Wholistic Fitness

The following is an actual email i just sent Ananda’s dad tonight…
thought you might just get a kick out of it…and imagine…if….

Hi “Dad”!
thought you would enJoy these pics i took of your daughter today
as i took her out on a local “intermediate” mountain bike loop across the street
from our home…it’s exactly our “1-year Anniversary” from moving to Flagstaff from LA.

your daughter drew a bit of blood (hey, it ain’t REALLY a good mountain bike ride unless
there is blood involved, right?) yet was the exemplar of a Warrioress as she
cranked out the whole 15-mile, 1,150′ ride in fantastic effort without complaint.
on the climb upward, off the bike once again,
and once again…visualizing getting back on it!
there is about a 350′ drop off on her left.
note blood on her Vastus Lateralis (click on photos to enlarge).
this Inner Searching of the Will to Go Higher
is traditionally known as, “Yoga.”

“A true follower of the Buddha shines among blind mortals as the fragrant
lotus, growing in the garbage by the roadside, brings joy to all who pass by.”
– Buddha
Dhammapada 4;58-59

at the top of the 1-mile Uphill, technical HURT of “Lower Brookbank”
and Joy’s first sight since she has lived here, of the Dry Lake Meadows
which hover above our Temple H(om)e…

i’m sorry, just a little toooo cute…flushed face from Fear and Heat and High Heart Rate,
yet Joy’s everlasting smile shines on and on and on…
(shit, those biceps ain’t too bad, either!)

“Use your body for doing good, not for harm.
Train it to follow the dharma. Use your tongue for doing good, not for harm.
Train it to speak kindly. Use your mind for doing good, not harm.
Train your mind in love. The wise are well disciplined in body, speech, and mind.
They are well controlled indeed.”
– Buddha
Dhammapada 17;231-234

Your daughter coming….

Your daughter going…she is a hard chick to keep up with!

“If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.”
– Suzuki-Roshi

Your daughter had a spiritual breakthrough on this descent of “Little Gnarly” trail…she Relaxed Into The Intensity…a Wholistic Fitness® training tenet that we have been working with on Joy’s descending skills and today she found another
measure of relaxation during danger and intensity. This breakthrough..makes me…as a Coach…as a Teacher of Yoga…it just makes me… well…

SMILE!

looking GREATLY forward to seeing you in Floridia very soon (note, i will be a bit NERVOUS however…i always get a wee bit anxious if i cannot see a Rocky Mountain Summit soaring into Father Sky…).

much love and semper fi spirit as possible from this feeble civilian,
steve