Wholistic Fitness

“(E)arnestly practice every good work.”– Fo-Sho-Hing-Tsan-King, 1981

above photo; apres yoga…mountain yogi style! exhausted and intensely, sacredly happy. more seeds of impurity burned in the furnace of self-driven sweat of a 5 hour, 54-mile, 6,800′ mountain bike effort. this photo shows precisely why i am never impressed by fancy postures done by ‘studio yogis’…let them follow me in my Yoga Studio of the High Endurance Studio and afterward, see how limber their acidic, pumped muscles and joints are the next day! Most yoga ‘teachers’ never push themselves in the other physiologic disciplines because doing so would cause them to Begin Again in their postures due to “sore” muscles and fatigued, dehydrated cells. the Wholistic Fitness Yogi, however, cherishes any opportunity to embrace union (yoga) in ALL disciplines and walks of life! .

the reward of a thing well done, said Emerson, is to have done it. last Sunday, Ananda took this photo of me, collasped on my front door after increasing my average speed by 4/10ths a mile on the “Around The Peaks” which i wrote about in DL last week. i returned one week later to re-ride this course. why? because i needed to do it alone. i needed to ride this enormous workout in the sweetness of solitude. i needed to see what quelled within me and address this Hidden Language of breath and nonstop intensity of movement. where my mind went, where my ego wanted to go, and how adept was my yoga through it all. in the 5 hours of the often times acrid painful purification, i once again validated by Direct Experience, 3 of my most potent Endurance Performance Secrets which i will impart to you in this DL; for DL Subscribers only!

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people ask me how i mine so much spiritual teaching from simply working out.

for one thing; i don’t do iPods.

and i maximize solo training.

then, i apply the WF Biblical Teaching; “Just Listen.”

According to the Sutra of Hui Neng, “if you turn your light inwardly, you will find what is esoteric within you.” People want Sacredness and mystical profundity to dance and leap within their lives, yet the gap between wanting to doing the do is larger than Mt. Kalias. That is the difference between the Intellectual Warrior and those of us who sweat each day in addition to sitting still. There are no shortcuts around the body. Full scale development of the body is Spiritual First Base. how quickly, how cleverly, how profittably for monetary gain are the current ‘spiritual teachers’of Kali Yuga at ignoring this immutable and Ancient fact; Body First…then the Mind…then the Spirit.

*** 3 Mountain Yogi Endurance Secrets
The following Three Yogic Endurance Secrets may not be for every yogi, however, they are resplendent in their capacity to prove, time and again, what lies hidden in the Scriptures; Self Realization must come from within. Swami Muktibodhananda reminds us in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, “…One who has attained self-realization, let him live by any system {such as WF} or by none. It does not matter, for he will be a system unto himself. He will exude the fragrance of enlightenment everywhere and unconditionally, for that is his nature. Truth and virtue will be his being, but not his practice or commitment.”

Secret Teaching Number One; HONOR THY ROOTS (Develop Your Weaknesses)

Swami Muktibodhananda again; “To cherish the rose while disdaining the roots is called schizophrenia, and this is the sickness which puritans and moralists have inhereited.” Sure it’s charming and seductive to want to enhance our well being and our fitness and our spiritual or personal growth. 999 out of 1,000 however will only want to study spiritual growth at their egoic comfort levels. the Study of WF is designed to MAKE US not only Look At our roots (you know the ones, all covered in darkness, muck, and coldness) yet EMRACE THEM! we are only as strong as our roots. and the thing about knowing our roots and developing them is that only solo practice can shine the Divine Light into our darkness. not iPod-motivated workouts, not sexy teachers with fancy panache, not nothing or no one outside our self. this is why i knew i had to re-ride the Peaks Loops; alone through the rain, up to the snow line and back again, through the hours of aloneness, seeing no one yet feeling One With The UniVerse. Especially the UniVerse within, which is what i am going to tell you more about right now. So, for me, this First Secret meant to get out there and Train Alone; study within.

Secret Teaching Number Two; STAY EMPTY (Trust in the Pran!)
it may come as a surprise to the new Students of WF, that i chopped a half-hour off this ride without eating breakfast. Why? To develop the inner Pranic Fields. How did i crank off a 5-hour ride at flying fast speeds without eating? Well, i WAS eating; i was eating the Pran each Conscious Breath during my ride. We have been deeply ingrained to think that our energy comes from the combustion of physical food. Rarely are we instructed that food comes in many forms and that if we are brave enough to practice regular Pranayama (yogic breathing exercises such as my Wholistic Fitness versions of EARLY MORNING RITUAL and PRANAYAMA APPETIZERS)then we begin to feel by Direct Experience how much more powerful is etheral energy than is the awkward and energy-sapping combustion of gross foods. Of course, all readers here know my allegiance to the SUNRIDER regenerative whole food herbs as well as BioBuilde amino acids. these are critical components of a WF Yogi’s lifestyle and practice.

oh, and honestly i did have the following:
one cup of organic coffee pre EMR
one bananna pre ride
4 Action Caps pre ride
2 Metabalance 44 pre ride
one of PowerBar’s brand new C2 PowerGel (only available to us Team Elite members at the moment)

during the ride:
on board fluids; water in a Camelback and PowerBar’s ENDURANCE formula in my water bottle.

at mile 12 after the first 1,200′ of climbing:
2/3 of Powerbar’s new C2 PERFORMANCE bars with CO2

(remind me to tell you about the two iPodder’s that were on their road bikes as i climbed up Snowbowl Road on my MTB; hilariously sad.)

at mile 23, the final third of the new C2 PowerBar.

at mile 41 on the climb toward Lockett Meadow (see last week’s DL): another C2 PowerGel.

that’s it.
flying on empty, baby! Light, strong, and snappy for the entire 5 hours!

i was drinking every 15 minutes.

after the ride?

i’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count.

dat’s right; an ILG SUPREME!

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Secret Teaching Number Three; Prioritize Mula Bandha (BioEnergetics More Than BioMechanics!)

for this re-ride, i moved my cleat position to maximize my ability to engage Mula Bandha rather than the textbook biomechanics of pedaling efficiency. words beyond what i can express could only describe how quickly engagement of Mula Bandha starts increasing Pratyhara (Sense Withdrawl). Once the prana is contained within the body via Mula Bandha, then Conscious Discipline comes to the yogi easily. It becomes an absolute joy to focus for hours spilling into hours upon the ocean of prana swirling inside, providing unimaginable bursts of power coming from ‘nowhere’ to put into pedaling. the moment the Prana is contained, then meditation becomes spontaneous. that is is, Dharana before Dhyana. Just as the Sutras teach. so, focus on Mula Bandha, arrange your bike (or running or swimming or skiing) posture to maximize your relationship with Mula Bandha and then, hang in there and concentrate on Mula until the Pranic Fields begin to wipe out mental chattering and ego whining. then, just Look, Listen within and inJoy the Dance of Elevated Performance courtesy of the Pran.

*** EPIC-LOG

oh, and in case you thought i did not recover fast from my 5-hour ride? Guess again! above are my ‘homeys’; L-R that’s me with Daniel, Ryan, and Tannen. i don’t know their age, but i TAF i am older than them. they, however, don’t realize this fact. nor do i. DanielSan has superb puck handling skills.

so, after a 5 hour ride and 45 minutes of street hockey, i felt great. perhaps i’ll even make it over those Beloved San Juan passes next weekend at the IRON HORSE BICYCLE CLASSIC!

you WILL come with me, won’t you?

May my efforts in this essay produce helpful vibrations for your own Practice.

that is all.

om so ti,

the mountain yogi

ps; i warned you that this ride would be a powerful Transmitter!

ps 2; for those of you Hooked Up on the REAL DIRECT LINE; sorry about the etheral static…for about 10% of this ride (mostly the fun downhill sections) i opened up the portal to my unborn baby daughter and took her riding with me…she did not want to leave. Ananda later reported our baby ‘kicking like never before’ during my ride.