A South African Rescue Put Its Puppies In A Yoga Class
Woodrock Animal Rescue, based in South Africa, partnered with TheWell-nineyards and Nine Yards to host a Puppy Yoga session in Centurion, bringing a group of its rescue puppies into a studio where people had gathered to stretch, breathe, and find some inner calm. The puppies had different ideas. Video footage from the session shows the pups doing what puppies do with absolute commitment: climbing onto yoga mats, investigating shoes, demanding attention from anyone who made the mistake of sitting still for more than four seconds, and generally treating the entire studio as a personal playground with conveniently soft surfaces everywhere they looked. The humans, for their part, largely abandoned their sequences and spent the class doing what anyone does when surrounded by rescue puppies: picking them up, laughing, and forgetting entirely that they had arrived with any plan other than holding a small dog. Woodrock noted that the session gave the pups a chance to experience new people and new environments, two things essential to the socialization process that helps rescue animals become adoptable and well-adjusted in their eventual homes.
The dual benefit of puppy yoga events is well-documented at this point: the dogs get the handling and social exposure they need, and the humans get something that no amount of breathwork fully replicates, which is the specific and immediate stress reduction that comes from being sat on by a puppy who has decided you are trustworthy. Woodrock has been running animal rescue and rehabilitation programs in South Africa for years, operating largely through donations and the support of volunteers and community partners. The organization says spending time with animals can help people feel calmer, reduce anxiety, and take a moment to be genuinely present, which is the stated goal of yoga under most definitions. The session at Nine Yards may not have produced many held poses or moments of stillness. But everyone in the room, puppies and people alike, left having been taken care of by the other. That is close enough.
Source:https://www.goodthingsguy.com/puppies-yoga-class-woodrock/
