One of the orange cats let loose in a small room at the animal shelter had figured out there was catnip on some of the yoga mats the humans had laid out that morning.

While it hunted for a treat, about 20 yogis began stretching their arms out for a pose. A few hands caught the attention of the catnip-seeking cat as it roamed.

"When you reach your hands out there, maybe a cat will walk underneath," instructor Karen Bonds said.

Yoga and cats came together for the first time at the Longview Animal Care and Adoption Center in early March, an experiment the shelter plans to continue in the future in the hopes that kitties seeking new homes will meet their soon-to-be owners.

Yoga With Cats (and sometimes puppies) will take place on a monthly basis. Led by Karen Bonds of Longview Yoga Studio, the classes offer beginners' yoga to interested participants.

"The idea is that just basically it's a beginner yoga class, and the shelter cats are just interacting with people," shelter Volunteer Coordinator Jackie Reynolds said. "So it's a great way for them to be socialized, for them to be able to spend some time out of their kennels and interacting with people, which potentially gives them a great opportunity to get adopted."

Bonds first contacted the shelter with the idea, Reynolds said.

"This is something that's trending in a lot of major cities right now, integrating shelter animals with potential adopters," Reynolds said. "So she posed the idea to us. We have a great space; we thought let's try it and see how it goes."

The shelter has two more yoga with animal classes coming up. Cat-Urday Yoga will take place at 9:30 a.m. May 6, and Downward Dog Yoga will take place at 9:30 a.m. April 29. Those interested can register for each class at longviewyogastudio.com.

Other events at the shelter coming up include a Hogs & Dogs Poker Ride on March 25, in partnership with Roughneck Harley-Davidson, the Blessing of the Animals on April 21 and a Strut Your Mutt 1-mile wag walk on May 20.

The Poker Run, in addition to discounted adoption fees, will have prizes, music, free food and motorcycle rides from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the shelter.

Pastors from St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Alpine Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church will provide blessings to family pets to those interested at 4:30 p.m. April 21 at the shelter.

Early bird registration for the Strutt Your Mutt walk, which will raise funds for the animal shelter, is $25 through April 20.

Information on each event is available at longviewpaws.org.

The first round of cats selected for cat yoga were shy at first, huddling in one corner while Bonds led her class in some basic poses. They also were escape-minded, with Reynolds and other shelter staff having to guard the door as yoga participants came in and out of the room before the class got started.

"We're going to ask that you leave your shoes out here just to kind of divert some smells" from the cats, Reynolds told participants. "Come in and out slowly so we don't lose kitties along the way."

Bonds told participants that all of the cats in class that day had come from the same home. She jokingly dared students to tell her they weren't cat people.

"I assume you're here because you like cats and you want to promote this whole cat adoption thing," she said. "So the way this works, Yoga With Cats, is that we really want to while we're practicing, just let the cats be cats. As we begin to ignore them and go about our business of practicing yoga, then the cats will begin to warm up to us because we're going to be giving off this lovely cat vibe that says come around and walk around."

Bonds had shelter staff sprinkle catnip on the mats to help loosen up the cats. And while yoga poses wouldn't mean participants would be picking up and snuggling with cats, Bonds said students could pet or love on cats as they walked by.

"We're mutually going to feed off each other's energy," she said.

Before the class, Reynolds was unsure how the class would go, but she was also excited.

"I don't know," she said. "Karen's very experienced, so I think she can lead the charge and it won't be a problem."

See the original post:

Relaxing with cats, yoga at the animal shelter - Longview News-Journal