Wholistic Fitness

OLYMPIC TRASH, JUNK AND JEWELS,

CHAKRAS SPINNING, and RUMI SINGING…

Ahhh, finally the “real” Olympics graced the airwaves this morning!

Not that “Beach Volleyball” or 38 different swim events don’t deserve precious and historically

significant

Olympic Medal Status…

Ahh…the endurance arts arrived…the Marathon…finally, a non-junk sport graces the airwaves

from Athens! A true, authentic Connection to the historic root of Competition (that which must arise from within).

You hear Trash Talk from the sprinters after their race.

You see Warriors throwing up from the endurance warriors after their races.

Arrogance defines the sprinters while

Humility hallmarks the marathoners.

When the going gets tough…

the sprinters stop.

You run over 100+ mile per week for a few years.

You’ll get humbled too.

You won’t have energy for obnoxious trash talk.

Or drugs.

Here is a wager:

I bet anyone you know who is obnoxious is

not training in the endurance arts.

People who are boisterous, who can’t sleep well, who are picky about their food, who have lots of

mood swings, therapists, opinions, and finicky preferences in their lives?

They just ain’t training hard enough or long enough in the Cardio Discipline.. the Endurance Arts.

I promise.

You need a Therapist?

Here, lace on your running shoes and start running, baby!

Did you see the Women’s Marathon this morning? i trust you saw Deena take the Bronze and the obvious WF

Principles of Form and Alignment take the three Jewels of Gold, Silver, and Bronze of the Women’s Marathon?

Each of the Top Three Athletes ran with such beauty, race, and fluidity..

while the top billed Paula Why-Should-I-Change-

My-Bouncy-Head-And-Ridiculous-Running-Form” Radcliffe become physically, mentally,

and spiritually unglued and self-destruct?

Noble Paula.. you’ve have won races in spite of your horrible running form, not

because of it. You should not defend your lack of yoga! Work on it!

Paula; listen to me; do yoga; do Structural Bodywork. Get your Alignment

and Form and Breath into a state of harmony…take a year, take two.. to find this Balance and then,

with your AMAZING genetic Gift for running, you will SHATTER your own World Records…i promise!

Fundamental coaching flaws is what i see when i watch so many athletes like Paula.

Athletes limiting their optimal longevity and performance by refusing to work on their

weaknesses.

On the other hand. Deena – who is coached by Coach Vigil of Alamosa, Colorado who also coached

our own WF Online Teacher Joseph Sheader (you guys DO realize just how

world class WF is, don’t you?) – is very WF in the wisdom of her training;

Deena cross trains three times per day:

a hard run in the am;

core training (yoga) and Strength Training (including Plyometrics*) in the afternoon,

then another easier run with her dog in the evening.

That is pretty Wholistic Fitness, wouldn’t you say?

Did you SEE how BEAUTIFUL

Deena’s biomechanics and spiritual intensity were?

Did you SEE how she friggin’ CLOSED DOWN THE 2 MINUTE GAP over the last few miles!!!

Her Form was singing! Her arms driving her legs (sound familiar, TBT and TWA readers?)!

She was accelerating over the last kilometers when all the other girls were combusting!

You’ve heard me teach my HP Yoga Classes, you’ve been reading my Teachings since 1982…

Learn the Art of Pacing! in whatever you do!

Start wisely, FINISH STRONGLY!

Study how the graceful Form and Alignment (yoga) of the top three women of today’s Marathon

conserved their energy over the hilly, hot race while the Unawakened Athletes in the back of the

pack ran with unconscious, choppy strides and lacked the Deep Fiber Fitness that Deena gained

from the gym, baby!

WF Teachings are everywhere…just Look!

i bow to the inspiration of the Olympic Warriors…all of them…

even…

yes,

the Beach Volleyballers…geez….

May your Practice be strong and swift,

coach ilg

* PLYOMETRICS; Explosive Power Training

by Jimmy Radcliffe

and edited by Steve Ilg

is available through

HUMAN KINETICS PUBLISHERS

��� DON’T PUSH AWAY DIFFICULTY!

when most people say they want to have their Chakras aligned, they usually only want to have

someone wave incense and rub crystals over their bodies. the REAL Chakra work is evident in our

lives was we begin the WF Journey of Self Cultivation through personal fitness. Once we start

truly becoming aware of our negative tendencies and various ways of running away and rebellion

at becoming a Higher Conscious being, then we start noticing that things get tough. It’s hard to pick up

litter. It’s hard not to linger in the shower. It’s damned hard to sacrifice major life changes for the sake

of Elevated Practice time; including less money, new places to live, cardio commuting, spending money on

SUNRIDER instead of sushi.

Authentic Chakra Awakenings come from sweat, awareness, and perseverance of willingness to look within.

as Noble Student Eden writes to WF Apprenticeship Teacher Ananda:

“Hi Ananda

Great {HP Yoga} class last night � thank you. And thanks too for introducing your father. How lovely that he came to your class.

Today is intervals day. �As I was thinking about it and dreading it, I read the DL, and saw this �message to me�:

“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.�

– Coach Ilg

So I breathe in, smile as I breathe out, and think that I love you both.

Student Eden

Can you sense the authenticity of Student Eden’s chakral energies Awakening? Can you feel her willingness to explore and mine her everyday life and yoga practices for beacons of growth? I can. This is the real stuff of Spiritual Work. It is not different from sweat.

on this note; i close with Rumi:

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes.

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

–Rumi