Wholistic Fitness

�I have enjoyed reading the Direct Lines the last few weeks, the positive energy is amazing. I am excited to start the path to Wholistic Fitness.�

– Cristi

OF ILG�s HOME & GARDEN; Part II

by coach ilg

{our Reality Story thus far:

Us three ilg children (Connie, Craig �Two Man�, and myself) see our notion of building a backyard �ramada� as surprise for our parents while they are on their 50th Anniversary vacation hit reality and threaten to become yet another classic Ilg Kids Epic. Pandemonium, in the form of lumber construction, rules throughout the once lovely backyard and home. Only Two Man and I are left. Connie, having superbly finished her duty of hauling and prepping lumber, is back in LA nervously awaiting word of our progress. Two Man, an architect and new first time father, is orchestrating this project during limited and stressed time.}

Day Two; Coach field tests the stability of our surprise Garden Shelter support beams. Photo, Two Man Ilg.

This dandy little garden project is going to take longer than we anticipated. Much longer.

I attempt to pacify Two Man as he prowls among fractured and fused timbers. As if caught in an ancient Anasazi warrior spell, he stares fiercely at our four Bunyanesque 5� x 5� x 10� timbers we somehow plunged China deep into Mother Earth. As we did not hit oil or a molybdenum vein, I figured that Two Man had dug the holes so deep because,

A) he watched too much Hurricane Charley coverage and feared 420 mph sustained winds might topple the Garden Shelter

or,

B) he was wisely thinking ahead and providing for our family a nuclear fallout shelter for World War III.

�Okay,� Two Man admitted while shielding his eyes from the sun in a futile attempt to see the top of the foundation poles, �so maybe it IS a tad overbuilt.�

�No, hell no…� I shored up his faltering optimism, �the girth of it will complement the geologic magnitude of Sandia Peak in the background!�

Stabbing indecently upward from formerly polite gardens, these foundation totems, each the size of adolescent Sequoia�s, seemed cursed by unexpected subjective factors. Pacing around the giant posts, i could overhear Two Man mumbling things like, �proportionally inaccurate� and �shit� and �this is a technical error of paradigmatic degree.�

I, meanwhile, returned to my assigned work of dirt/gravel hauling and pounding to let Two Man writhe in his intellectual quicksand. Doubt was not in my cells. I trusted that Brahma would provide and that my very smart little brother would confidently use his vast academic schooling to solve any intellectual challenge inherent to what is basically a picnic table covering. I mean, he builds award winning public elevators for christsakes! How hard could this be? I thus contented myself with the moment by moment nature of my �donkey work� which chiefly consisted of hard physical labor beneath a sizzling sun…or �outdoor yoga� as i like to look at it. Just for added measure however, I began chanting some of my most potent Tibetan Blessings as i worked.

Every enterprise involves difficulty, including building a Garden Shelter. The difficulty is mandated by Divine (and often karmic) design. The various challenges (what the Unawakened call �problems�) loosen our fixation upon comfort or stagnation of spirit. Anything that is habitually comfortable stagnates our spirit. Think here of always using your dominant hand, or always being defensive, or using water without appreciation. There are many such examples as we begin to Awaken.

The stress of difficulty is positive. Repeat it three times to help counter your conditioning from the mainstream consciousness. Difficulty – be in workouts or life – better enables us to cope with whatever arises. Difficulties are like spiritual dumbbells. The more often you lift them, the stronger you become and notice a fundamental shift in the texture of our outlook. Before this shift happens however, difficulty pushes our buttons. We want to curse and blame everything and everyone for the difficulty. If we our Teachers taught us well, we can manage to see through this egoic rebellion and begin to Awaken.

To be sure anger, fear, doubt, skepticism all might arise as we re-act to difficulty. My Teachers said that this is a fantastic tool and even a sign of positive Higher Growth..They called it, �The spirit of rebellion.� Working through this ego agitation is vital! Why? For once we quiet the egoic shouting, our True Nature can be felt! Then we start questioning everything which lies outside us: prescription pills, recreational drugs, TV addiction, attachment to injuries/illness, negative habits, media opinions or fashions…all such things start faltering in their vapor like decay of our genuine nature and warrior strength.

The metaphorical reach of building a Garden Shelter and of Spiritual Awakening is an easy one. We start building from the center: our heart with her four chambers are like the four foundation timbers. We take what we got, baby. Think of this center as genetics or our karmic workload. We alone then, must do the gut and grunt work from that center. As we work, we allow ourselves grow organically outward. Along the way, mistakes and painful circumstances may happen from what we had planned. Big deal. Let go of them, adapt, and keep moving on. This process of learning how to let go is a spiritual Practice known as �Detachment.� We may even learn to one day love all the rough edges, disproportions, and blemishes. Then, everyone and everything is seen as beautiful.

���

The Screw Guru

Four critical wood screws fastened each support beam to the two cross beams of our Garden Structure. Zen drilling was required; overhead drilling at arms length on a ladder maintaining an awkward upward angle to get those 6� long screws into the massive timber without stalling the screw�s momentum or stripping the screw head. I totally lost focus on one. I stripped the sonofabitch, big time. I couldn�t get the screw deeper and could not reverse it out. Two Man laughed and laughed. Now that screw is sticking out of the beautiful wood like the Florida panhandle. That stalled, stripped screw is for me, my guru of Detachment and the source of endless ribbing from Two Man. I gotta let it go and smile with the flow of It All.

���

We are what we are. All things decay, including Garden Structures and humans. No matter how fit or strong or beautiful, we all age and we all die. And more times than most of us would care to admit, we just get screwed by circumstances. The spiritual work is to detach as soon as possible and just enjoy the day of hammering and hauling. Appreciate the process of adaptation to the flow of life.*

from near the Rio Grande

feeble ilg bows to you

with

hands calloused

sunburned back

screwed up screws

and

heart

wide

open

to the songs of birds

and

of

your

ever

growing

perspective

of what

personal training

should really be…

namaste,

coach ilg

Stay tuned to DL for the completion of the Garden Shelter�s spiritual and physical quest plus coach�s take on the Olympics.

*My audio CD, �My Workout Is Everywhere,� speaks and provides a meditation based largely upon this concept.