Yoga with goats? How does that make sense? I went to goat yoga this week because I’d always wanted to. And I can explain, it just takes a minute….
First of all, let’s remember that the word “yoga” means “linkage” between mind and body, two things that don’t always go together. The linking of goats and yoga poses is similarly, a linking of disparate parts.
Our Northern Colorado Goat Yoga class was held in a disused clothing store in the mall. Tres chic’, an abandoned shop with the drawers marked with bra sizes still labeled in the back. But bleating and goat and alfalfa smells and a pen full of milling baby furballs. It was, let’s just put it this way, very stimulating. Very much a linking of opposites.
The People of Goat Yoga
I went to snag the place by the front window, thinking I would be out of the way and comfortable, But a lady and her daughter cut in front of me and she was about to put her mat down right under where I was putting mine when saw me. “Oh, sorry,” she said, “were you setting up here?”
“Yes,” I said. These people, I thought, don’t understand yoga etiquette. The two of them moved over, talking loudly.
Anyway, I should have thought more deeply before choosing that spot myself. Because it was by the window and there were lots of people walking around the mall. And us doing yoga with goats was a worthwhile curiosity, not as engaging, perhaps, as the author’s book fair or the farmers market, but nevertheless interesting.
I looked up from Boat Pose to see an older Indian couple outside the window. They stood for a while, watching, talking. I couldn’t help but wonder what they were saying. “Look what these westerners are doing with yoga now — goats!”
We Have Become a Curiosity
Here we were, women, mothers and daughters, and there were men and children too. Doing yoga with goats! How cute, quaint, and considerate of us to do it here in the mall so people can watch!
Not only was I uneasy that I’d become Exhibit A to the mall walkers, but my mat was kitty corner to the gate from the goat pen, where the goats came out. For most of the class, the goats were milling around near their pen, leaving me a spectator. Finally a little gray and white goal came along the glass window right up to my mat. I was about to touch it when a child from the mall reached through the slightly open door, touched the goat himself, and chased it away.
From mid-happy baby pose, I looked up to see this tiny theft of goat yoga experience. My eyes locked on the eyes of the young mother who was pulling the boy back into the mall. I imagined myself saying, in my best spiritual voice: “I refuse to censure you. But you have violated the principles of the yogis by letting a kid grab part of our equipment, even if the equipment is a cute fuzzy goat and we are practicing in a vacant clothing store.” But I didn’t say anything.
They left.
Our Instructor
He was a bearded guy in cut off jeans and a snap up rodeo shirt with the sleeves ripped off. “I am a real yoga teacher!” He said, as if we had doubtful expressions.
I looked again and it was true, I’ve seen him at my studio, though never dressed like this. He had a sound track – country western. A cover of Merle Haggard’s “Mama tried” played as the goats milled around the yogis.
The Goats Join In
And we were doing yoga. It was vinyasa, a beginner class. We did downward dog, sphinx, puppy pose, cat/cow. I think the best part of the yoga phase of the class was watching the other people trying to do yoga while reaching out to touch a goat at the same time. Linking of opposites, remember. Balance challenge. The goats were very furry, very cute, with horn buds and big soft goat ears. Their tiny hoofs were angelic. Their goat eyes with the oblong pupils gave them a look of supernatural wisdom.
Then one peed on someone’s mat. A shout went up. The cleanup crew went in. “No problem, no problem,” the goat wranglers said. It had been on the class description: pellets and pee happen. Someone wondered, had they given the goats a lot of water? I didn’t know if I bought that, you can lead a goat to water but you can’t make it drink.
Goat Meet-Up Savatsana
Despite any difficulties, when the formal class ended and the helpers brought the goats around, for those of us who wanted to “goat out” (get it, “geek out?”) holding a baby goat was the best. You can see in the picture someone took of me, my eyes shining, the grin on my face huge. Where else but goat yoga could you do a few downward dogs and afterwards they would let you hold a baby goat? Nowhere, that’s where.
And I did the bridge and asked them to put a goat on top of me. And a helper put a little brown jumper up there. It was precarious, they had to hold him for the picture, the second they took their hands away, the goat sprung. But … my bridge pose held up a goat! I am a goat mountain!
Go me!
All this fun and games and goats though – is this really yoga? The question puts me in mind of something that happened in my first encounter with Eastern mysticism – in my father’s study.
The Urdhva Hastansana Buddha
My father had a Buddha made of dark wood in his office. It had a big belly and Budda was stretching his hands up in Urdhva Hastansana, standing prayer pose. Dad told me that if you rubbed the Budda’s belly you would have good luck. Coming in to rub the statue after school was part of my childhood, and as I did I would look and see a beatific smile on the Buddha’s face. For him, joy and even humor was part of spirituality, for how could anyone interpret anything but humor in the Budda’s huge belly?
The point of the statue was, perhaps, don’t take yourself seriously, enjoy life, laugh a little. I wonder if the essence of goat yoga isn’t the same. The idea here is that once in a while we should drop the high seriousness of yoga’s Sanskrit nomenclature and finesse-filled poses and lighten up and laugh and laugh. I did goat yoga and I did laugh and I’m still laughing.
My conclusion? Try goat yoga – it’s for yogis with a sense of humor and the GP (general public) too! Don’t miss out.
Common Questions:
Where can I find goat yoga classes near me?
I found mine on Event Brite. You can also just google “goat yoga near me.” These classes may or may not be available in your area or when you search. Goat yoga tends to be offered in areas with rural spaces, and as to season, in the spring. That’s when the young goats used for goat yoga are the right age.
Cost of a Goat Yoga Session:
Mine was $30, and that seems pretty appropriate when you add the usual cost of a yoga session ($15 or so) with the extra charges occasioned by having goats along.
What to Expect at a Goat Yoga Class:
What to expect is: an easy, multi or beginner level class, goat wranglers who make sure the goats are where they need to be and who support you with goat contact and cleanup, possible alternative venues (goat yoga is often held outside, generally not in a yoga studio) and a relaxed, beginner-friendly vibe.
