Florida Man Injured When Huge Iguana Drops on His Face During Yoga Class
Rebecca West
A Miami man taking a relaxing outdoor yoga class was enjoying the day and totally in the moment while preparing for his final pose when, out of nowhere, he thought he'd been slugged. The man, identifying himself only as Michael, stated to a reporter with the Miami New Times,
"I didn't see it coming. It felt like a sandbag hit me in the face. The first thing that went through my head was it must have been a coconut, but there were no coconut trees. And then I thought maybe the guy next to me slugged me — but, I mean, we're in a yoga class, and it's so calm and peaceful. Why would the guy hit me?"
Afterward, his fellow yoga practitioners informed him that it was actually a large green iguana weighing "between 20 and 30 pounds" that caused his injuries, which included a swollen eye and bleeding from his nose and lip.
Outdoor Yoga Classes
The free yoga class is run by Anamargaret Sanchez at Miami's Legion Park. Michael remembers relaxing on his back when the moment of Zen turned into a blast of searing pain. Sanchez was reportedly streaming her class on Instagram when the iguana fell from its perch onto Michael's upturned face.
During the last few moments, Sanchez rolls up from her yoga pose as something catches her attention before uttering the words, "Oh no," and then swiftly moving out of frame.
"Guys, I think we are going to close the class," she can be heard saying. "I'm going to take care of someone who just got an iguana dropped on his face."
Miami
Paramedics were briefly seen on the Livestream as they moved in to check on Michael's condition. It's said he declined to be taken to the hospital but wondered aloud, "It's kind of scary if you believe that kind of thing — out of 150 people in the class, I just want to know why me?"
Iguanas
Iguanas have been living in that part of Florida since the 1960s and are known to fall from trees when temps drop below 50 degrees. There's no definitive word on whether the temperature played a role in this case or if the reptile simply lost its footing or had been tussling with another iguana when the incident took place.
