Today seemed like a good day to introduce my guru and teacher.  Her name is Chanthira and she is a 12 year old Siamese cat and hopefully you can see her picture here.  Gorgeous isn't she?  Guru Chanthira teaches me something new nearly every day.  She is an expert yogi and is capable of a very nice kitty lotus position as well as an excellent spinal twist. She does yoga perhaps 10 times a day, so most of us can only aspire to be that good.  Chant also meditates so many times that I lose track.  Sometimes she just does the kind of half-closed-eye thing that I learned while studying Zen.  Other times she picks a focal point such as a fire in the fireplace, a moving curtain, some food that she finds interesting but not enough to eat it, or any sort of rodent or roden-looking thing.  She recommends many different activities in the day.  She thinks that television is an excellent distraction and is at least better than weed-water (which comes in many forms including tea and beer.)  I think that she particularly likes reality shows, though I might be at fault since I introduced her to them.  We try to watch at least the Amazing Race and Survivor every week!  We share a love of books and reading as well, though we enjoy them differently.  I read every chance I get, from cereal boxes to the classics to your basic best-sellers.  Guru Chant appears to be able to absorb the content of a book just by laying on top of it for a few hours.  She seems to be passionate about doing so very often, as long as I leave appropriate works on the floor for her.  She also finds their corners excellent for scratching itchy spots on one's face.  I have books tattooed on my wrist and bicep (I'll try to put a picture on sometime.)  Chant so far has not agreed to commit to a tattoo but I'm working on her.  Later!