I’ve started a mindfulness meditation practice. For some reason, when I am sitting on my cushions and meditating, I am attractive to one of our cats, much more than I usually am. She rubs against me and purrs, and tries to get me to pet her. Why would I be so much more attractive to her when I’m meditating than when I’m, say, reading in bed?
A cat’s interest in you is inversely proportional to your interest in it at the time.
You’re being assessed as a possible scratching post…or food. 
It’s a ploy to distract you. It’s in cahoots with the other cat. While it’s doing this the other is stealing cigarettes from your purse and bourbon from the liquor cabinet.
I have to do exercises for lower back spasms. Whenever I do them, both cats start rubbing against me and purring. I think it’s because for once, I’m down on the floor with them, in their territory.
I agree with this. I have a couple of yoga DVDs that I do and every time I get out the yoga mat the cats are all over me. They want to find out why I am on the floor and how they can get some extra attention out of it.
Cats just love it when you’re sitting on the floor at their level! They come over for pettings and skritchies under the chin. Got nothing to do with yoga, though I have seen a book called something like Yoga For Cats - them things is flexible!
Remember this: the answer to “Why does my cat…” is *always *“Cats is weird.”
Probably because you’re on the floor, like other posters have said.
Although I will note that some cats are particularly spiritually minded. I don’t have any explanation for it at all, but people with multiple cats notice this all the time - one of them may explore the incense, jump onto the altar, nestle in the crystals, etc., while the others are completely uninterested. I had one cat who liked to be in Circle with me, and in fact one day (thank Og there were witnesses, ‘cause no one would ever believe me!) she actually CAST our Samhain circle for us! That is, we were standing in my living room at silent attention, and as I raised my hand to begin casting the Circle, she ran in from the hallway in the East, took a slight left and walked all around the perimeter of the room, meowing loudly all the way. Then she left out the way she came. :eek: I’m dead certain that weird cats like this are what inspired tales of Witches’ Familiars.
When I went to the Buddhist priory, the monk told me that it isn’t necessary to kick the cats out when meditating because “Often animals are drawn to meditation and will meditate alongside you.” So I tried not kicking them out. Once. Evidently the way my cats meditate is to climb on my shoulders and put their buttholes in my face. Oh, and to attack my incense, of course. Perhaps they find it deeply calming.
Yup, my cat loves it when I sit on the floor for back exercises, pilates, or meditation. My husband finds it amusing so he’ll just flop on the floor sometimes to get the cat to come to him. Which reinforces the cat’s idea that person on the floor = attention so she bugs me even more when I’m on the floor. It’s a vicious cycle of cat cuteness.
I took a course in Transcendental Meditation back in the 70’s. I remember the instructor telling us not to meditate around the animals as it would attract them. There was a reason for this, which I have forgotten now. It had something to do with them sensing our altered state of consciousness. He gave examples of cats, dogs, and even a pet mini turtle that climbed up out of its dish towards the person meditating.
Being only 14, both curious and rebellious, I decided not to heed the warning. I decided to go out on the patio and meditate in the lounge chair. Sure enough, once I was completely relaxed and in deep, my (very large) male Dalmatian began running in circles around my chair. Every few revolutions, he would leap over me. This went on for 5 minutes or so, before I gave up. His behavior was defeating the purpose. Sounds crazy, I know… but true. He never did anything like this before or after, when anyone sat or lounged there.
So, while I agree with everyone who says cats are just weird, in this case, there is something else going on, something extra weird.
I agree with this. This has been my experience with cats. The more you ignore or profess your hate for them, the more they want to be with you. As soon as you show interest in them, they hate you again
No incense, fortunately. The rule in this household is that, if something’s burning, someone has to watch it, so the cats don’t use it to set the house on fire.
The attic, where I do my meditation, seems to sort of be Katya’s space. Luna doesn’t go up there as often, because she’s lazy, and there usually aren’t people or dishes of cat food up there. Sometimes Katya will lie in her private patch of sun from one of the windows up there. Maybe she likes that I am in her territory and Luna’s not there.
We think they’re both Thai breeds of cats (Luna is a Siamese mix, we think Katya is a Korat mix), so maybe they’ve got some Buddhist temple cats in their ancestry.
I can’t sit or lie on the floor for any reason without being joined by cats. I’ve had cats batting my hanging pony tail as I’ve tried to do crunches. I once lowered my back and head back to the ground after an exercise move to discover a cat had curled up on that particular bit of carpet in the fifteen seconds since I had pulled my body up.
For the same reason I’m highly attractive to one of my cats when I’m sitting on the porcelain throne.
Oh, once I tried that whole “100 Pushups” thing only to find that after the first one there was some added weight involved. Whee!