Yoga Gone to the Cats & Dogs

This morning at 2:50am I heard Dixie our dog crying.  "Should have taken her out one more time last night,"  I thought to myself as I made my way downstairs.  In addition to Dixie, I was also greeted by our ever vocal cat Allie with "Hello, meow, even though it is 3am feed me now meow, meow."  So I did what I was asked of Allie and open the door for Dixie. Instead of just letting her out I thought a quick walk may be in order as well  so I put on my coat, hat, and got her leash and off we went. After a brisk, uneventful walk around our extremely quiet neighborhood we got back home and in an ideal world that would be it.  Dixie would got back into her crate, Allie would nestle into her basket or in bed with one of my daughters, and I would head back to bed.  But no, Dixie, Allie, and I were ALL now wide awake. So, like most times when I find myself wide awake in the middle of the night, instead of lamenting the fact that everyone I know in this time zone is asleep (except my husband who happens to be at work tonight-darn him, it's his fault I am up in the first place because he has night time dog duty!), I just get a jump start on my morning yoga practice. "Why lay down to toss and turn?  Might as well make the best use of my time,"  or so I thought. Unfortunately, the pets were not buying into my extremely early morning plan. [caption id="attachment_1673" align="aligncenter" width="225"]

Sphinx Pose

Dixie wanted to play with her ball and had basically taken over my mat with her own practice.  By the way, she does have the most perfect full expression of "Downward Facing Dog" that she does on command...but of course, not this morning because this apparently was "her" practice. For the next 35 or so minutes I manage to share the mat with Dixie and got through the asana portion of my practice.  Ends up Dixie is a great yoga partner and really livened things up for me this morning. In between rounds of Sun Salutation, camel pose,shoulder stand, etc. we played fetch with the ball and  at times literally wrestled for control of the mat!  Dixie was persistent and apparently more wide awake then I would expect for this pre-dawn hour.  But eventually, after a few dog treats and a little coaxing Dixie made her way back to her crate.  I shut the lights off and decided to continue with my pranayama and meditation practice. So with the lights off and my blankets organized I began to settle into stillness-which lasted about a total of 3 breaths when I heard the pitter patter of Allie paws followed by the "What about me meow"  as she jumped onto my lap. Lucky for me she decided my lap, at least cross-legged, wasn't too comfortable and she made her way to a nearby couch.  But of course, like most cats, she couldn't just lay on the couch, but instead had to lay on the "Thing" that you have on the couch,   which in this case happened to be the yellow dhoti given to me my Swami Satsangi when I initiated as a Jignasu Sannyasin two years ago. Because she is so sweet, and obviously is a yogini in the feline order, AND because  finally, all pets seemed to be quieting down, I didn't move her and continued with my practice. [caption id="attachment_1674" ] 

Jignasu Allie with Yellow Dhoti   

In the end I managed to complete the practice and now I am sitting here writing about it. Good night or more appropriately Good Morning!  Hari Om Tat Sat.