Wholistic Fitness

Namaste Noble Warriors!

part 2 of “Being Rushed”…

“We only rush

when we are being weak.”

– coach ilg

over ten years ago, while speaking at a conference for climbers in NYC, i worked with a well known man in the international climbing community. he was a correspondence student of mine who hired me to get him more fit for mountaineering. he was a very busy man. he rushed a lot. because he rushed a lot i discovered much weakness in his life. because he rushed a lot he didn’t eat wisely and thus was fat. because he rushed he was inflicting damage to his passions; climbing, training, his sense of peace, and even his marriage. in fact, his wife suffered so much from his choice to be rushed all the time that we sat zazen together, she Connected with the necessity of silence, and gosh dang it if she just didn’t up and leave to go study zen in a desert far away! he was my ‘student’ but she, a pupil of Wholistic Fitness. she could feel a Layer of my Work he could not. he rushed right past the many Layers of Wholistic Fitness seeing only me.

the same thing happens to all of us when we rush.

we miss the many Layers of life.

we miss the Teachings for the teacher, who really – unless the teacher is a Sat Guru – is nothing more than a ‘front man’ for the real Stuff…the Teachings, the dharma, the Work.

whenever we rush, we see only the superfical layer.

we miss the deeper Layers of life.

and that is how we grow weak; by missing so much of life.

it’s deceptively easy to rush. stand up. stretch your arms out to the sides for balance. lift your left foot off the earth as high you are able, as if you are stepping up onto a very high step. hold it there. don’t rush. flatten out the bottom of your foot. spread your toes. lift your knee even higher. don’t rush. now, slowly extend the left foot straight out in front of you, generating the slow motion of extension right from the knee. don’t rush. there is no precise place of extension for you. just listen inwardly for the spokes of your knee extension strength to radiate your leg out into space. go slowly so you don’t rush past your strength. your ego will want you to rush. i am asking you to override your ego for sake of strength. keeping your left leg extended in front of you and while keeping all five toes facing skyward, draw the left leg laterally, that is, draw it centimeter by centimeter out to your left side. much kinesthetic data will be encountered. don’t rush. work with your genuine strength by not rushing. we only rush when we are being weak. after a little while more of exploring the stillness in this movement, draw the leg back to center, bend the knee back to the high step position, and set it back down.

hmmmmm. interesting going slow, isn’t it? a significance in my style of HP Yoga is this notion of what i call, “Hold and hovering”…which is another tool for not rushing through our weak areas. this is why HP Yogis grow so strong and so open so quickly. strength of transformation requires a study of slowness.

in gyms most conventionally trained people rush Bench Presses too much. they rush pull ups. they rush yoga postures. in daily life, those who have not had the grace of wise teachers, tend to rush their conversations as if talking was some sort of a race. i know many people who even rush their rushing. i know i do. on quality days, i will recognize i am rushing and, breathing, i slow down.

try this your next workout in the gym. hang at arms length beneath a pull up bar. raise both legs out in front you so they are parallel to the earth. now, slowly do a pull up and stall out the top position keeping the legs in this parallel-to-the-earth position. it’s a yin thing. at the top of the pull up, “glue” the pull up bar onto your collarbone. stay there. don’t rush. if you have it in you, bend both knees slowly so your toes now point down toward the earth beneath your butt. then, slowly, extend them out front again. repeat for a few more non-rushed reps before lowering back down with legs in parallel position. then release the legs and drop onto the earth again.

hmmmmm. interesting going slow, isn’t it?

true strength is cultivated from the yin, the female, the expanding success of mind/body control. it’s about what yogis know as ‘mula bandha’ or the root lock. not letting our inner power leak out of us unconsciously.

incorporating the necessity of silence into fitness training through meditation reaffirms inner vision. it is this inner eyesight (insight) which enables us to see and endlessly enjoy the multitudinous Layers of life interwoven within the fabric of our being. as Lame Deer, a Sioux medicine man said, “It’s what you see with your eyes closed that matters.”

this week, kathy and i leave for Utah. you’ve read about it DIRECT LINES, i am sure. a sweet week in the red rock country of Utah…mountain biking, yoga, rock climbing, spa treatments, hiking, that type of thing.

we are going there to practice. the practice involves not being rushed.

until we meet here on Direct Lines again,

slow down

and

let your genuine strength

radiate

and

melt

weakness

out of your being…

in strength, spirit, and slowness…

coach ilg

founder/Wholistic Fitness