5 Things My Dog Taught Me About Yoga (Best of Spoiled Yogi)

1. Be present. Don't miss the opportunity to chase a squirrel because you're daydreaming about tomorrow's kibble. Likewise, don't miss out on the quality of your breath in a pose because you're worried about how you look, or what pose is coming next, or what's for dinner, etc.

2. Be curious, and when it doesn't work out - keep trying! I can't tell you how many times I've seen my little 15-pound dog, Penny, (that's her in the photo to the left) go up to a 70-pound lab, jump right up into his face, and lick his nose. Sometimes it goes well, and she instantly makes a new buddy. Other times? Well, let's just say some dogs don't want to be licked by a strange little dog. Either reaction does not phase my dog. She just waits for the barking to stop, and then tries again. This is how I try to approach my yoga practice--I never quite know how it's going to turn out, but I come to my mat with curiosity again and again.

3. Get your energy out. If my dog doesn't get enough exercise she wreaks havoc on my home. She chases the cat, chews my slippers, and barks like there's no tomorrow. So I take her for long walks or to the dog park as an outlet for her nervous energy. To manage my own anxieties, I go to my yoga mat. We're both a lot saner when we make time for ourselves--and the cat is a lot happier, too!

4. Don't force it. They don't call it Downward-Facing DOG for nothing! We yoga students could definitely learn a thing or two about stretching from our dogs. When my dog wakes up from a nap, she glides so effortlessly into Downward Dog it's like a dance. She sticks her tail in the air like it belongs there, but then it's over--that simple. What she doesn't do is analyze it to death and make a big fuss about it.

5. Play dead. OK, so my dog doesn't play dead on command, but she does know how to take Savasana like an old pro--and she doesn't need anyone'spermission. She listens to her own intuition and rests when she's tired. No guilt. No worries. Just bliss.

This was originally posted as part of my Top 5 Tuesdays blog at YogaJournal.com. Read more here.

Woof! Be Mine.

Valentine's Day is just around the corner...

I wanted to blog tonight but ...

... Penny had other plans.

Top Dogs and Their Yoga Humans: A Collective Lesson in Living in the Now

I love my furry friends. They teach me SO much about life and yoga. How to be content, how to love unconditionally, how to be present ... I could go on.. The point is, my animals make my life better.

As you might already know one of my hobbies is stalking--I mean, reading about--other yoga students and teachers on the web to glean as much inspiration as possible. It's obvious that I'm not the only yogi who gets schooled by her pets. So I thought I'd pull some of the best yoga + dog writings I could find online and share them with you in time for Thanksgiving. Maybe it will make you want to give a few extra table scraps to the pup you love!

Image: Gwen Bell

1. Dog: Redford
Human: ElephantJournal.com Founder Waylon Lewis
Breed: Rescue Mutt

Waylon is thankful for: "My puppy, because he’s cute and listens to me most of the time, and because he teaches me more about patience and myself than anyone except my guru, Trungpa Rinpoche, or my guru, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, or whatever girlfriend happens to be putting up with me, or not, at any given time."

Read more here.



2. Dog: Scarlet
Human: Meredith LeBlanc
Breed: Rescue Pug

"Scarlet, our Pug, has been a huge catalyst for change in our home. Her enthusiasm and joie de vivre is contagious. Every moment to her is worth savoring and she is totally right. We'd kind of forgotten that until she moved in with us."

Read more here.



3. Dog: Ashi

Human: Kathryn Budig
Breed: Puggle

"She knows what is important in life: good food, and lots of it. Getting excited about the smallest things like the phone ringing. It means someone interesting is on the other line. Most importantly, good love and the ability to give and recieve it all day long."

Read more here.

Image: cyndisphere

4. Dog: Leroy
Human: Cyndi Lee
Breed: Chocolate Poodle

"Leroy and I went to the park yesterday but when I started turning right to leave, he pulled hard to go left.  He is a stubborn poodle so I said, “Okay, we can walk around the fountain that way today,” and to the left we went. Where there was a huge crowd gathered around and lot of buzzing conversations.  Then I saw what was going on — there were literally hundreds of boxes sitting on the ground under the big famous arch at the end of Fifth Avenue.  Every box was wrapped in a coral colored cloth with a bow on top — a Japanese kind of wrapping thing.  It looked amazing and beautiful.  People were all excited and taking the boxes.  I looked around to see if it was a giveaway from some big company like Revlon or something but, no. No big promotional thing happening.  So I thought, I’ll take a box, too.  I picked one up and then I thought, “No. I don’t want this. I don’t want more stuff.”  So I put it down and started to walk away and then I saw a tiny sign that said:

EMPTY IS NOT EMPTY. FULL IS NOT FULL."

Read more. 

5. Dog: Schmutzie
Human: Dave Romanelli
Breed: Rescue Toy Poodle

"Schmutzie's training doubled as a personal growth seminar. And Schmutzie was no less than a furry sort of spiritual companion. In order to get to a point where I could walk Schmutzie without a leash, I learned that I needed to practice pulling my mind out of downward spirals of negative thinking; to prevent my mind's foolish foolish scampers into dark, foggy reals; to quell my mind's ADD-driven spastic leaps from thought to thought. Only when my mind stabilized and relaxed would Schmutzie truly respect me."

Excerpted from Yeah Dave's Guide to Living' in the Moment. Click here to read more.

And, of course, I am most inspired by my sweet rescue mutt Penny and cute, deaf kitty Gracey.


5 Things My Dog Taught Me about Yoga

5 Things My Cat Taught Me about Yoga

What lessons have you learned from your furry friends?

Puppy Pose

This is what my home practice looks like.

Enjoy!

The Chase

When she's not sleeping or curled up in a lap, my sweet dog Penny spends a great deal of her time chasing things. She chases balls, sticks, toys, dogs at the dog park, squirrels, birds, and our poor cat. When she's feeling particularly hyper—which is often because she's 9 months old—she chases her tail. She goes around and around in circles at full speed. Trust me, it is a sight to behold. Here's the interesting part: When she catches her tail she keeps spinning around, holding the tip of her tail in her mouth. At this point, I think she has completely forgotten the objective. She's just playing and enjoying the moment (which is really the only part of this scenario that makes her different than humans).

People spend a lot of time chasing things, too. We run in circles trying to obtain something all the time. And, like Penny, we don't know exactly what it is that we see out of the corner of our eyes, but we know it looks shiny and so we MUST have it. Fortune, fame, success, relationships, new shoes, whatever—often we don't fully understand the objects of our desire because we haven't fully experienced them. So when we finally reach our goals, we can't even recognize that we now have everything we always wanted. So we KEEP GOING! We turn our attention to some speck we see off in the distance even though we already have the thing that we set out to obtain in the first place.

There are really only a few possible outcomes to this scenario, which I've learned by watching Penny. We become so exhausted that we can't possibly run any more, so we give up. We lie down and settle for what we have, but always long for something else. (Usually we just try again after we're rested a bit.) Or we get so dizzy that we spin out of control and crash into a table leg (or, you know, whatever). When this happens we think we've been hit by an outside force, which has kept us from realizing our dreams (maybe a financial hardship, for example) when we might have really caused the fiasco ourselves by behaving like a 9-month-old puppy.. Or we can find a more productive way to channel our energy... I choose yoga. Penny, well, I should probably take her to the park more often. :)

I've been chasing my tail for a long time, and contentment seems like a much better choice. So I make a conscious effort to slow down and see how very blessed I am every time I step onto my yoga mat. And I think I'm slowly beginning to see myself form into healthier, more productive thought and life patterns.Thank goodness, because spinning in circles can make you crazy (and dizzy)!

What do you do to slow down and channel your energy toward positive things?

A Love Story & A Lesson in Detachment

My dog, Penny, has a crush. It's more than a crush, actually.. It's a crazy, intense, infatuated—well, case of puppy love.

You see, earlier this week she met this piece of wood and it was love at first sight. She picked it up, flirted with it a little, then decided to make it her own. She takes it with her on every walk morning, noon, and night. And when the walk is over and I make her put it down outside the front door. She sits at the door for a few minutes and whines, crying for her beloved.

But it doesn't take long for Penny to forget all about her favorite attachment when we get back inside. It's just a few minutes of whining, then she chases the cat, begs for food, cuddles in our laps, and returns to her happy, mischievous puppy self.

When the door opens and it's time for another walk, she picks up the wood immediately and it starts all over again.

I've learned from Penny that it really is possible to leave your attachments (thoughts, desires, ambitions... whatever) outside. You can always pick them up again later.

Goodbye Coffee Ritual! We'll Miss You.

The last two days I decided to give up my morning coffee ritual and roll my yoga mat instead. Besides, I can get to work a few minutes earlier and have my coffee there. I'll be happier, calmer, and look like a dedicated employee who gets to work early! Everybody wins!

But here's the problem. My morning coffee/email/Today Show ritual isn't just my "me time." It's also my bonding-with-Penny-the-Puppy-Time. While I sip my coffee and check my email and write blogs, Penny brings me toys to throw for her. Then, eventually, she curls up in my lap for a few minutes of petting and baby talk before I have to get up and get ready for work.

My morning practice time isn't "me time" either. I unroll my mat, Penny gets on. I do my first Downward Dog, Penny runs from across the room, between my legs and licks my face. I stand tall in Tadasana, a stuffed duck plops at my feet. Penny looks up at me, her tail wagging. "Please, oh, PLEASE will you throw this for me?," say her big, brown eyes.

I feel incredibly, horribly guilty. It's not exactly the inner peace I was looking for. But I think we can start a new morning ritual that we'll both be happy about, right?

Meditation Teacher

 

This is my neighbor's dog, a sweet golden retriever puppy with a spiritual side. Like most dogs, she has no trouble meditating. 

 

 She stops to smell the flowers.

And she knows that each day is an amazing blessing.

For more lessons from Vivi, visit her mom's Flickr stream. I know I get lots of inspiration from it.

Puppy Love

Every spoiled girl needs a spoiled little dog. I'm no exception, of course taking the whole ahimsa, non-harming, thing into account I opted for a rescue mutt instead of a prissy, little purebred dog. This is a picture of my cute little darling, Penny.

Now, to a spoiled Paris Hilton-type, a puppy isn't much more than an accessory. But a spoiled yogi like me sees infinite wisdom in her furry friends. My Penny has amazing yoga poses, of course, but I'm most amazed at how she gets so excited about simple things. For example, any time I go to the freezer to get ice for a drink, she follows me, happily wagging her tail because she knows I'll give her an ice cube to chew on. If only I could get that excited about an ice cube!

Here are a few other little nuggets of wisdom I've seen in my pooch.

-- If someone growls at you, that doesn't necessarily mean they don't want to be friends. Don't make any sudden moments, and be friendly again tomorrow. Growling back will get you nowhere.

-- There is really nothing more important in this life than grass, sunshine, friends, and food. What more can you possibly want?

-- Play! Play! Play! Sleep..... Play! Play! Eat... Play! Play! Play! This is the way to enlightenment.

How do your four-legged friends inspire your yoga?