Wholistic Fitness

Namaste Noble Sangha,

COACH’s CAVEAT:
this entire DL portrays Mountain Yogi endeavors that should NOT be attempted by your normal 45-year old Expecting Father. in other words, do NOT try this stuff at home…unless, of course, you are into a WHOLE LOT OF “FOCUSED FUN” in the WHOLISTIC FITNESS definition of the words!

Yesterday’s yoga studio; i teamed up with Ben “Patki Dass” Sullivan – a semi pro MTB racer – whose HP Yoga and BioBuilde devotion has already nabbed him stunningly fit duathlon ascents of both Kendrick and Humphrey Peaks, the latter being the Sacred Peak of Doko Oosliid herself at 12,633′. Next to Patki is Jen Sica, a pro MTB racer and a former Board Member of my RED ROCK RACING TEAM http://www.redrockracing.org/ . we took this rest break after climbing a variety of wildflower studded alpine meadow paths for about 2 hours and 3,000′ to arrive here at the Wilderness Boundary elevation hovering around 9,000′. This is these kid’s idea of a ‘warm up’ before we got to the ‘fun stuff’; the technical descents of the Secret Trails beneath the Sacred Peak.

Above, Patki attends my HP Yoga class each week here in Kinlani (Flagstaff) to narrow his Senses and zoom in on obstacles so that his full Attention can be focused like a laser on overcoming obstacles; in this case a fallen snag.

EkaGraha (sometimes spelled a number ways, like; EkaGrata) is a yogic term meaning; one-pointedness. this focused attention is the very essence of yogic concentration and must be developed before success on the Spiritual Journey is realized. long ago, i found that the high-risk outdoor sports concentrated my mind, preventing attachment to random thoughts and splayed senses. the reason for the endless fluttering about of our untrained mind is known as spanda or the vibratory nature of existence. as a mountain yogi, i attempt to use challenging outdoor actions to merge the particles and waves of my thinking mind into one laser beam focus. if i can do this on my mountain bike or on a rock climb or a ski or snowboard then when i sit in meditation, a enhanced intensity of sustained concentration skills are available to me to merge the subtle vayus (energy fields) and nadis (currents) into a forceful union (which is what Hatha Yoga means; forceful union) to awaken and direct the Kundalini.

without regularly learning how to adapt our entire body and mind to extremely challenging intensities across the physiologic spectrum, there is no way we will be able to adequately cope with the Cosmic Intensities which surely greet each and everyone one of us on our Bardo Entry (death process). the comfort-addicted fools who spend their lives attempting to run away from challenges are shocked and numbed at the uncalculable intensities of the 40+ Bardo Stages. too late to train then! such foolish souls ain’t gonna be ANYWHERE CLOSE to handling their dying event, thus, return again and again and again and endlessly again until they step up to the competitive plate of Self Realization evolution.

Patki shown here compressing his front shock so that he can lift his front tire up and over a 16″ root well before reshifting his weight and ‘bunny hopping’ his rear tire up and over the well. we can literally feel the intensity of his EkaGraha!

Jen caught in a ‘dab’…meaning, she put her foot on the earth to prevent falling. mountain bikers will ‘session’ a section like this, trying to ‘clean it’ in the way a dancer must rehearse choreography. however, unlike dancers in a nice studio, the mountain biker must rehearse choreography that often results in going down hard. Injuries and blood letting and expensive bike repairs are all part of this Bardo Training!

Patki attempting to clean a dastardly difficult ‘triple compression’; three fallen Ponderosa’s side by side make this obstacle the embodiment of ‘mind over matter.’

Jen and Patki eyeing the line. much like an extreme skier stands above a high peak colouir looking for the most effective “fall line.” this is the same spot where, last week in DL, i posted that pic of Gary punching through this narrow slot. Patki was considering ‘just launching off the boulder’ that they are standing upon. personally i am glad he didn’t. it’s a long crawl back to Flag from this remote, high mountain spot!

Tingly Times; yup. leave it a stinkin’ girl to have the balls to be the first of us to roll this obstacle! Jen, who can climb up technical singletrack faster and more poetically than a Mountain Goat, also showed us boys that rolling over boulders “…ain’t soooo baaaaad…”! “Come on boys, you can do it!” she smiled sweetly to Patki and i after i took this shot.

we looked at each other as our genitals began shrinking in unison…”shit.”

“who invited her on this ride anyway?!”

i did. damned Shakti energy!

Patki unfolding a graceful flight off the boulder, allowing his EkaGraha upon his Breath to erase the fear and doubt which tends to consolidate into a block of marble in your mind as you sit on your bike, perched 20′ uphill from the boulder. it’s scary. you can’t see the little ladder until you’ve committed yourself OVER THE EDGE, baby! if you are even one inch off, i hate to tell you…but you’re gonna go down like a cheese omelette at high noon, baby.

then,
only one mountain yogi was left to…DO THE DO…

muttering to myself as i hiked my bike uphill above the boulder,
i finally sat upon Grunt, staring downhill at the lip of the boulder.
with withering testicles and my heart pounding,
i looked at
my two friends anxiously grouped in the pines below the boulder,
i thought,
“ilg, do it for your Sangha! Walk your Talk, you phoney baloney of a mountain yogi!”
Actually, that was not my SelfTalk.

my real inner dialogue was,
“ilg…you might well be getting too damn old for this shit.”
then,
i returned to WF Lifestyle Principle #1,
withdrew my senses,
focused EkaGraha as i
grabbed Mula Bandha,
switched my EkaGraha to the precise point on the boulder’s lip where
i figured the best chance would be for my front tire to track onto the little ladder,
and pushed off,
toward boulder,

and…

well,
fortunately the day before i did a 53-mile road ride and chanted my Mantra at least a few hundred times with my heart rate in high Zone 3…my sweat-soaked allegiance to my Mantra paid off handsomely as i felt entirely protected by the WF Deity Lineage as i rolled off the Edge. Patki was laughing like crazy because my form sucked so badly…however, hey…as the song goes…

“I’m still standing after all these years/Looking like a new survivor/Feeling like a little kid…”

May your own Practice be as strongly focused and as divinely fun
on this day of days…

om so ti,
the mountain yogi

**oh, and check out the new forum in the WF SanghaLounge; Current Events for our WF Perspective on what’s going on in the Outer World!