Wholistic Fitness

“Little minds are interested in the extraordinary; great minds in the commonplace.”
– Elbert Hubbard
photo by coach of “Trout Lake” on the descent into Telluride from Lizard Head Pass

“Ananda gaze.” The town of Telluride hunkers in the wet valley below as we begin the ascent of Black Bear Pass.
As we climbed toward the massive waterfall, often cloud-hidden, we could hear, sense, and feel the thunder of the vortex created by Bridal Veil Falls…within the 45 minutes of tricky, wet, “granny gear” climbing up Black Bear Pass toward the base of the falls, Ananda’s grin grew ear-to-ear as she churned up the jeep road. i could feel her begin to tap into the ether of the High Country; due to her solid WF Practice which includes daily Pranayama, her system was able to switch from the less superior muscle glycogen/oxygen physiology and tap into the far superior yogi’s physiology of Prana/Nadi. in fact, the higher we climbed into the clouds, the more empowered she became…
“How you feeling baby?”
“Go(o)d…let’s keep going,” she said between rhythmic breaths on her bike. Her climbing form through the rain was exemplary.
“Okay, however, we can turn around whenever you want,” i replied, knowing full well the Reverse Psychological effect of such a statement to a WF Warrioress the caliber of Ananda. to myself i thought, “Shit, there is no way on this Mother Earth that this woman is going to stop before reaching the waterfall, i don’t care what kind of storm comes…she ain’t gonna stop.”

….and she didn’t quit.
Warrior’s…true ones…never do.
hey, the waterfall is great…however, check out those WF GUNS on Ananda! man! look at the tricep jumping out!
can you say; HP Yoga and Chaturanga’s!?!?

{in this unique moment, you can literally See a ‘chakral effect’ above me created within the velocity of the sushumna like waterfall energy. i was, at the time, meditating in the Ai Imawa Posture; “Holding Up Moon” and sublimating my own subtle anatomy within the waterfall. This shot is what occurred. Let me explain more: our subtle anatomy also houses a waterfall within our physical spine known as the sushumna, within the sushumna lie our own chakral energies like invisible “CD” disks that have stored every moment, every thought, every action of our countless lifetimes. the yogi’s duty is to Rise Above these stored impressions (samskaras) toward jivamukti…spiritual enlightenment THROUGH the body, not around it! please do not republish this unique photo. it is my Gift to you as a faithful DL Subscriber. thank you for your respect.}
Ananda and i took turns ‘copping the CHI’ at the thundering base of Bridal Veil Falls…HUGE CHI…the literal ‘intercourse’ of the Yin (water) pounding into the Yang (Earth) was sending “Chi Bumps” throughout our bodies…we were crying and laughing together like a couple of babies…MOUNTAIN YOGA BABIES! BABIES IN THE EMBRACE OF MOTHER EARTH AND FATHER SKY! i knew that our subtle anatomy, particularly our chakras, were being Divinely ‘spun balanced’ as i have come to call it…the effect of such a powerful Vortex as this spot will cause residual emotional and physiologic cleansing/purification in the days, months, and even years that follow. sure enough, even as i write this entry several days from this Vortex experience, both Ananda and i are experiencing body/mind pains as a result from this etheric purification and empowerment. as the yogi learns to Just Listen to his/her subtle physiology through daily meditation, the stunning effect of deep etheral workouts like this waterfall Vortex is, albeit often painful, a profoundly Sacred and intimate realization.

Ananda, fully loaded with the High Country Chi and Waterfall Vortex energies, did not stop at the base of the falls and instead kept cranking up and up Black Bear Pass until we reached the house on top of the falls (See Part I in DL yesterday) and into the opening of the knee dropping beauty of Ingram Basin…this shot is taken at about 11,300′.

Eventually, Ananda had had enough and we turned around.

What took us over an hour and a half to climb up took all of 18 minutes to descend!

Even later that night as we partied in downtown T-ride during the Jazz Festival and hung out at my favorite hang, the “Fly Me To The Moon Salloon,” Ananda’s ‘perma grin’ from pushing her limits, tapping into the Prana of the High Country, and just plain LIVING THE DIVINE LIFE was still evident on her lovely face. we laughed so hard that night our Obliques started to get pumped!

the key for Ananda’s success was my use of the WF Performance Maxim; “The Way To Win, Is To Make It Okay To Lose.”

In other words, i never even mentioned ANYTHING about making it to the waterfall as a goal. i just said and kept saying, “No worries, baby…we can turn around whenever you want.” When a loving partner creates SPACE for the other partner, it releases pressure and offers individuated freedom of expression for the other partner. This is a Life Teaching, as well as a Teaching in sharing workouts.

Thus ended Day One of our Telluride Training Camp…
Day One was a warm up day for me…i chose to make Day One all about Ananda…and my heart was so happy that i was able to skillfully permit such a “Breakthrough Day” for her…

However,
tomorrow was all about me…it was the day i would return to one of my most Hallowed and Sacred Training Testpieces…i wanted to ride over Imogene Pass, a 13,114′ menacingly steep, loose historical pass.

As we laughed into the night, a part of me grew anxious…i knew what lay ahead for me tomorrow and the cold rain thudded into the tiny town’s streets like handclaps of Shiva urging me to doubt myself. i was reMinded of years of inner anxiety as a mountaineer…hell, this was only a 17 mile damned mountain bike ride…how hard could it be?

COMING UP NEXT IN DL: COACH’s attempt on Imogene Pass!