Coach/Sensei Joseph Sheader
Residing in Grand Junction, Colorado, where the Rocky Mountains meet the high mesas and deep canyons of the Colorado Plateau, Coach Sheader serves the lifework of a professional fitness trainer, coach, and wilderness guide. Attending to a path of mastery, warriorship, and indigenous skills his practices are directed to the awakening experience of a life lived deliberately. This sojourn has taken him from high altitude peaks to deep desert canyons; from the sweat lodge of the Native peoples to the companionship of Zen Roshi's and some of the worlds great Martial arts Masters; from the recesses of philosophical libraries to the zafu of Zen monasteries; onto both the back stretch of fierce 5000 meter races and into the fighting ring of the Dojo.
Coach Sheader’s work has included that of a certified ISSA trainer, a senior teacher at Wholistic Fitness®, and as a conditioning and yoga instructor at High Desert Martial Arts®. Along with High Mesa Fitness® he approaches his third decade in guiding young athletes as an ASEP certified and lifetime licensed coach on the National Coaches Registry. Furthermore he has a lifetime of outdoor guiding experience including Adams State College, the National Park Service, Sierra Club, Colorado Mountain Club, and Rainbow Expeditions II®.
Joseph has participated as both an elite athlete and a coach in state, regional, national, and international championships resulting in championship and elite podiums for himself and his athletes in sports as diverse as track and field, trail running, winter sports, and martial arts. He is respected for his ability in multiple disciplines including climbing, endurance sports, strength arts, dog-sledding, wilderness survival, and as a Black Belt practitioner of multiple martial arts.
Live life deliberately, train as a warrior, practice awakening, walk reverently on the earth.
"I think over again my small adventures.
My Fears,
Those small ones that seemed so big.
For all the vital things
I had to get and to reach.
And yet there is only one great thing,
The only thing,
To live to see the great day that dawns
And the light that fills the world."
~ Old Inuit Song
