Wholistic Fitness

“A race is, to me, a devotional sutra. While racing, words no long clutter nor come between Truth and Self. A racing season thus becomes an ongoing scripture of Self. And a fully-lived life becomes our most intimate Sacred Song to God.”
– coach ilg

Coach, 1st place trophy, and “Lord Gunther” his mountain bike after the Award Ceremony on Saturday in downtown Flagstaff. Note the WF “TrackPack“. photo by Ananda.

OF SUTRAS, SWEAT, and…TROPHIES?!
Part I

by coach ilg, ryt/uscf/cpt

***

You may have just read in DL yesterday that i did my first mountain bike race in over a decade. Due to a steadfast “off bike” practice in Wholistic Fitness – including the SUNRIDER herbs and High Performance Yoga – i did pretty well = 3rd overall and 1st in my age category (40+…i am currently 44).

Really, i entered this race because 1) the Start/Finish was right across the street from the WF Temple H(om)e, and 2) i just wanted to do my bit to feed some hungry children. Our Race Entry Fee’s supported the “Care and Share Food Bank.” For four years, Absolute Bikes, a local bike shop that also has shops in two other great power spots: Salida, Colorado and Sedona, Arizona, has produced this “Old Fashioned Mountain Bike Race” as part of the Flagstaff Mountain Bike Festival each summer:

http://www.absolutebikes.net/flag_frset.html

***

Above and beyond these outward intents for racing, i allWays have an Inner Intent when i enter a competitive event.

Sometimes it is a Technical Intent, such as practicing Patience and not attacking until a particular spot in the race, or to launch some crazy ass effort and see where it goes, or support a teammate, etc. More often, however, my Inner Intent is a spiritual one, such as engaging a Mantra, a breathing technique or an internal lock. As i Taught you long, long ago; “Racing is not about winning, it’s about knowing ourselves.” What that means is that whenever you grab deep into your lower chakras and pull out the You Know What to Do What Is Required to even TOE THE START LINE of a competitive event, you will achieve spiritual gain, purify karma, and Learn Things About Your Higher Self. Our Higher Aspects lie hidden behind the rubbish pile of our cluttered minds during everyday life. Racing peels away the “Veil over the inner Light,” as Patanjali and the other Great Ancient Masters of body and mind called it. The yogic term for this mental veil that is stripped away by steadfast concentration upon the prana is “prakasa avarana.” {photo: i shot this picture of our Backyard Buddha on the morning of my mountain bike race after Early Morning Ritual}

So really, although it is certainly nice to hang out with my racing warriors and even be fortunate enough to climb on top of the podium after we slobbered our blood and sweat upon the world class Ponderosa singletrack, for me, racing is truly about one thing:

i race to erase prakasa avarana.

i race because racing endurance events in particular is not my natural talent so in strengthening my innate physiologic weaknesses, i also strengthen the character and discipline of my mind. In essence, through racing, i empower my own yoga. i develop Union of my physiology in ALL her capacitiesand thus strengthen my physiologic weaknesses by strengthening my psychologic weak links.

This ‘mental training’ through fortification of the body’s capacities is known as Yoga. Well, at least, it is known as High (Divine) Performance (Action) Yoga (Union)!

***

So, perhaps to others, it looked like i just jumped into a local challenging mountain bike race and did pretty good for not racing mountain bikes in so long. Perhaps to others, my effort and result once again proves the validity of that which i teach.

To me? i was just Practicing Yoga, baby. Though i was inDeed on a mountain bike, truly, i turned my mountain bike into my ‘yoga mat’ for 1:57 over a 20+mile rock-strewn course with 2,000′ of climbing.

In fact, my entire race was chiefly an embodiment of what i consider to be four most vital Sutras in the science of Yoga. You can find these four Sutras in the Second Chapter of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali:

“The modifications of the breath (life force/prana) are either external, internal or stationary. They are to be regulated by space, time and number and are either long or short.”

II-50 Yoga Sutras

“There is a forth kind of pranayama that occurs during concentration of an internal or external object.”

II-51

“As its result, the veil over the inner Light is destroyed.”

II-52

“And the mind becomes fit for concentration.”

II-53

***

COMING UP NEXT IN DL:
Coach provides unique winning race insight to each of these pivotal Sutras!

where the HEAVEN ELSE will you EVER find stuff like this??!

No where else but the home of America’s Native Form of Yoga produced by a World Class Athlete; Steve Ilg’s WHOLISTIC FITNESS! and DIRECT LINES is YOUR tap into the Rasas of this Amazing Path!

* – in Wholistic Fitness, it is crucial to not limit our comprehension and practice of yoga to “sticky mats” and yoga studios.