Wholistic Fitness

THE DIVINITY OF THE DESERT

more notes from my personal retreat

by steve ilg

some of you ask me why i go into the desert and high mountains for my personal retreats.

why not attend yoga and fitness conferences to ‘keep abreast’ with the ‘most current education’

in my fields.

ilg says;

the only field that matters is the Self.

there is no Higher education

there is certainly no higher Yoga than being alone in nature.

i go to the desert to train and pray and push myself and test my walking of my talk…

i do this so i know am true when teaching you…

i do this

so that the desolation drives away any ego or pride i may have built up from owning ‘my’ yoga studio or ‘my’ racing bicycles, ‘my’ students, or ‘my’ apartment, or ‘my’ family….

i go to the desert to dissolve…



{our ‘feeble coach’ suddenly appearing not too feeble in his ‘true yoga studio’…the wilderness. here, our Teacher readies himself for another day of Warrior Dancing with his all-terrain bicycle,”Nalanda,” rock climbing/canyoneering gear, and a lifetime of world class fitness to practice his ‘religion’ of breath and movement in nature. photo; Ananda}

do the research: you will find that all religions and spiritual traditions began in the wilderness and sprang forth like milkweed from a canyon crevice.

do the research: you will find that Buddha, Jesus, the Yogic Masters, and the greatest thinkers of our eon have all relied upon the wilderness to receive His Grace.

Jesus and his forty days in the desert. the Native Amercian’s practice of the VisionQuest, the Yoga Masters sadhana of the Himalaya, forests, and deserts.

consider Merton, the Desert Fathers, C.S. Lewis, and Thoreau.

you think you want to study with me to learn spiritual things

but you are scared to go alone into the wilderness (of your spirit).

all body/mind fitness must start in the same place:

the solitude and enormous thundering silence of stars emerging from an unpolluted sky…each star shot into your soul as if it were a bullet of Awakening!



{HP Yoga Teacher Ananda shortly after meditating in a remote slot canyon somewhere in Utah. photo; ilg}

ilg says:

get out of your house…

drive and then leave the godamned car at the trailhead!

most studio yogis have zero idea that their high fashioned clothes and rubber sticky mat began from the desert dirt!

how quickly they forget the Source of the Scripture!

i am telling you to CAMP…. for God’s sake!

forget the Winnebago or even nylon tent that is but a psychological crutch which serves only to sever your soul

from lying naked as can be with the shudder of wilderness night sounds.

ilg says:

sleep naked upon Mother Earth! (at least ONCE in your manufactured, luxury life!)

howl at the moon beneath petroglyphic rock walls!

FEEL the sacred pulse of She who nourishes your every step and breath!

of WHAT are you so afraid, noble warrior!?

how long will you remain addicted to asphalt and ceilings that block the stars of your Enlightenment?

GO into the desert and gaze until your neck hurts

upon thousand foot Windgate sandstone cliffs..

CLIMB THEM if you dare!

do so and you will feel GOD’S fear in your belly

“the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” – the bible.

the real church is outside!

{coach ilg dancing 50′ off the ground without a rope on a 5.9 friction slab in Indian Creek Canyon where many of his first ascent routes still remain. photo; (a nervous) Ananda}

{a shot of coach doing yoga/visualizing before climbing. photo; Ananda}

Jesus went to the desert; why don’t you?

He considered wilderness as sanctuary and refuge (John 6:15)

i went to mass and studied comparative religions for decades.

i never heard the word, ‘wilderness’…

in WF everything is as rooted as i can find and impart…we start from the Source; the Truest Source i can find be it

the SUNRIDER herbs or a Jump Squat for a minute in the gym, or the Ai Imawa Postures..the precursor of Tai Chi and yoga!

you stick with this Path and you will be getting hit again and again with the Truest Source of

spiritual teachings that i can find and know within my feeble self.

i bow to God inside a canyon wren,

i bow to Buddha as a petroglypy in a sandstone wall,

i bow to you

mighty armed Warrior of the Wholistic Fitness Way

for choosing to LISTEN

to YOUR PRECIOUS LIFE

and maybe even

get real enough with it

to chance long enduring days

alone

in the desert

to find what Jesus

Buddha

Moses

and the Yoga Masters found…

Enlightenment

within a sagebrush..

why do you think they call them

‘sage’?



Ananda. Sage field. photo; ilg

go Warrior!

go into the desert

find for yourself a sage

and

SIT

and

LISTEN

and

SWEAT

until you EMPTY YOURSELF

FROM YOURSELF..

“Only when you loose yourself

will you find yourself.”

-Jesus

that is all.

coach ilg

Welcome to Online WF Training:

Mike Goodman of lanham, MD!

New Student Goodman will be taking Study under

Teacher “Ko”…

May the WF Sangha wish New Student Goodman well in his

Studies!

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i always look forward to Noble Warrior Student Alan Ludgate’s

Cycle Summation’s…they are filled with levity, self effacing wisdom,

and a remarkable Gift for receiving the Higher Vibrations of our Online

Training work together. want to read my actual input to his most recent

Cycle Summation? click here:

Coach’s Input on your_ CYCLE SUMMATION.pdf