• Home workouts and animal livestreams have quickly become fun ways to pass the time.
  • The San Antonio Zoo decided to combine the two through Zen Zoo, a daily animal yoga practice.
  • Each morning, the zoo livestreams a yoga class nearby different animal exhibits.
  • The instructor guides viewers through yoga poses while lions, flamingos, bears, and other animals can be seen in the background.
  • Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

The San Antonio Zoo combined two popular pastimes: animal livestreams and home workouts.

The zoo launched Zen Zoo, daily yoga practice at animal exhibits across the park. Viewers can do a downward dog with lions and strike a warrior pose with bears every morning on the zoo’s Facebook page.

Although the zoo is currently closed to visitors, the staff wanted to provide its audience with animal updates and creative ways to stay busy.

"We knew right away that we wanted to have a big social presence to stay connected to the community," Tim Morrow, the zoo's president and CEO, told Insider.

Across the world, people have found peace through home workouts and joy in animal livestreams during this challenging time. The zoo merged the two together with the purpose "to provide positive, educational, and fun content to break up timelines, which are now all about bad news most of the time and politics," Morrow said.

So every morning, yoga instructor Heather Love guides viewers through a practice.

Zen Zoo_Heather.JPG

Foto: Heather Love, a certified yoga instructor, leads the classes each morning. Source: San Antonio Zoo

Behind the instructor's voice, you might hear the call of birds or see a lion pacing across its enclosure.

The first video was launched on March 23. Since then, the zoo's Facebook page has had over 4 million visitors. Morrow said they plan to continue the livestreams until the zoo reopens.

The classes are free, but the zoo is seeking donations for its emergency fund.

Beyond the Zen Zoo, the San Antonio Zoo has launched other initiatives to keep its community engaged.

It's been promoting a Front Yard Zoo hashtag, where children were encouraged to build makeshift zoos in their own backyards.

The zoo has also been hosting daily livestreams with animal care workers who answer questions and share updates on the zoo's animals.

"We're really enjoying connecting with our community, and keeping them connected with us, and being this kind of community support right now during this time," Morrow said.