Wholistic Fitness

Can You Doubt Your Doubt?

“If you are strong enough to doubt your strength and willingness to do something,
are you not as equally strong to doubt your doubt?”
– coach ilg
photo; eventually, all WF Students practice Pranayams each day in the ongoing effort to stabilize our mind, develop equanimity of body and mind, and attempt to gain control of vayu (inner currents of prana or chi). Professional Western Skeptics like the one in my story below, do not believe in such ‘new agey’ notions as pranic or chi development since the chi cannot be seen. if we don’t believe in something we don’t understand, why is it so hard for us understand our disbelief?

i know a very famous professional skeptic. you may have seen him on the tv. he makes a living going around the world and ‘disproving’ phenomena, miracles, and the such. he is quite proud that he does not believe in anything that cannot be scientifically proven.

honestly? i did not enjoy spending time around his energy. i came to know him through the ultra racing world. predictably, he was a ultra athlete. i say that because it is often the case that ultra athletes tend toward the narrow minded, hard, and, well, obsessive side of the Dance.

i was a keen and easy target for his sterility. “New agey, mumbo jumbo without discernible principle,” is i think what he once called Wholistic Fitness.

he never commented however, on my race results in physiologically diverse sport performances using WF principles. Rather he enjoyed broadcasting his doubt at my Teachings and WF.

only once did i take Time to engage him. it went something like this,

“Ilg, you talk all about chi and pran and this and that, yet for whatever you teach, I can disprove it.”

“You know what? I am getting kinda fed up with you always Doubting my path without ever even practicing it. You have not even come to one of my yoga classes. So, here is what i Doubt; i doubt you can even touch your toes and you are scared stiff of doing something you are not good at.”

“That is beside my point.”

“No it’s not. You are a professional Doubter, right? If i Doubt you can touch your toes or even hold your posture consciously for longer than a few moments, that should be right in your area of professional expertise.”

His razor sharp eyes were trying energetically ‘go into’ me and dismantle my words. Yet, it was he that fidgeted, sensing full well in that one moment, his lifelong addiction to unconscious and horrible posture.

Like so many “experts” that attempt to understand WF intellectually, i would throw him out before he reached First Base; Conscious Breath and Posture.

“Let me ask you something,” i continued sensing a competitive kill, “If you are such a grand Scientist at doubting,
is it not possible for you to Doubt your Doubt?”

Got him out at WF First Base. If he answered yes or no i got him either way beyond, uh, how do you say, ‘a reasonable doubt.’

Serves him right for engaging “new agey ilg,” groomed by Tibetan Teachers who cherish the art of debating Dharma as a Way of Learning.

Many moons have since come and passed since our little engagement.

This famous Skeptic remains mired on his whirring planet of professional Skepticism.

Like so many from his HeadFirst Tribe, his addiction to Sport Specificity and narrow mindedness has caught up with him, of course. Last i heard, he is injured, inelegant, and not healthy.

Wonder how he is going to disProve his Bardo Entry? It is my prayer that he soon recalls our engagement and remembers the Teaching of WF Lifestyle Number One; Strength of Consciousness through Breath and Posture.

The moral of this Story?
If we are strong enough to doubt our strength to do something
are we not as equally strong to doubt our doubt?

In Conscious Breath and Posture Along The Simple, Middle Path

your new agey coach grounded in the multidisciplined sweat and stillness of WF

photo 2; setting a Course Record at the Furnace Creek 508 Ultra
photo 3; working toward a PR in Back Squats in the same month of a podium in a 50-mile mountain running race. circa; 1986