Goat Yoga: The Newest Fitness Trend to Hit The Farm
GOGA (goat yoga) is baby goats jumping on you while you do downward dog!
GERMANTOWN, N.Y. — Goat yoga has become the newest fitness trend to hit the farm, combining yoga and animal assisted therapy into one mind, body and soul experience. Imagine closing your eyes, pressing your palms onto the mat, stretching into downward dog and seeing a baby goat plump down under you, making themselves comfortable on your mat.
Original Goat Yoga in Germantown, N.Y. is one of several goat yoga locations owned by Laine Morsey. Her path to creating this business was an unexpected one. At a very hard time in Morsey’s life she would go out to her barn and spend a lot of time with her goats. She said, “They were so therapeutic to me that I wondered why people didn’t use goats as therapy animals like they do horses.”
One day a yoga instructor visited her farm in Oregon and asked if she could lead a yoga class in her back field. Morsey laughed at the thought of this, knowing that her goats would be all over the participants. Surprisingly, the instructor loved the idea of involving the goats in the exercise. That’s when Morsey started marketing the class as Goat Yoga.
She said, “We really thought only our friends and family would come to this because who does this sort of thing? I started getting a lot of traction on my Facebook event and our first class was sold out.” Thinking that readers would enjoy photographs of cute goats from the class, Morsey sent some photos to Modern Farmer Magazine. They published an article about Original Goat Yoga in August 2016 and according to Morsey her life changed forever.
Goat Yoga went viral.
So what exactly is goat yoga?
It’s basically humans doing yoga around goats. For Morsey, goat yoga is about “getting out in nature, bonding with an animal and getting a little exercise.” She explained that after using her own goats as a form of personal therapy, she thought her goats could act as therapy animals for others. A therapy animal is an animal that provides affection and comfort to people who need it. Morsey believed her goats could do just that. She said, “Animals make humans feel better and it’s not so intimidating to do yoga when there are goats roaming about. They may jump on your back but they mostly just like to lay on your yoga mat and snuggle up next to you.”
You might be thinking why goats? Why not cats or dogs?
Morsey has the answer.
She said, “Goats have a sense of calm about them. When humans are around, they seem to take on that energy. They are also very funny animals and they make you laugh.” She explained that goats make great therapy animals because they “disconnect you from whatever you’re going through and make it impossible to be sad or depressed.” Most people who visit an Original Goat Yoga location have never interacted with goats. Morsey said that her customers are surprised at how loving and social the goats are.
Animal assisted therapy, including goat yoga, has a multitude of benefits. Morsey said that “Just petting the animals releases a relaxation response.” Humans interacting with animals have found that petting the animal promotes the release of serotonin, prolactin, and oxytocin- all hormones that can play a part in elevating moods. Goat yoga also lowers anxiety levels, provides comfort, reduces loneliness, helps lower blood pressure and improves cardiovascular health. Morsey said, “Goats make people feel special because they want to be around you. They follow you around and nuzzle their heads into you while you’re attempting a yoga pose. Yoga helps people be in the moment and goats do the same thing.”
Rosie Whelan came to the very first goat yoga class in the Germantown, N.Y. location. She continues to come back because the goats bring a smile to her face and leave her in a better mood.
As someone who has experienced goat yoga at the Original Goat Yoga location in Germantown, N.Y., I can say that it was a relaxing and exciting experience. The goats were sweet and comforting. Their presence made me smile, laugh and I left with more positive and happy energy than I came with. Despite my fear of getting pooped and peed on, this new fitness trend has completely won me over.
And the numbers speak for themselves.
Morsey said, “Last years private events made up 8 percent of our revenue. This year it’s been 43 percent.”
Original Goat Yoga began at Morsey’s farm in Albany, Ore., but future opportunities are endless. With 15 existing locations and several more in the application process of becoming goat yoga businesses, there is no telling how far Original Goat Yoga can go.
