Yoga with alpacas

Devotees stretch and flex in the field

At least one of the four alpacas in the paddock at SHED Chetwyn Farms seemed to take some inspiration from the 32 yogis as they went through their sequence of poses on Saturday morning. The fluffy animal adopted savasana, or the corpse pose, lying contentedly with neck and limbs outstretched in the warm morning sun, while its three brethren nonchalantly went about their inscrutable alpaca business, munching on the short grass hither and yon. The Saturday session was the last in a series led by Alison Kelly that combined the gentle discipline of yoga with the soothing presence of alpacas. Kelly got the idea of doing yoga with alpacas after hearing about a farm near Calgary that was doing the same thing. She thought it would be a great way to have a little fun and raise some money for a local community organization. “Alpacas are amazing. I love the animals and I think they’re incredible, and I get to raise money for local charities,” she says. With the enthusiastic support of SHED co-owner Ted Pickering, she offered some Saturday morning classes last year and then continued them through this summer. Kelly is a registered yoga teacher, having completed over 200 hours of training, and is also a certified dance teacher. She had been practising a more intense form of yoga that utilized core body strength, but for these sessions with the alpacas she opted for the kinder and gentler flow style of yoga. “People are here to see the alpacas, they’re not really here for yoga,” she says. “Yoga is secondary, and there are a lot of beginners who come here so I want to make sure I offer a practice where everybody feels comfortable doing it and they are welcome and that they belong here.” She adds that yoga is available and accessible to everyone.

There is seniors yoga, chair yoga, and “curvy yoga” designed for larger body types. “People get different things out of it,” she says. “For some people it’s the meditation and spirituality, for others it’s taking the time for your physical well-being.”

On Saturday, she led the group in a 45-minute relaxed workout that went through some of the classic yoga poses, such as child pose, tree pose and mountain pose. Not everyone had their attention focused on yoga. Quite often the cell phones would come out for a picture of the wandering alpacas. It’s all good for Kelly, though. “We have alpacas, we’re doing yoga. We laugh, tell bad jokes and tell some stories,” she says. It’s an approach that everyone seems to appreciate. “I thought it was lovely, it was so relaxing to be here with the alpacas and just being in a field where you could feel the wind,” says Nini Mendes. “I enjoyed this yoga more than I’ve ever enjoyed yoga before. This was different, this was awesome. I felt I could actually take time to listen to the wind, to the animals rustling around. I would definitely want to keep doing this outside, for sure.” During the four sessions held this summer, Kelly has raised over $800, which will be shared between the Festival Players and the Food for Learning program.