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Hong Kong's pampered canines may have their own spas complete with jacuzzis and massage, but it can still be difficult for a dog to find inner peace. Help is now at hand in the shape of yoga instructor Suzette Ackermann and her yoga class - for dogs.
Each Saturday morning in the city's Sheung Wan district, owners massage their pets before bringing them into postures such as the cobra pose, in which the hind legs are stretched out to the rear, as soothing music plays.
“You want to try and calm the dog down, so just touch along either side of the spine, then the rib cage, then the belly,” Ackermann - a South African dance and yoga teacher who started the sessions a year ago - tells the class.
She leads the class in tandem with her seven-year-old Pekinese, Snowball, who, Ackermann told AFP, has been her inspiration.
The one-eyed, utterly relaxed animal with fluffy white fur has become a local celebrity through dog yoga, and is often recognised in the street from her TV appearances.
“Snowball's like a Zen Buddha,” Ackermann says. “She goes into all the poses... She just doesn't care, which is perfect in the yoga sense that she has no ego, no attachment, she's just present.
“When I practise (yoga) at home, she will just come up to the mat with me. She does it naturally.
“You can lie her down on her back to do shavasana (corpse pose), and she'll stay there.”Hong Kong's pampered canines may have their own spas complete with jacuzzis and massage, but it can still be difficult for a dog to find inner peace. Help is now at hand in the shape of yoga instructor Suzette Ackermann and her yoga class - for dogs.
Each Saturday morning in the city's Sheung Wan district, owners massage their pets before bringing them into postures such as the cobra pose, in which the hind legs are stretched out to the rear, as soothing music plays.
“You want to try and calm the dog down, so just touch along either side of the spine, then the rib cage, then the belly,” Ackermann - a South African dance and yoga teacher who started the sessions a year ago - tells the class.
She leads the class in tandem with her seven-year-old Pekinese, Snowball, who, Ackermann told AFP, has been her inspiration.
The one-eyed, utterly relaxed animal with fluffy white fur has become a local celebrity through dog yoga, and is often recognised in the street from her TV appearances.
“Snowball's like a Zen Buddha,” Ackermann says. “She goes into all the poses... She just doesn't care, which is perfect in the yoga sense that she has no ego, no attachment, she's just present.
“When I practise (yoga) at home, she will just come up to the mat with me. She does it naturally.
“You can lie her down on her back to do shavasana (corpse pose), and she'll stay there.” Read More...
