Member-only story
Downward Facing Cat
All cats are yoga masters.
My spouse and I have both spent a lifetime with cats, yet we had never experienced anything like this before. We’d thought we’d seen it all . . . . until Squeakers started practicing yoga.
Previously, we had been living in Italy, where the mild climate encouraged a large feral cat population to thrive. There, we usually had several cats lounging in our yard, since we always fed the visiting strays in our pleasant, cat friendly neighborhood. But now, since we’d moved to the cooler climate in Germany, we were down to one older cat, and she was staying home more than ever. She was a smart cat who learned to play soccer immediately as a kitten, to pass the time when by herself. She even trained us to play fetch with her, retrieving a kitty toy and plopping it back in our laps to throw for her once again. But she seemed lonely and bored now, and began following us around the house more often than usual, looking for something interesting to do.
About this time, after years of absence, I was getting back into yoga again. Going through my routine at home, Squeakers started watching me closely, and before I knew it, she could perform an excellent version of the Downward Facing Dog pose, followed by an Upward Facing Dog stretch. It was uncanny how quickly she learned and copied the moves.
