Cat-Scratch-Fever

You Have the Right to Purr. You Have the Right to Hiss.

Cat-Scratch-FeverEver feel like a scaredy cat trying to hang out with the big dogs? Do you tend to talk too much or feel a hairball is stuck in your throat when you are around certain people or situations? Then take the lead from what cats really do when the presence of fear urges them to humbly move into the strength of Universal Support. They make themselves bigger by puffing up their back and their neck!

By opening the back body, we open to the unknown, to that which is greater than ourselves, to untapped sources of power.  Opening in this way, draws in and strengthens the front body and helps us find our own inner power. The back body represents trust and support which is what we need to get stronger and to balance the opening of our heart. Breathing into the back of our hearts  and lengthening our necks gives us the freedom to speak.

You have the right to purr.  You have the right to hiss.  Deliver whatever your expression is in our pose aptly named “Cat Scratch Fever”.

Begin on all fours.  Line up your wrists under your shoulders and place your knees hip-width apart.  Inhale as you spread your fingers wide and press your finger pads, knuckles and the four corners of your palms down evenly so the center of your palms will lift up toward your armpits.  Lengthen from your hips up to your armpits. Exhale and soften into your back body. Soften your throat and the back of your eyes.

Inhale and slide your side ribs back, puff up your back body until you feel strong and supported. Try to even puff up the back of your neck!

Exhale and lift your tail and both sides of your throat up to move your spine in the opposite direction.  With your breath leading theIMG_1662 way, move your spine slowly and deliberately back and forth with catlike agility.

For more power, purr,  “trust” with your inhale and “strength” with your exhale.

This will awaken your back body in a way that is not hardening or constricting and will bring you to a place of recognition and empowerment so that depending on your needs you can either speak easy or be silent. Breathe into the back of your heart to connect to those big dogs in your life. It will take you to a higher place, and that’s where you want to land.

 

More to Explore

  • Principal’s Office

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    Feel more alive?

    Go one foot past scary?

    and deep into the dive?

    We have a suggestion;

    a type of advice.

    Report to the principal’s office

    not once….but twice!

    Once as invited,

    the other time sent.

    Once in your school years,

    with our consent.

    It may seem unusual

    coming from us.

    Report to the office

    Nevertheless.

  • A Sutra a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

    What are these sutras
    You speak so about?
    Are they stitches like sutures
    With some sort of clout?

    Good question, my friend~
    Why, yes, yes indeed,
    These sutras are potent
    In times of great need.

    In times of great need,
    And in times of great bliss,
    These highly condensed words
    Should not be dismissed.

    The most essential core thread,
    Of deep subtle meaning,
    That runs through the fabric~
    It supports out of gleanings.

    Gleanings of insights,
    And wisdom fused pearls~
    From the direct experience
    Of wise boys and girls.

    Sutras express so much
    In so very few words.
    With vast significance,
    It’s not for the birds.

    Sutras are formulas
    To be memorized and studied.
    To solve the perplexities~
    Of minds getting muddied.

    So chose your text wisely~
    Yoga, Shiva or Seuss,
    Buddhist, Tao, Platform,
    Tripitaka or Mother Goose.

    Then write them in BOLD~
    Where you’ll see them each day!
    Melt their magnificence
    In every which way.

  • The Royal Mind

    Monkey Mind

    Hmmm, Our Monkey Mind
    Our Mind Monkey~
    Is restless, and random,
    Rebellious, and junky?

    Silly, and scattered
    Like a toddler in its movement~
    Won’t settle down,
    And needs vast improvement?

    The mind is a problem,
    That we need to control.
    It’s random, and restless
    And a bit of a troll?

    That’s nonsense, we say!
    And quite derogatory!
    The nature of the mind
    Is going for glory!

    The mind is evolutionary,
    progressive, dynamic.
    Always seeking and moving
    toward that which is magic.

    holographic-mind-300x225

    So, think NOT monkey mind
    More like, mind is royalty~
    A King to Serve
    With Love and Loyalty.

    But, how can we Serve,
    The Great Intelligence of our minds?
    By meditation and mantras
    And movement refined.

    IMG 7136

    By exceptional quality
    Of the company we keep,
    What we see, what we hear,
    How well we do sleep.

    By lavish feasts of sutras,
    Of songs, and of silence,
    Of settling, and stillness
    And speech for your Highness.

    Much of your activity
    Will settle in bliss~
    Yet portions of Royal Mind
    Will continue to hiss.

    And that, my dear friend~
    Is the Great Intelligence~
    It wants more and more
    Of higher elegance.

    The Discipline of yoga,
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  • How to Bliss Bomb the World

    PIC-2So you finish your practice~
    You feel loving and calm.
    There is nothing you dismiss~
    You are full of BLISS bombs.

    You rejoin your family~’
    And what do you hear?
    Shouts of anxieties~
    Blames, Shames, doubts and fears!

    Does loving-kindness deflate
    As you join the contention?
    Or will your blissed state
    Transmit without tension?

    Each time you experience
    The delight of {I AM}
    Your bliss will flow forth~
    Like a hydraulic ram.

    Embody the KNOWING~
    Of your inner LOVE state.
    So you can keep it safe~
    And INTERRELATE.

    YOGA says your relationship
    between you and your SELF~
    can not be diminished,
    or put upon a shelf.

    You take your SELF
    everywhere you GO!
    Then everything is spiritual
    from Grumps to Sloppy Joes!

    Lokanandah Samadhi-Sukham
    Shiva Sutra One.Eighteen~
    PIC-1Your inner bliss continues
    Like you won the slot machines.

    So how do we GROW
    In our capacity for such LOVE?
    Without mermaids and unicorns~
    Blue moons and white doves?

    We create an INNER space
    Direct love toward KNOWERSHIP~
    Call forth our virtues,
    Our patience, our grit.

    We bridge the gap of difference
    SERVE in a profound way~
    Not cold duty or bargain~
    LOVE is the order of each day.

    Become capable with powers
    Of WILL, KNOWING, and ACTING
    By practicing {I AM}
    Without useless distracting.

    Place your hand over your HEART~
    Feel right beneath your palm~
    Towards your back body~
    Where this is endless peace and calm.

    Allow your attention
    To be with your BREATH~
    To flow in and flow out
    Softly in your chest.

    Welcome the BREATH~
    Right into your HEART.
    Feel a soft golden sun
    That is bright, warm and smart.

    With each breath IN~
    make that SUN glow.
    With Each breath OUT~
    Expand the warmth to and fro.

    As you welcome the breath in
    To the vast INNER world~
    Invite the HEART to reveal
    It’s largeness, depth, and swirl.

    Flow in with the thought {I AM}
    The mantra of the inner self~
    (Not I am Sam~
    Or I am a silly elf)

    The heart receives the breath
    With the recognition {I AM}
    The exhalation feels space,
    The experience of BLISS BAM.

    Practice with eyes open
    Practice with eyes closed
    Practice often
    And LOVE will be exposed.

    As you greet those outside~
    Amongst the chaotic and mundane~
    Stay tuned into your heart
    And send LOVE to their pain.

    You’ll get glimpses of KNOWING
    Your yoga is working~
    When outer frustrations
    Are shirking, not lurking.

  • Zip the Lip…Potato Chip!

    Often people tend to pull us into their drama. Our awareness can get overwhelmed. What if we allow them time for self-correction? What if we don’t always comment about what we are critical of? What if we focus in a positive way and offer love with enthusiasm?

    I invite you to practice the zip mantra (influenced by the brilliant Paul Muller-Ortega ) on your mat space as well as in your life space. Do tell us how it goes!