Yoga with a twist: Bring your dogs, cats, goats along

Cat yoga

Clint, the alpha male in a light brown coat, leapt to the ground from his perch atop the cabinet and ambled through a maze of yoga enthusiasts-cum-animal lovers holding an asana.

At the Cat Cafe Studio, a shelter for strays and victims of cruelty in Mumbai's Versova neighbourhood, the felines live life king size. As Priti Jhavar, the yoga instructor, asked participants to rise like a warrior and do justice to Veer bhadrasana (warrior pose) a scuffle broke out among three kittens. Mew-ga-Yoga with Felines, a two-day event held at the studio earlier this month, was attended by 75 people of varying ages. Jhavar was quick to dispel the cynical thought that this initiative was a marketing gimmick along the lines of beer yoga and goat yoga. "The idea behind Mew-ga-Yoga is to encourage fitness lovers to adopt these stray cats. The studio can then rescue more animals and bring them to the shelter," she says."In the last four years, Cat Cafe Studio, an arm of the advertising agency ZCyphher Studios, has been instrumental in giving a lease of life to 350 cats by finding them homes. We will resume rescue operations after a few of the 32 residents are adopted and find new homes," says Rehman S Charania, executive producer of ZCyphher.

Dogs at the shelter too receive love and care, but are prevented from mingling with the cats, lest a love jihad breaks out. They loiter in the cafeteria, willingly giving themselves up to patrons for caressing and a slice of cake.

"What we fail to perceive is that cats too want love and kindness, but on their own terms. Though they revel in being the centre of attention, they also have a natural ability to be aloof, which we mistake as selfishness," says Reshmi Kurien as she effortlessly executes the Marjariasana (cat pose), Bhadrasana (throne pose), Trikonasana (triangle pose), Parvatasana (mountain pose) and Gomukhasana (cow mouth pose). Isn't that the cardinal principle of yoga — to inculcate detachment in the midst of worldly pleasures, she asks. "These asanas are aligned to the purpose of raising awareness about nature where animals too have the right to exist," says Jhavar.

"Having cats around while doing yoga isn't an out-of-the-world concept. They help you to relax and focus," says Kurien.

Doga or Dog yoga

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Dog yoga is about performing asanas in the presence of dogs or along with them, depending upon the instructor and classes. While the former is a great socialising experience for dogs, the latter involves pet parent(s) helping dogs perform yoga poses.

Popularly called Doga, it is a way for pets and pet parents to bond. Additionally, it functions like behavioural therapy that can mellow down hyperactive or anxious dogs. "Dogs are incorporated into human yoga sessions, which involves yogic breathing and chanting. It is a soothing and relaxing yogic technique for the central nervous system of dog and of the pet parents," says Acharaya Neeraj, who conducts classes on Doga in Mumbai, Delhi and Lucknow.

Goat yoga

Imagine a barn with hay or rolling greens and goats ambling around, nuzzling you with affection or clambering on people in all stages of their yoga asanas. "It's really about getting out in nature, surrounded by friendly and social goats and practicing yoga," says founder Lainey Morse, who provides Nigerian dwarf mini goats for the classes.

Goat Yoga started in Morse's picturesque farm in Corvallis, Oregon in the United States. "Watching people's faces when a little goat comes up to them at the same time as they're doing yoga is fun. It's a distraction, but it's a happy distraction," Morse was quoted as saying by local media. "It may sound silly, but goat yoga is really helping people. People come in with anxiety, depression, and they're recovering." Apparently, hundreds are queuing up for her classes and the trend is catching on in other parts of the US as well.

Naked yoga

What if you are asked to shed every single piece of clothing and asked to do yoga asanas alongside an entire class of fellow nude yoga practitioners? It might seem bizarre but New York yoga studio, Bold & Naked, describes it as a way to connect with yourself. Founded by internationally renowned yoga practitioners Monika Werner and Joschi Schwarz, the naked yoga sessions are meant to rid practitioners of their body-related insecurities. The sessions are not intended to be sexually provocative. Blogger Diya SenGupta, who recently attended a session, described naked yoga as a therapy. SenGupta writes about panicking before stripping down and entering the yoga room naked. "I was so nervous to even roll out my mat, but I told myself I was going to treat this like any other yoga class and just embrace the experience," she states on her website, 'Love, The Alchemist'. By the end of the session, she was ready to step out of the 'shadows' where she'd often find herself hiding.

Ganja yoga

In this approach to yoga, a group of people smoke marijuana and do yoga in a "heightened" state. The practice is followed in several places, including in San Francisco in the United States. Dee Dussault, a certified hatha yoga teacher, conducts ganja yoga classes and has also written the book Ganja Yoga, published by Harper Collins. "Yogis have been using cannabis to enhance spiritual practice for millennia. In Ganja yoga, certified yoga instructor Dee Dussault takes this ancient practice mainstream," reads the website. Dussault calls it a combination of mindfulness, freedom and alignment. Call it fuzzy logic if you like, but her classes focus on slow yoga and are designed for anyone with any level of experience with yoga or cannabis. Each session costs $30, and includes an all-levels meditative yoga practice enhanced with sun grown organic flower, vape pens (e-cigarettes) or paleo edibles.

And traditional yoga?

So what do traditional practitioners have to say about these new-fangled forms? "The aim behind yoga is to create a balance between mind and body and connect with one's self. If a form like beer yoga or ganja yoga helps to build that connection, then why not? After all the human mind wants change all the time," says Delhi-based Seema Sondhi, who has been doing Ashtanga vinyasa yoga for the last 20 years.
Nivedita Joshi, founder of Iyengar Yoga Yogakshema in the capital, begs to differ. "People who indulge in beer yoga or ganja yoga, deviate from traditional yoga, i.e. Patanjali's yoga. It takes a certain amount of maturity to understand spirituality," she says, adding that this doesn't come packaged in the form of beer.

Yoga gone rogue

Unnata or Anti-gravity yoga

This form of yoga is similar to what circus artists do. Unnata yoga is a combination of yoga poses along with aerial silks. The silks are used to help you stay upside down while doing the yoga asanas. It was conceived in New York by aerial performer Christopher Harrison, a former American gymnast and Broadway choreographer. Anti-Gravity yoga helps in better stretches as it's against gravity.

Twerking yoga

You are forgiven if you've rolled your eyes as who knew that twerking could even be considered to be yoga. But New York-based yoga instructor Barbara Purcell came up with twerking yoga, which involves activating the lower chakra with a slight, sexually-charged twerk.

Tantrum yoga

You can now rely on yoga to let out your inner angst and fustration by screaming. Tantrum Yoga, introduced by Los Angeles-based yoga teacher Hemalayaa, is all about screaming, shaking and dancing for a healthy life. It also includes traditional yoga asanas with breathing and meditation exercises.

Yoga raves

Introduced by a group of Art of Living volunteers from Argentina, the classes start with stretches and meditation, before the music starts, and the evening turns into a dance party. Apart from Argentina, this style of yoga has gained ground in Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, United States, Denmark and Sweden.

Yoga with Belugas

Since you can't practice yoga underwater, the Vancouver Aquarium allows you to do yoga along with two Beluga whales. This practice provides city-dwellers a chance to reconnect with nature. The best part: the Beluga whales participate too!