Energetic puppies, calming yoga create perfect balance in Barrington

Yoga is all about relaxing the body and calming the mind. Puppies are all frenetic energy and boundless enthusiasm.

Put them together, and somehow it works.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

The downward dog was surely a favorite pose Sunday when yoga practitioners and a dozen exuberant pups shared studio space at Advocate Good Shepherd Health and Fitness Center in Barrington.

Besides putting a fun and unusual spin on the centuries-old form of exercise, the puppy yoga get-together also served as a fundraiser for Rescue Warriors Corp., an Elgin-based volunteer organization that works to save abandoned animals from being euthanized because they don't have a permanent home.

Despite their seeming contradictions, puppies and yoga can go hand-in-hand, said Jaynie Falduto, who works in member services at the Advocate health center.

"The puppies just climb on top of you and give you kisses while you're doing the yoga poses," she said. "It's just a great therapy, along with the yoga."