Are you ready to meditate with Kari?
Make sure that everything is just right in your room.
The lights,
Your covers,
Your pajamas,
So that you can relax your body and let go of a busy day.
Tucker convinced Leo to go to a yoga class.
How he did it.
He doesn't even understand himself.
It did take him two weeks.
Two weeks of saying,
Come on Leo,
Leo yoga is so fun and it's so relaxing and it's so good for your body.
It makes you feel super balanced and super calm and I think it'll be really good for your hives.
Leo,
If you come,
You'll be able to handle your stress,
Your,
What's it called,
Your automatic nervous system.
Yeah,
That's,
Oh no,
That when you sympathise,
You sympathise,
Your sympathising nervous system.
That's it.
Your sympathising nervous system will thank you every single day because you're doing a yoga class and just the breathing,
Just the breathing alone,
I've heard it's supposed to be really,
Really good.
I have it from some very special friends that yoga is the way to go.
If you're a little bit stressed or if you're a little bit anxious or if you're a little bit worried,
All of those things by the way are you Leo,
Then you would be very perfect for yoga.
Leo,
Over and over and over again said he didn't want to go to yoga.
He would try yoga at home,
But he didn't want to go to yoga.
Tucker finally somehow convinced him that to go to a yoga class is very different and to feel part of a group might help him get used to being around others.
Leo had a yellow yoga mat.
He was sat down very quietly,
Quite sheepishly waiting.
The class was filling up.
Tucker was kind of beside himself.
He kept moving around in circles on his blue yoga mat,
Around and around and he'd sit down for a minute.
Then he'd pant for a little bit.
Then he'd wag his tail every time someone came in and then he'd pant again and then he'd go around and around on his yoga mat.
Leo thought to himself,
This doesn't seem very calming at all.
Tucker was on edge and then Leo heard without even looking,
OMG,
OMG,
Oh,
Me besties,
Me besties have come to yoga class.
Oh,
I can't believe you got him here,
Tucker.
I can't believe Leo,
Leo.
I love you,
Leo.
I'm so glad you came.
Cherry had got her front paws around Leo's face,
Shaking his face like he was a little child,
Looking into his eyes as if to say,
You're so cute.
You're so cute.
Leo smiled begrudgingly.
Oh,
Hi,
Cherry.
Heidi and Veo was there as well.
Everyone hugged and said hello and they all rolled out the yoga mats in a line.
Heidi,
Cherry and Veo,
Tucker and Leo were all at the yoga class.
This is going to be so much fun.
It's going to be so much fun.
Tucker said,
Oh,
I know,
I know,
Cherry,
I know.
I've been telling him for two weeks.
Come on,
Let's go,
Let's go,
Let's go.
But would they?
No,
He's like an old,
Old miserable man.
He is.
He's so boring sometimes.
Heidi said,
Just because he wasn't so sure about coming to the yoga class,
It doesn't mean your brother is boring.
Leo raised his eyebrow and looked at Heidi and said,
Well,
Actually,
I am quite boring.
Heidi said,
Yes,
Well,
That's not the point.
Tucker said,
He knows I'm joking.
He knows I won't say it in a mean way because I love him so much because he's my brother.
But I think,
I think,
Heidi,
And I mean,
You can say,
You can testify to this.
You can say it too,
Because Leo would probably listen to you more than he listens to me.
Tell him,
Heidi,
All the benefits of yoga.
Heidi said,
Well,
Actually,
He's right,
Leo.
There is a lot of good things about yoga.
I think you're going to enjoy it.
It might be a little bit difficult at first because you don't really understand any of the poses and they call them asanas,
By the way,
The different places where you sit or you lay or you stand.
All the different body positions are called asanas.
Cherry started laughing.
Heidi said,
Why is that funny,
Cherry?
Cherry said,
I don't know.
I think it's just the word.
It sounds a bit like a bomb,
Doesn't it?
And Tucker started laughing.
Yeah,
It does,
You're right.
I've got some great asanas.
Those two were just laughing together over there.
Heidi ignored them and carried on talking to Leo.
And yet the breathing really helps you to get centered and calm.
It's kind of like a meditation,
But you're moving.
And then sometimes it gets a bit sweaty and you get a bit hot.
But that feels really good because it feels like you're letting go of all of the bad stuff inside of your body.
You're releasing all the tension.
You're letting go of the toxins.
It's just all round good.
Rhea said,
Oh,
I just love yoga.
Me thinks that it makes me feel super peaceful inside.
And I always feel so graceful doing some of the poses.
And it just makes me relax my body.
You're going to love it,
Leo.
Just try and enjoy it.
Just relax and follow the teacher.
And my advice is don't get so stressed if you can't do something because sometimes there's lots and lots of things I can't do.
And then I just go in,
Child's pose.
And child's pose is this pose where you just sit and you're all curled up and you feel really safe and comfortable there.
I just go there.
So if you want,
Leo,
You can just copy me and I'll do it really gentle today with you.
Leo looked at Vea and said,
Thanks,
Vea.
He was a bit nervous.
He could feel his flesh and his hives starting to come up to the surface.
He was a bit itchy.
His armpits were sweaty and his palms,
Well,
His paws were sweaty.
He could feel he was getting a little bit overheated and his breath was a little bit shallow and fast.
And then the yoga instructor came in and she had a goat with her.
OMG,
It's Jeff.
Hiya,
Jeff.
Cherry was talking to the goat.
Jeff raised one of his hooves and waved at Cherry.
They were really good friends.
It's goat yoga.
Tucker started laughing.
Oh,
I forgot to say,
Leo,
By the way,
It's goat yoga.
Goat yoga.
Leo looked terrified,
Not terrified of the goat,
Just terrified that there was a new level to this yoga experience that he didn't even know about.
What's goat yoga?
Heidi said,
Oh,
It's okay.
Jeff is just here to make some people calm down and make them feel happy.
Sometimes he climbs on their back and sometimes he just kind of sits on their mat or sniffs their ears or,
You know,
Does things like that.
Cherry said,
You know,
Sometimes it's so funny.
It's so funny.
It shouldn't be funny,
But it is.
It's so funny.
Sometimes Jeff,
He's hilarious.
He just like goes to the toilet anyway.
And then like people are doing yoga and Jeff's going to peed and you're like,
Jeff,
Couldn't you have done that earlier?
But anyway,
Yeah,
He really does do his job so good.
He's very calming.
Look at him.
He's so cute.
Look at him.
Jeff,
By the way,
Was a white goat with brown patches here and there and he had a long goat beard,
But he was like a young looking goat,
Like it wasn't a baby goat,
But he was not an old kind of rough looking goat.
He was a cute goat.
You wouldn't mind him climbing on your back and sniffing at your ears.
He was very cute.
And people seem to not even mind Jeff going to the toilet once in a while,
Which Cherry just thought was absolutely hilarious.
They started the yoga class.
All was good so far.
Leo was very happy in Downward Dog because this is what he does all the time.
Every time he gets off the sofa,
He puts his front paws down first and he does a big long stretch and then he puts his back legs on the ground.
He didn't realize every time he did that,
He was doing Downward Dog.
He enjoyed the class.
And Cherry was actually quiet during yoga,
Which he thoroughly enjoyed.
He kept looking at Veya and watching what Veya did and Veya would give him a big smile.
Veya's face was always so soft and friendly and her big blue eyes and her fluffy little white face was so cute.
Today she had a yoga pants on that were bright pink and they had a tutu around the waist.
She always has to have a little bit of princess in there.
She had a pink headband on that had glittery sparkles all over it,
Like she'd bejazzled it or bejeweled it herself.
Sometimes she did what she said.
She just went into this curled up child pose and she'd look to the side and Leo would do the same thing and he'd calm down and get down on his mat and just kind of curl up for a minute and breathe.
Veya would give him a big friendly smile and he could feel all of his tension leave in his body.
He'd not really noticed until this day how good it was to be around Veya.
She was a very sweet,
Friendly kind of cat.
Cherry was very friendly.
He always thought to himself Cherry had a great personality.
She was very outgoing and sometimes he was a little bit jealous that he wasn't like that.
But then most of the time he was glad that he wasn't like that because Cherry was just too much sometimes.
Cherry was a lot like Tucker.
Tucker could be too much sometimes.
But it didn't matter because he really loved Tucker.
Tucker was his brother.
And Heidi was probably the most sane and normal out of everyone.
She wasn't as soft and shy as Veya.
She was more just kind of regular but she was exceptionally smart and she knew a bit about everything.
She could probably get lots of different bachelor's degrees without even trying.
She'd read so many books and she seemed to remember everything,
Retain all the information.
Whereas while he was thinking about it,
Tucker on the other hand,
He laughed to himself,
Didn't really remember very much at all.
Tucker was just quite simple.
But that's why he loved Tucker.
He was thinking about all of these things while he was in child's pose,
Safe in a ball on the ground.
And everything everybody had said about yoga was right.
He did feel good.
But most of all,
He felt happiest that he'd noticed that he really liked Veya.
She was a really sweet cat.
He decided he would make more of an effort to hang around with Veya the next time they were all together.
He felt like she was like a little sister.
All sweet and kind and cute and very,
Very fluffy.
Jeff came around a few times during the yoga class.
He sniffed on everyone on a purpose.
And when he got close to Cheri,
He gave her a high five and a big chest bump.
They both laughed about it.
It almost made Jeff go to the toilet.
He was laughing so much.
But Cheri shooed him along.
Don't you pee near my mat,
She said.
And then she carried on listening to the yoga teacher.
All in all,
It was a very good yoga class.
And Leo was glad that he went.
When the dogs got home,
He laid down on his big,
Soft,
Comfortable bed.
Tucker slumped next to him and said,
What did you think,
Leo?
Did you like it?
I knew you'd like it.
You liked it,
Didn't you,
Leo?
Go on,
Admit it.
You liked it.
Leo said,
Yeah,
I did.
I liked it.
Yay,
Said Tucker,
Clapping his two front paws.
Let's go again.
Leo said,
Maybe without the goat next time.
Tucker said,
I like Jeff.
Jeff's very,
Very funny.
But yeah,
Okay,
Then.
It didn't take too long before Tucker and Leo were fast asleep,
Snoring away.
The end.
