Hello yogis, poets, and seekers of inspiration!
The first time I learned of Cat-Cow Pose was in a yoga class with my then 5 year-old son. I was delighted to hear a small circle of little ones mooing and meowing and stretching with glee. To this day, even though I do not moo and meow out loud (that much:) I have such a warm feeling of relief and delight when I practice this pose.
The Process
When I first started writing this series of poems, I would sometimes get stuck in what can be called, “writer’s block.” However, I have learned over the years that what is called, “writer’s block” is not always a block, but a call for patience, inner work, and trust.
One of my strategies for when I am trying to write and nothing is coming to me is to let go and change my state. The morning I was working on the Cat-Cow Pose poem, I was feeling at a loss and instinctually set out on a bike ride even though it was cloudy and quite cold.
As I peddled briskly over a nearby bridge, I asked myself, How am I going to write this poem? And then I stopped, right over the fast moving river and said, out loud, “Haikus.”
I sat down and wrote the first draft. And now, after whittling away on it, I am so pleased to share it to you:
The Poem —
Cat-Cow Pose
Two haikus
Paws pressed down, back stretched
high, Halloween cat scared of
shadows, nothing, purr
*
Sacred cow, mother
of milk, nourishing our spine,
oh, aum, moo
So here are two questions for you: What do you love about practicing Cat-Cow Pose?
Or, if you do not practice this pose… or even yoga… What do you love about cats or cows?
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Note: If you are not familiar with Cat-Cow Pose, here are two of my favorite websites/journals that explain it beautifully:
I love both cats and cows. When I was younger I much preferred cats but, as I started to spend my summer holidays in the mountains I came to love cows with the same intensity. They're so gigantic and peaceful and, although initially a bit intimidated by a close encounter with one of them, because everything gigantic instinctively scares us, I then felt very honoured to be able to share the mountain with them 🙏
This is one of those poses that always delivers. Like nose circles and happy baby. Tonight while indulging in the "elbow's down" version of cat-cow that Adriene invited us to do in Center Day 20, I listened for the purr and I listened for the moo. I heard them both!! They're really there! I'll never forget this now, thanks to your haiku!