Wholistic Fitness

as a yogi,

feeble ilg realizes “i’m” to remain as much as possible in the Eternal Now.

however,

because ilg is such an astonishingly feeble yogi,

“i’ve” been very much taken out of the Present M(om)ent

because of a Deep Love for winter weather.

i nearly pack’d up my Clan to drive over to Telluride (5 hour drive) to immerse my Soul in Snow.

thankfully, it looks like a nifty-sized winter storm is going to party hardy here,

so i’ll stay here, chop wood, and enjoy the snow show!

how i can still let something as simple as a possible snow storm pull me out of the

Present M(om)ment, rip away my Mantra, and send my fiercely fought for “Calm Center” into a quiggly mass of energetic jiggliness?

the reason

begins a long time ago in a magic kingdom of outdoor athletes known as Durango, Colorado…

small kid ilg grew up 4 miles out of town.

if you could find (that’s a big ‘if’),

it would likely be in one of four main

activities of my young mountain yogi life;

1) either running around half naked with my bow, quiver, and Wolf

2)riding a dirt motorcycle with Bob Balliger, creating by motorcycles what would later become world-famous singletracks for mountain bikers),

3) riding one of Balliger’s horses across all over.

4) tubing down Junction Creek

in winter,

your options for finding me narrowed;

you could track me on either Snowshoes or Skis anywhere in the San Juan National Forest,an area from east to west of more than 120 miles and from north to south more than 60 miles, 1,869,931 acres**.

that “town” is more than a town however.

at least to me, it was.

is.

it’s a mountain town.

it’s a mountain nirvana.

and i was raised beneath the Sacred Mountain of the North:

Mount Hesperus – Dibé Nitsaa (Big Mountain Sheep) – Obsidian Mountain

Sacred Mountain of the North

La Plata Mountains, Colorado*.

when my family would take me into town in winter,

upon seeing melting snows upon the streets of Durango, Colorado as a child,

tears of sadness would run down my cheeks…i felt such sympathy for the snowflakes

which ‘had to fall’ on the dirty, salt and cinder mush of a sloppy street instead of

falling upon the silvery peaks.

i reckon that was one of my first cellular understandings of the workings of karma and guna.

also came another Realization with which ilg has struggled gamely with “my” whole life.

in an Outer World devoted to the rational man,

the Higher “I” in myself,

realized that rationality did not hit upon my HeartSpace

with nearly the Sacred Joy as did non-rational things…

running and snowshoeing and skiing with my Wolf,

climbing up rocks to no discernible purpose,

lying on my back, Wolf as a pillow, staring up at the cobalt sky beyond the quaking leaves of an aspen grove.

in an Outer World devoted to the rational man,

i was not.

May Your Practice Be Graced With inSight, inVigor, and inThusiasm…

thanks for reading,

thanks for feeling,

thanks for supporting

the Precious Power of our humble Path of Light in Kali Yuga.

love,

coach ilg

*The Navajos belief is that their Creator placed them on the land between the following 4 mountains representing the 4 cardinal directions:

Mount Blanca (Tsisnaasjini’ – Dawn or White Shell Mountain)

Sacred Mountain of the East

near Alamosa in San Luis Valley, Colorado

Mount Taylor (Tsoodzil – Blue Bead or Turquoise Mountain)

Sacred Mountain of the South

north of Laguna, New Mexico

San Francisco Peaks (Doko’oosliid – Abalone Shell Mountain)

Sacred Mountain of the West

near Flagstaff, Arizona

Mount Hesperus Dibé Nitsaa (Big Mountain Sheep) – Obsidian Mountain

Sacred Mountain of the North

La Plata Mountains, Colorado

**>The San Juan National Forest is located in southwestern Colorado on the western slope of the Continental Divide. It covers an area from east to west of more than 120 miles and from north to south more than 60 miles, 1,869,931 acres of public-owned land.

Alpine lakes and meadows, canyons, waterfalls, cataracts, unusual geologic formations, historic mines, and broad variations in elevation and climate characterize this area.

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