You may have heard about the number of sweeping yoga trends the past couple of months. Most famously, there’s Goat yoga, but you may be aware of dog and even bunny yoga. Now it’s time for another favourite household pet to take the spotlight. Cats. In particular, kitten’s.
Back in March 2017, the York County SPCA held a fundraiser for their animal shelter. The organisation teamed up with Evolution Power Yoga and, well, I’m sure you can imagine what happened next. During the yoga-orientated fundraiser, cats were allowed to roam freely in and among the participants. As you can guess, the individuals at the time were delighted to be surrounded by some furry friends. After receiving some stellar feedback, the organisation to hold the events again.
At first, adult cats were considered, however, being a sheltered animal, there were fears the animals could feel intimidated by such a large group of people. With this in mind, less fearful kittens were introduced with many positive effects.
Hannah Beard, the SPCA’s Community Outreach Coordinator, describes that kittens are much more unpredictable than adult cats since they spend most of their time in cages or surrounded by other cats. Kittens, however, love the attention they received from humans and welcomed being in the room. One of the leading yoga instructors was Stephanie Ellis. She exclaimed that in many of her yoga practices, she wanted participants to remain focused, something that’s simply impossible during these sessions. However, animal interaction is encouraged.
Kitten Welfare
With animal welfare in mind, the SPCA puts a lot of thought and effort into selecting suitable kittens. Making the cut, only kittens that were raised together or were born in the shelter are giving the opportunity to be present.
Since the fundraiser, kitten yoga classes have remained sold out, and there are huge waiting lists for the upcoming classes. This is beneficial for everybody involved. As well as the shelter receiving funding to help give the cats a better lifestyle, the cats involved are also up for adoption. If a participant and a kitten share a special connection during the session, after the relevant procedures, the kittens are much more likely to get adopted. This gives them a much better chance of finding a good home which helps to keep everybody happy.
What do you think about kitten yoga? Do you think it’s a great thing to have evolved? Do you think that yoga trends are becoming out of hand and we’re losing sight of the original values? Let us know your thoughts in the comment sections below!