Wholistic Fitness

JUST ANOTHER WORKOUT IN PARADISE…Functional Knowledge and The Ski Basin Duathlon

Sanatakumara instructed yogins to, “Make your knowledge functional. Unless it is functional, knowledge is a burden. Knowledge that does not wake you up and move you forward is dead. Knowledge must be active and vibrant.”
Living a Wholistic Fitness life graces us with the most valuable knowledge a human can attain; iccha shakti or the unrestricted power of will. I coach my Students in a multi-disciplined approach to their fitness and lifestyle choices for knowledge derives its life from our will power. That is why we must workout each day; to improve the power of our will; a preliminary step toward the highest use of mind which lies further ahead within the meditation and samadhic realms. Come with Ananda and i, as we cranked through “just another workout in Paradise” yesterday. I will superimpose some Teachings from the great, ancient yogic master, Sanatkumara to help us draw spiritual juice from the sweat of our workout.

“The power to contemplate on truth, which is conducive to peace and happiness, springs from the knowledge of the truth.” Some of my Online Students are instructed in what i call, “Zen Darts,” a WF Assignment that teaches dart throwing as a meditation technique. Like knowing that the bullseye is the highest target in darts, so too, is knowing that Truth is the Highest of targets in a spiritual fitness life. Check this photo out closely; i use wooden darts, and after scoring a couple of consecutive bullseyes, i maintained my focus (dharana) and kinesthetic groove, and literally pegged one dart into another already in the bullseye and it stuck! cool, eh?! i knew i was in for a good physical workout after this game of Zen Darts because my iccha shakti was (evidently) very strong! i love darts. It’s like instant sartori; superb mental training.

Game Plan; i would ride my bike (Alphie, my hillclimbing Trek) from the Temple H(om)e up to the Ski basin at hard effort; that would take about 50 minutes to go the 12 miles. Wait a minute, bucko! An HOUR to go a measley 12 miles for me, Mr. 5th Fastest Bike Racer In The State? Well, i forgot to mention the route climbs 2,100′ to the Ski Basin. Ananda would meet me at the Ski Basin, then i would enjoy a hike (with a few intervals thrown in) with Ananda from 9,200′ to timberline at 11,500+’… and back down. Perfect, right? It was. Oh, that is Jasper in the pic above, one our two Temple Cats. After i packed my Transition Bag for Ananda to take with her, Ananda found Jasper in it…evidently, Jasper wanted some High Altitude Training as well!

I made it to the Ski Basin in 53 minutes. My effort up the hill felt just the way i like it; Suspended. The Pain felt more like the true nature of what Pain truly is; Purification. The effort was constant, yet there was not struggle. I practice and prescribe Cardio as one of Five WF Fitness Disciplines so that my Students must be forced to study their silence from within while the heart rate erases the kshipta (wandering) mind. I want my Student’s Cardio to be intense enough so that they cannot speak and must observe a deeper Layer of mind, the mind without speech: “Your speech is a reflection of your thoughts. Your inner life is created by the way you think. If you want to know your inner life, first examine your speech. Study the connection between speech and mind.”

Want strong, sculpted glutes, capable of generating tremendous sport and spiritual power? Do two things; 1) find a ski resort. 2) hike your ass up the ski slopes and don’t stop until the highest chairlift ends. When i merge into a hike, or run, or cycle…i don’t like to talk. I do the far majority of my Cardio training alone, unplugged, and attentive. I need to study my mind in silence. I observe the silence with the chaperone of conscious breathing. That is why WF is an Online, Silent, Written Path. Study WF Online and you will be coached to observe your thoughts through silent language. You will learn to recognize the difference between egoic, emotive, and buddhic (Higher) mind layers. This is what the Masters taught. This is the Way my Teachers taught me. This is the Way, therefore, I created and teach WF. Many people talk; few observe and study their inner silences. This is why our National Tribe is so dissipated in their soul nature. Sanatkumara; “In order to attain peace, you must work systematically. First, bring peace to your tongue. Speak sweetly. Do not harm yourself or others through your speech. Avoid meaningless talk. These observances will lead you to mental peace.”

If you have been a devoted DL Reader, then you know that i stand up for the Tree Beings. Around the Sacred Peak above Kinlani, the magnificent, old growth Ponderosa forests are endangered…they have been suffering for decades from overcutting and natural fire suppression since the first lumber mill was built in Flagstaff in 1881. These days, Forest Management crews use this time of the year – after the monsoons of summer and before the first snows of winter – to do what they call, “Control Burns” like the one above and below. In WF Training, we know “controlled burns” by another term; Intervals!

These fires, viewed from our lofty perch high up Agazzi Peak, looked like little smolders. In fact, each burn was burning hundreds of acres of underbrush. Shiva’s Dance (the destructive force) takes on many forms in order to provide Rebirth.

Ananda tops out at 11,500+’…the sign says, “Bristlecone Pines”… my favorite of all trees. Study the Bristlecones and you will learn a thing or two about perseverance, Oh Mighty Warrior! You and i and our children and their childrens’ children will live our lives, go through all our mellow-dramas, die and meanwhile, this brave little trees will look down upon humanity as they have for eons, watching, smiling, breathing. i consider Bristlecone pines to be our Buddha Ancestors. Bristlecones, whose vertical growth is stunted and gnarled by both intense wind and winters, reach ages far greater than that of any other living thing known – up to nearly 5,000 years! They live only at extremely high altitudes. Many of you will never see a Bristlecone in real life, though you should. Every human should be required to breathe up a mountain and make pilgrimage to Bristlecone Buddha. Even the conventionally trained forester and scientist have yet to understand how such a harsh environment can produce the longest living, healthiest organism on the planet. To me, and other yogis, who feel each day the difference between air and ether, chi and effort, pran and atmosphere, the reason is absurdly evident…Pranic Energy, baby! In this picture above is a very rare and endangered grove of the Rocky Mountain Bristlecone sangha, found only on the Sacred Peak. One of the reasons i moved here was to help my Tree Beings and to love them and to linger among their peerless resiliency and enduring beauty. Feeble ilg bows to the Bristlecone Beings.

Speaking of Pranic Energy; one reason why mountain yogis hike to these dizzying, rocky heights is to practice mountain yogi Pranayam as is Ananda doing in this photo. Why do you TAF the Ancient Masters came from the High Himalaya? That’s right, baby, the PRANIC FACTOR! The Pranic Energy above 10,000′ is so intense to attuned nadic systems that the experienced yogin must moderate pranayamic indulgences so as not to overload the subtle anatomy:
“The problem is that you confuse true knowledge, which is gained first from studying the breath, with mere information, which is gained through words and sentences. While you are engaged in mundane activities and entertainments, you are ignoring the call of the soul through the breath. Thus, you create a ground for inner conflict.”
Remember, my Noble Warriors of WF, those words were recorded nearly 5,000 years ago. 5,000 years ago! Re-read that last Teaching from Sanatkumara and you tell me if you think studying the Ancient Scriptures is not friggin’ TIMELESS! C’mon, Noble Ones, what are you FEEDING your mind!? TV? “Newspapers”? C’mon, baby!!!! The hippest shit out there is still the Words from the Enlightened Masters!

At the summit of our hike before the long descent. Today’s workout was, for me, actually a ReCon mission for a Sacred Workout that i plan on attempting soon; a Duathlon that starts like today’s but i will actually run up the ridge above my left shoulder, and summit Agazzi Peak which is over a thousand feet higher still from where this 11,500+’ picture was taken. I can do it.

i know i can.

because, i know the power of my iccha shakti developed through abhyasa (steadfast Practice).

i ain’t scared, cuz WF has made me strong.

ain’t so baaaad!

bring it on, Agazzi Peak, bring it on!
(just give me a couple of days to recover from this Precious Workout!)

It is a Great Blessing to feel so Wholistically Fit and to use fitness workouts for their Highest In-tent;
Knowing our True Self through studying our mental sheaths (manokoshas).

“Consistent and engaged meditation prevents the unconscious mind from controlling the conscious mind.”

May this DL entry,
complimentary as always,
be used to Fire your inner Wake Up Call
to reach Enlightenment in this one,
very precious
human
lifetime.

Cross train; be elegant and strong across the physiologic spectrum; strength, cardio, yoga, meditation, and nutrition. Do this and you will be revealed Functional Knowledge; a wisdom of consciousness that will dispel your fear of death and nail the rest of your Precious Life with Meaning and a current of InSight.

May all Beings realize their call of Awakening…

We are Blessed to breathe
We are Blessed to move

Do not violate these Blessings
For in their Cultivation lies many Divine Gifts.

Live like you mean it;
Live WF!

that is all,

coach ilg,
‘the mountain yogi’

ps; special thanks to my beautiful Beloved Ananda for contributing to the magic and power of this workout.