Blog on the Lillypad
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
 | Rainstorm and Yoga Kitties
My yoga teacher has five cats. I've described Cody, who is the most visible. All of the cats are fat except for one, a thin, sleek and clever young lad with a coat the color of grayed charcoal. The most outgoing cat is a large, obese black and white male who exudes a mellow friendliness and amiability. On many late afternoons as the sun starts its decline, he can be found on the concrete front step, sitting with Buddha-like composure in the Meatloaf pose, meditating. He lifts his head to be petted but prefers not to follow us indoors. Exercise, no matter how lofty the goal, holds no interest for him. |
| Last Thursday, we suffered one of the occasional summer cloudbursts so common to the south. The lightning and thunder were not as ferocious as they might have been. But the rain came down in blinding sheets: sudden torrents that filled up the front yard as, inside the yoga room, five of us strained and breathed and sweated to maintain the "tree" pose.
Concerned, the teacher went to the front door. Apparently, the large black and white is afraid of storms. "Here Kitty Kitty Kitty!" she called into the pounding curtain of water. A streak of black and white that was roughly the shape of an enormous football raced past, making for the car. Two of us fell out of our postures. |  |
"Oh dear, he's hiding under the car, and it's just as wet under there!" she exclaimed. She put us in the bridge pose, checked our balance and weight distributions, and nervously looked out the window. From his comfortable perch in the back, blind to any terrifying flashed of lightning, Cody stretched and re-settled for the rest of his snooze.
 | Thunder boomed. We were straining in bridge pose while the advanced students attempted the wheel pose. The teacher returned to the door. Lightning flashed. "Here Kitty! Here Kitty! The door is open!"
The large white and black football streaked past again but didn't pay attention to the open door. He dived into the hedge. I collapsed out of Bridge Pose. |
Finally, just as class was ended, three of the cats came in. A neighbor called to say that the one holdout was at her place, helping her eat dinner. But the black and white was soaked, and our teacher ran to get a towel to rub him down. The orange and gray multi-color was also wet, but after regaining her dignity, she groomed herself and then cried to go out again. Only Charlie, the youthful male, was completely dry and as unrattled by the storm as Cody. We couldn't figure out where he had hidden himself, but it was a perfect shelter. He lightly leaped into the sill of the front window and gazed out at the soaked lawn.
The obese black and white had lost none of his charm. Once he got over being afraid, (as the storm moved off), and once our teacher had toweled him and fussed over him, he was ready to be petted and congratulated for having survived the storm.
