Wholistic Fitness

FITNESS AS MEDICINE
by steve ilg

“When the tree is ready to bear fruit, she will. When she is ready to drop her leaves, she will. When she realizes she needs stronger roots, she will dig deeper. What matters most is to Tree Beings is the same for us Two-Leggeds; the quality of the soil. I created Wholistic Fitness� to function as a fertilizing agent to the quality of our soil. Self Cultivation is more fun and effective with world-class soil. The willingness to grow, however, and the wisdom of learning what to let go of and what fruit to bear is left up to the individual. Feeble ilg says, ‘live like a tree, not like a wildfire’.”

– Coach Ilg, JOURNAL OF WHOLISTIC FITNESS�/1986

***
Just because i have not seen the inside of what you know as a ‘medical center’ for twenty some years does not mean i do not like doctors.

i do.

we have many doctors studying Wholistic Fitness�.

hec, it was a doctor that sewed my tongue back into my mouth.

and another one preserved what is left of my right thumb.

the consequences of me losing focus in what i do as an Outdoor Athlete is not the same consequences as, say a Tennis Player losing focus. i do not just get a second serve if i lose focus. i usually lose a limb or something if i lose focus.

that is why i like doctors.

ER docs are my favorite doctors. hard to beat Western Docs for Emergency/First Aid type of stuff.

If i launch off that gnarly ass drop out on that killer new “bandit” trail down in Sedona next week trying to follow Tattoo Bob and land on my back and drive my bicycle chainring through my mula bandha and tear my upper arm bone off from its little “Anusara Yoga Shoulder Spiral” socket?

i ain’t gonna be looking around for a Crystal Healer, or a Accupuncturist. I ain’t gonna sit at the trail’s edge and start pouring SUNRIDER herbs into my open wounds, no sirreee…i’ll be wanting a good ol’ American, Ivy-League trained ER Doc to patch me back together right quick.

which reminds me, i have GOT to get some Medical Insurance one of these years….

so, like i said, i ain’t got nothing against doctors.

sure, Western Medicine kinda falls apart in the lifestyle side of “health care”…yet, no one forces us to go to doctors. so, it ain’t the doctors fault…they might be a bit greedy cuz, they do tend to scare the living snot out of common folk and then proceed to rape and pillage their bank accounts with Viking like tenacity…but hey, it’s just life in Kali Yuga, baby!

trust me,
if people would take it upon themselves to do a little more SELF HEALING and utilize their health challenges as their Path of Yoga, then we’d be singing a whole new story and drive most of the medical specialists where they belong: into the Yoga Teaching profession. Which is fine by me. I could use the help. I just don’t know if these Ivy-Leaguers would be too hip with our income status; it takes me about 4 hours to prepare for and teach one yoga class. the going rate for a yoga class is about $15…my take-home “pay” for teaching yoga – the Science of Self Healing by a Senior Yoga Teacher with over 20 years of experience? uh, i barely break even most times. if i take Ananda out to get a bite to eat after Teaching? i destroy my profit margin.

Welcome to Sva-Dharma; Sacred Duty.

{Coach in Asalambha Sirsasana, one of the most medicinal postures of the Hatha Yogic system of Self Healing. Hard for dis-ease to take root in the body if this posture is taken daily. photo/ananda}

***OUR BODY IS OUR MEDICAL CENTER

i consider the inside of my body as my medical center. i like playing doctor within the walls of my own medical center.

medical, the word i mean, is a blend of Latin (‘to heal’) and is etymologically related to a Greek word, ‘medesthai’ which means, get this…”to be mindful of.”

medical means; ‘to be mindful of healing.’

now, when i interview (or sometimes just look at) the physical health of today’s doctors and nurses, uhhhh…i just don’t know now how “mindful of healing,” they are…i mean, just look at most of them, for Hippocrate’s Sake!

no thank you very much.

so, when i get a, dis-ease, i just do what my Dharma Teachers taught me: breathe and begin to practice.

i breathe and begin to practice mindful, wholistic, natural medicine: this begins by accepting my dis-ease (or injury or stressful situation) as my Yoga. this is where most people get gapped. they are too scared and too confused to trust themselves to heal themselves. sad.

yet, that is what i am; a yogi…one who seeks unification, not separation.

the moment i pick up a phone to call a doctor, i give away that which is the most vital Healing Force within the UniVerse; my own Inner Power of Consciousness.

The only difference between using yoga and allopathic medicine or ayurevda is that yoga requires the application of precisely what common people (non-Practitioners) are terribly frightened of; intensely engaged ongoing Will Power.

*** 3 Forms of Dis-Order
through my various Healing Journeys – consisting of (yet not limited to); paralysis, separation of bones, connective tissue sprains, strains, and ruptures, hernias, slipped discs, prolapsed organs, solar kerotosis, tinneaversicolor, migraines, vertigo, prostate hypertrophy, broken bones, dismemberment, cardiac arrythmia, associated nerve entrapment, et. al – i have learned that before dis-ease exists in the body or mind, dis-order precedes it.

to me, Fitness (which means, ‘the knitting together”) is the common sense approach to balancing out dis-orders of the body and mind. i mean, just compare the quality of your body and mind before and then after a kickass mountain bike or ski or yoga session! duh!!!! Fitness workouts should all-Ways be the Warriors first go-to doctor; get the sweat in, get the Stillness in and See What Changes. now, the Master Warrior – one who is unafraid to die – nearly looks forward to dis-orders within his or her biological medical center as a chance to Learn, to Rise Above, and to earn the real stamp of Physician (Heal Thyself). however, that degree of Self Confidence in the face of dis-order and dis-ease is Advanced Stuff. i will still suggest you seeing a doctor, after a Appropriate Action of kriya-yoga (see Yoga Sutras, Chapter Two, Verses 1-5). What is Appropriate Action for one yogi is gonna be different for another. it often takes me – because i am a feeble Hatha Yogi – a decade or longer to learn how to Vent a dis-ease or dis-order. Commoners are not this patient (pun intended). All Karma is God.

***

the Yogic Masters realized three forms of dis-orders:

1) Self Inflicted Dis-orders;
lack of wholistic exercise, meditation, breathing techniques, soulful occupation, spiritual relationships is a type of self-abuse. there is a price to pay and it is the steepest price a human being can pay; in yoga this pricetag for lack of Wholistic Fitness practices is known as, ‘adhyat-mika-roga,’ the abuse of self which invites dis-orders of body and mind.

2) Congenital dis-eases;
they don’t call it, ‘with genitals’ for nothing; if you make babies before doing Inner Work and achieving certain Inner Attainments and Clarity of Consciousness and Health, then guess what; you just pass on through your genitals all the crap you did not do on yourself and ‘gift’ your spiritual/mental/physical dis-orders onto ‘your’ children. this is known as, “adhidai-vika-roga’ and is to me, the saddest aspect of the human race and why i was told by my Teachers to work with ‘grown ups’…attempt to instill the utter importance of Self Cultivation into the people making the babies, because that is source of most human suffering; kids having kids, as i call it.

3) Elemental dis-orders;
known as ‘adhibhautika-roga’, these dis-orders and dis-eases are essentially training effects from an elemental and/or organic imbalance. for instance, if our earth element (or samana-vayu) is not in order with our other four elements and/or vayus (breath patterns within the body), then we become digestively clogged, encrusted, constipated and we no no longer absorb or utilize nutrients across the cell membrane very well any longer. Our Prana (life force) becomes imbalanced and abhibhautika-roga arises. in the Path of Wholistic Fitness, we use the SUNRIDER Herbs, particularly the “Ilg Supreme” herbal shake that includes “Quinary”, a formula of over 50-different regenerative herbs that supports and balances each of our five elements, to address abhibhautika-roga implications.

***Dis-order, Dis-ease, Dis-chi!!!!!!
the true medical center is our own bodies.

if we use this one precious life to constantly run away from developing our inner, natural medical centers (the chakras, nadis, vayus, etc) we destroy our own Sacred gift of willpower.

if we chronically give away our willpower to “healers” outside ourselves (and these external “healers” can come in the form of what i call ‘societal analgesia’; too much alcohol, too much massage, prescription drugs, pot, overworking, overtalking, watching too much media, et. al) then we ruin our yoga; our Path of Wholeness from Within.

Wholistic Fitness� starts from the consciousness. My first WF Lifestyle Principle is, “Conscious Breath and Posture.” From this Seed of Self Consciousness springs diverse starting points that serve to keep the body/mind/spirit unified, powerful, and so unbelievably fun in which to take residence. Most people are not having fun within their own Medical Centers and thus, their science of self liberation through the cultivation of their bodily fitness (jiva-mukti) is never gained, let alone enjoyed.

this to me is very sad in-deed.

this is why i created, a long time ago, the Path of Wholistic Fitness�. Because i LOVE having fun within my body and mind and spirit.

and, if it ain’t fun; why do it?

the world was created for you, not you for the world.

remember this,
and enjoy your Path of Yoga.

“May all Beings everywhere be happy and
know the causations of happiness.

May all Beings everywhere be free from suffering
and know the causations of suffering.”
– Buddhist prayer

namaste,

the mountain yogi and beginning healer of self,
coach ilg

photos:
#1; Arizona State Tree; Arizona Sycamore near Montezumas Well, AZ. photo/coach ilg.
#2: Ananda performing midday “Pranayama Appetizer�”, another classic WF Teaching to keep our Life Force moving fluidly and in balance throughout our bodies. The more pure the air, the better, although if you live in a City, all the more reason to do Pranayama Appetizers� so that the pranic constitution is re-energized and activated. photo/coach ilg
#3: caption within text.
#4; Coach enjoying “Meeting The Dragon” a Taoist Self Healing Pose that keeps the outer doctors away from me. photo/Ananda.