posted April 30, 2024
What happens when you combine your love for yoga with your love for cats? Karma Cats!
After the passing of my soulmate cats, Julian and Oliver, I was crushed. Being their mom for 20 years was my favorite thing. What was I going to do with the next chapter of my life?
Then I read a quote by Paramahansa Yogananda that pierced my soul and inspired me into action: “Do something no one else has done, something that will dazzle the world to show that God’s creative principle works in you.”
I got down on my knees in front of my altar and prayed and cried to be shown what I could do that no one else had done. I was guided to write a children’s book series based on Julian and Oliver called, Karma Cats. The Karma Cats are superheroes of Kindness and Compassion. They teach kids to be kind and compassionate to animals and that when they are kind, kindness is returned to them.
Karma Cats to the Rescue
Karma Cats to the Rescue is based on a true story of my current shelter cat, Noah. Synchronistically, Noah shares the same birthday as Yogananda, so my husband and I call him the Guru’s Kitty. God has a sense of humor, and Noah has been quite the spiritual teacher to us, especially in the area of patience.
Prior to the shelter, Noah had been living outside for five years; he wasn’t neutered and didn’t have a microchip or a collar. When we adopted him, he was a wild man and kept escaping through doors and windows. In Karma Cats to the Rescue, Julian and Oliver rescue Noah repeatedly by showing him kindness and friendship and helping him get adopted into our family.
Instead of trying to make Noah conform to our expectations of his being an indoor cat––we tried that unsuccessfully––the Karma Cats suggest that we leash-walk him and build him a catio for safe outdoor exercise and enrichment. This helps Noah transform into a loving harmonious family member, which he is to this day.
I have been an animal shelter volunteer for 10 years and have seen way too many people give up on their pets. I hope Karma Cats to the Rescue will inspire families to adopt shelter and rescue pets, be patient while they adjust, and to keep them for life.
Karma Cats to the Farm
My recent book, Karma Cats to the Farm, is about Penny the Pig, who escapes life on a gloomy factory farm and jumps from a transport truck to her freedom. The Karma Cats safely guide her to a farm sanctuary, where she can live out her days filled with love, while being with other farm animals in nature.
Pigs like Penny are called truck jumpers, who intuitively know that death is near and they jump for their freedom. If they’re lucky, they’re taken to a farm sanctuary. I hope to inspire kids and their parents to see Penny and the other farm animals as friends, not food, and to make the connection that all animals want to live and deserve to be treated with love and kindness.
Here is a testimonial from my vegan hero, John Robbins: “Karma Cats to the Farm is an exciting story any child will love, while conveying a message of self-empowerment, compassion and empathy.” – John Robbins, Author, and President, Food Revolution Network
My intention for the Karma Cats book series is to help create a more loving, compassionate and vegan world for all beings.
Karma Cats books are available on Amazon. Karma Cats to the Farm is also listed on the PETA KIDS website.
Kathleen Kastner has been vegan since 2002 and completed her plant-based training with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. She has a B.S. in Journalism and M.S. in Exercise Physiology from the University of Kansas and has taught Ashtanga Yoga since 1997. She was introduced to yoga and the law of karma while working after college for Dr. Deepak Chopra as his personal trainer. She lives in Encinitas, California, with her husband and three rescue cats, and has a YouTube cooking channel, Vegan Vitality.
You can find Kathleen via her website, Instagram @kathleenkastnerauthor, Facebook, and YouTube; and meet her in person August 23-25 when she is a presenter at the Main Street Vegan Academy NYC Experience in New York City. You can attend this jam-packed weekend of panels, classes, and networking as an MSVA student, graduate, or subscriber to this newsletter. Look for info at www.mainstreetvegan.com.