14 DAY TRIAL // Yoga has been very popular in recent years, and the number of people who sign up for such classes is increasing by the day. Some choose to attend with their friends, others with their life partners or even babies (in a combination of mommy and infant meet yoga class). As of late, some even take their pooches to yoga, in what is known as doga, a spin-off of the popular classes that is slowly gaining ground on the traditional ones.
Dogs don’t really need yoga, doga instructors say in a recent piece in the New York Times. What they do need, though, is attention from their owner, who would perhaps not get any exercise if it weren’t for the daily walk in the park. Doga was born out of this need for owners to spend more time with their pets and, at the same time, do something about their health, it is being said.
However, doga also fixes issues with the pets’ health, instructors claim – so these classes are truly a win-win situation. Certain types of exercises, for instance, are about massages and poses where the dog is used as “prop,” which ultimately improve digestion and heart function in the pet, while also reducing stress in the owner. The animal is never manhandled in any way, instructors assure, as neither is it forced to assume a certain pose. What skeptics of the doga do not understand is that the “spin-off” is more about having fun and leaving for home relaxed than about the correctitude of the poses.
And it is precisely this that’s getting critics all up in arms. This new “fad” stands to ruin a beautiful practice that goes a long way back in time, and it will all be because of the dogs. “Doga runs the risk of trivializing yoga by turning a 2,500-year-old practice into a fad. To live in harmony with all beings, including dogs, is a truly yogic principle. But yoga class may not be the most appropriate way to express this.” Julie Lawrence, a yoga instructor, says for the above-mentioned publication.
Moreover, making the dog “understand” that its help is also required for the class can be quite a tricky thing, as online yoga retail store owner Paula Apro can testify. “A stuffed animal – but not even a dog-shaped stuffed animal – was used by the instructor. It was lunacy. Peanuts, my retired racer greyhound, didn’t participate at all. Instead, I did downward-facing dog while he ate the most treats he’s ever had in a 60-minute period.” Apro says.
Still, supporters of the doga claim it is the best way to feel good, while also spending time with your perhaps a bit neglected pooch and doing something for its health. Prices for one such class are between $15 and $25 – and many vouch it’s money well spent.