...what often happens when hiking with human friends is I’ll get a cool idea...like hey, let’s bushwhack through those pricker bushes, across that swamp, and up that rockslide...only to meet with sardonic responses like huh?! or what?! or why the hell would I wanna do that?!....in sharp contrast, my dog friends answer with characteristic enthusiasm: yeah!! great idea, Jay!!! let’s do it!!!! you rule!!!!!*...which is why I'm always happy to go hiking with a dog...
...dogs don’t necessarily get the yoga thing, though...which, for some, might raise the question of whether they’re waiting for yoga or past it and mastering it...to misquote Walt Whitman...either way, it can make things difficult when dogsitting...as the dog in question might see getting down toward the floor as indicating a desire to play, and respond in kind...or, perhaps, there's a logical argument there, like what the hell do ya need downward facing dog for when ya got the real thing right here?...
...and, certainly, plans to begin the day sitting quietly, incense burning, Monk & Coltrane playing low in the background, may be derailed when it turns out el perro has other first-thing-in-the-morning priorities....then, I’m still far from convinced that an early morning dog walk can’t be as good a meditation as any...
*free translation from the original dog
11 comments:
Good morning Dr. Jay. Perhaps dogs are a gentle hint from all that is divine not to take ourselves too seriously. I live with three such reminders. My constant companions make photography a....challenge, but other than that they are a constant source of joy. Too bad you are there and not here...you would be a great dog sitter. :) But then there would little time for uninterrupted meditation ~ a reason for everything I suppose...
I just found your blog and I have to say that my dogs are exactly as you've described. Want to go for a hike in the rain? Yeah! Want to sit here and eat potato chips? Yeah! They're multi-purpose companions. And, yes, they think yoga is a great excuse for a romp, so occasionally they find themselves banished to the bedroom so I can finish a session!
last summer, a student presented me with a flyer for a dog yoga class. my bostons may enjoy the jazz, but they just want to lick me whenever i get down on the floor for asana. they only like savasana.
I do so wish my lifestyle (if you could call it that) permitted having a dog.
My standard poodle had great respect for my morning yoga, and lay feet from me poised and silent. Then we rescued the old english sheepdog. Totally different dynamic there!
My husband walks the dogs every morning at 5:30 before work (a bit later on weekends). It really is his meditation as his office is looking at 30% staff layoffs.
Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of "Wherever You Go, There You Are" has written about the benefits of a walking meditation. As a hyper-active person, I'm a big fan.
I'm a firm believer that dogs have evolved past the need to contemplate yoga like humans...they just live it off the mat. They are joy and breath and movement and stillness...and here comes mine just to prove the point...joyfully bounding into the room to let me know my girls are home from school, and stretching in a perfect...you guessed it...downward dog.
Dogs are so awesome because I think they bring innocence and joy wherever they go. And who couldn't use a little more innocence and joy in their lives?
Having spent most of our enjoyable hours around the canine quadrupeds, we think that unless something happens to fundamentally change their nature, dogs totally live in the moment, are completely open to the path before them, and never have regrets.
They are continually surprised and delighted by everything. Even the tree that they've smelled every day on their walk is new today because it's, well, today.
We have to drink way too much to get in touch with that part of ourselves and usually fall asleep. Which is another reason we like to have them around, to remind us the the simple, unresolved joy around us all the time if only we'd take a moment to run with our noses to the wind.
G'Day to you. My dog, an young and enthusiastic Pomeranian and I have just returned from the walk he took me on. Despite the driving rain and gale force winds we trundled off on our morning adventure grinning from ear to ear. :)
Is that Bella, drjay? I think I see raised ears and wide eyes---definite signs that she's ready when you are!
Well into my recent visit to my folks, W offered to come and take Lucy back home, but I said I'd rather she stay, if he didn't mind. Although she was up a little too early for me on most mornings, excited by inklings of critters on the other side of the door, our walks through total stillness were as good, if not better, than meditation. I don't know how I would've fared without her...
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