the Intent of these Inner Practices, i still did them. Blind Faith, you might call it. I later realized that i was simply picking up Inner Work leftover from previous lives."
- coach ilg
excerpt from an upcoming book
photo; telemarking at Parajito. photo by Ananda.

DO NOT MISS THIS EXCEPTIONAL TEACHING FROM COACH as he expounds on the fundamental energetics toward Enlightenment; another DL KEEPER for your files!
key topics include:

Mula Bandha
"Inner Cleansing Techniques"
proper energetic transmission and purification.
photo of coach doing Nauli in a "WF Toilet Yoga" program
Uddiyana Bandha
Speech Purification
The Separation of Self and UniVerse
base layer mindwaves (manas) to spiritual ignorance (avidya)
An unEnlightened Being experiences (re)birth with a lot of Pain

WF Sutra Studies. Coaching Contentment; by Way of the Ancient Sources

WF SUTRA STUDIES
with Coach Ilg
for DL Subscribers Only

"When all the nadis are now full of impurities become purified, then only can the yogi successfully perform pranayama."

*

"So, one should practice pranayama with a mind in which the sattivic element prevails until the Sushumna nadi is freed from the impurities."

Verses 5 & 6, Chapter 2 - Hatha Yoga Pradipika




If you are not doing regular Pranayam or at least mindfully attempting to sustain Ujjayi Pranayam during your asana classes or sessions, do not skip this DL. It will 'hit' your cells at a level so that when you do finally Shift Higher and are devoted to raising your Vibrational Fitness above and beyond that of the common man, certain spiritual underpinnings will be in place enabling you to take great flight over your current struggles with duality.

in other words, it is always a go(o)d thing to read DL, if not study it as your Practice of Svadhaya. the Students are are moving Higher Faster and Safer always go straight to DL as their spiritual food. then, they chew on it, contemplate it, and Practice the DharmaTeachings which i interlace between the black and white words of these thousands of entries. All of my effort during these years is not for me. i could take the Divine Downloads that continue to pour through my Practice Sessions and daily life and just run back to the High Mountains of my childhood and suckle all the Wisdom for my own spiritual gain.

yet, that is not Yoga. that is certainly not being a Karma Yogin; Selfless Service which is the type of yogi that i am. soon enough, my public life and track record will be left for the Outer World to ignore or perhaps one day realize. for now, it is important that you and i keep our Practice Strong and Sincere and focused upon Balance Across The Capacities of our Human Body and Spirit. This is known as "Wholistic Fitness" and it is go(o)d stuff!

*

let us revisit Verse 5 and re-read it to-get-Her ("Her refers to the Princess Kundala; the Kundalini Force at the root of the subtle spine):

"When all the nadis are are now full of impurities become purified, then only can the yogi successfully perform pranayama."

the great Yogi Swatmarama wrote down these two verses - along with the rest of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika - in the 17th century, compiling these words from the orally transmitted Teachings of the Ancient Sources.

these Sutras (thread like) are intended to be short for easy mental consumption by the Student. by 'easy' i mean, simple to memorize.

it may require a lifetime or more to actually realize and be able to Practice the Teaching of any one of these hundreds of Sutras.

welcome to yoga.

genuine, ancient yoga.

the type of yoga that can only be understood as it was inTended; from a Teacher With Direct Experience to a sincere, hard sweating Student.

the word "successfully" in the above verse means that the Student finally understands by Direct Experience the difference between Air and Ether, two of the Five Constituents of Prakriti or the manifest universe. the word "successfully" means that the Student can FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY feel the textural difference in the...

SUBSCRIBE TO DL TODAY AND BE SURE NOT TO MISS THIS PIVOTAL DHARMATEACHING FROM COACH and have access to the WF SanghaLounge and the DL Archives! DO IT FOR YOUR HIGHER SELF!

photos included today;
1) coach in a DharmaTalk with Ananda
2) coach's schematic of Base Level Pranic Fields during a Private Intensive
3) WF Temple chimera