Wholistic Fitness

KEEPING IT REAL WITH THANKS-GIVING and HOLIDAY FEASTING



Before leaving off the eating upon cows, pigs, and birds, i set high standards for myself to make sure i knew, viscerally, what it meant to be an eater of such corpses. Most non-Awakened people have absolutely no Connection between eating meat and the entire process behind it. i did not want to dwell in such ignorance and hypocrisy of personal or religious values. Though nearly 100% herbs these days, i used to catch, gut, and prepare trout from high mountain rivers and creeks like this one near Pagosa Springs, Colorado known as the ‘Lower Piedra.’ photo/Ananda

Noble Fitness Warriors!

Well, i trust you had ‘fun’ trying to explain our WF Path of yoga, herbs, meditation, and daily exercise to your family and friends during Thanksgiving! Ain’t it great the looks and questions you get as you prepare your SUNRIDER Herbs and choose the rice and yams over the poor bird-corpse! The Holiday season is a tough one for Awakened Fitness Warriors who attempt to protect the dharma by example. If you have done the research behind the “poultry industry” {read, DIET FOR A NEW AMERICA, by John Robbins as a classic place to start getting real about your food choices}, then you would know that “Thanksgiving Day turkeys” do not have a very ‘high quality life’ before being murdered and served to usually already overfed humans. “Thou shall not kill,” seems to be one of the largest rationalized Commandments of all time when it comes to people’s appetites. Even yogins who know that “Ahimsa” or nonviolence is the first Guideline for a yogi’s lifestyle, seem to rationalize the feasting upon corpses during the Holy-Days with surprising candor. Myself, i am in a phase of witnessing my last attraction toward eating flesh in the form of dead fish slowly die off. i am down to eating fish to less than once per week. my diet is nearly 100% herbs – after nearly 20 years of processing junk food, diet soda, and flesh food addictions.

it’s long Path toward re-finding the Light within. yet, it is so fun.

personally, along my Way toward eating like a yogin (key food choice qualities required for eating like a Conscious Fitness Warrior are: nonviolence, wholesome, light, and appreciation), i set high standards for myself. before leaving off the eating of cows and pigs and birds, i visited a slaughterhouse of each of those God-created creatures. those visits were visits to living Hell Realms. you should go too, Noble Fitness Warrior, and visit the real ‘sourcing’ of your foods if you still dine upon those creatures. it would do you go(o)d.

i used to eat venison when i lived in the Southwest. i still would, probably. why? because i stalked a deer with a compound bow and arrow. got to within 20′ of the beautiful creature, drew my bow like Virabhadrasana (Warrior Pose in yoga) and… did not shoot.

in my heart i ‘knew’ i could have…oh, what is that clever little rationalization that the orange coated hunters use on ESPN as they murder God’s gorgeous creatures in front of millions…what is the word they use? oh, yeah…’harvesting.” in my heartspace i knew i could have ‘harvested’ that deer. i also accompanied another one of my hunter/friends on a deer hunt and helped him ‘harvest’ and then gut and pack out an entire deer. it’s gnarly, it’s disgusting to the ego, yet, it was vital to know and do and FEEL what most meat-eaters never see, feel, or are even capable of doing; getting REAL with their food.

my ‘fish story’ is a simple one; i have always felt go(o)d eating fish because i always caught trout, cleaned trout, and cooked trout by myself growing up and living in the Rocky Mountains. i did rituals to bless the fish and honor the whole fishing/eating process. before i left the high mountains to do my Big City Mission, i realized i would no longer have the ability to catch my own fish. then, during meditation, Shiva guided me to, “catch a fish with your bare hands and I will make it karmically less potent for you to eat fish from then on.” so, after many days of learning (and failing) i finally caught a fish with my bare hands!

however, that is another fish story! Hint; it had a lot to do with “Bear Squat Pose” and cold feet in an alpine creek!

my Teaching point here is this;

in WF our 3rd Lifestyle Principle is; Appropriate Action. (page; page 31 and Wholistic Fitness Sutra #29, page 310 of TOTAL BODY TRANSFORMATION)

what feels most Appropriate to YOUR attempts in Self Cultivation must be examined by spending time, and lots of it, within your own inner silence. Each food, each word, each thought, and certainly each Action you perform leaves imprints (samskaras) upon your soul. thus, the Way you live your life truly depends upon how much go(o)d you feel as you sit with your inner silence. That’s about as ‘complicated’ as it gets as you make your various choices today in food, word, thought, and action. Listen to the silence. Meditate. Feel your life, don’t just Think it.

“Once upon a time, a student of meditation went to see a sage. The student began discussing philosophical concepts, such

as the nature of God, but the sage didn’t say anything. The aspirant talked on and on and asked many probing questions, but

still the sage kept still. Finally, in frustration, the aspirant asked why the sage wouldn’t answer his questions. Then the sage

smiled and said gently, “I have been answering, but you are not listening; God is Silence.”

May your Holy-day Season be a Whole-ly one as well…

and may your Choices be filled with Yoga (Union)…

We are what we eat

We are what we think

We are what we feel

So

eat,

think,

and

feel

wisely.

i bow to you,

your feeble coach

*

“My wife joined the gym this week and is working out. �I designed a beginner program for her which gave me some insight in how difficult this can be. �I walked her thru it. �Hopefully she was able to pick up some helpful pointers and not too many bad habits. �She is on the {Sunrider} herbs and has lost 34 lbs. �High blood pressure is no longer a problem. �Ain’t that great?”

– WF Student MT