Paws for Thought

A review of Paws Yoga by Lizzie Gibbons

On Saturday 25th March, a friend and I arrived at the Life Centre on Deansgate to join in with a Paws Yoga session, something that we had to book over a month in advance due to limited tickets and high demand. It is common for the session location and dog breeds to be confirmed at the last minute, adding to our anticipation and excitement for the session. Shortly before the class we received an email to say that our puppies would be Dogue de Bordeaux, a breed I had never heard of, but a quick google search showed some of the cutest puppies I had ever seen. I could hardly wait!

Desperate to see the puppies, we arrived 10 minutes early, where we were shown to the locker room to remove our shoes and leave our belongings in a safe place. The session started with 15 minutes of puppy play time, where we were able to take selfies with the adorable litter. The yoga instructors were brilliant at ensuring that everybody got as much time with the puppies as possible and would bring them over to us along with their toys if we had been puppy-less for too long.

I was initially quite nervous about the yoga part of the session, having never even tried yoga before, but this proved unnecessary. In my session there seemed to be mixed abilities from complete beginners to seasoned pros. The instructors were very inclusive and catered to all skill levels, which put my friend and I at ease immediately. The session ended with another 15 minutes of puppy time.

At £35 for an hour-long session, Paws Yoga could be considered fairly pricey, but I do feel it is value for money due to the care taken to keep a 2:1 ratio of puppies to people. It meant that we didn’t feel crowded, and the puppies weren’t overwhelmed, so they were super playful. I left the session feeling amazing; contact with the puppies had lifted my mood incredibly and I was on a puppy-induced high for the rest of the day.

I would do puppy yoga again in a heartbeat and am already looking into booking another session, I would rate it an easy 5 out of 5 stars!