Wholistic Fitness

GOULISHING GO(O)D STUDENT INPUT!..Plus: KNOWING CIHNA…and…WF PRODUCES ANOTHER YOGA TEACHER!

i
LOVE
Halloween!!!!
Always have! Hec, back in Boulder, during the crazy “Mall Crawl” days, i once got toted off by the Mounted Police for climbing up a streetlight post, dangling at arms length far above the throbbing costumed masses, before letting go and allowing them to catch me! Shame, they eventually cancelled the event. Then there was the Halloween party when i jumped off a balcony into 62-year old Ven Barclay’s arms…oooof! ( I bow to Venerable Ven! there is a great picture of this Ageless Warrior in THE WINTER ATHLETE). This year, our first beneath the Sacred Peak, Ananda and i had Two Tree Manor cranking out the frightfest! Cryin’ shame there aren’t more kids out on the streets…so scared of so many things, these days…all these pre-fabricated “haunted houses” at Malls to “invite more safety” into Halloween…oh, give me a BREAK! The more we insulate our society from “bad things” the more paranoia we weave into the fabric of our society! Much better to breed Tiny Warriors of the Heart, not Tiny Worriers of a Troubled Mind.
Our Beloved Witch Ananda would charm the kiddies toward the treats, while i…the Faceless Spirit Ninja would sneak up behind them and proceed to basically, well…let’s just say we heard a lot of screams…Two Tree Manor was voted, “Totally the BEST house on the block to trick and treat at! Those guys were TIGHT!”

You all ready for another great week of INSPIRATIONAL and INFORMATIVE CHI for your Practice on DL?!

I am!

let’s git it rolling, baby!

how about a quote from the Great Emerson, before some Student Input to get us started? Man, i love this Path! and i LOVE YOUR DEVOTION to WHOLISTIC FITNESS! “The Path works, when you work the Path!” Since 1982, and still WAAAAY out front, baby!

namaste,
coach ilg

****

“This time like all times, is a very good one if we but know what to do with it.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

***
STUDENT SASSO’s COMPASSIONATE HEART CONTINUES TO OPEN…

Dear Coach,
I was cleaning up the garden yesterday. Pulling up the tomato plants and apologizing to each one for not being a better caretaker. Very sad. They were still making tomatoes, the frost touched the green ones, though, and I couldn�t really use them for anything. I put the plants out on a compost heap where the deer can get them � I hope they like the treat. I just feel like I let my garden down this year. My schedule was so packed with work that I didn�t take the time to harvest vegetables as they came along. So, tomatoes would grow ripe and then soft and then rot. And beans would grow large and tough on the vines. We certainly ate a lot from the garden, however I don�t have as much garden goodness stored away in the freezer for the coming winter.
Love,
Anne

COACH REPLIES:
Student SassoSan,
your Heart is opening.
feeling Compassion for All Living Things
is true and deep Cihna*.

i bow to the strength and devotion of your WF Practice…

namaste,
coach ilg

* Cihna; Positive Sign of Upward Advancement in Spiritual Work. i spend much of my coaching searching for various cihna in my Online Students. More times than not, cihna is subtle, often too subtle for the new student who lacks sophistication in their Awareness, to pick up. According to the Markandeya-Purana, some of the first signs of cihna are enthusiasm, health, gentleness, pleasant odor, scant urine, beauty, clarity, and softness of voice. Then, there are the intermediate and more advanced cihna of which you have read about in DL, i mentioned at least a few such Signs during my Snowshoe essays last month. I suggest the non-formal Student of WF, use their tool of unconditional Awareness to search, spotlight like, for the above mentioned beginning levels of cihna in their daily life. Getting on the SUNRIDER herbs accelerates the aspirant quickly through these beginning training effects as does a formal Online WF Training program, however, many non-formal Students of WF write me letters loaded with the obvious cihna from their Practice of WF lifestyle principles, nutritional guidelines, and exercise programs set forth in my books and yoga dvds.

***
JK GOES OFF; FOR A MOMENT ON IGNOBLE VEGETARIANS

Steve,
Amazing how people get so insulated from life and death. I have fresh salmon in the freezer I caught in late July in Vancouver. No hormone-laced, dog-food fed, farm salmon here. Just about as clean as you can get. Salmon lovers have no problem eating that. However, I tell them that the goose, duck or quail they’re eating was “harvested”, cleaned and prepared by my hands, they lose their appetite. One actually told me she would eat it if it came from the grocery store and was shrink wrapped in white plastic.

If you choose to eat meat, don’t insulate yourself from the life that you’ve taken. That goes for plants too. More people should spend some time on the farm to gain an appreciation of the food that is on their table. For starters, we’d have a lot more vegetarians and, more important, fewer hypocrites.

Awrighty…off my soapbox here and back to work.
But first, an Ilg Supreme is calling.

John

***

NON FORMAL STUDENT SUET MINES DL ARCHIVES AND COMES UP WITH MANY GEMS AND ONE SHINING JEWEL:

Dear Coach & Ananda,

�i must trust what my Tibetan Teachers taught me;
Ripples make waves.� � Coach Ilg

I was in-joying the DL archives for the past hour and
came upon the above. Once again, your practice has
struck my chord. Ripples do make waves. The Chi of
your masters has spread through you, unto my feeble
self and unto people around me.

I know this to be true because ever since the WF path
found me, I have been radiating like never before.
People� unfamiliar person� have been coming up to me
just to say �hello� and so kindly offered me smile.
When I dine out, I am given discounts without
asking/expecting for it.

When I recently submitted my resignation letter, my
boss so lovingly gave me his blessings and
well-wishes� This was so astonishing that you could�ve
knocked me over with a feather!

I am in awe� I am humbled. All these are come from the
seeds my Teachers so patiently and faithfully planted
throughout their lives. May I continue to be strong in
my practice and hopefully one day that I too will
in-spire another being.

THANK YOU�

Om Shanti,
Suet

{PS: DL READERS…HOW MANY SIGNS OF CIHNA ARE PRESENT IN SUET’s LETTER?!..DID I MENTION HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS POWERFUL PATH AND HER STUDENTS?!}

***

Hi Coach,
Bright, as in Light, idea. My head is bowed to you and your nobility. My palms are together at my third eye, closed eyes
looking inward,… I salute you with a slow ujayii out breath.

Above L-R; the Newest Yoga Teacher in the Tribe; Bryan Hantman of Clan Haku. Bryan learning just how hard it is to follow the Master’s footsteps while on Private Intensive with Coach Ilg in LA two winters ago. Bryan’s WF Developed Sitting Posture.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Bryan Hantman, RYT200, began studying yoga at the age
of 19 in 1992 and started teaching roughly ten years
later. Nature, Steve Ilg and Haku Hatsuiku, and
certified Iyengars in the Washington, DC, area are his
principal teachers. He is dedicated to teaching yoga
as a tool to help people live fully and richly through
the development and practice of awareness,
self-acceptance, love, kindness, and inner power. An
award-winning athlete, he is interested in the
multidimensional benefits of asana, pranayama, and
meditation on athletic performance. His short term
plans include bringing a spin-yoga class to his local
gym, teaching a weekly class for triathletes and
cyclists during the upcoming off season, and becoming
part of the core teachers at Sanctuary Yoga Center in
Oella, MD. Bryan is Johnny G Spinning certified and
has been studying Wholistic Fitness since 2002.

Bryan earned his yoga certification through a 10-month
program at the Yoga Center of Columbia in Columbia,
MD.