Bring on the Aww’s With Pet Yoga in Philadelphia

What do you get when you combine a satisfying workout with the incredible relaxation and joy you feel being surrounded by adorable puppies or kitties? The answer is pet yoga, and it’s an emerging trend in Philadelphia. Stacia Nero, a yoga instructor at Fishtown’s Amrita Yoga and Wellness and Queen Village’s Three Queens studios, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that pet yoga, which incorporates sessions of 45 minutes and up and includes cats, dog, or even goats (!) makes exercise more playful and accessible to beginners. Yoga is a great form of exercise, being clinically proven to reduce feelings of depression and anxiety.

Yoga is great for the mind and body, but it’s even better with furry friends roaming around the studio.

Nero recently began teaching cat yoga at PSPCA Fishtown, and she was amazed at how quickly the classes sold out. Many participants were brand new to yoga but came primarily for interaction with the kitties, she said. Students learned how beneficial yoga was for mind and body while five cats prowled around the studio giving head butts and cuddles.

The animals come from local shelters, and they benefit as well as do the humans. The Morris Animal Refuge is one shelter that frequently hand-picks dogs from the shelter to be participants in pet yoga classes. The dogs are selected for friendliness and comfort with strangers, and they get to leave the shelter for a while and roam around, which Sophie Samul, the event coordinator for the Refuge, says is wonderful. Usually three pups at a time are dispatched per yoga class along with five human volunteers to ensure everything runs smoothly. The dogs are walked before and after class, and when bathroom-related accidents do happen, they are quickly cleaned up.

Gillian Kocher, director of public relations and marketing of the Pennsylvania SPCA, says that setting cats up with yoga classes has significantly impacted the number of kitties being adopted. Samul confirms the same for her pups. Not only do these animals bring joy to humans while they exercise, but they are also bettering their chances of finding a forever home.