Although the concept of a cat café is most associated with life in Japan, New York City boasts several. The city’s first café, the Meow Parlour, is located in the Lower East Side. Originally created to give cat lovers who are unable to have their own furry friend a place to play with these lovable creatures, cat cafes in NYC provide a temporary home and financial support for cats that are looking for their fur-ever home. At the Meow Parlour, all of the cats are available for adoption (my favorite is Stevie!).

The Meow Parlour hosts a plethora of events including…cat yoga! Yes, you can do a yoga class while kitties run around your feet. Don’t worry, there is no downward facing dog, it is renamed downward facing cat (and child’s pose becomes kitten’s pose). It’s even better knowing that your practice is going to a great cause! The evening starts with free cat play time. It feels a little bit weird having unstructured, play time on the floor. Eventually, the cats and kittens really started to show their personalities.

Then, we started our class! During class, the cats are free to run around and play with you. They were pretty curious to see what we were doing.

Stevie and another cat started to tussle while I was in a pose. When we moved to the more floor, the cats really enjoyed that. At one point, Stevie was head-butting me and found his way to wrap around my head.

They were all pretty curious to watch these crazy humans! Afterwards, we had time to cool down with the cats and all chat about how crazy about cats we are. If are a cat lover, I highly, highly recommend visiting a cat café. It is so much fun! And if you love yoga and cats… this experience can’t be beat!

(my fur-slug practices his own cat yoga at home)