In theory, I know it’s good for me. In practice, I really don’t like yoga. The pace is either too slow because when all you do is run and it never, ever occurs to you that you should maybe stretch once in a while, holding a pose for more than 15 seconds is agony; or it’s too fast—what do you mean upward dog? I’m stuck in downward dog and I’m fairly certain I’m going to need medical assistance if there’s any hope of ever standing upright again. But I have to admit that when I first heard about baby goat yoga, my reaction went from whaaat? To ooh? To wait, I have to try that.
It took months and a friend’s perseverance in researching where we could find this phenomenon locally, but in July, four runners headed to First Generation Farms in Brentwood for a Friday night baby goat yoga class.
Maybe it was the compostable toilet, or maybe it was the waiver we had to sign stating that we understood that goats are farm animals and therefore, not housebroken, but when our group of city girls arrived at First Generation Farm, we were a little skeptical. We set out mats on an outdoor deck (they provided these so the goats wouldn’t soil ours) and waited for our instructions—and the baby goats.
Luckily for me, our instructor was fully aware that we were there to play with baby goats and therefore yoga was secondary.
Here’s what I learned:
While puppies are soft, cuddly and smell good, baby goats, although still cuddly, aren’t nearly as soft and don’t smell very good at all. Unless that is, you like the smell of wet hay. Then go ahead and bury your nose in their fur. They do like lots of pets though.
Poop happens. Luckily, I’m washable so this didn’t bother me at all.
When you have baby goats providing all sorts of distractions (yes, they jumped on people, no they didn’t jump on me), you can hold a pose for even more than 15 seconds without giving it a second thought.
Yoga is fun when giggling is encouraged.
Evening yoga held outdoors is soothing. Listening to the crickets, toads, and birds tune-up as the sun went down was like hearing a symphony readying to perform.
No surprise, this runner is really tight, and although I hate to admit it, a lot of the poses we did felt good and I plan to make an effort to do a few of them on a regular basis, which, I suppose, is better than not at all.
Tree Pose
We did this lying down and held for about two minutes on each side. It’s a great hip opener, which most runners need, and also helps open up the chest and shoulders.
Cobra Pose
If you’re like me and sit at a computer most of the day, cobra pose will help relieve the tension in your shoulders and open up your chest.
Reclining Spinal Twist
Release your lower back and stretch your piriformis with this laying down stretch.
Would I do baby goat yoga again? Without a doubt. If you have the opportunity to check it out, I highly recommend it.
