Cat yoga is totally a thing in Lafayette

With soothing music, intentional breathing and downward facing dog poses, it didn't seem very different from most yoga classes.

But giggles soon broke through the room's zen. A tiny, orange kitten had just flipped over another.

This is Yoga with Cats.

"I love the anticipation of whether a cat is going to come sniff me while I'm doing yoga," said participant Amanda Stelly. "I sometimes try to do yoga, but this really gets me out of the house and makes me do it because the cats are so alluring."

Tuesday marked the third Yoga with Cats class, which is being offered by Lafayette Animal Aid and the Jerusalem Christian Church.

Ashley Sherard, the church's pastor, leads the yoga class at the small church while a few cats from the no-kill shelter tumble about the room.

"These must be Zumba kitties, not yoga kitties," Sherard told the class with a laugh.Although the 8-week-old orange tabbies at Tuesday's yoga class didn't spend too much time with participants, the pitter-patters of their paws could be heard as they pounced, flipped and zoomed about the room.

"Lots of churches feed the homeless, which is wonderful and great," Sherard said. "But we felt like doing something for the animals in God's creation was the way to go. And so that's what kind of brought this on."Sherard approached staff with Lafayette Animal Aid — soon to be Acadiana Animal Aid — with the cat yoga concept after watching an online video of a similar class being offered in Chicago.

Nichole Wilson, cat coordinator for the shelter, says the response has been great so far.

Each class features a new group of cats from the shelter to help the homeless pets socialize and interact with humans.

"Sometimes they're little, tiny kittens like this," Wilson says. "Other times they're teenage cats or older adult cats that do really well in a public setting like this."

The goal of the yoga class isn't to find homes for the cats or to get money from yoga participants, although adoption applications and donations are accepted, Wilson says.

"It's more about getting people involved in our shelter and for us to get more involved in our community," Wilson says.

The kittens — named Spice, Margo, Margie and Marcella — at Tuesday's class warmed up to the yoga participants at the very end of the 45-minute class.

The kittens took the wiggling of fingers and toes during shavasana, or corpse pose, as their cue to nuzzle.

"I thought it was really nice," said Katelyn Clary, who attended her first class late last year. "You had your zen moments and then you would laugh at what the cats were doing a little, and then you could return back into that space of helpfulness and calm."

Yoga with Cats is offered twice a month at 108 Republic Ave. Suite F. Classes are open to all and are free to attend.

Learn more about Yoga with Cats or Lafayette Animal Aid by visiting the "Lafayette Animal Aid" and "Cats of Lafayette Animal Aid" pages on Facebook.