Doga--Yoga with Your Dog
About three years ago a good friend of mine, Brenda Bryan, was doing dog massage for a Seattle Humane Society event at the Hotel Monaco. It was a doggie fashion show, using shelter dogs as models. Brenda's job was to offer massage to the models to calm them before walking the runway. The director of The Seattle Humane Society began asking her questions about the work she was doing and Brenda mentioned that in addition to being a licensed massage therapist, she is also a yoga instructor. The director asked Brenda if she would be interested in developing a human and dog yoga class. “I said yes without giving it a second thought,” Brenda recalls. It was then and there that Barking Buddha Doga was born.
Barking Buddha Doga takes classic yoga poses and adapts them to include your dog, or "dogi" as they're referred to in "doga-speak." The poses benefit dogs in the same way they benefit humans - through stretches and massage. Massage and stretching for our dogs increases circulation and range of motion and encourages relaxation. When we learn to do these things in doga, we get to know our dogs well physically, and they learn to trust us as we stretch, lift and massage them.
When Brenda first began developing the class, she didn’t think much beyond a fun activity to do with dogs. But then she began to notice some changes in the way she interacted with her dogs, Honey and Gus. “I began to feel more in tune with them,” Brenda remembers. “I had always loved them and felt close to them, and was a good dog parent, but ow it seems as though our connection has deepened. I am more present with them. I notice more about their needs, personalities, how their bodies work, and how they interact with others.”
Brenda has also noticed some physical benefits from the practice. Her big dog, Honey, has stopped limping after long walks. “She’s 11 ½, and when I got her six years ago, her former owner told me she had an issue with her right leg and would limp if she overused it,” says Brenda. After three years of teaching her class, she says she can’t recall the last time Honey had an issue with her right leg. Students have also begun to report back that their dogs are noticeably calmer after the classes, that they feel closer to their dogs, and that some of the older dogis seem to be less stiff or sore after the class.
“As a doga teacher, the dogs have taught me to go with the flow, to be patient, and not to cling to how things should be,” says Brenda.
Brenda Bryan’s new book, Barking Buddha Doga: Simple Soul Stretches for Yogi and Dogi, can be purchased on Amazon.com.
Photography by Seattle pet photographer Jen Flynn. Cover image courtesy of Mountaineers Books.
--Brandie Ahlgren, CityDog Magazine
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Brandie Ahlgren is the publisher of CityDog Magazine and a regular contributor to Wag Reflex. Subscribe to CityDog Magazine here.
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