Doing yoga with animals has been a wellness trend for a while now. You can downward dog with dogs, cat cow with cats, horse pose with horses, and let’s not forget about the whole goat craze. Goatga.
Because y’all are crazy to want to do yoga with goats. I still have nightmares of the time I went to a petting zoo as a child and was accosted by the little horned beasties. Apparently blond hair resembles hay. That goats EAT. Some kids fear clowns. Some fear goats.
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Then along came alpaca yoga. Don’t let those cute fuzzy faces fool you. Alpacas spit nasty green goo. Know how I know? Yup, the petting zoo.
But now? It’s buh-bye farmies. It’s time to take a ride on the wild side. Welcome to lemur yoga – aka: lemoga – and if this isn’t a reason to hop across the pond, I don’t know what is.
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I feel like this is a perfect time to quote King Julien:
Welcome, giant pansies! Please feel free to bask in my glow!
Lemur yoga is being brought to the world by the Armathwaite Hall Hotel and Spa, in Keswick, England. The classes are held at the hotel’s adjoining Lake District Wildlife Park and are part of Armathwaite Hall’s “meet the wildlife” wellness program. The program, which combines nature with mindful experiences, also offers options such as: alpaca walking, meet-and-greets with meerkats, and a birds of prey experience.
The Lemoga Spa Break package starts at £495 (approx. $650) for 2 people and includes the following:
- 3 course dinner in Courtyard Bar and Brasserie Restaurant
- Overnight accommodation based on sharing double/twin room
- Full Cumbrian breakfast
- 55 minute treatment in the Spa
- Full use of the spa facilities from check in at 2.30pm until check out at 11.30am
- “Lemoga” session with Yoga instructor, including entrance to the Lake District Wildlife Park at either 10.30am or 3.30pm
Lemurs are currently the most endangered group of mammals in the world. The underlying purpose behind the yoga sessions is to help raise awareness and to aid in conservation efforts. The Lake District Wildlife Park posted the following:
[adsanity id=”35665″ align=”aligncenter”/]During a Lemur encounter or yoga session, Keepers have a prime opportunity to talk to visitors about conservation and make them aware of the plight of Lemurs in the wild. It gives us a chance to engage with the public, explain the threats and reinforce why Lemurs are unsuitable as pets. Whilst interacting with these gentle, inquisitive creatures a real impact can be made about how important conservation is and how the captive population with in UK collections is managed for the good of the overall species. The Lake District Wildlife Park donate 10% of every encounter to the charity SEED Madagascar.
Lemurs are natural yogis, and can often be found in a variety of yoga poses, including the lotus pose and boat pose.
In addition, according to the hotel, lemurs’ “friendly, outgoing personalities and love for human contact make them the perfect yoga buddies, helping people to laugh, unwind and stretch away their troubles.”
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I don’t know about you, but if I ever get the chance, I’ll be namastay’ing right here. Communing with nature and getting my lotus pose on. With the LEMURS.