General – Page 6 – Before Wisdom

Tommy

When I moved a few months back Tommy was the first person I met. Very gregarious, I soon got in the habit of petting him.

I asked a fellow tenant about him. She said that he has been around for many years, that other neighbors told her that he used to wear a collar, and that they think someone left him behind when they moved. She added that she was told someone in a neighboring building let him inside during the winter. He looked well fed, people in my town like “sharing cats” and taking turns taking care of them.

A few months later I saw a guy walking some dogs and Tommy approached them. I told the guy he wasn’t my cat, but that he was friendly. He said he knew, that Tommy was his cat, that he was an “outdoor cat”, that he got him his shots, that neighborhood children gave him treats, and that he didn’t mind.

I started buying cat treats for Tommy, but I didn’t want to leave the food outside where it might attract rats. So, I started inviting Tommy inside to give him his treats. Usually he leaves after a few minutes, but sometimes he hangs around.

Here is he making himself at home.

Goodbye B.K.S. Iyengar

B. K. S. Iyengar, Who Helped Bring Yoga to the West, Dies at 95

His book “Light On Yoga” ( unabridged ) was and probably is still the most comprehensive book on yoga in the English language. About two inches thick, super precise description of postures pages long in excruciating detail, hundreds of pictures showing the smallest of variations, a substantial introduction to the philosophy in the front, a do it yourself practice guide spanning several years in the back, and even a guide for which postures to use for which physical issues.

I discovered yoga and his fantastic book when I was teenager. I would spend hours with it every day after school, bending in odd positions while dripping sweat on the book and reading all of those detailed directions.

It was one of my first, best, introductions to Eastern thought that led to many of the things I am still into today.

I can’t find a way to say adequately how much I got out Iyengars fantastic book. I think it is a crime against humanity that newer editions were later abridged. A

All those hours of enjoyment, education, and funky experiences, during a time of discovery for me.

In the early 00’s I finally had a chance to to take yoga classes that taught his style. I remember seeing a poster of him bending over backwards and touching the floor behind him. He was 75 years old at the time. When I got into all of that stuff I remember high school friends telling me how the time spent on yoga, diet, health etc detracted from the joy in life. Aside from the fact that those things are ends in themselves as joyful things to do, BKS Iyengar was doing hand stands at an age where many people are dying and struggling just to do basic daily things.

Age can be a time of the coming together of wisdom bringing great opportunities. What a gift to have a few more years and a few more quality years, to get the most out of it.

Iyengar made it to 95 and was still highly functional almost up to his demise. I knew very little about him aside from his thoughts in “Light On Yoga”. This article was a very interesting summary of his life, and after all these years I found out what the “B.K.S.” stand for.

In Memory Of Sprinkles

My sibling unit finally came through with some old style pictures, you know the offline kind on paper, of our family cat Sprinkles. I decided to scan them in and post one. This picture was taken in the early 00’s toward the end of her life.

We first got Sprinkles as a slightly too young kitten. My father called my sister from work asking her if she wanted a cat. One of his customers had a box of kittens in his warehouse. My sister said “yes” and my father picked what he thought was “the quiet one” whose colors matched our living room.

Sprinkles was scared shitless the first day she arrived home. We were eating dinner and she kept running out of the kitchen into the living room where she got even more frightened. She was too young to have learned to meow. She sounded like a human baby. My sister kept bringing her into the kitchen and she kept running back out into the living room and crying.

Sprinkles was so small she couldn’t jump straight up onto my sister’s bed. Sprinkles had to stop at the box spring, take a rest, and jump the rest of the way from there. In the early days Sprinkles liked wrapping herself around my sister’s neck like a calico snake, before she fell asleep.

Sprinkle always thought she was just another human. She would try to sit in a chair on her butt and hind legs like a person. When my mom would call for dinner Sprinkles would come running and sit in an empty chair.

I could go forever about cherished memories of pure unrefined cuteness. Suffice it to say that Sprinkle will always be that kitten in my mind and that she pumped an unquantifiable amount of joy into our home.