Wholistic Fitness

the Aurora Borealis effect seen over my h(om)etown and still wild and sacred Animas River last night –  comment below if you know how far away from where you live is the nearest wild river (a river that has zero man made dams along its entire length) and how far away it is from you and if you’ve ever explored/played/prayed at her.  another amazing pic by Sandra Lee.

as part of wholistic aging training,  ilg has taken up a couple of mind-testing/memory challenging things like digital chess, online foreign language learning, crosswords, board games, and watching Jeopardy archives on my iPad.   re; Jeopardy – HOW EFF’ing baddass do you feel when YOU get the answer when the entire panel doesn’t get it,  especially when there is like a $230,000+ consecutive champion on the panel!??! omg!

this question was one such m(om)ent when feeble ilg got it immediately due to my past history as perhaps America’s first ever certified Pilates teacher under Stephan Frease.

Stephan was featured in TIME Magazine in the later ’70’s for bringing Pilates to Turtle Island (aka; America).   He did so by opening his own studio (and thus the first ever Pilates Studio in America) in Beverly Hills just off Rodeo Drive.   His second studio was at Farentinos Gym in Boulder, Colorado where a very young feeble ilg was already Assistant Head Trainer.

Stephan was gorgeous.  Long flowing blonde hair, tanned Swedish skin never sweated, just glistened.   His riz knocked both males and females off their center.  ilg recalls his biceps femoris (aka; hamstrings)…never had bodybuilder ilg seen such exquisite development and delineation along the IT Band/Bicep Femoris…literally his hammies were equal in girth to his breathtaking quadriceps.  He called EVERYONE “Darling”… drawing out the AHHHH.  Wolf like indigo blue eyes riveted your attempt to not stare at his chiseled face and sculpted body which was both effeminate and insanely masculine at the same.  From that point on, ilg wanted to sculpt my own physique likewise.   We trained together as brothers.  ilg moved Stephans  stuff out to Beverly Hills in a UHAUL for free, under his captivating wish.  Stephan had an exemplary young son from a former relationship (Stephan had many).  Devon was his name.  FANTASTIC kid that immediately took to ilg and Jimmy Radcliffe the Head Trainer at Farentinos.   Jimmy and ilg would teach Devon plyometrics (we authored, HIGH POWERED PLYOMETRICS- the first ever published books on Plyometrics).  We three were like the 3 Amigos, and Stephan’s smile was full send when he saw Devon training and hanging with us.

ilg would stay with Stephan in both Beverly Hills and Boulder to teach Pilates.  the client list was bipolar;  in BH is was training celebs in the first gen of Pilates students who would ignite the now wildfire popularity of Pilates; Daryl Hannah, Brooke Shields, Cindy Crawford, Rae Dawn Chong, et. al.   In Boulder?  We would train elite rock climbers, pro cyclists, and dancers (most of whom were trusting feeble ilg’s encouragement to try this exotic new form of training under this god-like aura of a man, Stephan).   Stephan would take ilg to Pilates workshops across the country in fancy hotels;  Aspen, NYC, LA, Miami… crowds everywhere – 99.9% female – would flock to watch and learn about this new Pilates fitness sensation.  ilg was in bliss surfing the wake of Stephan’s tsunami.

as Stephan was riding the high life,  Devon was diagnosed with a rare form of childhood cancer.

soon, instead of teaching Devon how to jump explosively onto the front desk counter of Farentinos Gym,  Jimmy and ilg were holding Devon’s hand as tubes were hooked up into his young body in the hospital.  Stephan tried, but couldn’t hang with this plot twist to his fame.

Devon died.

ilg recalls basically being Stephans manager for his Pilates gigs.  He was devastated. understandably.  before a workshop at a fancy Denver Spa/Gym,  ilg found Stephan in the loclkeroom … he was sucking off a vodka bottle and looked at ilg like a deer frightened by headlights at night.

forget the time line, yet Stephan committed suicide within 10 months after Devon died.

as ilg types this to you,  one of Stephan’s original art pieces is 3 feet away over my right shoulder.   his artwork was his refuge after losing Devon.

The Buddha said, “The greatest meditation of all is meditation upon your own death.” 

how many of us are brave enough to consistently engage that meditation?

all of which brings feeble dharma teacher to… this morning!   Dewa – here for a short summer break before returning to Luther College in northern Iowa – hooked up with her ol’ man to climb…

ilg leading what we THOUGHT was a super easy fun 5.6?
turned out to be quite the engaging test…
yet, made it to the top and set up a TR (top rope)  for Dewa who took a slightly different line..

and used the TR to practice leading by second clipping a drag rope (green rope pictured above)…

then,
since having our adrenaline spike was not enough,

we went fishing together for the first time in several years.

feeble ilg raised Dewa as a fisherperson;  by age 8 she knew how to bait, fish for, set a hook, reel in, capture, gut, clean, and cook a Fish Being.

we did ok today… caught 8 Fish Beings when those around us struggled to catch any…we’re basically semi pro fishers, just saying.  actually, Dewa won a fishing tournament when she was like 10 years old.   we kept 5 Fish Beings…

both Dewa and Daddy gutted, cleaned and …

cooked these BEAUTIFUL Fish Beings…

we spoke at length about how EVERYONE should at least ONCE A YEAR do what it takes to learn how to catch, clean, and cook their own flesh foods to help restore SANCTITY to their eating.

Blessed Be Thy Practice of Wholistic Fitness® since 1981