Like a chef appraising cooked linguini, Jeeto the cat regards the yoga student's jiggly arm and pronounces him relaxed.
In most yoga classes a toy cat inspecting students and offering a blessing would be unusual, if not unwelcome, but in Petra Ebner's Raynbow Yoga classes for children, Jeeto the cat is something of a celebrity.
"Jeeto has become a star," says Ebner. "Kids will do anything for this cat."
Helping children soothe anxiety and channel energy through movement and breathing is a new endeavour for Ebner, who spent the last two decades as a real estate agent.
"I've switched hats dramatically. Some people think I'm nuts," she says with a laugh.
Ebner's real estate licence expired in 2012. She has also bid farewell to interior design after running a company for nine years. Ebner now offers yoga classes for families, sports teams, and children as young as three at her North Vancouver studio.
"When I used to introduce myself before it was always all these different hats. I'm a Realtor, I'm an interior designer and I do yoga. And now I introduce myself as a yoga teacher for children."
Ebner's transition began in her early 40s when she began exploring Hatha yoga.
Focusing primarily on postures, the yoga style didn't quite fit Ebner's personality.
"There must be more going on than just our body here on this planet," she says of her search for a more fulsome approach to yoga.
Ebner eventually discovered kundalini yoga, a style she pronounces as yoga's purest form.
"Kundalini yoga is considered the mother of all yogas. It was the original yoga before it split into all the different yogas," she says. "It gives equal weight to three parts: body, mind, and spirit."
While the physical form is important, kundalini generally places an emphasis on each practitioner's consciousness.
"It's not so much about perfecting a posture. It is the experience that you have as you are doing it."
Besides exercise and relaxation, kundalini yoga is about knowing yourself, according to Ebner.
"Nothing needs to be fixed and nothing needs to be changed. We just need to live what comes out of us more and get to know who we are," she says.
Ebner is proud of the connection she's forged with her students. While the classes are joyful and may include loud singing, they are also a prelude to relaxation.
"I think the connection that kids make through these classes is this ability to look outside themselves and find the tools to deal with whatever is going on inside of them."
