It’s Wednesday! Need help getting over that hump? How about news on cats and yoga!
Imbued with the pioneering spirit of an animal loving ingenue, veterinary student nurse Ms. Sian Barr in Powys, Wales took it upon herself to launch a study on how to calm the nerves of our little feline friends. Because hairballs we know, but hairystressballs we DO NOT WANT.
So there was a test! Researching stress levels on cats at the vets surgery, the 21-year-old Miss Barr:
…studied cats when they were first admitted by assessing their ear and eye activity, how they were communicating and respiration levels.
…then split them into two groups, only one of which was played the relaxation CDs.
She repeated the test after 40 minutes and was able to assign each cat their own kitty stress score.
“By comparing the scores, I found the music had a dramatic effect on respiration rates, with those exposed to the music decreasing to a relaxed rate much quicker than those not exposed.”
Furthermore:
[Ms. Barr] found that those who were played yoga meditation music and Om Shanti tunes calmed down and began to breathe more slowly while in cages.
So there you have it…maybe some people dont agree with music in human yoga classes, but we now have scientific proof meditation music and cats are a purrfect combination for silly cliched puns 🙂
For kicks…
Behold Buddha Cat! At peace with the world, and listening to Ravi Shankar no doubt.
and one of our favorites, the NSFW Buddha Cat!
what do you think? Yanni?
Extra licks…World’s First Ice Cream Truck for Dogs (in the UK of course)
Earlier…
- Yoga, Soccer, World Cup with Cats! (video)
- The Anti-Yoga Kitty Makes Us Feel OK
- More where that came from, continue reading posts on Cat Yoga
I love this YD!! Every morning I sit down on my cushion in my bedroom and start my chant. The chant is the mahamrit, guyatri mantra, and the 32 names of Durga. Following those chants my sadhana for the day continues with my Guru mantra (given to me by Swami Niranjananda Saraswati). EVERY time, my ‘bitchy kitty’ comes seductively over and just lays at my knees. She purrs…but her purr is louder and it is far deeper. There is a difference in the vibration…no doubt about it. If I recklessly skip a day – she is angry and unhappy. She gives me her grey cold shoulder! When we do practice the chanting and the meditation, she is so much more personable! (She’s really very sweet but she does not like skipping meditation!) On an additional note, I read that the Native American Tradition sees the cat as having counter clockwise energy. My understanding of the folklore (not really excited about that term) is that humans have a clockwise energy and that the cat energy neutralizes the stress we feel because of the opposite energy. I don’t know if this is proven but I do know that when my cat sits with me in meditation, it is all the better!
I do love cat meditation. And I love your cat yoga posts!
Here’s an absolutely yoga-worthy stretch I just spotted, if you haven’t seen it yet:
http://icanhascheezburger.com/2010/08/05/funny-pictures-video-stretch-kitteh-stretches/
Great blog! Thanks so much.