Wholistic Fitness

Photo of Coach in Siddhasana by waynewilliamsstudio.com

In our “Meditation” Kiva Talk on April 30 we explored a lot of ideas:

• What we miss if we don’t meditate.
• The difference between “meditation” and “meditation techniques.”
• The role of Sankalpa (determination) in a fitness warrior’s lifestyle, and how it relates to meditation.
• Two very powerful quotes from Padmasambhava, the Indian sage guru and Tantric yoga master who transmitted Vajrayana Buddhism to Tibet and Bhutan in the eighth century.
• The value of “looking over your shoulder” at the long lineage of spiritual athletes behind you when you sit down to meditate.
• A short meditation through which you mindfully learn to witness the full life cycle of each breath, with counting and with Mantra.
• Why it’s important to find a meditative tool or path that resonates with you, especially in the beginning (even if you’re an elite athlete).
• The difference between knowing how to focus and knowing how to meditate.
• The fundamental Dharma teaching that always comes through in meditation (even in the first three minutes).
• Why most of us are not ready to meditate … yet.
• How what most of us call “meditation” is really Dharana (sustained concentration), how Dharana leads to Eka Graha (one-pointed concentration), and how these in sequence lead to true meditation.
• Why the way most people go about starting meditation is not a safe way to embrace, condition, and prepare the body, mind, and breath for genuine meditation.
• How the Yogic practices in Wholistic Fitness help meditation become a very real, very sacred, and deeply effective part of our journey.
• Why the science of self-transformation through yoga begins with the Yamas and Niyamas: the ethical and moral guidelines that force our spiritual practices into our everyday lives.
• Why Asana (yoga postures) were created, and how the true purpose of a “yoga class” is to prepare the students for meditation.
• Why most American yogis lose interest in the path once Pranayama is assigned as a daily practice.
• How most people don’t realize they are citizens of two worlds, and how the practice of Pratyahara teaches us to turn off the outer world in order to inspect deeply our inner world.
• How Wholistic Fitness practices help you master Dharana.
• A simple strategy for meditation that will eventually lead you to merge with the divine, and the role your memories can play in getting there.
• Why the ancient Olympians didn’t focus on material trophies.
• How D.T. Suzuki’s teaching on what happens when you lose “the spirit of repetition” explains why it’s so hard for me to keep students in Wholistic Fitness.
• How you can see the spirit of repetition in the eyes of elite athletes, yet why they often don’t understand exactly how they got to the podium.
• What it really means when you think “I can’t believe I did it!” after a success in sports.
• Why “the gem cannot be polished without friction,” why there’s no such thing as a good habit, and why as Wholistic Fitness Warriors we must make anything that is unconscious conscious.
• The three levels of Wholistic Fitness meditation (and the spontaneous fourth level that can arise).
• How to formalize your meditation practice through connection … with your source, your gurus, and your lineage.
• Five steps toward meditation.

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