Imagine how your poor dog feels: Separated from you all day while you’re at work, waiting anxiously for your return. Then you finally arrive home only to rush off to the gym. Parted again! If that’s your routine, it’s time to change it with yoga. Practicing the asanas (the postures and breathing exercises of yoga) with a beloved dog by your side is spending quality time with your pet, experts say.
"The ancient yogis observed that animals are very in the moment and intuitive," explains Bruce Van Horn, author of Daily Yoga Class: A Workout for the Body, Mind and Spirit and Home Alone: Tools to Help Your Pets Overcome Separation Anxiety. The ancients were especially inspired by canines, hence the classic yoga pose Downward Dog.
"Animals know how to stretch out their lymphatic system after rest," Van Horn says. "They have levels of emotional intelligence that we can also tap into. We’re not teaching them to do yoga – they do it naturally. It’s about learning from them." The lesson? Wise is the person who makes her pet her guru (or grrru, as the case may be).
Jennifer Brilliant, author of Doga: Yoga for Dogs, even coined a witty term for canine yogis: dogis. She teaches yoga at New York’s OM Yoga, and her charming book features color photographs of dogis in action. So now I know what my pit bull Angus is doing when he stretches out on his back and fully extends his hind legs: he’s practicing the Boat pose, or Paripurka Navasana, "a challenge to the dog’s abdominal strength and spine flexibility. Many dogis appreciate a belly rub when in this pose."
Landscape designer Ani Antreasyan, who also collects and sells ancient stone fountains, urns, planters, and other artifacts from around the world, has been doing yoga with her beloved fox terrier, Sky, for seven years now, indoors as well as out. “It’s a big part of our non-verbal communication,” she says. “I feel that when I take myself out of myself and go into a deeper relaxation, changing the way I breathe, I’m in a different space - and in that space I feel that Sky and I communicate better.” Sky doesn’t do any pose more advanced than a Downward Dog, but she does occasionally take a walk across Antreasyan’s back. “She’s like a cat,” says Sky’s yoga partner with a smile.
"If we get ourselves into a relaxed state it will relax our pets," Van Horn concludes. "Just as yoga can increase human longevity, it’s equally good for pet wellness. Animals don’t even need to exert themselves," he adds. "Even if they just sit and spend time with us in between yoga positions, they get into an extremely relaxed state. Doing your exercises and meditation together is healthful multitasking for you and your pet."
