Goat Yoga! (Bahhmaste!)

I took a goat yoga class, and I have to say, it was seriously one of the best experiences of my life. After hearing about goat yoga many years ago, it’s always something I’ve wanted to try, but never really looked into.

I was urging to take a new yoga class, and after some quick googling, I discovered Horse and Goat Yoga. Not feeling experienced enough to do horse yoga, I was thrilled to see that the farm offers goat yoga! I signed up for a class with my aunt.

What the heck is goat yoga? It’s like any other yoga class — but with goats! There are typically a handful of baby goats (these ones ranged from 2 to 8 months) who are encouraged to jump on your back for a deeper stretch. They’re also really fun to pet, chin-rub, and watch.

We got there for the 9:30 class which was held until 11. There were five baby goats there wearing adorable little diapers! We were outside on the grass in an enclosed area. There were two girls there who worked on the farm plus our yoga instructor.

The yoga session was wonderful, it was simple yet effective moves at a reasonable pace. Of course there was constant distraction with the goats, but this was a good thing! We were encouraged to really participate with them. Many of us were taking pictures throughout and stopping to pet the goats.

After the introductory sitting pose, the goats began climbing on our backs while we did planks, downward dogs, and other stretches. The girls who worked there were tossing feed on people’s backs in order to encourage them. Although sometimes, voluntarily, a goat would randomly run up to you and jump on your back.

It was seriously one of the funniest things ever. I could not stop laughing or smiling the whole time. The feeling of a goat on your back while you’re doing yoga is like nothing else! It really did feel amazing, as it totally deepens the stretch and massages your back. They’re pretty heavy for little babies, so it did hurt a little bit when they jumped on you, but in a funny and unexpected way.

After the yoga was over, they gave us some time for bottle feeding and cuddling! I couldn’t get many photos of the bottle feeding because 1) it was a two-person job and 2) they drank them SO fast!!! However I did get MANY more photos of goat cuddles! The smaller goat literally fell asleep in my arms as I was holding him after bottle feeding!

This has easily been the best experience of my year, and I would go further and say one of the best experiences of my life! It was so cute, silly, and exciting! It combined two of my top passions — yoga and animals (baby animals especially!) I definitely plan on doing it again — I know many friends and family who would love to do this!

Here are the rest of the photos…