OFF TO RED MOUNTAIN SPA!; I LEAVE YOU WITH LOVE and “THE GILA JOURNALS” (and the DL ARCHIVES!)
“In this tiny dawnlit field, I move as though underwater, breathing space and light into body and mind. The external world responds as my inner self awakens. Good omens arise from the theatre around me: a magnificent red-tailed hawk draws great but invisible circles in Father Sky. Nuthatches and pinyon jays seem to harmonize in reverie among the branches of a twin-berried juniper. Wild mustard, yarrow, and morning primrose sway sweetly atop Mother Earth and whisper sounds of an eternal Dance once so common to my life.”
– coach ilg, excerpt from The Gila Journals, 2003. Day Five of the Tour Of The Gila.
***
how can i EVEN express to you on this evening, as Grandfather Sun slips beneath a rolling horizon of pine needles and aspen leaves, how deeply happy Ananda and myself am for just being able to gather with our Students and friends at Red Mountain Spa this weekend?!
Truly, WF is all about the Practice.
all-Ways has been.
all-Ways will be.
No Matter What.
WF…She is a tough, tough Teacher…all-Ways in your face asking you if you are being conscious or mindless. Asking if your spine is straight, if your eyes are soft. She asks us to constantly work to improve on our mental, physical, genetic and karmic edges…i love Tough Teachers for They are Ones who truly nourish our Souls…not our Egos! Tough Teachers, the Ones who are brave enough not to pamper, not to preach…just to be There, elegantly and wisely; testing us. challenging us. loving us.
i love WF so much…and i love Her students even more.
for Ananda and i,
along with WF Teachers Haku and Q,
to hang out this weekend at such an amazing Adventure Spa
and talk about this volatile Path with those who Sweat and Sit Still with Her each day, is to me, the Greatest of All Gifts! i created this Path, and now i feel like a proud papa, soon to be surrounded by his children. how Blessed am i to walk in my own footsteps; follow my own Soul, create my own Path…and then be able to have so many others dig it, feel a spiritual kinship with it, and then come take pilgrimage to share it directly with me!
wow…
it is sad that so many of you will not be able to share the Immersion experience with us this weekend. i don’t do many Retreats. i shy away from people. i often refuse many of the Seekers who knock on my humble Temple Door. which is why the WF Sangha is so special; we are a rare breed of Warrior.
for to us,
it is lifelong Practice that matters,
not panache.
WF has remained humble, vulnerable, and oh..what a Blessing our rarified Path feels as the Outer World just gets busier, angrier, more greedy, more glitzy.
and less Conscious.
i may not be the best Leader of such a powerful Path
yet tonight,
i feel like a KING!
for beneath me sits the WF Kingdom filled with AMAZING STUDENTS LIKE YOU! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for hanging with a feeble mountain yogi like me and for realizing that there is no Path that can offer your Inner Palace the Pranic Empowerment quite like, WF! 
As a hummingbird dodges and flits to drink from my feeder outside my office window, the last of the evening light slides into the hills. Soon, a pandemonium of stars shall flood Father Sky’s dark wardrobe of cold. clear mountain air…and i shall sleep well beneath such a canopy of God tonight…
for i know that soon i will be among my WF Tribal Brothers and Sisters,
among the roadrunners and waxflower bushes,
among that heated red earth smell that makes my cells quiver with joyful appreciation of my Blessed LifePath.
we will be exchanging information, inspiration, and deepening our embrace of that which is most vital to the human spirit;
Practice, Practice, Practice.
As a Gift to you for the next few days,
i give to you the GILA JOURNALS…
i feel it contains some of my best writing (considering the circumstance!) and remains one of my most requested essays. And don’t worry if you are not a competitive cyclist as you journey through my five-day racing odyssey because,
like Lance says,
“It’s not about the bike.”
enjoy and may your Practice remain strong and sincere,
see you next week!
http://www.wholisticfitness.com/gila/
Namaste, 
coach ilg
These teachings are the "Rasas" or "sap" of Wholistic Fitness. You’ll find insights to ponder, student chi to keep your own chi topped off, and plenty of proven training techniques to test on your own body, mind, and spirit! Also, you’ll find my very popular Race Reports, and news of our Sangha’s (community’s) latest transpersonal fitness adventures!