as i lay prostrate upon Mother Earth in an attempt to photograph the stupa-like, bare-heiny’d figure of Dewa beneath the generous-in-death dying of an apple tree, even feeble ilg began to realize that this Fatherhood Journey of mine connects me ike an eon-old phurba to all my kind Teachers, Deities, and Guides of my past as well as to the Ancient yogis, saints, and compassionate actions-no-matter-what of practitioners. though my ego would have preferred the path of hermit than to the endless ricocheting of schedules and time/energy demands inherent to being the householder yogi ilg now finds himself in…all i can say is that i sense beyond the shadow of a Buddha, that these daze/days are in fact, sacred topography upon the map of my ever-evolving Soul..and that all my outer Pilgrimages give birth again and again to an inner pilgrimage far more sacred, far more subtle, far more exquisite than my feeble incarnation can even imagine to place before thee in word or form or action of any kind…
tonight before i left to teach yoga, i kissed Dewa saying, “Maybe i can be back home in time tonight to kiss you good-night?”
“well Daddy,” she replied, “why don’t you just kiss me again right…
Mine were eyes, heart, and spirit too feeble to keep track of the astral magnetism of this river/mountain hamlet of priceless high-altitude prana today. For, within these ‘everyday moments’ which i forced myself out of the Awakened M(om)ent to attempt to capture periodically for you, was a mystical Breath inside a breath, as if each moment lived was a fractured cosmic code embedded upon soul wings on the verge of cracking due to abundance of a magnitude unspeakable…
regardless of how STEEP, of how DIRECT is this Path of Transformation? we MUST continue placing one foot in front of the other…ever upward, ever inward, ever Go(o)dward…if feeble ilg is still doing it…i KNOW you can…let’s Begin Again tomorrow…and if we fall? Begin Again, and Again…and Endlessly Again until Enlightenment…
Conscious Fatherhood; regardless of the in-wordable effort, sacrifice, and exhaustion can be a most fertile garden in which a human can cultivate compassion, fearlessness, and Divine Motivational Energy. Conscious Daddies Everywhere: If we keep our heart open – even during those frustrating times when we just want to start throwing furniture out the windows – the pain, worry, and effort might just turn out to be our greatest next handholds and footholds toward Enlightenment. It takes, however, a LOT of everyday Sacred Sweat, Focus, and Surrender. Mostly surrender.
- coach ilg, father of Dewachen
here is how i spent my day-before-Father’s Day…i have no idea what the girls have planned for me today…enjoy and Blessed be ALL CONSCIOUS PARENTS EVERYWHERE IN ALL REALMS….
And Milarepa said: “Do not entertain hopes for realization, but practice all your life.”
i pedaled my bike thirty miles over two mountain passes at an average speed of 16 mph solo in high winds in order to try to make it to the girl’s “farm date.” on the west side of Mancos Hill my speedometer spat out the high speed stat of 78kph down choppy pavement and buffeted by significant crosswinds. on 26×22 wheels? lemme reMind you; speed, my friend, is relative…
i took this shot after picking up Ananda just south of Baker’s Bridge a few days ago after she did some triathlon training. as a family, we then threw sticks into a creek, watched Wapiti Beings relax into a sunset, and just enjoy other basic family necessities. such sweetness in the moment is the Blessed Common Denominator to living in Durango…
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