Wholistic Fitness

What? Me Worry?
What? Did i look stressed here?
Self photo taken one week ago back in Baderville, Arizona surrounded by two oceans; an outer ocean of unfathomable clutter and moving boxes and another inner ocean of my own samsara.

at the point i took the above shot in our move, Ananda and Dewa had already taken off for Durango in Cammy…one of our two cars. i was left alone with the enormous ‘conference center’ of our home to finish packing, loading, hooking up and towing Bala our Honda Element, and – of course – getting Charlie our Cat Being into a carrier and driving 255 miles in a 24-foot U-Haul Beast.

Shiva’s unique brand of humor had a wonderful time with me. me…who…had decades earlier …had somewhat naively yet zealously prayed to be Trained by the Highest Deities of my Lineage for the “Advanced Course” in spiritual penetration of everyday life.

Well…30+ years later and Their tests have lost none of their Zip.

Come moving day, U-Haul had somehow lost my “reserved” Moving Van. i was forced to wait a day longer in a house chaotic with boxes, no food, no bed and worse, i had to put on Hold all my Most Faithful Flagstaff Warriors who stepped up to help me move: Warrior Leaf, Patki, Sara, Bellmont Drew, Yogi Mitch, Daryl and Big Kai. how these friends Stepped Up and the amount of work they did to move me has been etched into my Soul; i am humbled by their Grace and Strength.

ilg figured this U-Haul Snafu was Deity play. sure enough the answer was assured; the lost Moving Van was really a Divine Interruption creating the space in which i could spend a final night, solo, doing yoga and meditation beneath the Sacred Peak. what a strange Ashram i found myself in! the electricity that night went out while i was meditating in a bare, cold room..a room that was just a day earlier, Ananda’s and my bedroom. a blizzard moved in; always a harbinger of personal spiritual ripeness for me (the night i broke my spine on Longs Peak, a blizzard came in). sure enough; i had a Divine Visitation from an Embryo Being of Light and with it came Higher Instruction which ilg cannot share with you right now; the Teaching is this – apparent ‘inconveniences’ are rarely that. The Warrior of Wholeness MUST IMMEDIATELY question any major ‘inconvenience’ and mine it for spiritual clues, for such major inconveniences are, in divine fact, masked beacons of the Higher Ones ready to test, to impart, to Gift in the most awesome of Ways.

This move, and ilg has done many, was brutal…yet all of it was permeated by a profound sense of spiritual transcend-dance…

this is my final shot of Doko Oosliid taken during my forced Ashram night. Doko’s unmatched Pranic Carpet gave Ananda and i an unbelievably precious Rinpoche of a daughter and served with majestic divine force an etheral Healing Balm for myself after living in Los Angeles for ten years. She also served as a transitional palace within the Ponderosa for Ananda to ease into mountain living after a life spent in big cities. ilg cannot speak in more glorious nor humble enough terms of the Flagstaff folk; so stunningly rich in humility and personal integrity. Doko Oosliid must be climbed as Pilgrimage to anyone who cannot be fortunate enough to live beneath Her shaktipata*.

for those of us on the Advanced Course of Wholeness; one of the Highest Trainings is to pull up thy roots.
just move.
go.
to hell with the job.
Trust in Brahman to provide.
86 all the ‘connections’ you and your family have.
the Divine Mother will certainly provide more.
just go.
do not be afraid.
moving is just a Bardo Realm.
throw off this lifestyle and home that you mistakenly accept as ‘yours.’
just move
and use it as training for when you must throw off this body that you erroneously think is ‘yours.’

and then; watch your mind closely as the you know what begins hitting the fan!

as John Cage put it; “I move to keep myself whole.”

With a sigh, ilg took leave of Doko Oosliid and exchanged this front-yard view for…

this shot was taken the day before yesterday on the Animas River, not 40′ from where i sit here in my new home office, typing this out to you with Breath and Posture intact. yes…i can catch Rocky Mountain Trout for breakfast, if desired, right outside my front door. never had self-caught wild Trout and Eggs for breakfast? it’s Tribal and it’s go(o)d.

same spot in our new front-yard; this time looking upstream;
Ananda, Dewachen, and Baby Kai.

we are still Night Skiing on “Chapman Hill”…an -in-town ski hill where i learned to ski and nordic jump. the three nordic jumps have long been abandoned, replaced by a year-round skating rink, BMX course, and snowplay area. this photo is taken from our front door. Ft. Lewis College is on top of Chapman Hill, as is a completely groomed and maintained nordic skiing track system on Hillcrest Golf Course.

Taken yesterday…our front yard – both Bala and Cammy are in the background.
(special note to Esteemed Student LH; your boundless Love for me is evident…you’ve manifested your Love in the form of an astral double of your car; it is an exact look-alike of your car in Flagstaff and is parked directly in front of our new home and has not moved once since we’ve been here! in fact, we call the car, “Leslie” and think of you and Kai several times throughout our days; well done!)

Both of my girls have been giggle-drunk on the Pranic Intoxication inherent to living on the banks of the Sacred Animas; Ananda…my Miami girl – starved for moisture – has absolutely transformed; her skin now pregnant with humidity and both of the girls have benefited from dropping 1,000′ in altitude. Dewa’s appetite is comparably ravenous and all of our sleep qualities have increased. Durango sits at about 6,600′ and the delightful misty mornings next to Mother River has filled an etheral nutritional gap created by the higher, drier, windier high country of northern Arizona.

the street you see in front of our new home (East 2nd Avenue just south of 32nd Street bridge) is part of the Animas River Pathway and we see a parade of recreational to professional cyclists and runners, cardio commuters, strollers, and pedestrians all day long outside our home…it’s great. the market is one block away…we walk to get our food now instead of driving 30k. the recycling station is also one block away. the massive Durango Recreation Center and it’s fantastic Iron Temple, aquatic center, and climbing wall is two blocks away in the other direction and Dewa has her choice of three different playgrounds located within three blocks.

in the flicker of a few days, we went from backcountry hicks to urban fitness warriors within the embrace of a wild river and mountain trail system!

you might say ilg exchanged a front-yard Mountain for a front-yard River…
and this River… “Rio de las Animas Perdidas” – River of the Lost Souls – is to me…the upper Ganges of Turtle Island.

this last wild river of Colorado (completely un-dammed) is the spiritual birthplace of WF…and ilg is now ready to unleash again the Flowing River of WF at a whole new Level…
a whole new interactive website…

ilg feels sacred within each cell of my body…
i tingle with anticipation to begin developing a new HP Yoga and WF Sangha
here…

and so… with my Clan intact, back h(om)e…ilg thanks you for your Practice of Patience and the years ahead vibrate with deep spiritual potency created by fitness radiance…

this is a h(om)e that my Daughter Dewachen will now know as her own…

when i see Dewa walking the narrow tracks of the ‘little choo choo train’ which chugs in front of our new h(om)e twice per day…it rockets me back forty years to a time when i too, walked these same tracks and felt the immense sacred outdoor playground which is Durango within my cells.

Seeing Durango through the eyes of my daugther and through Ananda’s re-Awakened heart…ilg could not be any happier.

* shaktipatka; the inherent capacity to spontaneous awaken the latent spiritual force within all Beings.

** ‘my Beloved La Plata Mountains’; La Plata Mountains, part of the San Juan Mountain range in Southern Colorado, as seen from Escalante Pueblo, looking northeast. 205mm focal length, used a tripod. Zoom out to wide angle view

The mountain peaks here, from left to right, are Hesperus Mountain (13,232ft), Lavender Peak(~13,180ft), Mount Moss(13,192ft), Babcock Peak(13,149ft), and Burwell Peak(12,664ft) — And the site I’m standing at is about 6,936ft elevation.

photo on Flicker by Peapicker; thank you!