Wholistic Fitness

Well, i’m a LOT more relaxed now…it’s been snowing in the high country for the past 7 days straight!   So, in honor of the sacred snows,  and because it’s All-Ways a distinct pleasure as well as deep honor to teach you, to show you more about the birthplace of Wholistic Fitness™,  i’d like to invite you to come along with me during a snowshoe workout a couple of days ago right up the natural umbilical cord of Wholistic Fitness™;  Junction Creek Canyon just outside of Durango, Colorado.  This trail, now known internationally as the southern trailhead of the Colorado Trail, was my childhood backyard, as my family’s country home in which i grew up was located a stone’s throw from the (then, virtually unknown) trailhead.  C’mon…i  TAF you’ll really enjoy and be inspired by these “first snow” pics…

Once a warrior, always a warrior…snowcovered footbridge from my childhood still remains over the irrigation ditch which flowed through my front yard just past the headgate from Junction Creek .  foreground:  Kahtoola‘s amazing new sport-snowshoe which i helped design; the RNR22.  To get yours:  Contact Hilary at Kahtoola; hilary@kahtoola.com.   tell her, “Coach Ilg sent me!   I am a Member of Wholistic Fitness™.”

A mere gurgle remains where just a moment ago – or so it seems – rushed a spring run0ff pregnant from last winter’s record snowfall!  This scene typifies precisely what i missed most during my decade-long yoga teaching Pilgrimage to Los Angeles; the blissful enchantment of four seasons.  I call this “JC Forks” for at photo left, Junction Creek flows to the irrigation ditch which ran through my front yard…the right fork is Junction Creek proper.  When i grew up, a Beaver dam was active at this precise spot.  This pool is often teeming with small trout…which my wolf and i would endlessly pester during the long summers of my youth.

whenever Animal Medicine like this soars into my life,  i try to recall two things instantly; 1) what is the Totem Power of the Animal Being and 2) what was my mind state when the Animal Being came into my awareness.  In this case, Kingfisher Medicine is new warmth, fresh perspective, prosperity, and love.  Powerful little feathered friend, eh?  She came into my awareness as i was composing the previous  shot thinking and praying that you – my Members – would really enjoy and be inspired by these photos.  i recognized the call and she (how do i know it’s a she?  reverse sexual dimorphism; the females are more brightly colored than the males) was kind enough to hang out in this nude cottonwood tree until i got this pic of her for you. So it begins again; the migration of so many beautiful Animal Beings toward lower elevations as they each attempt to stay clear of the ever lengthening shadows of the icy mountains.

Junction Creek canyon is full of secretive pine and oak groves that made for a truly Blessed chi-ldhood.  This landslide scar, however,  reveals a not-so-environmentally conscious period of my young life.  With breathless anticipation, i used to trigger landslides in the summer and avalanches in the winter.  Such action is hard to explain; i reckon young boys are just wired to wreak havoc wherever possible. To this day, i shake my head as i look at nearly a dozen of these scars i made on Ma’s skin…oh…youth.

Oh!  When the winter elements fall together!  As great swaths of mountain and rivers pull on their snowy garb!  Such scintillating radiance stops my workout in my snowshoe tracks.  i grin idiotically at the scene like a drunkard, gorging myself on priceless memories matched only by the swelling beauty of the present and tickled by thoughts of raising my own chi-ld here…and, bringing you Here Now, as well!

Among the snow-laden branches curves the snowshoe trail…swooshing my webs along this path, i breathe into the gratefulness for the zen emptiness of the canyon which soothes agitation, stress, and combative thoughts of dealing with the Dance of It All.  Here, in this treasured canyon of my youth, ilg has endlessly been granted all the room in this world to…breathe.

The obvious slanted faced boulder on photo left i call, Angel Wing Boulder.  Upon her sandstone skin, i learned how to climb, how to smile at fear.  Such inner rapture has never left my Earth Dance.  to this day, it’s that nature-inspired embrace of fitness that in turn inspires me to share the Bliss of of Mother Nature with peaceful warriors trekking toward Awakening like thee…

May this entry inspire thee to embrace winter and as ever; get out and do!

Love and radiant breath among the sacred snows,

ilg