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

  1. My rescue pup loves practicing yoga with me 🙂

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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.