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It started as a simple idea. Combine one owner’s experience with and love of animals with another owner’s passion for the healing power of yoga.
The result became Animal Aura Yoga, located at 367 Russell Rd. in the Hampshire Mall in Hadley, Massachusetts.
“We knew the community deserved the chance to experience the happiness and wellness that pups and yoga brings and we wanted to create a space where people could relax, recharge and simply enjoy the moment,” said Animal Aura Yoga co-owner Donna French of Wilbraham.
The Animal Aura concept
This isn’t like the puppy yoga studios that have recently sprung up in Hartford, Boston, or other major cities. French and studio co-owner and yoga aficionado Martin Lopez of Amherst took the best of what they gleaned from studying these businesses and folded it into a concept that’s all their own.
“There isn’t any precedent for our puppies and yoga, we’re kind of trend-setting,” said Lopez. “There’s puppies and yoga in Boston and there’s puppies and yoga in Hartford, but we’re trying to make it different, a complete package.
“You can schedule a yoga session, or a puppies and yoga, which is 30 minutes of yoga and 30 minutes with the puppies,” Lopez said. “Or you can come in and snuggle with the puppies.”
Right now, the puppy-focused sessions - either yoga or snuggles - are available on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, according to Lopez.
Kid’s birthday parties with puppies, as well as private events combining yoga and puppies or just puppies, are also among the offerings at Animal Aura Yoga.
Animal Aura Yoga does require children to be 6 years of age or older to participate in yoga classes, snuggle sessions and birthday parties. Pre-registration is advised for all classes and sessions, though walk-ins are accepted for weekend class sessions.
For the puppies, it’s about more than just snuggles
Though the puppies are an integral part of the offerings at Animal Aura Yoga, French emphasized that these puppies, which all come from local owners, are actually in the studio for their own benefit, not just to add a snuggle factor to yoga and other experiences. She said having the puppies in the yoga studio and around people affords an opportunity for them to become socialized, making them better pets in the long run.
“We use the words local owners and partners,” French said of the studio’s relationship with the puppies. “We use many different ways to find these puppies, traditional newspapers, social media; we ask for people with litters to contact us. The puppies must be seven to 12 weeks old, must be vaccinated and they are here on Saturdays and Sundays. We ask the owners to come with their puppies, though some do drop them off.”
Clients interested in learning which dog breed of puppies will be in the studio on any given week can check the Animal Aura website. And despite requests from many a smitten client, French said the puppies in their studio are not for sale.
To make sure these puppies are getting the best possible socialization experience, French said Animal Aura Yoga has partnered with dog trainer and animal behaviorist Justine Antunes, owner of Practically Perfect Mutt of Wilbraham, Inc.
“If we see something, we can text her and she gives a little advice,” French said. “She helps us with the stimulation, makes sure the puppies aren’t overstimulated.”
But even before the puppies come out, every visitor to Animal Aura Yoga gets a dose of doggy love, according to French.
“We have a studio dog; she is a 4-year-old French bulldog named Roxy, and the studio is built around her,” French said, explaining that Roxy came to her house for four days a year ago, and has since become a permanent part of her family. “She networks, she will greet people coming through the door, she will greet everyone at the studio. Sometimes, she will just sit with one person, and we’ll learn later that that person is going through a hard time.”
“She just wants love,” French joked. “There are no boundaries with Roxy.”
From colleagues to co-owners
Though both French and Lopez have drawn on their backgrounds to create Animal Aura Yoga, that isn’t what initially brought the partners together. Though French has experience with animals - raising and showing rabbits for 20 years, and working with the Big E on their Farmarama exhibits - and Lopez has experience as personal trainer and became a certified yoga instructor after experiencing its healing power when going through a divorce, the pair met in a totally different industry.
“Martin and I first met when he was working for a solar company in Chicopee,” French said. “He was incredibly kind and very knowledgeable about solar sales, and he offered to help me with my training. I immediately noticed his natural ability to empower people and help them feel more comfortable and confident in the sales process.
French said the two were working as independent contractors for solar sales and energy supply in the Boston area when they first encountered the pups and yoga concept.
“Over time, we saw firsthand the powerful impact the experience had on people – the joy, relaxation and sense of connection it created,” French said. “That experience planted a seed for us.”
She said the pair started talking about opening a pups and yoga studio of their own, “a place where we could do things a little differently and create something special for the community,” French said.
She and Lopez initially thought about trying the concept out on weekends and were looking for a spot in Amherst, possibly a church, to do a test run.
“I was talking to a woman at one of the churches in Amherst; she said there really is no parking in Amherst and there’s really no parking in Northampton, but ‘did you know they are trying to restructure the Joann’s Fabric space in Hampshire Mall?’” French said.
French said she approached the mall management, and after negotiations with both the mall and the Town of Hadley, secured the space to open Animal Aura Yoga, with plenty of parking for their clients.
Animal Aura Yoga started with a soft opening in August of 2025 and an official grand opening in February of this year, just before Valentine’s Day. Beyond navigating some new business bumps in the beginning, Lopez said Animal Aura Yoga has experienced an outpouring of support from the community, including the surrounding colleges.
“It never crossed my mind that people would be that expressive in embracing what we are doing. That’s one of the most pleasant surprises,” Lopez said.
French said she feels the key to their growing success is that they aren’t like any other pups and yoga studio. “We’re creating our own lane,” she explained.
And Animal Aura Yoga isn’t just relying on the puppy factor to draw clients to the studio. At the suggestion of a yoga client who had experienced something similar in California, the studio brought in a harp player for some Valentine’s Day pup yoga sessions, a move that proved very popular.
French said she’d also made arrangements with a man who raises Angora rabbits to bring his bunnies to the studio for a bunnies and yoga session in March. She and Lopez are also looking into adding Tibetan sound bowls to some yoga classes to enhance the relaxation experience for clients.
Lopez said the studio is also planning to expand its yoga schedule to include class offerings Monday through Friday in addition to the current Wednesday and weekend class and snuggle schedule. In addition to their work with Practically Perfect Mutt, French said the studio has also partnered with nonprofit called 22Mohawks that provides community-based, peer-led suicide prevention services for veterans and first responders. The studio has a display of items for sale, with 100% of the money going to support these services.
Animal Aura Yoga is open Wednesday from 3 to 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. walk-ins are welcomed (space permitting). For more information on classes and prices, and to register for a class, visit animal-aura.com