When Lindsay Riley discovered the healing power of yoga, she decided to take it a step further by including animals. Now her pig yoga classes leave clients smiling from ear to ear. Here, she shares her story with Woman’s World.
Lindsay Riley
This finally makes me feel calm and centered in my body! thought Lindsay Riley during her first yoga class. She had been suffering ever since a brain injury in her teens had left her with severe anxiety. But after the class, her curiosity was piqued. The slow movements, deep breathing and clearing of her mind made a profound difference. She began taking private classes to deepen her knowledge of the practice, and she attended retreats and trainings. She soon learned about goat yoga at a farm and began teaching there.
Maybe there are more ways to mix my love of yoga and animals, Lindsay thought. Before long, she also started volunteering at Everybunny Counts, a rabbit rescue in Ellington, Connecticut. Determined to help the rescue raise money, she held her first animal yoga class with fluffy bunnies and saw how it helped clients feel more relaxed and happy.
What if I make animal yoga my mission and start teaming up with rescues? she wondered. With that one spark of an idea, Lindsay embarked on a whole new life journey to spread more calm.
Hog heaven
After gaining more experience, she opened Breathe 2 Flow, a Connecticut-based business offering yoga classes throughout the state. One day, while scrolling Facebook, she came across a woman’s post offering to bring her pigs to people’s birthday parties. Pig yoga! Lindsay thought with excitement. People loved doing yoga with the rabbits, so why not branch out to adorable oinkers?
Lindsay immediately reached out to the woman in the ad and arranged to use her pigs for the new venture. After posting the first pig yoga class on a local West Hartford community Facebook group, the response was incredible. Not only were classes sold out for three months after the initial post, but Westfarms Mall invited them to bring pig yoga classes there, soon drawing the attention of several local news stations. It was immediately clear that pairing pigs with yoga was something people couldn’t get enough of, so Lindsay went full speed ahead to spread joy with pig yoga sessions.
Lindsay Riley
A special kind of zen
The pigs seemed to enjoy the classes just as much as the clients did. Lindsay found more ways to incorporate them into the poses. For example, she would lead the class into a cobra pose — in which the person lies on their stomach and arches their back — and the handlers would place Cheerios on participants’ backs for the pigs to munch on. Each class consisted of 20 to 30 people with piggies Sprinkle, Meadow, Buddy, Dot and Gilbert snorting their way into their hearts.
Lindsay also began holding classes for ages 4 and up, opening each session by reading a children’s book about a pig and then having the kids strike animal poses. “My child has so much fun at these classes and can’t stop talking about it!” one parent raved.
Lindsay Riley
With pig yoga being such a success in Connecticut, Lindsay hopes to expand the program to other states in the future. She has continued partnering with rescues and has begun using other animals for her yoga classes — including alpacas, puppies, kittens and horses, all inspired by the success of pig yoga. “It warms my heart to see the clients interact with the pigs,” the 33-year-old says with a smile. “There are many wide eyes and huge smiles when the pigs walk in. Knowing that this is such a unique experience for so many encourages me to continue my mission and bring animals into unconventional spaces. I enjoy interacting with so many animals, and I love being able to raise money for rescues. Creating these memories for the local community brings me great happiness!”
