fiction

Now The Cat’s Learned Yoga
downwardcat

Our cat has always watched my wife while she practiced yoga, but I thought it was just normal cat fascination. Now I know the truth -- the cat’s learned yoga.

I guess I should have known something was up when her flabby belly looked tighter and toned. Plus, her fur seemed shinier and her posture was more confident. She practically glowed when she sauntered into the room looking for love. And that’s not easy when you walk like John Wayne.

If I had not walked in on her at 3 a.m. when she was doing Downward Facing Cat, I still might not know she practiced yoga. I was on my way to the frig and there she was on the floor mat with her butt high in the air, her back arched perfectly down to the floor, paws extended to downwardcatthe front and head up and facing straight forward. From this pose she gracefully transitioned into Smiling Shrimp by laying down and letting her chin meet her rump, pulling her legs into the center and grinning.

This would have struck me as just a fluke if she had not then moved into the Pouncing Tiger pose. Breathing in deeply, she pulled her rump down low to the floor between her hind legs, while positioning her forelegs directly beneath her shoulders. Her head was directed straight to the front, and her unblinking eyes were focused on the wall ahead of her.

By this time I forgot about getting a drink and just watched in silence. Her next pose was no suprise at all --- the Cat Stretch. She rounded her back so that it was arched high corpsecatup and kept her forelegs locked straight below her shoulders. The she released the arched back and repeated the stretch one more time.

From there she moved into some kind of modified Corpse Pose, laying on her back with her feet extended upward while she rotated her head back and from the neck. At one point our eyes met and her expression seemed to be saying, “What are you looking at? I’m doing my yoga here.”

The last pose in the series was something I had never seen on a yoga tape. I call it Hen on Egg Pose. downwardcatWith her hind and forelegs pulled tightly under her body, she sits unmoving with head and eyes facing front, as though she was trying to hatch an egg. I must say that it was very zen like, particularly becase of her propensity not to blink or in any way break her concentration.

We used to put Animal Planet on the TV to entertain her while we were out, but now that I know there’s a four-legged yogini in the house, it’s going to be Rodney Yee all the time.

Jay Harrison is a graphic designer and writer whose work can be seen at DesignConcept. He's written a mystery novel, which therefore makes him a pre-published author.

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