Wholistic Fitness

THE MOMENT OF SELF HEALING; Part One

An Exchange Between Private Student Amber and Coach Ilg

“The Grace of God is a wind

which is blowing.

It is the mind which makes one wise

or ignorant,

bound or emancipated.”

– Sri Ramakrishna

devoted to Amber



Amber came to me as a first resort to back surgery.

i knew Amber from my HP Yoga Studio.

like many attracted to my ‘blue collar, sweat ethic’ style of HP Yoga, Amber worked hard in yoga class.

too hard.

her movements in class were that of an athlete or a performer, more likely. i could tell she was dealing intimately with Pain Dragons. her backbends were gloriously open and strong yet her forward folds were weaker and rounded. like most of us, her Fear was buried deep within the pelvis; her spinal twists were strong on one side, significantly limited in the other side. she had yet to learn to breathe, at least in the way Yogis breathe.

one night, after yet another stellar, sweaty class, within the residual astral embers from a deep savasana, i heard the not uncommon sound of a student crying softly near a corner of the room. Amber’s emotional fallout produced what is most worthwhile in yoga; an opening, an acceptance of Pain and Fear pushed away for too long. yoga does that. it strips us naked. “I am too young for this much Pain,” was all she could manage as we hugged. the other students streamed like a quixotic mix of zombies and angels, into the ocean scented night. the palms along Ventura Boulevard seemingly waved goodnight. inside my Practice Cave, two Chronic Low Back Pain Warriors were reMembering each other. lifetimes perhaps, Amber and i had been journeying through our chakral fields; our spiritual work in this one was to go into our Pain, hidden like barbed wire, within our pelvis; muladhara chakra. language, religion, and traditions no longer mattered in our embrace. the intensity of our hug cut through differences in the way space cuts through time. we were in the Namaste space…the space which Gifts all healing, all strength, all Love.

“We must begin Private Work,” i whispered.

“I know,” she nodded.

Amber did what it took to begin Work with me. and, i told her, it would require all of who you are and then some. she had to make her pain her Yoga. she had to make Freedom from her Pain her podium, her new stage, her new form of Dance. Amber’s Self Healing Journey would require much from her husband, Eric, as well. Eric, a talented musician who plays with his band, “JUST OFF TURNER” on the clubs along Sunset, understood. this acceptance and understanding was key as i would begin extracting the deeply rooted Pain, layer by layer, from Amber’s imbalanced, ignored tissues. there is a reason i do my Bodywork from my home. sounds like that which arose from Amber’s initial sessions were animal, visceral, lower chakral, gut deep sounds of intensity. like intervals. sounds of genuine gut deep healing are not Clinic-Friendly; the Outer World chooses to sedate their patients. real Healing requires indoctrination, not medication. “The doctor is in.”

noble DL reader…you too, must also face the Fear and Pain that Amber has faced – and will continue to face in my Work with her. all our Fears, all our Pain…make no mistake, must be encountered. no human gets a free ride to Enlightenment. all Fears, all Pains must be dealt with one by one, cell by cell.. until Enlightenment. this is what the Masters of Life taught. it is precisely what my Teachers taught me and what They continue to force from within me in meditation during wee hours when most are asleep.

in my Tradition, the burning of our impurities (aka; Chakra Healing/Growth) occurs during the night Realms when our Soul Energy (Atman) filters through our egoic stamps and, naked and alone, “we” are left with all our samskaric imprints from of every thought, word, and action of our lives. all must be Cleared. all must be burned. all must be purified. this is true personal fitness. this is Wholistic Fitness; of body, mind, and spirit.

i designed WF to go directly up the Steepest Path.

WF is the Pathway of Warriors who are willing in this one lifetime to yell, “Bring it on, baby!”

it is why i have trained you from the opening Teachings to work with Breath and Posture (WF Lifestyle Principle #1)

and

Devote Yourself To Difficulty; intervals, non-dominant hand, picking up litter, cardio commute, getting onto the SUNRIDER herbs, conscious posture, YogaToes, training your weakest fitness discipline; not your strongest. only by devotion to Difficulty may we be truly Freed from her Grip on our lives.

in WF, first we master the body. for most of us, this will take this lifetime. get to work now. each bodypart in balance with the other. each physiologic system as strong as the other. otherwise, the subtle anatomy (chakra, nadis, etc) will be as imbalanced as your Outer Shell.

along the Way to the mastery of the body comes the mastery of the mind.

and, if you trust in your Teacher(s), then your spirit will be appropriately facilitated along with the mind control.

spiritual growth is not something you “do.” spiritual growth is a training effect from body and mind fitness cultivation.

other personal training systems of body, mind, and spirit choose to take Shelter, or seemingly Shortcuts to the Summit.

i know mountains.

there are NO shortcuts. the Journey must be made step by step.

breath by breath.

in, up, and out. that is yoga. that is the route to Enlightenment. that is the Journey of WF.

Part Two; The Moment Of Self Healing

coming soon to DL…the DharmaVoice of Wholistic Fitness; a most authentic Path of Body/Mind Fitness since 1982