Wholistic Fitness

Part I of yesterday’s duathlon workout; sport snowshoeing into skate skiing. i volunteer at the Flagstaff Nordic Center as a sort of impromptu Director of Sport Snowshoeing; part of my ‘non-job’ is to go out and track out the various snowshoe trails so that the beautiful, tanned people from Phoenix don’t get forever lost in the Hockderrfer Hills. Now, some of these snowshoe trails were established in like the fifties and thus, trying to follow their archaic yet still so seductive scent, can get a tad confusing. Above photo reveals a typical moment on my ‘job’; heart rate soaring, i’ve lost track of the trail markers,can’t make sense of the trail map, and i am certain that i just saw a Big Foot in a nearby rock outcropping that would like to ingest my 148lbs as a lunchtime morsel…just goes to prove my ol’ mountaineering saying; “The map is not the territory.”

In a world of hurt, near the yurt. This yurt, part of the Flagstaff Nordic Center
http://www.flagstaffnordiccenter.com/
is open for overnight ski-in, ski-out lodging…in fact, Ananda and i are thinking of holding a limited Mountain Yogi Campfest here this summer…in the background right stands the stratovolcano; Mt. Kendrick…another fantastic place to hike and ski and run and bike…when the volcano exploded, it hurled its lava out of this east facing slope for dozens of miles.

why i nordic ski.
even after all these years, i become “irrationally giddy” as my friend, 2-time Nordic Olympic and pro Mountain Biker Carl Swenson puts it, whenever i am immersed in snow. it’s just a magical, mystical, and tremendously empowering element for me…this thing called, snow. must be the richly concentrated negative ions or something. i can’t even believe it (snow) happens! it’s great! for this simple mountain yogi, gliding through aspen/ponderosa woods like some sort of land-bound bird is, to me, heaven on earth. with each push of ski, with every stride of snowshoe during my winter workouts, i am…undoubtedly…in nirvana. linking breath with movement across this white landscape is, to me, a yoga of the most Blessed Sort.

and to think there are Human Beings, that, “don’t like the cold.”

whatever.

***
the following is an actual exchange between myself and a beautiful Warrioress, KC – and her partner Yogi Dr. Bob – who both attend – most consistently – my Wednesday evening HIGH PERFORMANCE YOGA� classes here in Flag. i know i am pushing the Upward Tilted Buttons in my Students when they start Sensing spiritual metaphors to the most Mechanical of ‘things’…

to both Yogini KC and Yogi Dr. Bob…i bow as deep as my lousy Padmasana allows me this morning (oh yeah baby, i’m feeling yesterday’s effort in my legs, lungs, and arms!).

May someone, somewhere Benefit from this entry.

i think it’s time to hit the Alpine Hill for some tele skiing! i will kiss the summit clouds for each of you…

OM SO TI,

coach ilg

***

STUDENT KC:
Namaste,
Thank you for another wonderful class…

COACH ILG:
head bowed…i so appreciate and respect your Abhyasa (constancy of Practice).
trust me, i learn and benefit greatly from Teaching you…
Gandhi called it, “selfish altruism.”

STUDENT KC:
I laughed when you suggest I was experiencing a “shift”, but maybe you were on to something.
Today I got word from “my” mechanic that it is time to say good-bye to my ’89 Toyota, a faithful “pony” for 15+ years.

COACH ILG:
head bowed to your faithful “Pony”…such Mechanical Beings are hard to come by…you are Blessed. your Pony’s spirit will now be returned, courtesy of Shiva (Lord of Destruction) to the UniVerse, whereupon…i am sure, that Brahman (Lord of Creation) will make sure another Yogin like you somewhere will benefit from your appreciation of your Pony. this is called Lila; the Play of the UniVerse.

STUDENT KC:
I felt so sad, but Bob made the analogy of the my car symbolizing the body – time for an upgrade. A shift perhaps…
– Karen C.

COACH ILG:
inDeed.
now…
it is time for you to go in search of another perhaps…

namaste to It All,

coach ilg