Wholistic Fitness

Honoring Cardio as Crucial To Yoga; Part I
by coach ilg

MIND THE GAP!
in my travels and conversations with today’s crop of “yoga teachers” i continue to be surprised at the glaring gaps in their notion of Hatha Yoga and the Himalayan sized gaps in their embrace of other fitness disciplines. most seem especially frightened by Cardio Fitness. i can only suppose this is because they do not want the concussion and lactic acid pain to “ruin their yoga.” i’ve had several yoga teachers tell me enthusiastically after one of their classes that i would only have to, “give up my gym and cardio training to become a really good yogi!” they would sometimes quickly add, “Heck, because of your potential, I’ll even give you a price break on my Yoga Teacher Training Certification coming up next month!”

true.

this to me is very funny. sad, actually. since regular and mandatory ultra-endurance Cardio efforts known as taking pilgrimage has been a pivotal part of Traditional Yoga since, well, forever! leave it to us Americans to think we can somehow out-think the Ancient Masters and hurry ourselves into Enlightenment.

in Wholistic Fitness, we are quite happy to honor the sanctity of sweat during Cardio Training as a pivotal asana to our MultiDisciplined Understanding and Practice of Yoga.

Here is an example, one of many, from the stories of the Masters which illustrates my point of keeping Cardio Training as a crucial part of Yoga Practice;

“Once I was traveling all alone in Tarai Bhavar toward the mountains in Nepal at the request of my Teacher. I was on my way to Katmandu, which is the capital of Nepal. I walked twenty to thirty miles each day. After sunset I would build a fire, meditate, and then rest. I would begin walking again at four o’clock the next morning and walk until ten o’clock. Then I would sit near water under a tree through the middle part of the day, and travel again from three thirty until seven in the evening. I walked in bare feet, carrying a blanket, a tiger skin, and a pot of water.”
– Swami Rama

Now, read between the lines, Oh Noble Warrior:

“…walked (over Himalayan terrain and altitude) twenty to thirty miles each day…”
“alone”
“walked in bare feet”

Now, some of you are smiling. For you Know that us WF Warriors might not have the best “circus poses” in the yoga studio.
Hell, with my broken back and smashed pelvis, even Warrior I can put me into coniptions. Yet, i – like you – will not sacrifice the development of my overall physiology just so i can look good in a yoga studio. not only do i want to control the fluctuations of my mind during a yoga posture, i also want to make my mind firm in my endurance and strength capacities. i want my Cardio Fitness to be in balance with my pull up and bench press capacities. i want my pull up and bench press capacities to be in balance with my rock climbing or telemark skiing agility and focus. i want my calves to be in proportion to my arms. my chest and back to be in symmetrical development to my legs; even if i have to quit doing certain sports that i am good at in order to become more Balanced, i am determined to do so. For in my letting go of attachment to a specific sport or discipline for the sake of overall balance i find what is known in yoga as; Aparigraha or ‘greedlessness’ – in this case, not being greedy to ‘look good’ and gain admiration in a particular sport or discipline like asana.

the Ancient Ones were firm; the Body must FIRST be brought into Balance, otherwise our subtle anatomy (and then our Mind) will transfer the same weaknesses and imbalances as exist in our physique. what is weak and out of balance on our gross level (our body) is not going to magically disappear in our subtle level (our nadic and pranic fitness) and it sure as hell is not going to vanish in our most refined level (mental/consciousness fitness). Balancing our physique and physiology can take the genuine yogi several decades to purify. However, that is nothing compared to trying to shortcut around the wholistic development of the body and jumping into samyoga (meditation and samadhic fitness) prematurely. doing that foolishness can set you back lifetimes.

i will now outline the indelible two-pronged work in front of us:
1) we must first and foremost balance our physique capacities. Each bodypart must be in balance with the other in terms of appearance and capacities. Think here of lateral dominancy; our right side (Ha) must be balanced with our left side (Tha). once our right/left imbalance has been yoked (yoga) then, our first understanding of HaTha Yoga will be earned.

2) we then must balance our physiologic capacities across their spectrum; cardio, strength, agility, balance, and mastery of food.

No matter what it takes. The Body First. Then, the Higher Stuff. There are no ShortCuts to this Golden Rule of Yoga.

THE WF YOGI DOES NOT RUN AWAY FROM…WELL, RUNNING!

In WF, we do not consider Cardio – intense, regular, and ongoing – to be separate from our notion of Yoga.

In WF, we do not shy away from Cardio Training as part of our Yoga Practice…we DIVE INTO HER IN AS MANY WAYS AS WE CAN for we KNOW we will learn DEEP things about the nature of our Mind and Tendencies when we SWEAT WITH OUR HEART RATE ELEVATED FOR HOURS AND HOURS AND COUNTLESS HOURS…

in WF, we do not shy away from Cardio as part of our Yoga Practice.
we DANCE WITH HER LIKE STUDO YOGI’s DANCE TO TRANCE MUSIC, only, our Music comes from the very PULSE of who we are, not some music machine.

we find our Yoga on bicycles…

we find our Yoga on crampons…

we find our Yoga on avalanche slopes…

we find our Yoga on snowshoes…

we find our Yoga on steep skiable (?) tree-filled slopes…

we find our Yoga during the long, lonely hours it takes to win a running race…

To me, the modern studio yoga teacher has some pretty big explaining to do. by what understanding of Yoga do they dare to easily talk about and quote from Ancient Scriptures about the lofty powers of Yoga when their own lack of physique and physiologic balance betray their speech? Is not “Purification of Speech” a requirement of Yoga Teachers, any longer? Is not the foundation command of the Master, “Do not teach what you do not by Direct Experience,” valid any longer?

Maybe it’s just me.

I am so slow.

I cannot dishonor the primary Teachings of Yoga; Bring the body into Balance.
Wholistic Balance.
Wholistic Fitness.

from beneath today’s fresh snow upon the Sacred Peak,
i bow to your Practice; may it be firm today.

i’m going skiing, practicing my own High Performance Yoga among Brother Raven and Sister Wind.

om so ti,
coach ilg