Wholistic Fitness

coach answers a “Six Pack” of Questions from WF fans, friends,and students from across the world. Send your questions to; ilgtrain@npgcable.com and maybe your question will make up a Six Pack sometime!

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#1) Barefoot Is Best

Let Thee Be Warned; Mountain Yogis Live Here! Though i have yet to shovel my entire driveway barefooted, i keep trying. winter footprints at the WF Temple Door.

Coach,
I’ve read your Teachings on the importance of being barefoot. It makes a lot of sense. However, I think I am a lost cause…my feet are sooo sensitive, I hate it! Does that mean my internal organs are totally tight?

Not so much “tight” as “de-generative.” WF is all about regeneration, from the herbs we eat to the Practices we keep. Suffocation of feet in shoes is a leading cause of all dis-ease. Tantamount is the Practice of being barefoot. Huge energy channels lace each toe and run within the ligaments and tendons of the feet. Do this as a test: sit in Virasana (see TBT). Reach back and slide your fingers between any of your middle toes. squeeze and press the bones of those toes as hard as you are willing. Tightness and pain here equate to blocked mental, emotional, organic, and spiritual tension…often stemming back from lifetimes. If you want a quick, super effective workout? Practice the above exercise for even a few minutes…remember, Supple Feet = Supple Physiology.

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#2) Mala Mobile

Neon mobiles made in China? The best mobile an infant can play with? His or her parent’s Mala!

Coach,
thank YOU for all the great “Dewa Dharma” features in DL! I KNEW you would make a great father! As a new father myself, I was wondering what type of mobile you suggest for my son’s crib? There seems to be an entire science about a kids first mobile!
L.H.
NY

Yeah, well, there are economic drivers behind all that plastic and neon…it’s the science of money and marketers trying to guilt parents who rely too much on external toys rather than skin to skin, eye to eye, heart to heart presence with their newborns. Dewa “told” me that there is nothing She treasures more than playing with my Mala as we love each other…case closed.

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#3) PowerCranks

BIKE QUESTION: there are a set of used Powercranks that may be available (cheap) locally on craigslist. Thinking of placing them on my old bike and using on the trainer if still available. I’ve read several very positive reviews on these. Your TAF?

if you have the Luxury to do so, AbSOLUTELY!!!! PowerCranks (like indoor spinner bikes) are GREAT at new neural recruiting…their downfall is that the longer you train on them, the less effective and even damaging they become. they are Big Medicine and should be used wisely.

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#4) Body Visuals

Dear Coach,
okay…don’t take this wrong but your body ROCKS! Unlike so many other personal trainers, you never go around boasting about your physique even though you can look better than many bodybuilders i’ve seen and they can’t even run around the block or have the flexibility to comb their hair! I am training really hard on the programs in your books and you keep advising us to “visualize your body…the mind creates the body.” Besides the years of sweat you put into your gym workouts (I’m gonna do it!) can you let me in on how YOU visualized YOUR body?

Nick
Santa Monica

one of my visualization photos of Frank Zane…now THAT’s an UDDIYANA BANDHA! how many yogis have a Stomach Lock like that?

Great question and i’m gonna tell you True.

When i was a skinny-ass teenager I visualized having the strength and look of Frank Zane with the flexibility of Iyengar (i did NOT want to have to look like Iyengar in order to have His command of flexbility!).

Now days? My visualizations are for a body as “supple and beautiful as a lotus stem”* with the functional strength and radiance of a spiderweb.

* from the Hatha Yoga Pradipika

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#5)

Ilgbro,
Got a yoga question for you. I’ve got a client diagnosed with ALS. This means about a 2-5 life expectancy…not good. Increasing muscle tightness and function is a problem. She can’t do floor based yoga on her feet—her balance has deteriorated too much. Is there anyone with a floor-based yoga DVD out there for people that cannot do any exercises on their feet? The key with ALS is to keep working the joints and limbs with full ROM on a daily basis.

Any ideas would be appreciated! This is the hard part of my job—something I cannot fix but at best soften only temporarily.
RJ

RJ,
my Intuitive response?

she stood on her feet too much in prior lives; probably a cow, pig, or some other Being like that. this is due to her kaphic/tamasic tendencies which she must overcome in this and future lives. like all of us unEnlightened Warriors, she has much Work to do.

1) BioBuilde (now called MAP) immediately on my “Advanced Intake” suggestions
2) Phase 1; Sunrider Herbs.
3) Viniyoga Therapy DVD’s by Gary Kraftsow.

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#6)

Coach,
Britney or Lindsay?

Oh geez.
i feel like i’m on a long road trip with ski buddies back in the day…
uhhh…

she comes into the North Hollywood Starbucks for coffee where i cop wireless when i am in LA.