Yoga. The ancient technique humans practice to master the body and mind. It has been relaxing them, strengthening them and invigorating them since the days of the Indus Valley civilizations, around 3000 BC.
Did you know dogs actually invented it? It’s true. For dogs, yoga dates back even before we started hanging around humans 15,000 years ago. We taught you the poses, which to this day are probably the most common for human yogis to practice.
Graciously, the humans named them in honor of us, their canine yoga masters. I’m talking about the Downward Dog (or as the Indus Vallians called it the “Adho Mukha Svanasana”):
You’ve probably seen dogs do them your whole life, and didn’t realize we practice yoga every time we wake up from a nap. Well, we do. We do it all the time, it’s as natural as chasing your tail (the spiral pose) or retrieving a ball (called the cycles of the moon meditation because we have a full orb, then we have none, then we have a full orb, then we have none… you get the idea).
So, next time you see one of us doing the Dog, downward or upward, throw some ‘Namaste’ our way. Because we the answer to the famous Zen Koan is yes: we dogs do have Buddha nature.
Happy Bending!
