Do Your Animal Companions Practice Yoga?

This entry was posted on Sep 29, 2011 by Charlotte Bell.

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I often say my cats are my greatest Yoga teachers. That first looooonnnggg stretch they do when they get up from a nap looks like it feels oh so good. They don’t worry about form. They just move naturally, with precision and grace, kind of … well … catlike.

My cats are great fans of Yoga props. A bolster on the floor is an invitation to stretch out the entire length of it. A mat usually gathers at least two feline tenants. Straps are way fun to chase. But the hands-down favorite prop in my feline family is blankets. Cotton, wool, whatever. Any blanket will do.

The picture at the top of this post is of Pushkin, a 15-pound orange tabby who likes to join me for Savasana. The photo above is from a recent shared Savasana. While I rested in Savasana, Pushkin burrowed under the Mexican blanket and wedged himself between my calves and knees. When my Savasana ended, Pushkin decided to stay. This is how I found him a few minutes later.

Do your animal friends practice Yoga? Cat yoga, dog yoga, bird yoga, rabbit yoga, horse yoga—we’re looking for any species of yoga. Send us your photos, with a paragraph or so about their Yoga practice, and we’ll post them periodically on our blog and on Facebook!

Email your photos and stories to [email protected].

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About Charlotte Bell
Charlotte Bell discovered yoga in 1982 and began teaching in 1986. Charlotte is the author of Mindful Yoga, Mindful Life: A Guide for Everyday Practice and Yoga for Meditators, both published by Rodmell Press. Her third book is titled Hip-Healthy Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Guide to Protecting the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Pain (Shambhala Publications). She writes a monthly column for CATALYST Magazine and serves as editor for Yoga U Online. Charlotte is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte plays oboe and English horn in the Salt Lake Symphony and folk sextet Red Rock Rondo, whose DVD won two Emmy awards in 2010.

One response to “Do Your Animal Companions Practice Yoga?”

  1. Avatar Sarah @ AGratefulBlog says:

    My rescue pup loves practicing yoga with me 🙂

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