Inga

Doga Yoga – Seriously

Doga YogaYou gotta admire the power of imagination and personal enterprise. Maybe it had to happen. With everyone sporting yoga togs and rescuing dogs, doga yoga was a concept just waiting to soar.

Mahny Djahanguiri is the latest with a book on how to incorporate your favorite furry friend into your yoga routines. Her timing seems right to cash in on swelling interest everywhere we look, even though she is certainly not the first with this concept.

Doga, Yoga for DogsThat honor goes to Jennifer Brilliant and William Berloni, who published Doga: Yoga for Dogs back in 2003. Though it was somewhat tongue in cheek, the book was greeted with acclaim. Since then the concept has spread like yoga mats.

Yoga Dogs CalendarYou can find any number of doggie yoga books, video instruction on yoga with your dog, and, best of all, plenty of yoga dog calendars.

The idea is not entirely without merit. Though you won’t find an evidence base for health outcomes with doga yoga, you can find a significant body of research on the health benefits of yoga and the health benefits of dogs. As we have reported previously, seven different health benefits of dogs are reasonably well documented. And studies comparing the effects of yoga with other types of exercise suggest that yoga may be as effective or better for improving a variety of health outcomes.

So why not put the two together? Just don’t trip over each other.

Click here for a scholarly analysis of pet love in the 21st century, here for a review of health benefits from yoga, and here for more on the health benefits of pets.

Inga, photograph © Richard Kyle

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September 15, 2015