Wholistic Fitness

photo by Ananda; coach prepares to climb higher. Southern Utah. “Climbing has all-ways been the strongest Metaphor for my own spiritual journey. as a child, my entire Being was and remains only interested in that path which leads ever Higher.” – coach ilg

“Two people have been living in you all your life. One is the ego, garrulous, demanding, hysterical, calculating; the other is the hidden spiritual being, whose still voice of wisdom you have only rarely heard or attended to. As you listen more and more to the teachings, contemplate them, and integrate them into your life, your inner voice, your innate wisdom of discernment, what we call in Buddhism “discriminating awareness,” is awakened and strengthened, and you begin to distinguish between its guidance and the various clamorous and enthralling voices of ego. The memory of your real nature, with all its splendor and confidence, begins to return to you.

You will find, in fact, that you have uncovered in yourself your own wise guide, and as the voice of your wise guide, or discriminating awareness, grows stronger and clearer, you will start to distinguish between its truth and the various deceptions of the ego, and you will be able to listen to it with discernment and confidence.”
– Sogyal Rinpoche

WF Case Study; A Discriminating Awareness Shift;
i give you WF Devotee Rich who wrote recently in the WF SanghaLounge

“I live in an urban/suburban place where pear-shaped people jockey for the “front row” parking spots at the super market. I will also say (reveal) that I spent an unpleasant hour near the front door of a local country club today watching the comings and goings of corporate dudes –males entirely–they were all 30-something to 50-something corporate functionaries- dropping off or directing the retrieval of their bags (golf). The average guy I watched was five ten and two-twenty. Now, I know some corporate guys who are kick-ass fitness nuts but those are not the ones I saw at 1 pm today as I sat waiting for my wife to meet the “event coordinator” (looking for a place for daughter’s wedding and it won’t be this one) at this place. I had read today’s DL just before so the context of my vision was el coache’s walk and talk. Alas, it wasn’t fair. These marshmallow dudes probably know nothing of yoga, little in their recent memory of the weight room and many were sweaty from the walk from their cart to the “lie” of their ball a few feet away from the conveyance). Sorry for this little rant but that’s what may happen when you read DL and then go and watch “corporate man” in action (again, in fairness, I am stereotyping, but, in fact, this is what I saw/experienced today).

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Coach’s Note:
it requires gut-wrenching InSights like this one to turn the Knob of Transformation. in each individual lies a storehouse of spiritual energy. in the non-Practitioner, this storehouse is dilluted and wasted in manners of sexual orgasms/pursuits thereof, gossip, and addiction to sense pleasure/entertainment.

through meditation, as outlined in the WF Pathway or others, the descent of the Divine occurs along with a tangible sense of the chidakasha (if you have questions on these terms which i’ve already Taught you in DL, ask me in the DL section of the SanghaLounge…if your sincerity to Learn is deep, i’ll answer, don’t worry).

as a result from a balancing of the Inner and Outer Worlds,
the mind grows more subtle…her Spiritual level rises, and your actions are expressed more dharmically and more dramatically…this is what brings about (eventually) the union or yoga of purusha and prakriti.

the power of soul increases in proportion to the subtleness of mind.

meditation increases subtleness of mind
unConscious behavior decreases it.
so too do our lazy habits, negative tendencies, and lack of gumption for inner attainment.

May we realize our Yoga is everywhere,
and our Teachers are our circumstances…

head bowed,

your feeble ilg