Yoga Gets Seal of Approval
By Renee Nadeau Sunday, October 18, 2009
Young yoga students from area
studios will have two new students in their class today - northern fur seals Ursula and Cordova, the New England Aquarium’s
resident water-dwelling contortionists.
The aquarium will be showcasing the seals’ yoga skills to encourage youngsters
to get physical. A second show is set for next Sunday.
“It’s
really neat for kids to be inspired by something in nature,” said Abbie Davies, owner of My First Yoga in Cambridge,
who will be teaching the class. “They (the seals) take care of themselves and they excercise just like we do.”
The classes inside the fur seal exhibit are private, but visitors
can watch from the other side of the glass as the seals stretch alongside a half-dozen lucky young pupils. “When we
did lion pose, which is a pose where you roar as loud as you can while in a certain pose - sitting up like a lion - at the
same time we were doing it, the seals were doing their big roar that they’re known for,” said Davies.
Fur seals have one of the thickest coats of fur in the animal
kingdom, said aquarium spokesman Tony LaCasse. While the fur lets the seals avoid carrying the extra blubber other seals carry,
preening requires the utmost flexibility.
“They need to be able to reach literally every square inch of their body,”
LaCasse explained, noting that the seals can bend over backward to touch nose to tail.
The classes consist of six poses. Because of the seals’ short attention span, the interspecies session can last just
15 minutes, he said.
LaCasse said the yoga program helps promote youth
excercise and fits the goals of the New Balance Foundation, which funded the aquarium’s marine mammal exhibit. “We
really do hope we’ll invite people down to that space to do all sorts of fitness classes,” he said.
The aquarium has teamed up with My First Yoga, Yoga Tree Kids in Marblehead and
Lululemon Athletica Co. “At the end (the kids) each get a kiss from the seal, which is a little slobbery but it’s
a lot of fun for them,” Davies said.
