The connection between a dog and its master is apparent in its look and it is magical, we often see how people share physical activities with their dogs, like jogging, playing Frisbee, playing catch, surfing, and now the latest trend is Doga, a new trend where you practice yoga with your pet.
The creator of this discipline is Suzi Teitelman, a professional actress, yoga teacher and a citizen of New York city who now accompanies her love and passion for dogs with her passion for yoga; on her webpage she writes that “this activity is specially designed for them, thanks to their unconditional love, ability to live in the present and their patience”.
Practicing Doga leads pets to be more calm, less anxious and have better behavior; the animal therapist Dan Thomas states that “after a few minutes, even the most rebellious participant is relaxed and becomes more calm”; sharing an activity with your dog that benefits you both and takes your relationship to the maximum level of affinity.
A yoga session adapted to your pet is a different experience that must adapt to the size of your dog, seek the right space and call him so that he starts to be familiarized with the exercises, find a comfortable position that works for the both of you and make the attempt to create a moment of silence and tranquility, you have to reach harmony through the whole session so that the dog is relaxed and you can obtain the benefits of yoga on the body.
Creating a routine that starts with simple postures, where, little by little you intensify the complexity of the exercises, will enormously benefit you; you must include stretching exercises during class and this is something that dogs are masters at.
There are a wide variety of benefits for you; you will tone your muscles, especially if your pet is small because you can lift him to do certain positions; you will also improve your breathing and increase your flexibility, diminish your stress, optimize the quality of your sleep, reduce depression and anxiety, additionally you will noticeably renew your cardiovascular health.
Investigations conducted in the United States by the University of Ohio determined that doing this discipline once or twice a week will reduce the blood concentration of interleukin-6, a molecule that’s linked to the inflammatory response of the organism and that seems to be involved in heart attacks, type 2 diabetes, arthritis and other pathologies.
In yoga, the poses of the downward dog and upward-facing dog are the most common ones; they improve your digestion because it strengthens abdominal muscles, the joints of your waist, spine, wrists and increases flexibility in the posterior part of the legs to improve inferior and superior back muscles, besides, it increases blood circulation from the posterior part of the leg to your head.
ALFA