Wholistic Fitness

Abba* Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, “Abba, as far as I can, I say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?” Then the old man stood up and stretched his hands towards heaven. His fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, “If you will, you can become all flame.”
– From The Sayings of the Desert Fathers

***

precisely WHY most ‘yoga teachers’ do not even WANT to admit that a genuine Yoga Practice must include stepping up time and time to the Start Line of endurance disciplines as a shatkarma or purification. Perhaps they do not want to ‘ruin’ their ‘yoga practice’ by feeling the way i feel today; stiff as board and tight and pain-filled as if i swallowed a wagon of barbed wire. yet, i tell you this, Oh Noble Seekers of Wholistic Enlightenment; not even a firm asana practice can even come close to the Bardo Realm where a honest-to-god traditional style, high altitude mountain bike race will get you.

…dat’s right, my Noble Warriors of the Wholistic Fitness Way…you’re ol’ mountain yogi returned to my h(om)eland of the high San Juan to take Sacred Sweat pilgrimage upon my mountain bike, racing with my fellow warriors through muck, dung, ice cold rivers, and granite boulder fields…

…and humbled i became once again…

…and it was GREAT, and NEEDED, and now the DharmaSong rushes through my veins with the strength of ten thousand Vajrapanis!

i look forward to sharing with you all my Race Update…as soon as some of the lactic acid freakage dissolves from my body…

gotta Serve my Online Students, they are my first and foremost Teaching Priority, and then i will return here to give you all the Juice of my efforts…i TAF you’ll dig it, so keep your Practice strong and stay close to DL; the Electronic Scripture Serving Kali Yuga Straight From Sacred Sweat for over 25 years…

head bowed,
abba ilg

*Abba; refers to ‘Desert Father’…i was raised as a Roman Catholic altar boy in the high deserts of southwest Colorado, destined for Priesthood…turns out, my preaching would arrive in a different form of Teaching!

photo 1; the mountain range known as ‘The Needles’ provide backdrop to the Hermosa Creek Valley, where my Mountain Bike Race finished last Sunday. photo by ilg.

photo 2; a self portrait of suffering finished. after nearly 6 hours and 53 miles of high altitude “asana and pranyama…High Performance Yoga style” i lay on my tailgate, utterly exhausted, blissful, muddy, and full of pain.