Downward-facing dog will soon involve a lot more cats. D.C.'s one and only cat cafe, Crumbs & Whiskers, will host its first yoga classes with cats on Sept. 22.
Founder Kanchan Singh says she solicited her Facebook fans for events to host at the cat cafe. The overwhelming response? "'Oh my God, yoga with cats,'" Singh says.
Singh has been doing yoga for the past couple years—but not with cats. "After yoga, I'm already so zen. And then after I hang out with cats, I'm really zen," she says. "So I'm really excited to see the combination of zen... It's going to take it to the next level."
Crumbs & Whiskers is partnering with Georgetown's Down Dog Yoga for two classes next Tuesday at 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. Each class will last two hours with one and a half hours devoted to yoga and the remainder for playing with cats. The sessions will likely be limited to 15 people, and tickets will cost $25. (Crumbs & Whiskers normally charges $15 for one hour.) If it's popular, Singh is considering hosting cat yoga on a regular basis.
The idea is not unique to Crumbs & Whiskers. Other cat cafes in New York and London have also hosted yoga classes with cats. "It's definitely a thing," Singh says.
As for the logistics of posing and stretching with animals wandering around, Singh just hopes that the cats don't try to use people's mats as scratching pads.
"You don't know what's going to happen," she says. "You don't know if a cat's going to come trip you. That just makes it more exciting."
