Small, Furry Coup d'Etat

Introducing: Yoda Nalu!

I've been sitting here for some time now trying to come up with a blog post for this week, and coming up blank. Well, not necessarily blank so much as distracted. Surprisingly, I've found it challenging to focus on anything for the last 5 days besides PUPPY. This small, furry, funny-looking 8-week-old dog-creature has managed to invade our home, take whatever semblance of an organized life we had, and turn it completely upside down. It is quite possibly the swiftest coup d'etat ever carried out by a being bearing baby teeth. 

So, I thought, if I can't think of anything besides what this little guy is doing, I might as well give the newest member of the Infinity Crossing team a proper introduction. His name is Yoda Nalu, he's the product of a heeler/pointer mother & a maltese/shih-tzu father (the logistics of which must have been impressive), and he's pretty awesome. Though we've been around him and his litter mates since they were just 1 week old, we still have a lot of acquainting to do. We have no idea how he'll wind up looking, but we're guessing he might grow to 20 lbs. Aside from being the cutest fur-ball ever, his most dominating trait at the moment is unfathomable energy.

Representing Maui Runners Club, in all it's glory...

It's all smiles and wiggles: what a great teacher!

Yoda has much training to do to develop the Master that lies within, and he's eagerly started on the path. Today, for instance, we brought him along with us for our 5k fun run on the beach in Kihei, as part of the Valley to the Sea race. We thought we'd carry him for much of the race, letting him run as he wanted, and walk as he wanted. This was to be his first introduction to the beach and first time around a lot of people. So, we planned to play it safe. Well, we were floored when our mild-mannered little puppy took off at a nice trot on the beach, staying right beside us as we baby-trotted along for nearly the entire 5k! We stopped to rest and drink water at the half-way mark, and tried to carry him or walk him, but he just rocked his puppy trot all the way through the finish line. I think we even managed to finish before some of the 10k runners! I do realize this was an awful lot of activity for a little puppy, and we won't be running any distances like that again soon. This was an exception for an event planned long ago, and it was a marvel to see how he literally took it in stride. In case you're wondering how all this activity affected him: a brief morning nap was all it took to fully power back up, and this puppy was even more rambunctious the rest of the day than he's been yet! Makes me feel old.

Does any of this relate to yoga? Of course, it does! Firstly, I'd like to point out that the couple of times I've been able to get him in the yoga room with me for long enough to start "aums" he's settled down relatively quickly into a nice mellow nap while I whip out as many asanas as I can before he wakes up. Aums definitely get his attention! Perhaps Yoda will be a great yoga dog, after all... Secondly, I'm getting a crash course in highly improvisational yoga. With a puppy constantly swinging between 0-100mph, I'm forced to grab yoga wherever and whenever I can sneak it in. Temporarily gone are the sweet days of getting up early and diving straight into hours of yoga. Now, we get up and "go potty," followed by a puppy playtime of indefinite duration. Yoga must now form strands that interweave themselves into the day, forming a beautiful tapestry out of chaotic threads. This is a blatant reminder of our essential mission: to yoga-fy everything we do by sprinkling yoga (be it physical, mental, spiritual, or metaphorical) onto all the fibers of our existence. Thanks for the lesson, Yoda! This is shaping up to be a beautiful partnership...

NAMASTE!