Wholistic Fitness

OF BIRDS, BEES, AND KEYS –

“When the body, mind, and emotions are in balance; the Soul is free to dance.”

Those words, uttered i think, by B.K.S. Iyengar make for beautiful insight while on the yoga mat. When we take our equanimity and test it into the Real Yoga Studio (the phenomenal world) we begin to see the Humor and elite intricacy inherent to God’s testing of our true willingness to rise ever Higher. Nowhere is the WF Warrior tested in his or her Practice then during travel.

Namaste from New Mexico! i arrived late last night after a hilarious series of Brahma (God/Higher Source/Supreme Reality) testing my Practice. First however, give me a moment…i just woke up in my parents casa in Rio Rancho, New Mexcio…the town that Intel built…located just upwind from the beautiful hamlets of Bernalillo and Crralles which are cozied up next to the mighty Rio Grande. Intel, the computer monstrosity, wisely built their Capitalistic Kingdom on top of a mesa, so all their toxic fumes can engulf the once internationally renown healthy air of Bernalillo and Coralles. Bernalillo in particular has lodged within my spirit. The town of a few hundred people and three Native Amercian pueblos has weathered storms of glacier cold, Mohave drought, Spanish inquisition, and a true testimony to this little town’s spiritual werewithal, it even withstood, yes, that’s right, the Lillith Fair! Hec, even former President Clinton hung out in Bernalillo! Now THAT is perseverance to be appreciated! Today, the one-street town (and the one street that passes through it is none other than Route 66) boasts both a New Mexico Wine Tasting (i know, i know, i sense the oxymoronic phrase) and a wonderful Iyengar Studio, Atmabodh, facilitated by senior Iyengar Teacher, Anil Poovadan. Zen Teacher Joan Rieck also instructs regularly here, including Sesshin in October. So, the Dharma is anywhere, if you see the Dharma everywhere you look.

I spoke earlier of my Yoga Practice in the outer world, right? Check out these ‘phenomenal chaturanga’s’ that Brahma threw into my Practice yesterday:

*) just before leaving a bee stung me, swelling my left pec up like a water balloon. now, before SUNRIDER beefed up my immune systems to the SuperHuman quotient, i was fairly allergic, in a near antiphlactic manner of speaking, to bee stings. thanks to SUNRIDER herbs, the sting just feels like a bullet wedged near my heart. The swelling is receding quickly. This one bee was angry….the fierceness of his sting and resultant effect was admirable. i bow to that bee and may he/she incarnate in a more friendly being. wow. so, light headed with Bee Medicine coursing through me, i load up my Kawasaki z1000 (Sukhavarti) and fly toward Burbank, pleased that i am about to help my little brother build a cute little garden shelter for my parent’s 50th Anniversary.

*) at Southwest’s counter the very beautiful Jessica informs me with an absolutely delightful smile,

“I am so sorry, Mr. Ilg, these Flight Coupons have expired. That will be $387, please.”

“Uhhhh,….excuse MEEEE, Jessica. For I must take a moment and BREATHE here…”

oooof. that’ll put a dent in one’s pocketbook while elevating one’s capacity for Practice…

*) enroute to Las Vegas before Albuquerque, i treasured the flight time to whittle away at the 353 emails lying like panthers in the cybergrass of my laptop. Not a chance. Another lovely young female creative seductively crawled into the seat next to mine and for the next 65 minutes i was privvy to her most intimate drama affecting her dramatic life. Much of being a teacher of yoga means being a nonjudgmental sounding board for non-practictioners. Wow. I breathed, worked my Mala Beads, smiled a lot, and spoke the Dharma as best as i could fit It between her acoustical purge. Buddha was so right; “Be kind to everyone you meet, for everyone experiences difficulty in their life.”

*) upon landing, my older sister, Connie, who visited here just a few days ago to help Two Man (see DL yesterday) with our Garden Shelter Project, had left one of my parent’s car, a Honda of course, in the $2.84/per day lot. $2.84? Per day? In LA you can’t even park on Melrose for a minute for $2.84. Well, we could not find the car. Great. You get what you pay for, right? “Hey mom and dad! Welcome back! Hope your trip was fun! Oh, by the way, your car got stolen from Airport Parking! Care for some Cali tea?” It was nearing midnight and many more Mala Beads passed through my fingers before the car was found.

*) ahhh…pulling up to my parents home, where at 5,000′, the stars were screaming overhead. i was stoked to be home finally. visions of riding Alphie (my Trek road bike i keep down here) for a ride tomorrow dancing through my head as i fit the key into the door. At my feet appeared my beatiful cat-son, my orange tabby cat, Spencer Sandis Smith Ilg!!! i witnessed extreme happiness as i fitted the key into the house…and re-fitted it…and re-fitted it…) Okay, a moment whereupon i witnessed myself laughing to Brahma as i realized he was still testing my Practice on this journey home. i actually was EXPECTING the key to fit! Nah, my sister had left me with outdated keys. i so wanted to lose my Practice and not be elegant in diffculty as i realized in my fatigued state that i was locked out of the empty house late at night, with my cell phone dying, my little brother in possession of the only other key at least a half hour away…Spencer, swirling happily at my feet like a drunk furry shark, looked up at me as if saying, “Well, open the goddamned door…i’m starving!”

*) after a fiasco to awaken a neigbor for a key late last night, i woke up and saw…Good Lord awlmighty!! Two Man, my little brother the Architect has transformed my parent’s backyard from Hunnington Gardens into friggin’ Ground Zero! My god! There are timbers the size of telephone poles strewn out like a Colorado spring runoff log jam across the ground and onto the back porch…and i do believe he has moved a Table Saw into the living room…oh man, this is waaaaay worse than the old parties we used throw when my parents left…hah…GODO MAN, TWO MAN!!!!!! HA! this will show all parents everywhere the same old lesson:

Never, ever leave home with your children in charge.

No matter how old are your children,

we are still children and…

You will NEVER know what we will do to your treasured house!

Next installment of Ilg’s Home and Garden coming soon! I’ve got to go ride Alphie through some ancient pueblos..

via con dios muchachas y muchachos!

your feeble teacher

ps: Two Man is bringing his digital camera today…pictures of Garden Shelter Ground Zero in future DLs!