Review: Yogi Cats by Paige Hodges

I like to read books that make me feel good after I finish reading them. This happy feeling might not even come straight from the content, but from the physical book, the colors and the entire aesthetic. Yogi Cats by Paige Hodges, is one of those feel happy books.

Hodges wrote Yogi Cats to combine both her love of yoga and cats. Hodges, as a young adult, got her first cat after finding a mouse in her New York City apartment. She eventually moved with three cats to L.A., California – where she took a yoga class. Hodges has practices yoga for over twenty years and credits her patience and balance to yoga.

Hodges founded Feline Yogi, a company that makes yoga mats just for cats. These two special areas of her life have led her to write Yogi Cats, which contains yoga poses for the beginner all the way to an expert level.

Each chapter of the book has two beautiful full color pages, with an adorable little cat doing yoga poses. Within each chapter are Instructions for yoga poses and quotes that are yoga inspired and reminiscent of relaxation. The cute little cat doodles on each page relate to what the chapter is covering.

One of my favorite passages is on page 24, which discusses why yoga and meditation can be helpful for stress and anxiety. As someone who is prone to stress and suffers from anxiety, I found this chapter on meditation to be very helpful.

My favorite quote in Yogi Cats is on page 52, “Even if things don’t unfold the way you expected, don’t be disheartened or give up. One who continues to advance will win in the end.” –Daisaku Ikeda.

The pose that I felt relaxed me the most was on page 82, the Mountain Pose.

The end of the book has a 30-day yoga challenge, with intentions to help the reader form a yoga habit by commitment, intention and following through. Hodges’ feline yogini, her cat Pippy, writes the challenge.

If anything was going to get me to try to take a mental break and use yoga as a relaxation method – it would be this quote from Pippy, “Be aware of excuses. You humans love excuses. ‘My Netflix queue is full and I must catch up; I am too tired!; I can’t find my yoga pants! blah blah blah.’ The list goes on and on. You are responsible for setting your priorities. That may mean watching less TV or prying yourself away from Facebook, but it’s up to you and you only to make sure to find the time.”

Nothing rings more true to me, that spending too much time on the computer. I am a blogger and full time student after all! But Pippy’s reminder to me to be responsible and disconnect (and find my yoga pants, which I do know where they are), is much needed.

Available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon.




Receiving a complimentary copy of Yogi Cats did not influence my review whatsoever. All my opinions are my own.