Wholistic Fitness

The Miracle of Yogi Squat

***WF Online Student Steve Jones (of Haku Clan) demonstrates a superb spontaneous “Garland Pose” or ‘Malasana’. This pose, one of a choice few yoga postures that i call a “gateway pose’ is also known around our Temple as, “Coach’s Wheelchair.” Find out why, below.

An excerpt of Actual Online Training Exchange between Teacher Haku and WF Online Student Steve Jones:
“teacher joseph,
here is a picture of me, stretching it out. AI Imawa (1) is/was the flow of the day. Able to do a session at sea level and at 5,500 ft at Olympic National Park.
� we went camping for fathers day. nothing is more WF than marveling at your children while you comb beaches and climb mountian trails with breath and posture.”

>>>>>>
The teachings of Wholistic Fitness are simple and powerful. Learning to do the Yogi Squat is one of the most potent Self-Healing technologies that i have come across for North Americans. In fact, this pose is also known among WF Online Students as, “Coach’s Wheelchair” because when i paralyzed my spine during a winter mountaineering adventure many moons ago, i was Guided thusly,

“First, maintain your reliance upon the Secret Herbs (2) and then master the yoga pose known as, “Malasana” (aka; Yogi Squat). Learn to do the pose with toes pointing straight out from beneath the knees and the heels on Mother Earth. This will require many years from your willpower, yet do not to give up on this challenge. Only then will I Guide you to your next Step in Self-Healing.”

So it was Spoken to me in Meditation, thus I was obliged to forego Back Surgery, pills, and other externals. Excruciatingly painful, frustrating, and disappointing were my attempts at this simple pose. The intense pull at my lumbar/thoracic spinal muscles and tight hips caused my heels to remain far away from Ma Earth and my toes would shoot out the sides like a Ballet dancer in Turn Out…aaargh!!! What would it take for me to do this simple pose elegantly and painlessly!? Such tribulation lasted for my broken body and baffled ego for over a decade. It seemed as though this elementary pose had me in kinesthetic checkmate. However, i did the only thing i truly have been able to do in my very average ability life;

i Persevered.

***”Ananda, who also Dances with a spine/pelvic injury due to an idiot and still quite famous ‘yoga teacher’ who mindlessly ‘adjusted’ her in front of a workshop, uses the benefits of Malasana during hiking to relieve compression on agitated nerves.”***

I designed my Early Morning Cleaning Rituals so i had to Yoga squat. I squatted for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I squatted while i made my herb drinks. I squatted at Start Lines at races, in airports, and much to the chagrin of my family and friends, i squatted at family gatherings, weddings, you name it; i squatted. My Practice was to be a Fierce Squatter. Why such gumption to Squat? Because my Teacher had told me so.

I trust my Teacher(s). I do not quit. I do my best, my Noble Best, to persevere.

“Of all the Disciplines required for the Path of Union (yoga), it is Perseverance that is the noblest. For it is to he who perseveres, that victory shall surely come.”
– Buddha

Eventually, Malasana shifted my pelvic bones after enough yawning of my injured and tight connective tissues. Once my pelvis shifted, then my spine shifted and eased some of the paralyzing and oh so painful neural compression within my whacked out vertebrae. Then, the GLORY of more spaciousness and ease within my body!!! Soon, other poses became approachable and believe or not, i actually became a certified Teacher of Yoga with my own Studio in Los Angeles, helping others find what i had found; A Way Of Self Healing by honoring and listening to the Play of Breath and Movement. Imagine that!? What a trip! Smash your spine and instead of running to a doctor, becoming a Healer/Helper for others because of this ‘accident’! Oh, the Exquisite Dance of Shiva and Lila!

***”Before i turn around on a hike or outing, i commonly drop into Malasana for a dual effect of relieving lower back pressure and amplifying Nadi Shodana (Purification of the Channels). My utterly unique “Toilet Yoga,” available to WF Online Students only, stemmed from my long years of integrating the Yogi Squat literally, everywhere!”***

i bow to WF Online Student Steve Jones for his efforts in Malasana…the “Garland Pose.” May you enjoy wearing the Garland within your body with experience even a fraction of the long-term health and healing that Malasana has Gifted me from the Gods and from the Yogic Masters.

May all Beings meditate so they will no longer need anyone else external to themselves for their own Healing, Health, and Happiness.

May this help your Practice.

Namaste,

the mountain yogi

1 (Pronounced, “eye-EEE mah-wah” areTaoist Yoga postures commonly assigned to WF Online Students, see “Ai Imawa; the Postures and Practice of Inner Harmony by Coach Ilg available on the Tribal Catalog)

2 the “Secret Herbs” of course, were the SUNRIDER herbs, now enjoyed and used by hundreds of WF students, fans, and friends worldwide.