Wholistic Fitness

What About Coffee?

(from a Wholistic Fitness™ perspective)

by steve ilg, cpt/uscf/ryt

an uncaffeinated ilg the other day,  railing to a new PR on my weekly uphill MTB Time Trial workout…i don’t think my nerves would be quite as healthy as they are if i drank as much coffee as many athletes do!   just a smidgen feel like Appropriate Action for me…how about you?

Like a prelude ritual before sleeping,  i program our coffee maker.   Doesn’t matter that i have been a devoted lifelong Herbal Tea consumer…making my early morning coffee is as stalwart in consistency as is Grandfather Sun cracking open Father Sky’s heartspace.

Each morning, as if on astral cue,  i awake without external alarm just before the coffee maker goes off.   Remaining in the warm bivouac of nestled blankets like some sort of bird capable yet unwilling to fly just yet,  i can hear the coffee machine percolating from the tawny twilight.  What makes that sound so comforting?  Is it in our DNA at this point in our human evolution to become washed with a sense of “it’s-all-gonna-be-awlright” when we hear, smell, or taste coffee as each day dawns?

Not wishing to bore thee with all the predicable arguments for and against coffee when it comes to health, sport performance, and general well being,  i just wish to take a stance on my philosophy when it comes to coffee.   Since it is my stance, it immediately becomes interwoven into the philosophies and tenets of Wholistic Fitness®,  so i best just mind my words, eh?

The first thing that hits ilg is that coffee should not be considered ‘bad’…for some constitutions (yogically speaking),  coffee can incite pranic distribution to fuel the agni. Coffee consumption in moderation can be nectar for some,  and a trigger of neural pandemonium for others.  Tread carefully.   One thing is for certain,  overdoing the java will certainly dismantle anyone’s neurohormonal integrity with Manjushree like efficiency.   Take Buddha’s counsel;  Moderation in everything. Especially the cups of joe.

For ilg at this station in my life and Practice?  Just smelling it might be enough for one day.   On another day?   2 cups.  Max.   Unlike many athletes with whom i compete,  my personal intake occurs very early (sometimes 4:40 am) and the amount is smidgen;  half to one cup.  That is all.  Why?  As our cellular fitness becomes more clear and efficient,  so too does our sensitivity and our tolerance toward ‘yang‘ or assertive qualities and substances.

I treat coffee as i do a medicinal/royal herb.   Let me explain.   Herbs come in three forms;  utility, royal, and toxic.

Utility Herbs are like the herbs in your cupboard;  the Thyme, Oregano, et. al…there is little if any nutritive value and such herbs are used mainly for taste.

Royal Herbs are whole-food tonics that are intended to be used each day and the more you eat them, the more supportive and cleansing they become to the body’s physiology.  Many of you know that i have been a SUNRIDER® Herb Distributor since 1983…the Sunrider Herbs are our planets highest, most potent  treasure of Whole Food, Royal herbs.

Toxic Herbs are intended to be used only in acute healing situations to beef up a weakened chi or pranic blockage.  Sadly,  many of today’s “energy drinks’ include skyscraper amounts of toxic herbs and worse, are not wisely profiled with other Toxic Herbs in the same beverage.  Another reason why the sudden spike of attention-deficent disorders has been on the steady rise.

When i drink coffee, i do so in small dosages with plenty of Gratitude and my intent is focused:   to spark my early morning bowel movement which is a proven effect from coffee consumption.   Once that eliminative climax occurs?  Then it is off to the inner world for me;   after eliminating, I begin an Early Morning Yoga Ritual of several inward Practices which might seem to you to be quite extraordinary,  yet what feels to me to be a simple, beautiful, poetic opening to my day.   i am speaking here of such Practices like Neti (nasal washing),  Pranayama (yogic breathing exercises), Asana (yogic postures) and Meditation.    Don’t be impressed.   As a broken back thriver,  i simply have to do these Practices – often before my Partner and Child even awaken – just to be able to do that which ilg does each day.

If you got anything from this purge,  i pray that it elevates the role and impact of coffee upon (y)our cellular environment.  It’s easy to abuse coffee as if it is not a drug.  It is.  We build a tolerance toward its intake which creates a co-dependant relationship upon it.   Daily discipline must be used appropriately when it comes to coffee consumption.   Sure, for athletes coffee will dilate the venous system, quicken the pulses of the bodily fluids, and enhance mental acuity….for a short while.   The other side of this upside is predictably karmic;  what goes around comes around…and the drop from a caffeine high has resulted in a panoply of performance disasters for most of us, regardless of whether we are using coffee’s energetic charms for occupational or sport performance heightening.  It’s not that coffee is inherently bad for us.  As alluded earlier,  for some body compositions,  it’s quite helpful as a metabolic spark plug.  For others,  it wires an already hard-wired constitution which creates wholistic fatigue over the long run.

Some Wholistic Fitness™ considerations to coffee drinking:

•)   treat coffee with Gratitude;  what a far less lively plane(t) it would be without this amazing bean!

•)  treat coffee as a medicinal herb…it is!

•)  don’t overdrink de-caffeinated coffee thinking that it’s ‘better for you’ over the long term.

•)  1 cup/daily is a wise limit for WF Students who love their joe.

•)  1/2 cup is enough to incite peristalsis. if you are using coffee to motivate your morning bowel movement…wait 20 minutes after drinking a half cup before pouring another

•)  i’ve never earned a podium from drinking coffee,  yet i have lost podiums due to too much coffee drinking and a resultant digestive/energetic snafu as a result.

•)  on race days,  i rarely drink coffee…my nervousness/excitement spurs my bowel movement(s) before the race so, why stress my Digestive/Elimination system on Race Morning?

•)  drinking coffee is awesome…so is NOT becoming Attached to drinking coffee!

May this help…

head bowed,

coach