Lakeview art teachers host yoga classes, help animals

ST. CLAIR SHORES — Sharada Sharp and Katie Schuur, the co-owners of Pawsitive Stretch, host puppy yoga on weekends and provide much-needed happiness for both humans and animals.

Sharp and Schuur first fell in love with the idea of puppy yoga — that’s yoga among playful puppies — when they took a class in Toronto.

“It was amazing. (We) fell in love with it and realized there’s nothing like this in Michigan,” Sharp said. “So what can we do to bring it to Michigan?”

Schuur said they spent all summer getting certified and building the business. The certification included learning the poses, learning the history of yoga, taking quizzes and other requirements all through an online platform.

“It was a pretty complex program, but we were determined to do it,” Sharp said.

Both Schuur and Sharp are art teachers at Lakeview High School, and they teach yoga classes on weekends. The location of the classes switches all the time since they consider themselves a mobile studio. They’ve partnered with different studios as well as shelters to utilize their spaces.

“The Humane Society has a space set up for that,” Schuur said. “Or like the one we were at yesterday; they had that space set up. And then those animals are right there so you can just easily bring them in.”

Sharp added it’s not always convenient for some of the foster families to drive around since they live all over.

The first class they hosted was in September with A ReJoyceful Animal Rescue.

Pawsitive Stretch donates a minimum of 25% of their proceeds to animal charities. The puppies in the yoga classes are either rescue or foster animals and Schuur and Sharp help get the puppies adopted.

“We wanted to make sure the puppies that we were working with were coming from rescues so that we could give a donation to the rescue and also provide a platform for those dogs to get adopted,” Sharp said.

They’ve since received suggestions about doing “kitten yoga,” so they explored that avenue as well.

“It started off small and we’ve been able to help so many rescues and get countless dogs adopted which is amazing,” Sharp said.

They also post the needs lists of the charities before the classes for participants who wish to donate items.

“We try to make sure that the rescue feels well taken care of,” Sharp said.

The charities they have partnered with are Almost Home Animal Rescue, New Hope Pet Rescue, A ReJoyceful Animal Rescue, Last Day Dog Rescue, Colony Cat Club Detroit, Canine Companions, Great Lakes Dog Rescue, Humane Society of Macomb, Animal Welfare Society of Southeastern Michigan and Making Miracles Animal Rescue.

The humans who come to the yoga classes have a lot of fun while participating. Sharp said classes are really therapeutic with yoga and the puppies combined.

“Everyone’s smiling and giggling, and no one’s taking the yoga really seriously,” Sharp said. “It’s more about socializing with the animals.”

Schuur said they’ve had great reviews.

“They have a lot of fun. We have a lot of fun,” Schuur said. “It benefits everyone. It benefits the animals, the shelters, the people coming.”

The puppies enjoy the classes as much as the humans. Sharp said coming to the yoga sessions allows the puppies time to socialize and run around. She shared what she heard from a woman who fosters dogs through Last Day Dog Rescue who brought her nine puppies to three classes.

“She told us at one of the classes, ‘This is the biggest space they’ve had to run around in in a while,’” Sharp said. “So they just had fun. Just a lot of zoomies, which is great.”

The yoga classes cost $40 and that includes a 45-minute class and 15 minutes of playtime or photos with the puppies. Sharp said they sometimes have different events, including one called “Puppies and Prosecco.” They also have an event coming up called Coffee and Cats.

“We’re partnering not only with Colony Cat Club, that’s the rescue, and Dino Detroit, it’s a mountain climbing studio, but they’re also bringing Detroit Coffee Club and Junk Jules who does pastries,” Sharp said. “So it will be like a collaborative event where people can do the cat yoga and then also have some coffee and treats afterwards.”

Schuur and Sharp both love what they do.

“Our faces hurt from smiling after class,” Sharp said. “It’s just you feel so good that you’re helping but also just personally seeing all those smiling faces, wagging tails — it’s awesome.”

According to their website, participants must be 18 years old or older. Participants are asked not to bring their own pets with them. Yoga mats will be provided.