Texas couple Dan and Alejandra Borris teamed up to create the immensely popular 2009 calendar featuring canines doing yoga poses and now they are back with a fresh batch of pooch posturing for their 2010 Yoga Dogs wall calendar! Check out Tiny the chihuahua doing the Kukkutasan (Rooster Pose) or Duke the golden retriever finding inner peace performing the Virabhadrasan (Warrior II). The list goes on and on!
The phenomenon of dogs doing yoga, or “doga” as it’s called, has spread like wildfire over the last couple years. Dan Borris and his wife Alejandro have just “taken it to the next level” with the help of some computer software. Alejandra is a former yoga instructor and she poses the dogs as closely as possible to the final poses. Dan snaps the photos and then does the rest in Photoshop. The result is a hilarious collection of Rin Tin Tantric images!
Here are 26 of the 2009 and 2010 yoga mutts – click on any of the thumbnails to be taken to the gallery with larger images.
All Photos: Barcroft/Fame Pictures
Read all about the Yoga Dogs and more (including Yoga Cats!) over at yogadogz.com.
Here’s some background on the YDs from their “about” page:
Five years ago photographer Dan Borris came across his first Yoga Dog. Otis was a two-year-old English Bull Terrier who loved to do yoga with his friend Joy. Joy would be practicing her yoga in the mornings while Otis wandered around her legs, stopping now and again to lick her face as she did a headstand. Slowly but surely Otis began to imitate Joy. At first he tried out simple poses, ones that came naturally to him like Downward and Upward Dog. As time went on Otis’s poses became more and more complex, until finally he began his own practice. While Otis himself wasn’t captured on film, he did lead Dan on his path to finding other four-legged Yogis.
The original two-legged Yogis discovered poses by observing and imitating the movement of animals. Now the practice has come full circle and it’s the dogs that are imitating us! You can see the absolute delight they take in their yoga and when they practice you can feel their profound concentration.
Just observe them: steady deep breathing (unless panting), totally focused attention (unless distracted by a ball or squirrel), and full stretches (especially upon waking).
We can all learn from their yoga. So next time you begin your practice, remember – get in touch with your inner pup.
