I think I first heard about goat yoga from fellow writer, Sarah M. Chen. Then AJ Devlin put it in his book. And Paula Charles/Janna Rollins has a goat yoga studio in her new series.
So, of course, I jumped at the chance to try it…at a party. For her birthday, my friend decided to corral some goats. Yes, the goats will come to you in Los Angeles (thank you, Party Goats LA).
All I had to do was bring a mat and myself. I probably should’ve had more reservations since I can’t usually do yoga (much less with a goat).
For some reason, I was also imagining the goats would be yoga’ing beside me. Nope. They were going to stand on me!
A young attendee described the experience as “hairy”—those goat bristles, but it extended to the balancing, too! I was trying to keep up with the poses and straining to remember my times doing yoga using the Wii. Which one was warrior pose again?
Turns out that the goats we had were not yoga masters but goats-in-training. They were only a few months old and trying their best to climb on us to “deepen the stretch.” They definitely deepened my sense of fear; I didn’t want to topple them—or fall on top of them either!
Being young’uns, the goats weren’t exactly potty trained. And TMI, but goats apparently do a 1-2 combo when they go. Gratefully, they also like to have solid ground when doing their business.
To be fair, the goats were able to clamber up on us, move under a “tunnel” of humans, and even sorta hop across people’s backs.
In the end, they were tuckered out—and so was I! I’m glad that I did make a goat of it. But I don’t think I need to re-experience it anytime soon.
What new thing(s) have you tried?
Fun post, Jen! As to new things, I’ve tried ‘Yoga Rescue.’ When I hear my wife yell for help, it’s because Rusty (our cat) perched on her back while she did her makeup. Just like the goat doing yoga, but it requires delicate removal or else, the little claws extend and the yelling starts all over again.
Thanks for sharing, Jen! Such a unique experience and I hope everyone had fun. Someday, I hope to try cat yoga. Have a great weekend!
Everyone had fun!
I think Maria would be up for cat yoga, right?
She would totally be all in!
Oh, this is hilarious, Grant! I feel like you should get a certification for yoga rescue! 🙂
My wife would agree 😇
That sounds like a lot of fun! We had a goat farm near us where we used to live. I went a few times with a friend early in the morning to feed the newborns. you hold them in your lap and bottle feed them their mom’s milk. They wiggled and squirmed even then. I don’t think I could take them jumping up on me while I try yoga. (I do chair yoga, I’m a senior and it’s safer) Kudos to you for trying it! It looked like a great time!
Carol
Ooh, there was a portion of the party where (human) kids got to bottle feed the goats. So sweet!
My parentals do chair yoga and love it!
Jen!! Those pictures! Those goats!! They are too cute. And the post is hilarious.
I can’t think of anything new I tried – which means it’s time for me to find angry something new!
Thanks, El!
You probably have enough things to juggle without adding something new to the mix–ha!
Lol, Jen! Love the photos! And I’m thinking a pajama party with goats–both the goats and humans in their PJs–is going to be the next big thing!
I hope they have Pull-ups for baby goats.
Ha! ‘Cause goats gotta go!
Ha! Right?
I’d do a PJ party!
I’ve been trying to do at least 10 minutes of yoga a day to relax and keep limber, etc. Ever try doing downward dog OVER a dog?
Wow, Liz! You must be super flexible!
I don’t know about that, but I’m working on it.
I grinned throughout this whole post, Jen! Even though I write a goat yoga series, I have bad allergies to goats so I can’t actually do it. I’m living vicariously through you! Someone just mentioned to me yesterday that they’d seen turtle yoga at a rescue center.
I’m wracking my brain to think of the last new thing I’ve tried, and since I can’t come up with anything, I think it’s time to put my adventure pants on!
Thanks so much for mentioning my series!
Paula Charles/Janna Rollins
Turtle yoga? Sounds about my speed!
Agree!
Glad you can live vicariously through me! Turtle yoga sounds like it’s more my speed.
Can’t wait to hear of any new adventures!
I’ve never tried yoga, so I don’t think I need any help deepen in the stretch. I think that just getting the pose would be enough for me. For now. Sounds like an interesting experience.
Me too, Mark!
It was definitely interesting, Mark!
Oh my goodness, this yoga post is the GOAT (Greatest of All Time)! I have a friend who tried goat yoga and said it was a hoot (or a maaa).
The one kind of fun/funny thing I tried was aerial silks at the birthday party of my daughter’s friend. Let’s just say that my full lack of grace was on display!
She flies through the air with the greatest of ease…What, no?
We want videos, Kathy!
Oh my goodness, if only!
Haha! Nooooooooooooooooooo.
A maaa! 🙂
I like the idea of aerial silks, but then I realize I’m semi-afraid of heights. (Last time a friend had an aerial silks party, I made sure to volunteer my kids, who are waaay more flexible.)
The flexibility part was way more important than I realized!
Well, gosh, Jen, I’ve been thinking about trying yoga again (haven’t been since the pandemic). Not sure I could balance myself AND a goat– I like the sort of yoga where you lie there and relax and listen to bowls ringing, ha. I think we have goat yoga here, but I I saw a NH Chronicle segment where they had…bunnies. It looked hilarious, with them hopping all over the place. The idea was that some of the yogis would adopt the bunnies. Thanks for the Friday smiles and amazing photos. Clearly, those baby goats loved you, Jen!
Your kind of yoga sounds more relaxing. And bunnies would be amazing! (Though I don’t think they’d stay put at all.)
They don’t, Jen!!
Cute baby goat and fearless Jennifer. What new thing have I done lately? Nothing, but a few years ago when we were in Pigeon Forge, we did one of those Mountain Roller Coasters at Goats on the Roof. You are in your own open little car strapped in and you push down on the two handles on each side all the way down and you blast out of there and it is scary as hell! The coaster is just a rail and there are twists and turns. You are in charge of the brakes and speed that goes up to 30 miles per hour. You are slowly transported to the top of the mountain and then gravity takes you with twists and turns down 4,875 feet journey for 7 minutes. Google it.
Whoa, that’s definitely adventurous! I can’t even handle the “kiddie” coasters at Disneyland. Kudos to you!
It was scary. We did it the year before and I went really slow and the guy behind me kept yelling at me to hurry up. I hope they gave him another ride free since I was a wuss, so this time, I went all out. I will not do that again. I thought that I was going to fly off the track and die.