Wholistic Fitness

“In WF, every day is Earth Day.”
– coach ilg

I heard him the day before yesterday while working in the Temple Office.
then again yesterday up at about 8,500′ in Dry Lake Hills on Sunset Trail on Gunther, my mountain bike, i heard him again.

haven’t seen him yet. just heard him.

and in my hearing of him came a cellular shock of joy, a wave of life force. for in my hearing of him was the sound of promised warmth, longer days, and dancing aspen leaves riding the waves of mountain wind…

i heard Scout…my name for my first Hummingbird of spring. Scout is the Marine Warrior of the Hummingbird Tribe. as fearless as Hanuman, he ends his thousand-mile spring migration to be here first. he is the Hole-Shot Hummingbird, the tiny one fit enough to fly through a goulash of southweast spring storms and still freezing nights just to be here first. i love him. i aspire to wear some of Scout’s veracity and verve upon my own etheral feathers. while you and i huddle in our homes tonight, protected from the freezing blast of cold night, Scout will be nested in fork of a pine or fir perhaps. he will bring himself into a self induced torpor, barely alive, just to preserve his skyrocket metabolism to survive the night. tomorrow, while you and i decide where to eat our tamales and drink our teas, Scout will fly dozens and dozens of miles to attempt to find nectar from the soporific daffodils and pansies. even while at rest, Scout’s heartrate is around 250 beats per minute. the moment i heard that unmistakable WHIRRRRRR through the thin air, i tore about my cabinets preparing a sugared drink for Scout and the other Hummingbird Beings sure to arrive.

“I’m coming Scout!” i shout like a lunatic as i whirl the concoction into two feeders placed in the Temple’s back garden. our agreement is a simple one based upon respect; i for Hummingbird’s radiant summer dance and he for my sugar water. i hang the feeders, expecting. only the sun softly leaks through giant ponderosa. a hollow, raspy wind – so Ujjayi-ish that it makes me smile – rattles my respect for Scout. will he survive the freeze tonight? tomorrow night?

perhaps i am preaching to the already-converted, those of us whose ears never tire of hearing the pontifications of a high country spring. clicking the gears jauntily on my mountain bike and sliding through freeze/thaw mud, i realize again how very deeply i care for the mountain life. as my wheels carry me in carrousel singletrack turns through ponderosa lined creeks, i am giddy with inner wealth. in DL after DL i attempt to share my desire for the Consciously Live and Adored Fitness Life and i know wherefrom my intense desire to share comes from; here. these trails. this sky. those swirling fingers of clouds wrapped like white linens about the – my – Sacred Peak.

i mention the coming of Humingbirds to my teammate; Rob, an ornithologist at NAU…

” yeah,” he responds, “i heard some male Broad-tailed hummers on the Kaibab Plateau on the north Rim last week. It’s such an exciting time! Oh, it’s time all right. Love is in the air! Several weeks ago I watched several pygmy nuthatch pairs (actually, pygmy’s have an adult helper, so it’s 3 not 2) excavating cavities and carrying nesting material. And then, this morning on the way to work, I saw sprinkler water frozen on trees and grass. We live in an interesting environment.
See you tonight
rob.”

Darkness settles. i bring in the feeders so that the water does not freeze.

Grandmother is brilliant, large, and cold.

i squeeze my eyes to slip more vision into the mountain forest surrounding the Temple H(om)e…i imagine Scout – so unlike the moon; tiny, vulnerable, and nearly comatose just to survive.

he really does not stand much of a chance, does he?

i feel horribly Blessed to feel so much on this frosty night. will Scout be dead by morning?

and, if so, who would care?

ilg cares, my little one. ilg cares.

and such is my Prayer; May All Beings Everywhere Know That Fitness Pivots Upon Compassion For All Beings In All Realms.

May your Practice remain strong and sincere and whole,

om so ti,

the mountain yogi

photos of the Hummingbird Being and Grandmother Moon by WF Master Student MS.S