Welcome to the Bending Tree Mewsletter! This meowth we’re looking at a brand mew day for several reasons — we consciously adopted a kitten for the first time in about 10 years (learn all about her below); I had an inspurration to add a Caturday Channel Meditation to the schedule starting this month; and who meows what’s next! Enjoy! Sign up to receive it in your inbox here.

Yoga Kitten of the Meowth

Anna

I follow a variety of animal rescues on Facebook, one of them, is our local rescue Pro Animal Melaque. They are constantly posting photos of kittens and puppies who are looking for homes and I scroll through and mewve on. Until one day in May.

I came across this tortoiseshell kitten along with 2 others and noticed them. Then about a week later there was just the tortie left as a post on her own. So I had to ask — is she the last one left? And the answer was yes. So my answer was I’d like to adopt her.

We’ve adopted kittens before from Pro Animal Melaque, but then kittens and cats were just coming to us for one reason or another so we stopped “looking” because they found us.

Well, this little one, who we named Anna, did find us, but we had to make the leap and ask for her. It’s ameowzing how a connection can be made just by a passing glance.

So we went to Melaque to pick her up from her foster mom and she purred immediately in our arms. She fit in right away as many cats came to her to go for a nose-to-nose greeting, including our dogs Benny and Hermes. She is fearless, playful, sweet, gentle and has a real independence about her, purrfectly content just playing by herself. She does, however, enjoy meownging around (you can see a video of her meownging at the end of this mewsletter).

Although she started playing solo, she quickly made a friend with J.J. (otherwise known as J.J. Bojangles) he is pictured below in the Caturday Channel Meditation article. J.J. is about 1 year old and has really taken to Anna, grooming her and licking her gently, but then also quickly mewves to shenanigans — wrestling, running and jumping around.

We are happy to give Anna a brand mew day and for her to give that to us, too. Welcome Anna

Meowtastic Videos

What is Yoga Toolbox?

Yoga Toolbox goes beyond the physical practice. It is a class that I decided to create coming from a culmination of training, experience and intuitive guidance. A few years ago it started as an idea that “wouldn’t it be cool if we could have a few go-to, easy-to-use tools to help guide us in a variety of life situations.” Welcome to Yoga Toolbox, a methodology that grows and changes with you, something that stays with you for a lifetime.

Check out the Yoga Toolbox Sample Class Podcast and also the Yoga Toolbox Playbook that is a companion to the course.

The Yoga Toolbox class is currently offered as a private class with one or more people, but look for regularly scheduled sessions coming soon.

Contact Karen with any questions or to schedule an appointment.

Meowtastic Videos

Put Your Thinking Cat On

We love it when a Yoga Cat meowlaxes on our mat, but how do we go about our practice? See some helpful mewves and tips here with Yoga Cat T.C.

All views support the Bending Tree Animal Health and Wellness Fund.

For Your BODY, MIND and SPIRIT

Mews and Services

WAYS TO GET MEOWTIVATED IN YOUR PRACTICE

Living your yoga is about creating your own practice and comes from the inside — finding stillness, kindness, heart-centered living and peace. So what can help you get there? Maybe you need to burn some energy and running, spin class or YogaStrong are the ways to go. Maybe you just need to slow down and a gentle yoga class; walking at lunchtime; or even just taking 10 minutes to yourself is the answer.

There is an infinite amount of forms that your “yoga” practice can take and therefore living your yoga more fully, happily and freely. Take the time to find one or several and change it up as needed (it is natural to outgrow an activity or practice).

Over the years there have been different types of classes here from yogapilates to gentle yoga but I wanted to get to the heart of the matter. And this is the basis for Yoga for Life, our mew class concept going on meow.

Yoga for Life is a class built on fun and freedom in your body, mind and spirit. Through physical postures and creative sequences; petting yoga cats (or witnessing yoga can shenanigans); breathing techniques; and a meditative savasana will bring you to a mew level of being. How does this work? There will be strength and flow and gentle in a combination that you can get something out of it for yourself (sometimes without even meowing) that stays and sticks with you and that helps you in your life journey, wherever you are in that. Learn meowre about Yoga for Life sessions in this video.

Click here for Yoga with Cats Schedule and class pricing.

YOGA WITH CATS — We encourage you to enjoy your pet energy with your class. Ever since I started this studio here in 2011, cats have attended and this purrfect fit soon became known as Yoga with Cats.

Our pets provide a powerful energy to our lives, constantly teaching us to be better people in every way. Even when we feel frustrated by our pet’s behavior, this is a valuable lesson and insight into ourselves. Our animals tend to reflect our energy. If you’re stressed, they’re stressed. They live from the heart space always and they are just trying to help us. They force us to look within, even when it is uncomfortable.

I encourage you to practice with your pets, whether it is yoga at home, play time or snuggle time. Your practice is enhanced every time you interact with your animals. I’m not kitten you, this is living your yoga.

MEOW MIX OF OFFERINGS

The Bending Tree Menmew of Services includes studio and zoom sessions so you can participate even if you are not in La Manzanilla. Services include YOGA, THETAHEALING, MEDITATION, REFLEXOLOGY.

ADDED BONUS — When you purchase any one of our services you are automatically making a difference as a portion of each paid service goes to our YogaScholarship, YogaCommunity programs and our Animal Health and Wellness Fund.

BE A PART OF THE COMMEWNITY OF INSPURRATION TODAY. Read about our Bending Tree Expansion Project here.

Podcasts: Another MEW Podcast has been added to the Podcast Menmew featuring John Becker on guitar. Enjoy a meowtastic practice with a pawsome Yoga Soundtrack, that also includes some neighborhood standby’s — the bolillo guy; gas guy; parrots and other bird songs. Practice with this podcast here.

More pawsibilities: Did you meow you can work on Continuing Education Credits with Bending Tree? We have several classes that you can take as self-study for free or receive personal guidance and feedback with Karen starting at $20 USD. Currently classes available are Yoga Focus (how to find peace and stillness within) and Just Breathe (explore the power of breathing, the most important part of your yoga practice).

WAYS TO PRACTICE WITH YOGA CATS ANYTIME, ANYWHERE:
The Podcast menu here on our site includes a variety of practices from gentle to flow to half-hour of power to meditation. These podcasts are also available to download for free to you don’t need the internet to practice with them.

BendingTreeYoga Channel on YouTube offers several playlists with a mix of yoga and meditation in Yoga with Cats Create Your Own Practice. These playlists include several short practice segments from 4 to 9 minutes for a total of a 1.5 hour practice (that you can shorten on your own) or 30 minutes in the REMIX version.

Animal Health and Wellness Fund

Bending Tree Animal Health and Wellness Fund was established to help bring health and happiness to our animal friends. Anytime you purchase a Bending Tree class or service; or watch one of the many videos on BendingTreeYoga Channel you make a contribution to this fund. Monies go to a variety of venues to help with sterilization clinics; rescuing; and adoption services. Donations to this fund are also welcome at any time. Thank you.