june 25

Saying good-bye 

Lucy and my yoga practice are and forever will be inextricably linked.  It was 16 years ago that I took up a regular yoga practice and adopted a puppy, all in the same month.  I needed to change my life.  Little did I know that I adopted a tiny witness to all the big life changes to come since that cold February day in New York.  

I was blue, yoga helped me witness and accept that and having a puppy to take care of cheered me.  My intent that February was to take her to visit a friend who had been severely depressed for quite some time to show her the transformation a puppy brings.  Unfortunately, I was too late and Maria decided to take her life that cold February alone in her apartment.  I had Lucy to comfort me.  This was the beginning of how much a comfort she has been, by my side for long walks, well mostly pulling at the leash as far in front as she could race me, and at the side of my yoga mat waiting for the next move.  Dogs love yoga because you are on the floor with them and at eye level, too.  They don't need to learn yoga.  They are yoga.  Puppies somehow know your mat is not a boobie pad but a sacred time put aside to go inside and feel.  When I was on my back for reclining poses Lucy laid across my belly, even when she got bigger and her legs just splayed in all directions.  When I was on my belly for supine poses she tucked herself into the small of my back and kept rolling off when I deepened my breath.  She liked that.  Down dog is a favorite because puppies and dogs slobber your face.  Thus, started a 16 year love affair of yoga for the both of us.

What Lucy taught me?  There is no difficulty that can't be put into perspective with the help of a good long walk.  When someone comes in the room, run over and be happy to see them.  When you feel from them they are not keen to be with you, sit patiently by their side and wait for them to get over it.  Lucy was quite insistent with this.  She didn't have a mean bone in her body and therefore  couldn't understand anyone not liking her.  She came on a little strong for my husband-to-be's taste but she made him warm up to her.  Michele became one her biggest champions.  People were charmed by her, in fact she is responsible for so many dogs getting adopted.  When my friends met her, several adopted dogs of their own, several who never thought they would own a dog.  My dad went ahead and adopted two.  Among my already dog-friends, our ties just grew deeper.  Lucy cemented my people friendships and drew our community close.  Just a few months after my mother-in-law met her after our move to Europe, she rescued a fox terrier, Spike.  Lucy and her friend enjoyed a number of summers running through forests and countryside in Italy and Germany.  Lucy romped through summer vacations on beaches on the Adriatic and all over a remote island in Croatia.  My husband and I were her pack.

Dogs inhabit the principles of yoga philosophy presented by Patanjali millennia ago.  They are friendly to the happy, patient and even long-suffering to the unkind and compassionate to those troubled.  There is a practice in our yoga, pratipaksha bhavana, replacing a negative thought with a positive one.  Dogs do this instantaneously even if they've been punished.  Lucy would look at me with those eyes that said OK, that's over with, when do we get to eat?  No grudges.  It's all about the present moment and present moment with a cocker spaniel is usually, I am hungry, everything's good.

We shared a spirit of adventure.  She had to be a traveler because right after I picked her up from the pet store she went into my dance bag into rehearsal.  For 16 years, her biggest joy was seeing her travel bag.  Second biggest joy, jumping really high.  Her favorite part of dance class, which she was allowed to attend, were the big leaps across the floor when she would start to sing with the piano and try to leap with us.  At home when I was not there she practiced her leaps onto the kitchen counter to see where I hid the loaf of bread.  She could also get to the fruit bowl and peel bananas.  Her New York vet doubted she was a cocker and leaned more toward springer until she was fully grown.  I bought her a frisbee that smelled like dog treats and she learned how to jump and fly and catch it very quickly.

Having a dog is being reminded that life is joyful, all the time.  Joy is always there, sometimes it is covered up a bit and sometimes a lot, but it's still there.  Perhaps in some way she is reminding my friend Maria of this now, as the great teacher Lucy was.

As I write this I am traveling to London, she is not at my feet.  She is in my heart.

I love you, Lucy.