Wholistic Fitness

Metaphysical Teachings From Pagosa Duathlon – Race Report #1

“To excel in a sport is not mastery of self-cultivation.”
– steve ilg

photo of coach racing at Pagosa Mountain Duathlon last month, shortly before a high-speed crash. coach went on to win by a 20-second margin. photo by Tom Steen

The spiritual advantages of being an absolutely mediocre athlete – or yogi – vastly outweigh the same for the naturally gifted. The reason is simple, yet you may need to concentrate on this key. Here it is: We – the middling fitness warriors – quickly reach our spiritually potent “edge” far faster, far more poignantly than do the genetically and karmically resplendent.

Having stated that, ilg understands all too well that when it is you in the driver’s seat of an entire life of middling talent and capacity, such spiritual advantages often appear as “frustration” to our ego. Which is why, most average athletes and yogis quit the long and arduous Path of Self Cultivation through Sweat. Sad. If ilg had a more potent voice and platform from which to influence the masses, ilg would speak boldly and confidently and in support of middling warriors like myself.

So, what i will attempt to do in the course of the next DL’s is to draw out the spiritual teachings of an unexceptional (me) fitness warrior whose sole focus is on wholeness, not specialization of fitness, and how that can – sometimes – result in an exceptional spiritual and competitive experience filled with absolute and endless divinity. So, if this type of stuff is what lubes your chain, and you don’t mind reading and seeing some true Bhagavad-Gita like blood-and-guts warrior spiritual teachings, ilg humbly invites you to take this Pagosa Race Report Series and enjoy it for what it is.

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Reaching Our Spiritual Edge – We Must Make It More Available, Not Less

I’m going to repeat the key affirmation from my opening:
We – the average fitness warriors – quickly reach the spiritually potent “edge” far faster, far more poignantly than do the genetically and karmically resplendent.

Growth in a spiritual context cannot come from comfort. A cell must divide. In that intensity of division at the molecular, vibratory level – lies the rajasic quality of our UniVersal nature which is the same yearning toward Enlightenment. Comfort equals stagnation. Genuine growth – and thus, all Healing – must take its origins not from stagnation and comfort, but rather from turbulent intensity. That is, after all, what greets each of us at our Last Gasp, when we eventually exhale and can no longer draw an inhale…our Bardo Entry. Such an Entry is not one of comfort and stagnation to a mind and ego and consciousness long fastened to a physical body which suddenly grows cold and deadens.

Now that i have you grounded in the understanding of the value of intensity over comfort, lets come back to the spiritual advantages of living a life of average capacities and let the hero’s shift for themselves.

This spiritual advantages of the mediocre warrior (which the Buddha heralded as “The Middle Path Warrior”) holds true across the physiologic spectrum. For instance, in yoga practice, we Middle Path’ers (thankfully) do NOT need to twist and stretch and compress our tight bodies into koan-like contortions in order to reach a deep place of inner understanding or – for that matter – divinity. i’ve been practicing asana for over 30 years and i remain Blessed in the sense that even the simplest of postures – a Warrior One or Downward Dog – still rivets my attention by way of reaching a rich ‘edge’ immediately. Within a few breaths of trying to square off my twisted sister of a smashed pelvis, ilg is seeing, feeling, loving, and sometimes cursing all that is go(o)d within me! For me, yoga is never boring. For me, not doing yoga is not an option. It’s my Pathway Higher…and, to me, everything is yoga.

up next in this Series:

An InterDisciplinary Journey Of Easily Attainable Edges; Welcome to Wholistic Fitness! for DL Subscribers only