Goat yoga classes, which combine breathing, posing, and snuggling with special guest ruminants, may be all the rage among limber animal lovers.
But Alaska just upped the antlered ante.
At a summer yoga class in Fairbanks, attendees complete a 60-minute hatha or vinyasa flow session in the presence of reindeer.
Classes take place Monday and Friday evenings at 6pm at Running Reindeer Ranch, which also offers nature walks with the animals.
During the outdoor yoga sessions, according to local NPR affiliate KTOO, adult and baby reindeer mill around, "grazing, nosing curiously at water bottles, and pawing yoga mats" before eventually lying down amid the class's human participants.
The yoga instruction is pretty standard, except that it includes reminders not to touch the animals' sensitive antlers and exhortations to students to listen to the sounds around them such as the clicking noise reindeer make when they walk and their snoring when they fall asleep. (Unlike in goat yoga, the animals do not stand on the practitioners' backs, which is probably wise considering a full-grown male reindeer can top 300 pounds.)
With all that going on—plus the distracting adorableness of the babies—good luck concentrating on your breathing.
In a Facebook post, Running Reindeer Ranch says that the classes help "socialize our new calves and deepen your yoga practice at the same time."
Yoga sessions cost $17 per person. No cap on class size is mentioned, but parking is limited to 10 spaces. You can view a class schedule and make a reservation at http://reindeer.events/yoga.
