You’ve heard of hot yoga and Bikram yoga but now there’s a new kind of class filling up quickly … cat yoga!
Yes it’s a thing and the soothing opportunity to exercise while surrounded by feline friends is proving popular nationwide.
From Iowa to Alabama, yoga enthusiasts are signing up for the chance to attempt the downward dog in a studio filled with cats clambering all over them or eagerly sharing their mats.
One of the most popular is at New York cat café Meow Parlour, which charges $22 for each 45-minute vignassa class.
As with all the other similar paw-some classes springing up around the country, the cats on hand are available for adoption and come from a local shelter partnering with the yoga studio.
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The idea is to help the humans feel healthier and happier while the animals show their personalities and get affection from people.
“Yoga is a great way to loosen up a little bit and this unique attraction is an especially great way to have a break from the chaos going on outside,” instructor Amy Apgar told CNN.
While no research has yet been published about the particular health benefits of cat yoga, past studies have shown that interacting with cats can reduce blood pressure and that yoga can improve balance and breathing while reducing anxiety and depression.
Cat yoga classes seem full of smiles as the kitties scamper on mats, sit and bathe themselves or curl up and go to sleep.
Many of them are held at cat cafés, where customers can enjoy snacks and drinks in the company of a furry friend. Such cafes have also become a growing trend around the world since starting in Asia back in the ’90s.
They began as a reaction to small apartment sizes and landlords not allowing pets in residences and gave people the chance to interact with cats in a domestic-style setting.
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Now we are doing more than just interacting with cats, we’re exercising with them too. And that’s your good mews story for today.
