Dogs and Yoga: Where it all began

I love yoga (duh) and I love my 13 year old Mini-Schnauzer Jake (double duh). I wanted to find a way to combine the two. That’s how Down Dog Donation classes began.

My fiancé Sam and I were extremely excited to get a dog when we moved here from California. We decided to adopt a dog rather than buy one from a breeder, so we started looking around various shelters in Seattle. We finally decided upon Emerald City Pet Rescue (ECPR) and we couldn't have been happier with our decision. Jake was 9, blind, and had just recovered from a surgery where he was on the brink of death from 5 types of parasites and heart worms when he was transported from Texas.

Now Jake has doggy 20/20, he’s healthy, and he enjoys doing yoga with me, aka lying on my mat. I wanted to give back to ECPR since they gave me and Sam so much joy since moving to Seattle. That’s when I decided to mix yoga and charity together. In the Silent Disco Yoga events, we managed to donate over $100 to ECPR, and that made our hearts so full. Who wouldn’t want to do yoga and help save animals?

Since then, this mission of helping out rescue animals has only grown. After the start of COVID-19, it’s really gotten me thinking about the furry four-leggeds who couldn’t help themselves. So I came up with Down Dog Donations classes. Every Wednesday at 5:30pm EST and PST, part of the proceeds from each of these classes will be donated towards animal rescue shelters in the Seattle area. Part of this blog will help spread the word of various shelters I’ve donated to, what that specific shelter is all about, and future shelters we hope to donate towards. So far we’ve donated to ECPR, Seattle Humane Society, and Seattle Animal Shelter.

Where should we donate to next?