Pig yoga might just become the next big craze in the yoga world.
Maybe you’ve heard of dog yoga, where people bring their pet dogs to yoga class for an event that’s one part exercise and one part doggy meet-and-greet. The dogs are not always willing participants in the class itself (outside of the “downward dog” pose, of course). But whether or not the dog is a reincarnated yogi or not, they can always help their owners recenter themselves thanks to their complete lack of ego.
Now, a farm in British Columbia is helping yoga practitioners in much the same way, only with pigs.
Happy Herd Farm Sanctuary is located in Aldergrove, B.C. just about 6 miles East of Langley. The town isn’t known for much, although it should be. Farms there serve as the set for multiple successful TV shows, including Smallville and the A&E TV series, The Bates Motel.
But like most people in British Columbia, the people in the town love their animals. Happy Herd Farm is a non-profit sanctuary that takes in animals rescued from abusive farms. One such animal was a sow that was seized by the BC SPCA about two years ago for animal cruelty. Two weeks after she arrived at Happy Herd, the farmhands realized she was pregnant. Sure enough, a few months later she gave birth to a litter of four adorable piglets.
This was a bit of a problem for the sanctuary, as the entire farm is run on donations and volunteers, and a sudden influx of mouths to feed (and inoculate with vaccines) could be financially ruinous.
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Luckily for the piglets, volunteers at the farm had a great idea to make ends meet: Piggie Yoga.
The idea was simple: hold a yoga class in a grassy pig pen where all of the proceeds go to help the sanctuary. While you’re busy trying to hold Dhanurasana, a piglet might waddle up and ask for some belly rubs. Or they might just sit and stare at you, wondering why you’ve decided to invade their pig pen and contort yourself into a whole bunch of weird shapes.
Thankfully, the pigs were all on board, and the event was a huge success. The sanctuary now has enough money to cover veterinary bills for the next six months. And maybe the next time you see an advertisement for a yoga class it’ll actually be in a farmer’s field with some adorable piggies oinking you on.