It’s summer, the perfect time to try something new! As a professional dancer, when I’m not dancing on stage, I love taking dance classes in different styles, finding fun fitness lessons, and discovering new ways to move my body and stay active.
Follow along with me this week, as I take a yoga class! Yoga is a beautiful combination of early wisdom and modern wellness. It also has many benefits for dancers. It has helped me with my balance and stretch, as well as lengthening my dance positions and alignment. Yoga has also helped me practice mindfulness and being present.
Today, I’m not taking a regular yoga class. Get ready for cuteness overload! This is puppy yoga, where yoga flow and puppy kisses meet.
Puppies, stretching, yoga, this is the cutest activity. Puppy yoga is a class designed to be a one-of-a-kind experience focusing on fun yoga flow and well-being. It also helps the puppies build socialization skills—We’re all learning! The class I took at Puppies & Yoga partners with local breeders from each city who have puppies at or near adoption age. Puppies & Yoga shares, “It is a fantastic way to get puppies socialized. They adapt to humans more easily, and it reduces their stress when they join their new home.” Imagine happy little bundles of joy running around while the instructor leads a class in a relaxed yoga flow. It just makes you want to smile!
Paws and breathe. Happiness is a puppy and a deep stretch!
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Dogs teach us to live in the moment. They have a special curiosity and joy that reminds me to stay in the present! This is also a space for stress relief in a playful and fun environment.
Picture this: the yoga instructor leads us through a serene flow, arms reaching up and wide, tucking the head, reaching down to touch our toes, engaging the muscles for a full hamstring to calf stretch, flowing into “Downward Dog” (one of my favorite yoga poses for a good stretch), then walking our hands out into a plank position. I hold my pose and alignment, and I look up to see the fluffiest little golden retriever trot over and pick my pink yoga mat as the perfect spot for a delightful cat nap (well, dog nap). Floating in a little cloud of perfect puppy cuddles! This is a moment from the yoga class I will never forget!
OOTD: My Puppy Yoga Outfit of the Day
Can you guess what my favorite color is? Pink, pink, and more pink! Inspired by Showstopper’s iconic color that brings joy, sparkle, and good energy to the occasion! I am wearing my PINK activewear set leggings and top with a pink rosette lace tank top. I completed the look and got ready to stretch with my white SET socks. I believe the puppies gave my outfit an all-around paw-sitive review!
One of my favorite parts of the class was going through each yoga flow while watching the puppies play with each other in the middle of the studio! It was full of carefree tail wags and cute cheerful zoomies. Their attitude grounded me and reminded me to smile and let go of the tension I was holding onto through my movement. I am inspired to take this tension-free and delightful feeling into my dancing.
Puppy Yoga is where fun meets relaxation. Inside my head, I am doing a little happy dance! Moving, flowing, smiling, and laughing with puppies running all around, I feel appreciation for the joys in life we get to experience and grateful to be able to move my body.
Where are you finding joy this summer? Tag me (@royalcouturexo) and Showstopper (@goshowstoppermagazine) on social media with the hashtag #RoyalCoutureXShowstopper to share your adventures and favorite places to smile.
Xo,
Christy Lyn
