Wholistic Fitness

One of the many new sights my 46 year-young eyes are thus unaccustomed; my Precious Daughter’s snow boots drying by (one of) our fireplaces.

***

there is never a need,
and seldom should there be an urge to feel,
that what i have attempted to impart to you about WF
hold any religious connotation on your Sadhana.
inDeed,
religion and Sadhana are at polarity.
the former attempts to organize spirit through second-handed (multi million-handed more like it) dissemination
while the latter
is as spontaneous as a cloud and equally as moving.

for some of you my topic of tonight,
on this night of nights…

which drew my senses inward as Grandmother in her January best,

began to rise seductively over the shoulder of Mt. Elden,
may not fit
into your notion
of Fitness
yet,
to the Master Student of WF,
certainly,
how we treat our Christmas Tree Beings
reveals much about our standing-under (aka; understanding)
of what Yogi Christ attempting to Tranmsit to us
about Compassion,
Tolerance,
and
Loving Kindness.

give pause here, Noble Yogi.
ask Thyself:
“How did i handle my Christmas Tree Being this year?”

more pertinent to tonights’ Teaching is another question:
“How did i choose to Take Leave of my Christmas Tree?”

should you think the latter question is non-relevant to your notion
of personal fitness,
of yoga,
of your entire spiritual growth process?

perhaps you should
Take Leave of my humble,
powerful Temple
which i’ve designed to constantly
continuously bring the stalwart spiritual seeker
into a direct confrontation with his or her Mind
at every Blessed Step of their Journey Higher.

it occurs to me
that studying WF
– sincerely, i mean –
is like living in a cage of tigers.

hungry tigers.

not many want this Path.

perhaps, soon,
without your ongoing support,
she shall disappear
like tonights DharmaTeaching on something so
innocuous as how one handles a Christmas Tree.

and even that,
will be Divinely Okay.
for the WF Vibration has already been set in the
most important cells in our UniVerse…

yours.

***

as most men my age in Arizona are gathered around the TV
drinking (too many?) beers watching our State Team
attempt to stay in contention for the SuperBowel (sorry, each year i can never resist that particular misspelling)
i am Here Now
tapping out this Teaching to you…
in the Visualization that somehow,
someWay,
it hits someone someWhere
to make yet another Ripple…

***

it is my Clan’s tradition
to wait until the first Full Moon after Yogi Christ’s
(supposed) Birthday to ritually Take Leave of our
Beloved Christmas Tree.

the timing is Sacred, thus making tonight Sacred.

after a long week of tobogganing, gymnastics, music school, and
being the featured “ME” in Joy’s initial “Mommy and Me” Yoga Class
(see Joy’s Blog soon for more: The Joyful Breath)
and finally tonight, an evening stroll with Joy,
my Precious Gem of a Daughter,
my live-in Rinpoche,
was,
well,
a wee bit tired…

…which is, i Trust you agree,
a common training effect from those who sincerely study our Path,
regardless of age.

yet,
Ritual is Ritual
and can never be abused or worse, ignored.

so,
under the rising of Grandmother,
i began the Sacred Mantra
and escorted “Bader” our Christmas Tree
(do NOT tell me you did not AT LEAST NAME your Christmas Tree Being!!!)
out to my 3-Chi Ski Firepit
now basking in Grandmothers’ glorious illumination.

OM (chop)
MAH (saw)
KNEE (chop)
PADHT (saw)
MAY (saw)
HUNG! (chop)

each sawing, each chopping action which i pensively performed upon
our Beloved Bader
was accompanied with a syllable of the Sacred Mantra: Om Mani Padme Hung.

after i fed the bulk of Bader into the Ritual Fire with the Mantra,
i called upon my Beloved Partner to bring my Daughter out to the Firepit
to witness the final few limbs and the Crown (Baders’ sahasrara chakra) be
purified into the Bardo…

we sat there.
Ananda.
Dewa.
me.
and watched our Bader…our Christmas Tree which brought such jubilation into our lives for weeks, be burned into soaring embers upon the moonlit snow beneath the Sacred Peak.

as a Yogi Father,
i NEEDED
my Daughter to witness
for Her cellular, spiritual profundity,
the quixotic juxtaposition of
snow (sauca),
night sky (yin),
cold (ida),
fire (pingala/yang),
smoke (bardo),
and the
burning (death)
of Bader.

Her 15 month-old eyes wide as the alpine meadow above which we live…

She pointed to Grandmother, saying,
“Tah! Tah!” (HaTha Yoga means; Sun/Moon Yoga)

my Ritual went deep.

Ananda and i both held Her close in the cold.

“Ai Imawa, Bader! OM MANI PADME HUNG!!!” we chanted along with the embers of
Baders’ sweetly scented flesh burning into the night Sky Father.

to one who studies Yoga
– the science of Union –
nothing,
nobeing
is left out of the Practice.

so,

on this night of nights before i let you go, Oh Noble Seeker of Union,
feeble ilg asks you to ask thyself;
“How did you choose to Take Leave of Thy Yogi Christ Tree?”

all photos taken tonight by coach.