HADLEY — Stretching and posing on mats as they follow instructions from their yoga teacher, with soft music playing in the background, members of the Smith College basketball team can’t help but smile, laugh and giggle as several puppies nearby occasionally bark.
The players diligently follow the instructor, who asks them to extend their legs to the left and to the right before calling them to “slowly reach back up” and “feel your body.” As they put their knees up and place their palms face down, in storms Roxy, a nearly 4-year-old French bulldog leading 10 puppies onto the floor. This brings an end to the 30-minute physical and spiritual workout, which is suddenly replaced by canine kisses and caresses.
“This is usually when the yoga ends,” says Donna French, a Wilbraham resident who is the brainchild behind Animal Aura Yoga and the Pups & Yoga class.
Describing it as a “snuggle session for the soul,” French explains that the philosophy of the business is basic. “Our vision is wellness with people and animals,” French said.
Since August, the base of operations for French’s new business is a former retail storefront within Hampshire Mall, near the Target, which she has turned into a yoga studio and space where visitors get time to snuggle and cuddle with puppies.
French said when she hit upon the idea, she knew she wanted to be in the Northampton area, where people would be receptive to the concept, observing that therapy dogs have become a regular presence on college campuses.
On this day, it is the student athletes from the highly-ranked program, runners-up for the Division III national championship two years running, who have scheduled the time to get familiar with the relatively new discipline.
“It’s beginner basic yoga, soft gentle yoga, then incorporating the puppies,” French said. “It’s about puppy socialization and benefiting our mental health.”
For those on the team, who are away from their academics at Smith for the holiday break but still have games to play and training and practicing to do, the session was rewarding.
“This is relaxing for me and makes a lot of sense,” said sophomore Shea Montague, adding that she already has affection for puppies and dogs.
“I think it’s a really good team-bonding activity, for sure,” Montague said. “When we’re all here playing basketball, it’s good to have a break from that, and this is definitely a good and different activity for us.”
“I loved it,” said Kate Hackney, also a sophomore. “I do yoga, but this is my first experience with puppy yoga.”
Hackney said she was able to get plenty of conventional yoga in before the puppies joined in.
“Yoga is what you make of it. I think it’s a great opportunity,” Hackney said.
Martin Lopez is the instructor. Having such a large number of people in the yoga class excited the puppies, he said. “The more people, the more worked up the puppies get,” Lopez said.
The yoga can help build deeper psychology and releases dopamine, Lopez said. “It’s a place where you leave feeling well,” Lopez said.
What French has found most challenging in starting the enterprise is that there are few breeders in the area, and finding people who would like to have their puppies participate. The puppies need to be 7 to 12 weeks old, must be vaccinated and should be well adjusted. Her business compensates those with puppies so they can be brought in for the day and get the benefit from the socialization with people and the studio dog, Roxy.
On this day there are 10 puppies from three litters, including Black Labrador retriever mix, Golden retriever and Aussiedoodles.
The second they are let out, they are rambunctious, unsure of what they should do, with some timid to approach people, though Roxy always serves an inspiration for the puppies. “They calm down after a while,” French said.
Animal Aura Yoga has been refined and taken in a whole new direction than what French first envisioned. She observes that “Puppy Power Break,” 30 minutes of snuggle sessions that can help people get through the week, have become popular. Among the participants have been a child with a disability and a 97-year-old who uses a wheelchair.
“It’s family building, it’s family healing,” French said.
Among other groups the business has worked with are the Amherst College women’s hockey team, University of Massachusetts sororities and local 4-H students and Girl Scouts. The business is scheduling private birthday parties and snuggle parties on site, and off site the puppies have been brought to an event at Western New England University in Springfield.
The yoga sessions with an instructor can also be done for youths, not just adults. “We cater to all ages and the needs of the community,” French said.
The snuggling with puppies has proven to be popular, even after the exertion of yoga. “What I’ve learned is can we stop the yoga and then people can snuggle with the puppies,” French said
But French has had to use social media to respond to concerns about whether she is encouraging puppy mills, noting that she doesn’t sell the puppies or breed them. One of her recent posts explains this.
“They visit our studio for supervised socialization and go home with their local owners the same day,” French wrote. “We’ve addressed this before and encourage anyone with questions to reach out to us directly so misinformation isn’t spread.”
Animal Aura Yoga is also supporting 22 Mohawks, a veteran suicide prevention organization, through socializing and emotional development for those dealing with post traumatic stress syndrome.
Because French doesn’t have access to puppies seven days a week, the business is generally only open on Saturdays and Sundays, 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., with Pups & Yoga for most of the day and the last hour snuggle sessions, and the Puppy Power Break on Wednesdays from 3:30 to 5 p.m.
For information about prices and other details, go to https://animal-aura.com/
