Millions of people practice yoga, but some of them want more than the usual asanas. That's why they beef up their exercises by creating a meditative atmosphere — or by resorting to animal training partners.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. BreloerSometimes everyday life doesn't provide enough opportunities to laugh, so laughing yoga makes up for that. The course starts with a rather artificial laughing exercise consisting of "hohoho" and "hahaha." Real giggling is supposed to automatically ensue. Laughing yoga, which eases tensions and strengthens the immune system, is the easiest form of yoga — and is a good option for beginners.
Before the Museum Albertina in Vienna opens its doors to the public, it fills up with yogis. The yoga course starts at 8:30 am in the museum's pompous halls, whose meditative atmosphere creates ideal conditions for practicing the art. When the museum finally opens at 10:00, the yogis may just as well stay — their museum visit is included in the fee for the yoga course.
As if yoga weren't difficult enough as it is, aerial yoga gets participants to hang from the ceiling using a broad piece of cloth that looks like a hammock. During their asanas, the yogis lie, hang or sit in the cloth. You need a lot of body tensiont, but that is thought to be helpful when it comes to the more difficult exercises.
The concept is simple: Goats just show up for the yoga class too. They don't care about asanas, but watching goats ruminate is believed to have a soothing effect on humans. Some people think that being touched by goats can even have a healing effect. There's no reason to worry about keeping a hand free to pinch your nose — only billy goats stink.
The sun salutation is replaced here with a long "cheeeeers." Beer yoga combines the sport with the art of German beer brewing. Following each exercise, participants are rewarded with a few gulps of their beverage. Two bottles are consumed during each hour-long session. Towards the end of the lesson, the arsanas might not be carried out quite as precisely as at the beginning.
Over the past few years, yoga has emerged as one of the most popular sports. Almost three million people regularly attend yoga lessons in Germany alone. So it's not surprising that some of the initial thrill has vanished. That's why some yoga fans are trying to pimp their asanas by creating an eccentric ambiance, or by resorting to ribbons, surf boards or even goats.
In fact, yoga with these headstrong animals is becoming increasingly popular with yogis all over the world. The trend originated recently in the US where it was invented by yoga teacher Laney Morse on her farm in Oregon.
Now, yogis eager to try out so-called goat yoga are queuing up in front of farm houses across the US and Europe.
The concept behind it is incredibly simple. A lawn or a stable is turned into a yoga studio. Participants are permitted to get to know the goats before the lesson starts. During the lesson, the goats freely move around amidst the yogis.
While the humans are positioning themselves in the cobra or the dog posture, the goats nibble at the mats, or they might even try to climb onto the yogis.
While the goats might distract or even disturb the participants, goat yoga is more about being soothed than doing a perfect sun salutation. That makes goat yoga not just a sport, but also a therapy.
Click through the gallery above for more creative ways to boost your yoga routine.
