Have you ever been in a great yoga class and thought to yourself, “gee, what’s really missing here is pigs”?
No? You don’t know what you are missing, you with your mat not covered in a hundred muddy hoof prints.
Muddy hoof prints abound
I recently got to take part in a “yoga with pigs” class, mat placed square in the pig pen. Why, you might ask? Well, sometimes you have to bow to the absurd. Sometimes you just like seeing how things mash up together. Or perhaps you just really like pigs – and let’s face it, we suburban pig enthusiasts so rarely get to indulge our passion.
People who love pigs REALLY love pigs
If you go to a farm, you might just get to whiz by on the way to the pumpkin patch. When you are doing yoga, you take your time, you breathe, you get to not move on. You are existing in time with the pigs, not just running past the pigs.
Zen in the Pen
True to its advertising, it was a normal yoga class, but about a dozen pigs meandered around the mats. Occasionally they fought over the food tossed there by the pig handler (“to keep them interested.”). Hey, sometimes being in the moment means really wanting that choice pellet that that other pig is munching.
The yoga with pigs class begins!
While I was in a high lunge, a pig ran through my legs. Another tossed my shoe with his snout.
Hello, pig
True, I had to sit up in savasana (not wanting my face stepped on.) And I got a lot of big hairy pig butt in my face.
So many pig butts! (Cue them thinking, “so many human butts!”)
But I also got to pat them and pet them and even give those scratchy bodies a hug.
Pig hugs <3
And really, you’ve got to hug them. They own their awesome rotund bodies. They wag those adorable little curly tails. They squeal and they jump adorably down stairs.
Seriously, how much cuter can they get?
Plus, if you are on a pig sanctuary like I was, you get just a little glimpse into a better world. These pigs get to wander around trees and shrubs and just live, not exist for humans (other than to entertain them doing yoga, naturally). Even the most ardent carnivore will admit this is a much better way for humans to treat our animal cousins. It’s so lovely to exist for a bit in a world where we all just do our thing, in the woods, together.
Happy pigs
This pig even gets to benefit from a Charlotte-like spider on his pen.
The world as it really should be, right?
Thoughts...?!