HADLEY — At Animal Aura Yoga, the first 30 minutes or so of any class is pretty standard stuff.
Detach. Breathe. Be present.
Then Donna French lets the dogs out.
“Usually after a few minutes everybody is just snuggling with puppies,” said French, the yoga studio’s owner.
French and two business partners — Bria French, who is also her daughter, and Martin Lopez — opened Animal Aura in August offering yoga with puppies.
Donna French said she was invited to a puppy yoga event last year in Boston. The business idea took off from there, and the alliterative name refers to the aura, or energy, surrounding people.
The more nail-on-the-head “Downward Dog” — also the name of a yoga pose — wouldn’t work as a name, French said.
“Someone else had already trademarked it,” she said.
The puppies, usually seven to 12 weeks old, are there to be part of the relaxation.
“We’re similar to goat yoga,” she said. “Only here your experiences are with puppies,”
Animal Aura offers classes, birthday parties, bachelorette parties and shorter “snuggle sessions” with the puppies and no yoga poses.
An hour-long yoga class with puppies costs $49.99 and 55 minutes of cuddle time costs $34.99. Kids and seniors get a $10 discount.
Private parties cost $385 for a one-hour session and $650 for two hours of yoga and puppies. The business does off-site parties as well.
For Valentine’s Day on Saturday, French also booked a harpist for a romantic feel.
“I’m adding more classes,” she said. “The demand has been phenomenal.”
The hardest part of the job, French said, is finding the puppies.
“We don’t own them. They don’t live there. They are not for sale,” she said. “They are not up for adoption.”
Using Facebook and word-of-mouth, French finds dog owners with litters. The owners are paid for the dogs’ time. But the puppies must be weaned and vaccinated.
Her location in the Hampshire Mall near Target has proved an asset.
The mall was sold at a foreclosure auction 2024. And like many malls, it’s suffered from changes in shopping habits and lack of foot traffic.
But Hampshire Mall, under new management, retains a movie theater, a roller rink and an indoor trampoline park. French said the mall will soon have an indoor archery center in a space formerly occupied by a bowling alley.
“The mall is turning into an activity center for all ages,” French said. “They all offer experiences, not shopping.”
