Mommy goes upside down and down.

I am sorry it has been so long between entries. It isn't for lack of material, oh, no - we've all been very busy here working on our house, and I have been charged with babysitting my kitten so he doesn't knock anything over. But we are all well, mostly, and free of injury for the most part.

Mommy hurt herself good and proper. I know I have told all of you that I usually sit with her during her yoga practices and meditation, and that sometimes the things she does worry me a little bit. Last week Mommy blew my mind. I was sitting with her watching her go through her sun salutations and fussing over jumping back and floating forward and what have you, when she stopped. She looked at me and did this little bouncy hop thing, and asked, "Guess what it's time for, Totsi?" And I laid down, because she had a gleam in her eyes that seemed like she might have gone off an interesting side of the deep end. Sure enough, she had - do you want to know what she did?

She took her yoga mat over the the wall, and turned herself upside down into a handstand. Helped herself back down, and asked me how I had liked THAT? I didn't rightly know. Then she did it again, and said it was so much fun. She didn't stop there, oh, no - she did it again, but down on her forearms, and bent herself in a peculiar way a couple of times. I did not move. I did not dare. Then she stood on her head. I swear it. I didn't really believe her when she told me how much fun she had just had, but she certainly was smiling. She said she had lost her nerve to do those things a little while ago, and had forgotten how much fun it was.

After that, she finished up by playing dead and having her meditation. The next day, she did the same thing, and she kept doing that until the day before yesterday when she stopped in the middle of her contortions and said, "Ouch!" (Actually, since I believe in being truthful, I need to tell you that Mommy plopped down on the floor and said something nasty about her shoulder. "Ouch" was one of the words, though.) Yesterday, instead of her "normal" practice, she had a nice, long, hot bath followed by what she calls a restorative practice and a yoga nidra. I took a nap right there with her.

Last night, Mommy had to get Daddy to take her to the drug store for some Advil and some more deep heating rub. She's been singing the praises of Tiger Balm ever since, literally singing, and even though it does make her smell kind of funny, I'm so glad she's feeling better. She said she is going to wait until Monday to go back into a full practice, and that she will take it easy with all of her upside down handstand things by only doing one per practice for the time being, and that she will be very mindful of not overdoing it and taking the right counterposes. I am glad of this.

My mommy has always said that sometimes her enthusiasm can be her worst enemy, and I think she has learned quite a lesson from this. I'm going to go back to sitting by her now to make sure she doesn't hop up and do anything else foolish before she is able.

Have an enjoyable day, dance some, and turn yourself upside down if you must - but please don't do it so much that you hurt yourself, because you want to be able to dance some and turn upside down tomorrow, too.

We will not be flipping me, thank you.

My mommy does this. She used to just go on about her business and contort herself this way, but lately, she will look right at me and say in a very happy voice, "Okay, Totsi! Time to flip the dog!"

And I don't know why she says that about what she used to call the wild thing if she said anything about it at all, but I do not like what it implies. We will not be flipping me. I will have no desire to be flipped, I will not consent to be flipped, and we will not be flipping me. Why can't she just do it and hush?

We will not be flipping me. If she comes near me, I am going to pee on her yoga mat the way I did when I was a puppy. We'll see who's dog is flipped then.

I will not be flipped.

I sit with Mommy.

Do you remember when I said Mommy does her meditation after she has yoga practice and plays dead? I think that is what I would like to talk to you about today. I have realized that sitting with my mommy while she meditates is actually helping to keep me a little more calm and centered while our home, Casa Didgeridoo, looks like what mommy calls the inside of the shaken and stirred garage of planet chaos.

Not too long ago, my mommy started moving things all around and vacuuming out little corners. I was afraid that we might be about to move, but she told me that we are going to make a cave for Daddy to sit in, so we would be doing some painting. We have furniture all over the place, books stacked up all around, and things sitting on things where they shouldn't be. Even though I knew we weren't going to move, I was still nervous because I don't like change. But look at me! Behind me, you can see some of the things that are sitting everywhere, but just look!

I am calm and content.

And here is my kittysister, Foot Foot, the way she is most of the time.

She is not calm or content. Now, who sits with Mommy during her meditation?

Again, here I am, surrounded by all the stuff Mommy moved for painting:

And here is Foot Foot, not surrounded by all the stuff since she ran away from it, but still not happy. She is on the table, trying to be above it all:

I think if she would take the same few minutes Mommy and I do each morning and evening, she would find herself a whole lot more like this:

Don't you agree?

And I would like all of you to know that I say all of this from a place of concern for my kittysister Foot Foot, and with no judgement towards her.

Today, perhaps you might try to take a few quiet moments to yourself, maybe just ten deep breaths with your eyes closed like Mommy does all the time when she starts to lose patience, and see if it helps. I have even found a handy online meditation timer for you. (I just do things like this. It's the worker dog in me.)

Have an enjoyable day, and dance some.

Mommy plays dead.

This might seem a little backwards, but I've decided my first entry will be about what Mommy does at the end of her yoga practice. After she's bent and twisted herself around in all sorts of interesting ways, she lays flat down on the floor and will not move. And I worry.

She has told me this is okay, that it is what she is supposed to do. It is something called "savasana", she says. And would you like to know what that means? Corpse pose. I swear, I really do think she might be dead when she does it. Every single time, I fear she might actually be dead because she is so very good at this thing.

Routine is very important to me, and I have one I have to go through when she plays dead like this. I go over to her, every time, and I put my snout right by her nose to make sure she is breathing. Once I know she is, and I do have to make very sure on those times she has really worn herself out, I sit beside her and huff to let her know I am there and to see if I think she can hear me. And then I grumble some, and hoo (I am half Husky, so I speak that language), and put my paw on her shoulder while sitting guard. If that still doesn't get her up in what seems like a reasonable amount of time, I lay down on top of her. Sometimes I am very careful about it, and I line myself up the way I did when I was a puppy, laying on my belly with my head on her chest. Most of the time that seems like it is enough. There are other times, though, when I have to flop right down upon her on my side to bring her back. Since Mommy isn't very big at all and I weigh about fifty pounds, I save that for when things seem really and truly desperate.

One time she fell asleep. She had been sick with the flu, and tired herself out a little too much. I realized she was okay when she turned over on her side and stayed. We took a nice nap together right there on the floor for about an hour.

She always gets up, though, just as sure as anything, and I'm certain my efforts have something to do with reviving her. And then Mommy has her meditation. Sometimes I try to sit in her lap for that, but usually I lay on the floor very close to her in case she decides to lay down like she's dead again.

That is a little part of what we do almost every single day. Mommy says me bringing her back to life is as much a part of her practice as savasana, and she always thanks me for that and for keeping the cats away from her. Then we go and have a little snack.

I hope you have enjoyed my first blog entry. Do something good for yourself today, and if you play dead, please get up.

One moment, please.

I'm preparing, but I will have something written for you soon!