Dead, our white bones lie silent
when pine trees lean toward spring.
Remembering, I sigh. Looking ahead,
I sigh once more.
This life is a mist. What fame?
What Glory?
– Li Po
i took this photo of ‘Red Fox Deck’ here at the WF Temple H(om)e last week. With a New Baby Being on my horizon, i may soon see the quiet of my Fitness Monk lifestyle and the fame and glory of winning multisport races change. like any WF Warrior, my SvaDharma is to adapt to the Divine Change. a growing percentage of my meditations are now being steered by my Teachers toward visualizations of finding ‘Ai Imawa’ within and around and for our possible Baby Being’s arrival and stay.
***
“Nothing will work unless you do.”
– Maya Angelou
the pull of the Mountain Playground all around me, “America’s Outdoor Athlete,” is so great each day that i even attempt to combine a measure of the outdoors with my online coaching work! photo by Ananda.
“I had many work plans for today.
Then the day dawned.”
– coach ilg
do you have the Self Discipline to work for yourself and make a lot of money?
i don’t. it’s go(o)d to know one’s limits. the only true Wealth is, at least for me, world-class Health! LIFE IS SOOOOO FUN! ENJOY THE RIDE BEFORE YOU DIE! The Bardo don’t accept visa or mastercard. Live Deeply, Life is Short.
photo by Justin Gallen at the Rio de Flag bouldering area across the pasture from the WF Temple H(om)e.
***
THE FOLLOWING THREE TEACHINGS WERE LIFTED DIRECTLY OFF THE VARIOUS CAVES IN THE WF SANGHALOUNGE…where, on the internet, are YOU choosing to chill??!?!
***
Coach and all,
Coach your comment helped me see the balance of WF a little more clearly. Now I observe people’s bodies/workouts differently and see the imbalances that extremes produce. thank god for WF !
Even in my own life as a wrestler and martial artist I lacked the grace and balance that WF currently brings. This week I am grateful to the Cosmic Yang! The twinkle is back in my eye and my quads are on fire, but I’m smiling and loving the path!
with appreciation,
steve A.
COACH:
Noble Brother Warrior SA,
i was being interviewed last night by a newspaper reporter, a sports journalist that was self admittedly ‘way outta shape’. he grew up doing the typical American sports of football, baseball, etc.
as i started to wax some WF Strength Training philosophy on him…just the simple stuff of attending to breath and posture before picking up a barbell…his eyes began to dance. he was getting the WF Transmission. he said,
“you know, i am totally stuck in the gym…i am ONE OF THOSE GUYS that you are talking about! i don’t even know WHY i am in there these days!”
during such moments he was no logner the Reporter. he was a WF Student entered and once again, i was On Duty for free.
lead by example,
lead by Breath and Posture…
_________________
om so ti,
coach ilg
***
namaste hak-
you know, i woke up with Ananda’s expression “KNEE GURU” in my head, and the crystal clear realization that if it were not for the football injury to my knee, let me put it another way: my knee injury brought me to an initiatory experience with osteopthic medicine (that i never would have otherwise had and which totally changed my Path), kept me from being drafted to go to “Nam” (i had a really low number!), stopped me from what would have probably been an ill-advised career in pro baseball (and pushed me back to science and pre-med studies), and brought me to the healer Rev Bruyere, with whom i studied and apprenticed- and that totally transmuted my world and Journey!! EC has been working with me on my word choices: i feel like making a little shrine to honor the KNEE GURU!!!!!!! it’s kind of scary when i look back how much influence it has had on my Journey!
just like how the horrible gut infection i had and then the bike crash with hip and pelvic fractures a couple of years ago nearly took me out, and brought me to WF! amazing, these wound gurus. they really can be such Blessings. “i am writing an article called “In Praise of Trauma” about just this sort of thing- funny, but i did not think much about myself when i was starting it- just my patients.
i realize that some of us “get” the cues when they are subtle, and others of us end up needing a heavier hammer to get ithe message through nto our thick skulls. i will let you make your own conclusions from there.
by the way, MY KNEES FEEL REALLY GOOD TODAY!! go figure. i had such a satisfying cardio-commute this morning. (my morning hill climb workout is the brooklyn bridge and then it’s flat along the hudson river to where i turn in to get to my office.) not real scenic and peaceful but it’s what is these days.
_________________
in Love and Service
student steven weiss
***
Coach,
Yes we do indeed get Cedar Waxwings in MI. The same beautiful bird that was in your picture.
Observing/living in the natural world was one of the drivers in my picking up “Outdoor Athlete” all those many years ago! Figured the fitter I was the more enjoyment I would be able to derive from my jaunts.
WF Student Brian in the SanghaLounge
COACH:
Noble Brother Warrior B,
dat’s right baby!
the WF Maxim leaps to my mind;
it’s hard to feel GOD
if you don’t feel ‘good’!
the body as First Base to the Divine. no other way, baby!
_________________
om so ti,
coach ilg
These teachings are the "Rasas" or "sap" of Wholistic Fitness. You’ll find insights to ponder, student chi to keep your own chi topped off, and plenty of proven training techniques to test on your own body, mind, and spirit! Also, you’ll find my very popular Race Reports, and news of our Sangha’s (community’s) latest transpersonal fitness adventures!