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Welcome to Wiser Now’s weekly email blast which reflects my eclectic interests and, I hope, yours. Today is Do You Yoga? Day which recognizes the winding down of Yoga Month. A little over a year ago I wrote briefly about my joyful experience with goat yoga in an e-blast that celebrated goats and G.O.A.T.s (Greatest of all time). Now there seems to be an endless list of animals to stretch and flex with, all of which make me smile, but my real inspiration for this issue is the book Yoga for Chickens (more below).
I hope you find these offerings fun, and perhaps even useful, and welcome your feedback. (Kathy@WiserNow.com) And if you haven’t yet pressed the subscribe button so this newsletter doesn’t go to spam, please do so now.
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The Quirky Quote
Just breathe ~ said by many; always good advice
The Quirky Facts
The practice of yoga can be traced back at least 5000 years to Northern India Brahman scripts, the most famous of which is the Bhagavad-Gîtâ, composed around 500 B.C.E. In the early days, “yoga was a mishmash of various ideas, beliefs and techniques that often conflicted and contradicted each other.” Slowly, over the centuries, yoga masters created a system that combines concentrated physical and spiritual/meditation practices. From that came Hatha Yoga, which, since the late 1800s, is the form most often practiced in the Western world. In 1947, Indra Devi opened a yoga studio in Hollywood, and today the many styles of Hatha Yoga are practiced by millions.
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Yoga means to “join” or “unite,” and it is a serious business. According to this article, most people start their yoga journey through asana, or postures, and many of these poses have animal names, such as lion, rooster, peacock, camel, crocodile, frog, and arguably the most famous: Downward Dog. All of these postures require some understanding and respect for the animal that inspires them. They were not meant to encourage the physical presence of the real-life animals. Until lately.
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The Quirky Observation
Laughter yoga is one un-serious form that has become especially popular in the 21st century, and I encourage you to learn more about it (See Resources). Another form that naturally produces laughter for many is animal yoga.
Goat yoga had its start in 2016 thanks to goat-owner and entrepreneur Lainey Morse. As Jane Wells notes in her CNBC article, “It’s surprisingly relaxing to feel a couple of small animals jump up onto your back while you’re trying to maintain something difficult, like a plank position. The little goats’ hooves provide a bit of a massage as they move to keep their balance. It makes you giggle, and it certainly takes your mind off the yoga.” So much for concentrated meditation.
Goats are naturally silly and playful, which make them a good animal to use as a step toward lightening the mood in traditional yoga classes. While no one, as far as I can tell, has attempted to bring camels and crocodiles to a yoga class, you can take a yoga class with:
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- cats
- dogs
- bunnies
- chickens
- pigs
- llamas
- butterflies
Among the comments about these forms:
- If meditation and a rigorous physical workout are your goals in attending a yoga class, animals will hamper that achievement. However, they bring an emotional uplift and attention to living in the moment that for most people is a satisfactory replacement.
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Cats/kittens are not necessarily engaged with yoga practitioners, but many classes are held at adoption/rescue centers and the majority of cats participating get adopted, making for a happy outcome. Plus, cats are inspiringly flexible. One person who attended a class noted, that the yoga teacher placed a cat on each person’s chest for the final roughly 10-minute resting savasana, and the calm and peaceful cats lying on them made for the purrrfect way to end the class.
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- Bunny yoga also seems to feature some of that chest-resting. One person described the class as similar to other yoga classes “except there’s soft lil’ balls of fluff running around.”
- Dog owners who practice yoga at home may have found their dogs seem to practice with them. They are definitely more trainable than cats, and, of course, they have that Downward Dog pose mastered from the get-go. (As do cats)
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As for pigs and llamas, they are just there to provide scenery and amusement and they do their job well. But at least one website offers margaritas along with pig companions.
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Butterfly yoga tends to be offered at dedicated pavilions and gardens and is best early in the morning just as the butterflies are waking up. By the time class is over, as participants are in their savasana (corpse) pose, the butterflies are fluttering and likely to land on your clothes. One practitioner called it beautiful and peaceful, “like a fairy garden.”
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The Featured Product – Yoga for Chickens
I don’t know when or where I acquired the 2004 book Yoga for Chickens by Lynn Brunnelle, but I suspect the title and cover picture were beyond my ability to resist. When I realized Yoga Month was rolling around again, it provided a perfect way to highlight it in a silly way and concoct a trivia quiz around it. It is basically a book of legitimate stretches for humans with chicken titles and illustrations. Here are a few puns from the description:
Chickens know a few things about feeling fried. . .[W]e have much to learn from their bird-brained wisdom. Anyone who's all cooped up or stressed out by the pecking order will feel like a spring chicken in no time . . . [P]lucky affirmations invite contemplation . . . and are sure to inspire budding yoginis to spread their wings . . . [The book will] make anyone's day more chirpy -- all for a nice cheep price. Even the toughest old bird will crack a smile with Yoga for Chickens.”
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Please Spread the Word
WNW is now a 4-time award-winning publication used by activity professionals, teachers, aging adults and their grandkids, and lots of people in between. Please share it, and if you represent an organization that would like a customized version or that would consider becoming a sponsor, send me a note at Kathy@WiserNow.com.
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Each week, the links to the current and seven previous Wiser Now Wednesdays are provided in the archive (“WN Wed Archive” on the far right of the menu bar). Click on the issue you want to share, and when it appears, at the top of the screen you will see “Share” with an f for Facebook and a bird for Twitter. Click on them to share to your contacts or just copy the URL at the top of your screen and send it to them in an email. Thank you!
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The Questions
- Are you a fan and practitioner of yoga? If so, what benefits have you gained from it?
- Have you ever done yoga with animals? If so, which ones? Did you enjoy it?
- If you haven’t done yoga with animals, does the idea intrigue you?
- How else do you or could you add lightheartedness to your exercise? (Try Laughter Yoga? Exercise with friends or children? Other ideas?)
- As the illustration shows, animal yoga has also inspired products such as calendars, mugs, and tote bags. Have you ever purchased an animal yoga accessory?
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The Quiz – Chicken Yoga Poses
The book Yoga for Chickens is both a spoof and a real exercise book describing roughly 50 stretches meant for humans. Although they are called ”chicken poses,” you are not expected to attempt to make pet chickens perform them. Some, like ”Air Traffic Control” and ”Floating Pretzel” don’t seem to refer directly to chickens, but dozens do. One item in each of the following rows does NOT refer to a pose in the book.
Can you identify the pose that I made up?
- Gizzard Stretch, Wishbone, Winging It, Thunder Thighs
- Weathervane, Over the Coop, Peek Around the Fencepost, Peck a Bug
- Sunnyside Up, Deviled, Over Easy, Poached
- Spreading Breadcrumbs, Boneless Chicken, Cracked Up, I’m Stuffed
- Twisted Chicken, Chicken of the Sea, Chicken Dance, Chicken in the Headlights
- Roosting Chicken, Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch, Egg-Laying Pose, Chicken Little Pose
- RX for Ruffled Feathers, It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane!, One Wing Flapping, Rubber Chicken
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The Resources
Photo credits unless otherwise noted are purchased from iStock.
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Answers to the quiz
Answers I made up:
- Winging It, but there is also a Drumstick Stretch
- Peck a Bug, but there is a Crawling Bug and also a Worm Pose
- Deviled, but there is an Over Hard
- Spreading Breadcrumbs
- Chicken Dance, but there is a Funky Chicken and a Hippie Chick
- Roosting Chicken
- Rubber Chicken
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My multiple goals are to amuse and inspire you, to share what I and people whom I admire are doing, to stimulate your curiosity, and spur you to action. I hope you enjoyed this offering. You can access previous issues here. I welcome your feedback. (Kathy@WiserNow.com) | | | | | |
