Wholistic Fitness

THE YOGI COACH

A Column Where East Meets West

by steve “coach” ilg, ryt/uscf/cpt

the intent of this Column is to produce Practice Tips and Teachings that
serve to bring Westerners a clearer understanding of yogic principles and
to bring yogis an understanding of Western fitness training tenets.

click on photos to enlarge

“Putting effort toward something that has meaning and purpose never feels like work!”

-HP Yogini Katie, Receptionist at The Northern Arizona Yoga Center after i praised her for her hard work and devoted Practice. The well-taught yogi is trained to treat both praise and blame, applause and slander as does a raincoat treat raindrops.

i took these photos yesterday.

seeing this loop of barbed wire, caught in the spring runoff of Schultz Creek, shown below, across the street from my home,
reminded me that human life is naught but the “existence of successful pairings between body and soul,” as Albert Bodde put it.

the hardwiring of our body/mind lies beneath several layers of astral sheaths, much like the ice over the barbed wire. as we deepen our Practice only two things are required to unveil Truth; sweat and spirit. Let me explain; through the tapas (yogic term for fiery, determined practice) and abhyasa (steadfast perseverance) of our Solo Practices (meditation, asana, cardio, strength, and nutritional integrity) the ice begins to melt, unveiling the true Reality or Atman. as we edge ever closer to the union of our individual self with the universal self (which is the working definition of ‘yoga’ or ‘the yoking together’), we begin to see ourselves precisely for what we are; a collection of habits, tendencies, and patterns. Most of these habits stem from a fear complex and create our spiritual ignorances, our pain, addictions, and laziness when it comes to the work of Enlightenment. Ironically, it is “Finding” which makes most “Seekers” quit the spiritual journey! When we find out just how intense is the painful reality of liberating our inner self, we are shocked to the point of fear…the fear of going within, the fear of meditation which forces us to confront the random, uncontrolled thoughts that pummel our mind. So much of yoga involves attacking our weaknesses, wherever they lie. Yogis must be warriors; we must take up the DharmaSword and continue to slay those parts of us that our ego tries so hard to push away by attachment to various forms of entertainment instead of doing inner-attainment. We don’t call such points of contact with our restrictions as our “edge” for nothing! Be it an emotional edge or a physical edge when performing an asana, it is often as sharp and cutting as barbed wire due to our kleshas (afflictions) and samskaras (reverberations/imprints) gathered from countless lifetimes.

the turbulence of the water in my photo re-Minded me of samsara; the chronic taking and leaving of lives caught up in the velocities of the Outer World.

only a Wise Dharma Teacher – one who has traveled such steep and direct inner terrain – can impart techniques to strengthen the emissions from our body and soul. It all comes down to what i call; ‘Vibrational Fitness’…elevating the vibrational rate of our cells to Rise Above everything from illness and injury to overcoming our kleshas and samskaras. Without a strong, steadfast personal Practice, our emissions weaken, the astral magnetism that connects our current body with our soul can no longer be maintained. Eventually, death arrives and into the Bardo we go again. This is why the first thing that Buddha taught upon His Enlightenment was that, “Life is suffering.”

Only through abhyasa guided by ones Teacher(s) will our emissions strengthen in a natural, progressive manner toward that ultimate podium of the human race; Enlightenment. i will speak more on this during my May 10th seminar, “The Energetics of Enlightenment” at NYAC.

It is said that one of the first Signs of having been a yogi in a past life is the immediate presence of beautiful, loving, and fierce DharmaTeachers early in life. One of my first Teachers was my childhood wolf, Apache. It was he who taught me the Dharma while we ran and sat still each and every day among the alpine lakes, rivers, and creeks of the San Juan Mountains above Durango, Colorado. To this day whenever i hear an alpine creek, the DharmaTeachings seem to call to and fall upon my cells from every gurgle within the brook, each birdsong upon the pine limbs, and from the delightful, ancient lichens upon the rocks.

Sure, living and Practicing here beneath the Sacred Peak is all-Ways fantastic for receiving natural Dharma, however,
when this feeble mountain yogi is gifted the sounds of a creek?

Everything dances with Dharma; even barbed wire snagged in the rolling waters of a soon to disappear mountain creek.

Coming Up Next in THE YOGI COACH:
Neural Plasticity and Spiritual Elasticity