Cat yoga! Yes! You read that right! Everyone knows that cats and yoga go together so this idea is brilliant! Imagine an exercise class where you can butt heads with adoptable cats, have cute kitties walk under your downward dog, or a fluffy tail swishes your face and tickles your nose making you giggle mid-plank!
Greenhill Humane Society’s (GHS) last Cat Yoga class was instructed by Eugene Yoga teacher, Valerie Morris. Yes! Her real name! Just like the famous Morris The Cat! You can’t plan this magic! Her gentle guidance was beneficial for humans’ health while socializing cats.
During class, felines roam, groom, and watch from on-high cat posts and recline on yoga mats snoopervizing and judging how humans stretch and do the cat pose. This inter-cat-ion and relaxing FUN-d raiser is total Zen!
All class purr-ceeds go towards replacing the society’s 75 year old building improving the lives of homeless, abandoned and neglected animals.
Greenhill is a non-profit shelter and was built in 1944 and by all accounts was “falling apart”. Their new-half finished $5.6 million state of the art facility will continue assisting needy animals that travel through their doors.
Last year 2,176 animals where adopted: 701 dogs, 1382 cats, 93 small animals. They reunited 830 pets with their families - 729 dogs, 86 cats, 15 small animals, and spayed/neutered 2,522 pets. Foster families, 127 of them, cared for 776 animals and the society distributed 7 tons of pet food to families in need.
Currently, their veterinarians travel to two different shelters to treat animals. Their new clinic will cut costs while allowing the vets access to their supplies and medicines for treating animals faster and more efficiently.
“Searching for a little feline motivation to exercise and strike a pose with a cat?” asked Megan, GHS’s spokes purr-son. “Yoga calms people and our bright-sunny cattery’s atmosphere helps our cats feel safe. The warm fuzzy environment helps people and felines center. The event opens our doors and creates a community feeling for new visitors to see what we are doing. We don’t expect the participants to adopt, but they might meet a kitty that a friend or family member can’t live
without. These events purr-mote our lovely kitties in a paws-itive energy!
We are volunteer based and always looking for more help. Our shelter is run soul-y on donations and grants. We need short term fostering for young or shelter-stressed pets. When an animal arrives with no purr-evious hiss-tory, the foster parent informs us of its true paws-sonality facilitating a faster adoption. We also appreciate everyone who visits the shelter just to talk to and pet the animals. Let us know how you want to be involved.
The Yoga paw-ticipants have an hour of fun as cats roam the room, rubbing heads and bumping their bodies up against whichever human extremities are stretched within their range. There is a lot of petting and laughter during class.”
Some Yoga-ites comments were, “I accidently adopted a cat!”, “It was so much fun!”, “What a blast!”, “I plan on attending each class and going back for weekly cat petting therapy sessions for me!”
“The Humane Society of Cottage Grove works with Greenhill,” said Janetta Overholser, president of H.S.C.G.. “They take in our animals to rehome and we fully support this event.”
Begin your New Year right! Meet new friends, have fun and come home with a kitty or happy cat fur on your yoga pants! The cattery has limited room for mats, stretching, visiting, petting, meditation and catnaps so reserve early for their next furry-fun events. Meow-Namaste!
