Like many other people, I love animals and find comfort in their presence in my household. That said, I have 3 cats who are each special in their own way. When I decided to create my meditation/yoga room, I converted an unused space adjacent to a room inhabited by my oldest and most skittish feline friend. My intention for this space was to begin a daily sadhana (spiritual practice) which would consist of chanting, prayer, meditation, and kriyas (specific movements in Kundalini yoga). I was committed and ready to begin.
It’s been over 2 years now since I began my first sadhana and my husband now joins me most mornings when he isn’t up earlier for his own personal sadhana. It’s become a beautiful practice that creates a sacred stillness to the start of my day. We both feel the changes within us and the connection to our true, higher Self. For me, I also have witnessed a decrease in physical pain that, at times in the past, had been intolerable. There is wisdom in the body but there is also residual emotional pain that lives on as well and can become lodged and create physical discomfort. When the pain is healed, relief can truly come.
So, I am a believer. I have faith that devoting to a spiritual practice can calm the mind and heal the body. You know what else I’ve come to realize? It helps heal those in the space around us as well, even pets. Remember that skittish cat I mentioned? Since being part of my practice, he has become calmer, more relaxed and his episodes of nerves that would have him running in circles and climbing the walls dramatically decreased. He felt the healing energy too- what a gift!
Every morning, I am encouraged that my sadhana feeds my soul, heals my body and calms my mind. And every morning, there’s a little cat eagerly waiting to join me, who instinctively knows that he is experiencing something sacred, divine, and healing as well.
Sat Nam!
Everyday Ahimsa 