Wholistic Fitness

OF AGASSI and A-ROD, MEDITATION, CELIBACY, and STUDENT SHAWNA

Namaste Noble Warriors!

�Life is not busy. It�s your mind that is busy.�

– Coach Ilg

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Coach Ilg On The Australian Open:

Agassi�s got the Chi, baby.

If only Hewit

knew it.

It�s Serena�s world, we just live in it.

i like A-Rod because he�s a hyper, good-looking punk with a ton of talent and charisma and knows how to work It for the good of the sport. Having said that, he needs to stop muscling his game so much and lower his breath more. he�s got the power, but not the discrimination. unless he learns the yin, he will get injured and beat himself. Summary? Hey, i love this kid�s 127 mph first serve…giddy-up, cowboy!

Whassup with this �Heat Index� crap? I thought Tennis was an �Outdoor Sport.� Now �Tournament Officials� at the Ausssie Open are going to �close the roof� if the sun and heat threaten �physical challenges� to the players! Oh, poor babies! I didn�t get to have a roof automatically appear when weather conditions reached extremes in ultra racing, mountaineering, rock climbing, cycling, etc. What�s next, have the players cut out paper dolls for a tiebreaker? Like graphite racquets and 5-star hotel resorts aren�t enough for these �outdoor athletes?�

it seems the moment golf and tennis players starts earning my respect as �outdoor athletes,� it�s the damned �Tournament Officials� that screw everything up. Let the athletes PLAY!!!! He or she with the best trained body/mind should win, not just the most skilled one!

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Coach Ilg On The NFL Playoffs:

certainly not worth missing a workout over.

i thought the Eagles did yoga.

guess it wasn�t High Performance Yoga they were doing!

Raiders by 10.

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Dear Coach Ilg,

you once wrote in regard to Meditation;

” The reality is that pleasurable moments will come and go and painful moments will come and go. But your ego wants something different from that reality; it wants to keep the pleasurable and get rid of the painful. So, you start clinging to your desires for pleasure instead of experiencing reality. Right there is the root of all human suffering; wanting things to be other than the way they truly are.”

I am not sure i agree with this – so humans should never try to change the world?”

– MC, NYC

Dear MC –

whether you “agree” or not, is not the point. in spiritual work, personal opinion is set aside and the aspirant should just observe the teaching…like observing the breath while sitting in Zazen. suspend judgment and clamor from past opinions, belief structures, etc. Empty cup type of thing.

the point is that the untrained mind defaults to pleasure and ease and duality instead of seeing Brahman or the Absolute Reality or the Play Of It All (lila). this habituation of the ego leads toward an addiction to comfort so that if it happens to be raining or snowing or cold for instance, people will say, “Oh, it’s bad weather,” instead of saying, “Oh, it’s raining outside.” It’s this dualistic trait of the ego that causes our suffering, because the Universe does not accommodate personal dictates.

The world is always changing – yogis know it as the play of Lila – you don’t need to try to change it. Meditation teaches us to be present with the changing tides of our inner world, so that the changing tides of our outer world can be understood and in-Joyed. Most of us will effect more significant Higher change in the outer world when we practice more deeply within our internal world.

i bow to you,

ilg

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Dear Steve –

my partner and i are considering celibacy to strengthen our relationship as a spiritual couple. what do you think about the issue of celibacy?

– JZ

Dear Yogini J –

if celibacy is an �issue� to you, then it is not yet appropriate for you to consider it as part of your current Practice.

consciously giving up sex to facilitate the powerful energies of that physiology and instinct is one of the most difficult things for a yogi to practice as indriya-jaya (Mastery of the Senses). voluntarily giving up sex, especially for most non-renunciates or �householder�s,� is a tremendous lifestyle choice, particularly as the years pass. choosing celibacy as a yogic practice requires close guidance of a Teacher and world class levels of meditation volumes to transmute sexual energy toward Higher Consciousness. otherwise, a lot of energy and love and lust could backfire in any number of ways. most American yogis first need to execute Mastery of far less intense issues such mastery of food, entertainment choices, word choices, addiction to comfort, habituated though, and concentration of mental energies. it requires tremendous mind power and fitness of subtle channels to control the sexual energetic reservoir.

Most of us American yogi�s can�t give up the desire for a Diet Coke let alone giving up the desire for sex!

celibacy as a yogic practice came from strict austerities performed by holy men (and women) that lived lives of meditation and renunciation of the world. they were in constant contact with their Guru. their monastery caves and walks in the Himalayas and weren�t bombarded by the sex-obsessed images, concepts, and culture of our society. trying to curb the sexual appetite for most American�s would drive them neurotic. a life of silence and spiritual practice is optimal for the celibate and that is difficult to create anywhere. it�s really difficult in a big city.

Like Mastery of anything – say food – when your Vibrational Fitness shifts onto a Higher Level, then it just makes sense to leave off the eating of meat or sweets or junk food. It simply feels completely appropriate and there is not a question of it.

It will only harm a yogi�s Practice if he or she prematurely takes a vow of celibacy only to become trapped in what Ram Dass hilariously called, �the horny celibate stage.� my counsel to most non-renunciate yogis in regard to Brahmacharya (the main yogic tenet that includes appropriate use of sexual energy) is to first stop having sex without Love. start there. that is tricky enough. then, keep refining your sexual awareness from an energetic perspective. more Teachings, Teachers, and signs (cinha) will then arise as your Practice matures.

i hope this helps…

I bow to you,

steve ilg, R.Y.T.

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Wholistic Fitness Student, Shawna, who is currently studying under WF Teacher In Training, Chris Roche, in Indiana was required to answer the following question from her Teacher:

�One of Coach Ilg’s ‘infamous’ axioms is ‘my workout is everywhere’. what does this mean?

p.s. — there is no ‘right’ answer.”

Shawna answered,

�Dear Coach Chris –

MY WORKOUT IS EVERYWHERE – what this means to me

Scheduling a 9:30 am meeting downtown so I can go to the gym prior to my meeting without having to travel north to go to the office first thing: my workout is everywhere.

Attending a high pressure meeting with demanding deadlines, leaving to commute with a co-worker for a 1/2 hour drive in heavy traffic, anxiety in her voice with a linger of frustration…I comment “isn’t the sun gorgeous today?” The conversation turns to the power the sun brings to uplifting moods and inspiring thoughts entered the conversation along with laughter: my workout is everywhere.

Telling my husband, Steve, something that I appreciate about him today: my workout is everywhere.

When something irritating crawls under my skin for no apparent reason, take a deep breath, or maybe ten, let it go: my workout is everywhere.

In the gym doing my lower body session. Superset 4 times: Squats 8 reps, Jump squats for :45. I’m on my 3rd superset, the jump squats are stealing my breath at 10 seconds, focus the mind, where do I want to go? 25 seconds….ahhhh. Not quite :45, but I’m here, I’m in the gym, I’m pushing my body, I can do this: my workout is everywhere.

Being aware and mindful of what I fuel my body with throughout the day. Drinking water, FD, saying “no thank you” to being offered a cup of coffee: my workout is everywhere.

Meeting friends (Scott, Jo, Austin, & Kinley) for dinner. Looking forward to seeing those babies. The feeling that warms the soul as a 5 month-old looks up and smiles up at you. That single moment becomes frozen from everything else that happened in the day….realizing the importance of life: my workout is everywhere.

Writing this email to you in response to your assignment: my workout is everywhere.

You are a superb trail blazer or maybe domestique is more appropriate – grazie mille (a thousand thank yous).

Namaste,

WF Student-Shawna