Thanks, Little Buddy: How My Dog Taught Me Yoga
Gita and Rager in 2012
Integral Yoga Magazine October 2023
My dog Ranger’s rear leg kicked then he exhaled his final breath. I smoothed his tan and black muzzle for the last time. Bone cancer had arrived with terrifying swiftness. A sudden lameness had revealed the insidious way the cancer had secretly been eating his bones. Our kindly Scottish vet listened for his bass drum heartbeat; but heard only silence. Ranger had always used his strength and determination to protect me; the only way I could reconcile his immediate euthanasia was to obey the command that now it was my job to protect him. Loving him turned out to be a practice in embodying Yoga; a moving meditation.
One autumn morning…
I drove us to a local cranberry bog for a long walk. Gravel crunched underfoot and the first chill breeze drove my hands into my pockets and clipped my cheeks. Geese honked overhead as they cut through the morning blue sky. Far up the ridgeline a coyote appeared with a flash of grey fur and snapping bark. Ranger, off-leash and running point, froze and looked back towards me. His eyebrows knit together with the question: What do you want me to do?