Maine Coon Cat Hilariously 'Helps' Mom With Yoga Strength Training

It is a truth universally acknowledged that cats like to be where the action is, especially if it at all inconveniences the people around them. Are you a Muslim trying to do your daily prayers? Expect a cat to join you on your prayer rug. A crafter who is trying to block your latest project? Expect a cat to sit down in the middle of your knitting. Did you get up from your home office to fetch a mug of coffee? Woe betide your keyboard.

One group that is well aware of this phenomenon is yoga practitioners. You can barely set out a yoga mat before a cat tries to claim it as its own, and that’s even before you start getting into unusual poses and your cat decides to “help” you out—or mock your attempts.

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In this clip, a large, gray tabby Maine Coon cat is seen being super helpful to their owner by balancing oh so precariously on the backs of her legs as she attempts to do a forearm balance.

Ah, cats.

Related: Maine Coon Cat Clearly Says 'How Are You?' in Video That Has People Stunned

Cats Are Contortionists, Too

The woman in this video is actually a gymnast, acrobat and contortionist from Austria named Stefanie Millinger. Millinger holds a variety of world records in gymnastic feats of strength, such as the record for handstands, dimbasana (extreme backbend) pose, and other extreme acrobatic activities.

Millinger travels the globe performing her incredible acrobatics and also regularly posts exciting content to her social media—with and without the help of her pets, a gray Maine Coon names Sammmi and a white Birman named Eni.

She often posts videos of her training alongside her cats, who play in balancing wheel, on posts, or just chase toy teasers she holds with her feet while doing her circus acts in the air above their heads.

In a way, it makes perfect sense for a contortionist to be drawn to a cat—after all, they are contortionists, too.

Cats Are Very Flexible

Cats are among the most flexible of all mammals. They can narrow their shoulders and chests to fit into tight spaces, because their shoulder blades are only attached to the rest of their bodies with muscles, instead of bones or tendons.

They can change position midair or mid stride to land on their feet or dart after prey, in part due to their extremely flexible spine. They possess fully twenty more vertebrae in their spines than humans do.

Moreover, they have extremely elastic cushioning disks between each of the vertebrae on their spine, and they even use this flexibility to extend and flex their spine while running. The impressive speed of large cats like cheetahs are due in part to this extreme flexibility. But every cat owner knows that their cat, if needs be, can “melt” into a puddle to escape a tight situation, or easily twist into a pretzel to avoid getting their nails clipped.

At that point, the real question is why is Sammy just sitting around on her back rather than getting in on the action? Time for a catstand, Sammmi. You can’t let your mom do all of the work.

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