“Good morning, Squeaks,” said Momanita. “Today’s a good day for exercising!”
Momanita flung off the blue cover, and the sun streamed into my rolly cage.
“You’re not a blue bird! Quit being so cheerful in the morning!”
To other hootmans this sounded like squeals and whistles, but not to Momanita. She MOSTLY understood cockatiel speak. I MOSTLY understood hootman talk.
“I watched a TV program about Yoga. If I practice Yoga, it would keep me flexible,” said Momanita. “It also increases balance.”
Momanita COULD have better balance. She lay down while sleeping. I slept standing – sometimes on one foot. I would like to KEEP sleeping.
“There are different poses in Yoga,” said Momanita. “I wonder how to start.”
When Momanita wondered, she thought of questions.
When she thought of questions, she looked for answers.
When she looked for answers, she needed my help.
I wondered about millet. Momanita fed me millet in the morning. Today she didn’t think about my millet. She thought about her Yoga.
“I’ll start by researching Yoga,” said Momanita.
“We can start, but how about millet first?”
I climbed out of my rolly cage into my writing nest. Ignoring my millet, Momanita climbed the stairs to HER writing nest. She scooted her chair to the computer and tapped the keyboard. I perched on top the writing nest and dozed. If I couldn’t have millet, I would have sleep.
“Yoga developed about 5,000 years ago,” said Momanita.
“I bet millet has been around longer than that!”
Momanita ignored my hint.
“It clears the mind and helps the body,” said Momanita.
“I can’t clear my mind of millet, hint, hint.”
“Some Yoga poses are named after animals,” said Momanita.
Getting Down Like A Dog
“Downward dog,” said Momanita “I’ve heard of this one.”
Momanita turned the computer screen towards me so I could see a hootman bent over with her hands on the floor and her butt in the air.
“It doesn’t look like a dog. Zoey carries a tennis ball in her mouth and Maggie sniffs around the kitchen.”
“This pose builds strong arms, tones the belly, and clears the head,” Momanita reported. “Dogs are faithful, loving friends. Maybe I’m supposed to think about that when I’m in that position.”
“Maybe you can think about giving me millet.”
“Maybe I should start with this pose. It looks easy.”
“Thinking about giving me millet is easy.”
“It’s too easy,” said Momanita. “Let’s look for a more challenging one.”
“Let’s look for my millet.”
Momanita scrolled to the next yoga position.
Don’t Have A Cow (Or A Cat)
“The Cow/Cat pose is a bargain- two for one,” said Momanita.
“I don’t think you should have anything to do with cats.”
Cats were worse than squirrels. Squirrels stole Cardinal’s sunflower seeds. Cats chased Cardinal.
I didn’t trust squirrels or cats.
“I’m on my hands and knees in this position. First, I arch my back like a cat. Then I relax and curve it downward.”
That’s what a cat did when it saw Zoey. I never saw a cow up close.
“This pose builds the spine, stretches the hips, and massages the belly.”
“My belly would like to massage some millet.”
“This pose encourages gratitude for what you have, but to be curious.”
“I’m curious and grateful about my millet.”
“This one is easy, too,” said Momanita. “I don’t want to start there.”
No Go Flamingo
“I found a challenging pose, Squeaky,” said Momanita, “the flamingo.”
“Maybe you could find some millet.”
I climbed up Momanita’s arm to whisper in her ear about millet. Then I saw the pose on the computer screen. Momanita would stand on one leg, bend over, and tuck up her leg. A flamingo could do that, not my Momanita. She’d hurt herself.
“This pose builds balance, stretches shoulders, and improves focus.”
“And if you fall over, it’ll build a bump on your head.”
“This pose releases stress and encourages fun,” said Momanita.
I didn’t want Momanita to bump her head. I needed to distract her. I leaped from her shoulder and flapped to the office floor. Then I scooted under her desk.
“Squeaks, are you ok? Are you hurt? Come out,” said Momanita.
Momanita knelt and put her hands on the floor to steady herself. I hid in the farthest dark corner.
“I’m not hurt.”
“I’ll wait here until you decide to come out,” said Momanita. “While I’m down here, I’ll do the cat/cow pose.”
Momanita stretched her back like a cat and sunk it like a cow.
“This pose is easy, but stretches my muscles,” said Momanita. “This may be a better start than the flamingo.”
That’s what I wanted to hear. I peeked out from under the desk and climbed onto her hand.
“There you are, Squeaky,” said Momanita. “Now that I found how to start Yoga, we can write your post, but first you need your millet.”
“Let’s write about how when starting something new, it’s best to start small.”
To other hootmans this sounded like squeals and whistles, but not to Momanita. She MOSTLY understood cockatiel speak. I MOSTLY understood hootman talk.
Check out Momanita’s book OPERATION HOPPER.
Momanita and I read about Yoga. You might want to read about it, too.
https://hammerandflow.yoga/blog/16-yoga-poses-named-after-animals
Anita Borgo 