Wholistic Fitness

“…until we reach enlightenment there will inevitably be doubts, because doubt is a fundamental activity of the unenlightened mind, and the only way to deal with doubts is neither to suppress nor indulge them.”
– Soygal Rinpoche

Doubt shares her gnarled roots within Fear. In fact, Doubt and Fear are symbiotic sisters; indulge in one, and the other is nourished.

Doubt leads to her very seductive cousin; Hesitation. We all know about the value of Hesitation along any sport performance or spiritual Path…”He who hesitates is,” what?

Lost. That’s right.

If you, like myself, were spiritually weaned in the extreme outdoor sports, then you know by Direct (and harsh) Experience, just how dangerous Hesitation and Doubt can be.

i recall very vividly, still to this day, perching myself upon absolutely humongous Nordic Jumping Skis (the brand name of the Scandanavian skis was – and i am not making this up – ‘Kongsberg’). i would sit in the Start Bench, waiting for the Jump to be cleared from the last ski jumper before pushing off the bench, down in a tuck (the mountain yogi’s version of ‘chair pose’ or utkatasana), bomb toward the lip of the jump, and explode off the lip and soar through the air.

Reads like fun, eh?

Yeah, well, i betcha your ashwini mudra would be pretty much puckered if you were perched at a dizzying height above that ski jump on those long skis which have not heel-locking mechanism!

Those early years of Nordic Ski Jumping were my most profound Teacher of overcoming Doubt and Hesitation.

The Key?

Well, the Key was three-fold and i now pass this Three-fold Key into your own lap as you travel your own unique Path up toward Enlightenment:

1) Be willing. (This is by far the most difficult aspect of the Key and can depend upon spiritual factors such as karma, vasana, and samskara all of which i have Taught you about in DL. some of us may never achieve our Greatest Aspirations in this lifetime due to our un-willingness to overcome our negative, lazy, and kaphic tendencies. and, that’s okay. the speed of your Enlightenment is unique to you, nobody else!)

2) Trust in your coach(es). (Teachers, Guru, Inner Being, Parents (possibly), Deities)

3) At the m(om)ent of greatest Fear, surrender into Conscious Breathing and Posture. (WF Lifestyle Principle #1; it allWays works!…funny that ‘surrender’ is a female/yin quality…so ain’t it cool that our most male/yang moments depend upon female energetics and development?)

May you look at yourself through your workouts today
May you look at yourself through your engagement of the 4 WF Lifestyle Principles (Conscious Breath and Posture, Mindfulness, Appropriate Choices, Practice)

and through your Practice today,
may you see through the misted over window
toward your Clear Light Within
and
know difference between what you’ve been Told about you,
what you Tell yourself about you,
and
most importantly,
what you truly Know about you.

that is all for today,

coach

photo info:
1) Avery Ardovino jumped 113.5 meters on her first jump to lead the women’s field at the 2007 U.S. Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Championships.
Photo by John F. Russell

2) Utah ski jumper Lindsay Van soars to her third straight National Jumping title during the 2007 U.S. Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Championships at Howelsen Hill.

3) In Nordic Combined Ski Racing, the grueling cross-country aspect always follows the Ski Jumping competition. i know of no other sport that is as wholistic as Nordic Combined Ski Racing which determines an athletes bravery, fast-twitch explosiveness, and agility during the Jumping portion, and then forces out the strength endurance and suffering capacity during the cross-country portion. Here, American Bill Demong powers up a hill along the 7.5-kilometer cross-country course at Howelsen Hill on Saturday. Demong won the large hill and Nordic combined titles at the 2007 U.S. Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Championships in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

photos online at:
http://www.steamboatpilot.com