Wholistic Fitness

i don’t know why They give these ‘fitness guru’ jobs to us chumps.

i really don’t.

for 25 years i’ve somehow masqueraded around this Outer World as some form or another as a type of fitness, or worse, a spiritual expert. of course, to some degree, i’ve perpetuated this guise; you know, the unmatched sport performance resume, the physique which houses a physiology and form that i can change on a dime, and my spiritual training and expression of Dharma protection and service. so yeah, i know full well what antics ilg is up to. fortunately, through it all i’ve never taught anything that i do not know by Direct Experience.

however, here is the Truth beyond the form and function and expression of ilg;
i know nothing.

so cavalierly,
so frequently
born are ‘blogs’ of so many ‘personal trainers’ and ‘yoga teachers’ and ‘life coaches’.

by comparison?

their “Flash” software illusions on their websites,
their seeming Know-It-All ‘knowledge’ seems so,
so,
so impressive to my comparative lack of…
well,
Flash.

how many of these blogs would survive if “Subscription Only” was mandatory?
no ads.
no affiliates.
no nothing
save for the author’s own Chi?

ilg wonders at the bravado of nearly everyone
and
why are so many
so more confident in the Outer World than i?

by Tibetan vow
ilg is only allowed to Teach…
…to Share
by these pre-requisites fashioned from my young exuberance so long ago;

1) Teach only what you know by Direct Experience
and
2) Teach only that which is kind,true, and helpful.

feeble ilg wonders;
what if every blog author did that?

here is what feeble ilg knows;

my cat at night,svelte as starlight seeping into my cells.
the chronic sting of multiDisciplined pain, constant yet immune to my rationale.
fan letters trickling into my humble Temple…a high mountain stream of chi throughout the decades
seeping like limestone moisture
into the crevices of my Soul
how am i to refuse Serving?
Flash or not?

PLEASE READ SLOWLY,
CLOSELY
LISTENING TO THE SILENCE BETWEEN YOUR LOGICAL COMPREHENSION BETWEEN THE WORDS;

“The Buddha summons us to a different kind of doubt, “like analyzing gold, scorching, cutting and rubbing it to test its purity.” For this form of doubt really exposes us to the truth if we follow it to the end, but we have neither the insight, the courage, nor the training. We have been schooled in a sterile addiction to contradiction that has robbed us repeatedly of all real openness to any more expansive and ennobling truth.

In the place of our contemporary nihilistic form of doubt I would ask you to put what I call a “noble doubt,” the kind that is an integral part of the path toward enlightenment. The vast truth of the mystical teachings handed down to us is not something that our endangered world can afford to dismiss. Instead of doubting them, why don’t we doubt ourselves: our ignorance, our assumption that we understand everything already, our grasping and evasion, our passion for so-called explanations of reality that have about them nothing of the awe-inspiring and all-encompassing wisdom of what the masters, the messengers of Reality, have told us?”
-SogYal Rinpoche

***

yesterday i ran.
each footfall a fall into searing lower back/r.hip pain.
mind chained to Mantra.
yet,
what am i really Teaching?
who
is really Listening?
to what degree are my ‘students’
Caring?

the critical point:
for illumination in a spiritual sense to occur,
the body made well fit must fashion the consciousness
to evolve
into a more refined substance.
such a Process takes so much time,
time that the Modern “Warrior” seems quick to shun…

how am i to Teach the Shatkarma (Purification) Techniques which last for years?
how am i to Teach the the next Shift; the rise of Kundalini through well conditioned nadic and nervous equanimity?
how am i to Teach the priceless necessity of lifestyle and nutritional regulation without sounding paltry like the many others?

how not to Teach stagnation at the risk of fierce spiritual evolution?
this is what i face each day;
fan letters that say, “Don’t stop doing what you are doing,you’ve saved my life”yet
the author of such High Words refuses to subscribe to my blog or buy just one DVD from me to support such endurance.

where shall i mine your Higher Consciousness?
you do not tell me.

Without rousing the Kundalini…the inner Life Force, all is useless in the Outer Worldly living.
Desires rule over my feeble words.
The practices of my Path are powerful.
(right now; adjust your spine, lower thy breath, open your toes, engage Mula Bandha; see what i mean?)
My style of coaching reeks of Ancient Tradition; i demand self discipline and responsibility.
Otherwise, all is just play; a waste.

WF starts with the physical body and gradually, naturally moves toward into the mind.
the order is important; purification, physicality mastery, pranayama, pratyhara, dharana, dhyana, and perhaps; samadhi.

In the Scriptures a dialogue arises between Shiva and Parvarti. Parvarti asks Shiva;
“How does one transcend the awareness of the objects; how does one annihilate the ego;
how does one realize the homogenous totality and absoluteness of the Self?”

In reply (ilg wonders; how would YOU reply?), Shiva tells Her;
“There are 125,000 practices and all these practices ultimately withdraw the mind from the sense objects.”

feeble ilg wonders;
will your sweat today,
will your practiced silences this week
expand your consciousness?

if not,
what is their value over that
of listening to an iPod*?

be brave
enough to be You
at least
for
toDay.

head bowed,
the mountain yogi

* the “i” stands for “ignorance” as in, avidya…spiritual ignorance.

photo; coach in siddhasana, temple zendo.