Once I realized Fergie had lessons to teach about the art of napping, it occurred to me that perhaps there might be other things he could teach me. So I started observing. He licks a lot of places I could never reach, nor would I want to. Any lessons there? No, I don't think so. He likes to dig through the trash and tear to shreds anything he finds of interest. Any lessons there? Can't think of any. But there is one thing he does each and every day that might be the source of some inspiration for me, and it is the first thing he does upon rising. Fergie does yoga.
When I took yoga classes, my favorite part was at the end when the teacher had everyone lie down on our backs on our yoga mats and relax. He or she would then talk the whole class through progressive relaxation. I loved that part. The feeling of peace and contentment I got from it made all the difficult stretches and strengthening and balancing poses worth the effort. By the time the teacher sounded the resonant ping of the brass bowl, the signal that class was over, I had a feeling that could be called bliss I took with me out the door, into my car, and into the rest of my day.
But in order to get to the good part, the relaxation part, I had to do the poses. There were a few I didn't mind. Child's pose, the warrior poses, even tree pose where you stand on one foot, put the flat of the other foot on the inside of the opposite knee while stretching both arms straight up over your head, a pose from which I almost always fell at first. I could do them well enough from the beginning to keep working at them. But there was one pose I really did not like. Downward dog. Downward dog takes a kind of physical flexibility genetically engineered out of my family tree. It stretched parts of me that left me limping. In order to even get close to downward dog, my patient teachers had me bending my knees, bracing against the wall, doing the pose for only a few seconds. No matter what they tried, I'd end up with silent tears running down my face as I watched the rest of the class enjoying downward dog. Doing downward dog had me feeling like a dog, but not in a good way.
And strangely, what I've noticed is that the part I liked least about doing yoga is what my little dog seems to enjoy the most and with which he starts every day. Downward dog comes as naturally to him as waking up. It is, after all, called downward dog, and he is one. He stretches his front legs way out in front, dropping his torso to the floor, while leaving his back legs standing. His tail end stretches up and back. This is downward dog, and he does it perfectly. Then he does his other poses. He does upward dog, also perfectly. Then he does the pose I call dog walking forward while stretching back legs. And that's his whole routine.
I still do yoga. Not because I am self disciplined or because I believe it will make me a better person. I do yoga because I prefer not to have back pain. Twenty odd years ago, I ruptured a disc in my back by foolishly doing some heavy lifting I had no business doing. It was a bad rupture, and after a long stand off with my doctor, I relented and had surgery to fix it. After the surgery, I would occasionally have bouts of my back "going out". It seriously impinged on my desire to get things done. One day I dug out the leaflet given to me by my surgeon. In it there were several simple exercises to do every day to prevent back pain. I looked at the exercises. Every one of them I had done before, in yoga class. They were yoga poses, the easy ones I liked doing. No downward dog. I started doing them, and have done them religiously ever since. And knock on wood, I have been pain free since then.
Here's what I've learned from Fergie about yoga. Do the poses that come naturally to you. I have never seen Fergie attempt tree pose. I'd love to see that, but it would be as difficult for him to do tree pose as it would be for me to scratch my chin with my foot as he can do. Fergie is a dog. And he knows it. So he does only two yoga poses, downward dog, and upward dog, and then he does that thing where he stretches his legs. How smart he is to know that is what he should do.
And how smart the yoga masters were to name their poses after the creature who perfected them. Second, do the poses that make you feel good. Fergie does downward dog and upward dog because they make him feel good for the rest of the day. All that napping can leave you a bit stiff if you don't work out a little. And lastly, make a habit of doing the things that make your body feel good. Fergie doesn't think about stretching, he just does it. And that's about it. Once again, I've learned some things from my little companion. As I finish writing this, Fergie is looking at me, his chin propped on a pillow, his eyes only half open, as if he knows what I've been writing. Next time, we'll talk about Fergie and ESP.
© M.E. Rollins
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