How to Do Yoga with Snakes and Lizards (and Why)
A pet shop that opened last summer in Portland, Oregon has come up with a surefire way to pack the store with customers: snake yoga classes in the lobby. HISSS, a reptile shop that sells snakes, lizards, and arachnids, pitches serpentine yoga as a way to “uncoil your body and quiet your mind.”
A typical class will include corn snakes, ball pythons, and red‑tailed boas to creep and crawl among and atop the humans doing downward dogs and cat-cows. Occasionally other reptiles will attend – a bearded dragon, an Argentine tegu, and an Aldabra tortoise have made guest appearances.
“It’s a really positive experience, and it’s very transformative,” yoga instructor Katy Vanek tells the Oregonian. “Snakes make you confront a fear factor. It can be challenging because there’s an animal that sometimes makes people feel uncomfortable or is misunderstood. They remind you of fears and challenges you can overcome.”
Vanek had led animal‑themed classes with puppies, kittens, and goats before this gig, but she was hesitant to pose with snakes. However, when she held a ball python named Diana she was won over. “She just made me feel so grounded, and I felt so comfortable,” Vanek says. “I was expecting a wriggly snake and, no, she’s just so relaxed.”
The class includes a couple snake handlers who move among the yogis, gently redirecting snakes when they wander off and occasionally placing them on the people posing on the mats.
The snakes turn out to be very good yoga partners. They are flexible – which is what the humans are aiming for – but they are also slow and methodical in their movements. Because snakes hear by detecting vibrations through their jawbones, they react (positively, we assume) when the class is humming “Ommmm.”
“They’re very grounding. It’s almost like a weighted blanket,” says HISSS owner Dru Morales. “To feel them choose you and embody your energy — most of the time we’re grabbing cats or dogs and holding them. Here, they’re almost grabbing us.”
Photo credit: Samantha Swindler
