Wholistic Fitness

‘There is no armor like perseverance.’ Joy and her bike; ‘Ajna’ cycling out to join the Saturday Morning “Training Ride” here in Flag. Bicycles are as vital as blood to WF Warriors, for we realize that bicycles are not bicycles…they are very, very potent Yoga Mats, capable of delivering Divine Downloads of the Dharma totally unavailable to ‘studio yogis.’ Our Tour de France takes place within.

***
Temple Manager Ananda deserves a deeeeeep bow…yesterday, i took her out to the Wupatki National Monument to ride what would be her longest and most brutal road ride; a 45-mile monster that descended and then climbed back up 2,600′. i paced her for 24 miles, then, i had to do what is hardest for most Coaches to do: leave her on her own to confront and dance her own Bardo…her own “real yoga.” the heat was stiffling on the high desert before the climb…as i rode the course at my own pace, my spirit was turbulent; knowing and feeling that Ananda would be going through utter Purgatory.

i completed the 45-mile course. i time trialed back to the Visitor Center, filled up water bottles, and plummeted down the course into the hell fire of the desert seeking for the image of Ananda pedaling up the climb. she did not appear…half way down the climb, a pickup passed me coming up the climb. a hand, enfeebled by dehydration, heat stress, and exhaustion limply waved at me from the back of the pickup. it was my Beloved. my Heart broke. the pickup slowed and i turned around on the 15% hill and saw her face, flushed and expanded white from the duress….

“I…i…cracked…” was all she could say to me through tears of a Warrioress beaten by the Battlefield.

i handed up two cold water bottles to her,
“Drink, baby…pour the other one over your head, wrists, and ankles…take off yours shoes!” i shouted to her…the vacancy in her eyes sent shivering memories of too many exhausted mountaineering partners up my spine. what had i done to my Beloved?

i rode up to the driver of pickup. an old grizzled man with his little grandson stared at me wide-eyed. in their eyes were the Light of Angels…they were not even on the paved road…they were going the opposite direction off road and saw Ananda barely going 3 mph, still on her bike…wavering in the heat. Ananda never asked them to help her. she had resolved to walk the remaining 6 miles to the finish if she had to…or die trying if she could not.

i told the old man to get her to the Visitor Center as soon as possible…as i put my head back down and race on my bike back up the climb for the second time that day…As the Pickup Angels took off with Ananda sitting upon an old propane bottle in the pickup bed, still holding Ajna, i fell in Love with her all over again…it is the strength of her Practice that fires my Heart for her…i have never met anyone like her before. The ancient pickup disappeared up in a combustion of exhaust around the mountain corner. as i raced along, concerned, Sunset Crater to my left seemed to leap in Divine Dance. All would be well, the Volcano Gods seemed to say to me…in fact, all was perfect and right and the Teachings and strength from Ananda’s journey into the Bardo and back would come back in 1000 x 1000 ways to keep her Spiritual Growth cranking ever Higher.

when i reached the Visitor Center, the Pickup Angels were still with her. Ananda was in in Viparita Karani in the back of Bala (our Honda Element)…crying. i learned through her tears that she DID do her utter best, and during those hundreds of pedal strokes when she thought she could go no further, she relied on the WF Mantra and repeating the phrase that i wrote in DL; “Pain is purification, Pain is purification, Pain is purification…”

You see, Noble Ones Along The Way, until we Consciously Choose to enter our own Bardo Edges, we cannot live that which is pure. The Yoga Sutra that Ananda had studied the evening before her Wupatki workout was Sutra 1 of the Second Pada (Portion on Practice):
“Austerity, Self-Study, and deep devotion to God constitute the Action of Yoga.”

Sure, Floyd Landis absolutely CRANKED at yesterday’s Tour de France…his CHI PUNCH at the finish line showed me that he was finally ready to REALLY ATTAIN that Yellow Jersey and Wear It Like A Leader…yet, he had to lose it first, to realize how much
how truly
how deeply
he really desired it.

Floyd however, is a professional bike racer. he gets paid to suffer.

Ananda does not.

Neither do you.

You and Ananda are Yogis; seekers of Unity.
you know that Pain must precede Purification and that Purification must come before Strength. Only from Purified Strength
does Genuine Wisdom, Clarity, and Transcendence arise. Let us listen now to Rinpoche Sogyal to synthesize what i have attempted to Teach you today:

“Imagine that you had gone all your life without ever washing, and then one day you decide to take a shower. You start scrubbing away, but then watch in horror as the dirt begins to ooze out of the pores of your skin and stream down your body. Something must be wrong: You were supposed to be getting cleaner and all you can see is grime. You panic and fling yourself out of the shower, convinced that you should never have begun. But you only end up even more dirty than before. You have no way of knowing that the wisest thing to do is to be patient and to finish the shower. It may look for a while as if you are getting even dirtier, but if you keep on washing, you will emerge fresh and clean. It’s all a process, the process of purification.

Whenever doubt arises, see it simply as an obstacle, recognize it as an understanding that is calling out to be clarified or unblocked, and know that it is not a fundamental problem but simply a stage in the process of purification and learning. Allow the process to continue and complete itself, and never lose your trust or resolve. This is the way followed by all the great practitioners of the past, who used to say: “There is no armor like perseverance.”

***

On July 30th, i will race the Wuptaki Course.
Ananda will not.
She has found her Limits; 6 miles short of the Finish Line.
And to know our Limits is precisely the ever Dancing point of Transcendence.
Never trust anyone that forwards the notion of, “No limits.”
i will tell you this;
it is go(o)d to know your Limits.
Because it is those Limits of Self that provide the Edge of Yoga.
Live life at the Edge…
Live Wholistic Fitness.

The real Tour de France is always within you…waiting for you to Challenge your Limits…

are you just gonna WATCH the Tour of France,
or USE those amazing Warrior’s Chi…to
rise
ever
Higher…
ever
Onward…
ever
Inward?

Ananda is.

i am.

let’s Dance the Edge, oh Noble Yogi’s!

namaste and congrats to Ananda’s spiritual breakthrough and
thank you Brahman for sending the Pickup Angels for my Beloved…

that is all,

coach ilg