Yoga with goats @Sunflower Farm Creamery

Every Thursday night and Saturday morning people come to the farm to enjoy yoga with the goats. Everyone is welcome, and whether people practice from a wheelchair or on their mat, everyone leaves with a lighter heart. The goats seem to enjoy it as much as the people! They sprint down to the yoga pasture and spent most of the hour meandering among the people as they do their poses or stop to scratch a goat chin. Over the past couple of decades yoga has taught me how to tap into a joyful heart and calm breath even in the most stressful moments. What better place to practice finding calm in the midst of the wild world we live in, than in a goat field, practicing on uneven ground, surrounded by the joyful bustle of goats. I also love yoga with goats because it is the perfect reminder that no matter how lonely we feel, we are members of a larger herd. When we can tap into a healthy energy it benefits everyone around us. Yoga on the farm is something I look forward to all winter and it has truly become the highlight of each week for me! (Sorry for the canned music, we play music during yoga and I’m trying to avoid any copyright issues!) This short video includes a lot more of the final resting time in class, and less of the active postures since to me sometimes the stillness is even more important than the movement in today’s hectic world. I wanted to share some of that sweetness with you. I have read a number of comments recently saying that goat yoga is not “real” yoga and that it discredits the practice of yoga in general. All I can tell you as what I know from my own experience. Yoga is a sacred practice for me that has totally shifted how I move in the world. The practice has given me the tools to find an open heart and calm breath in the face of the many challenging situations the world throws at us each day. It doesn’t always work, but that is why it’s called a practice, something we can always return to and try to do better. There is a sweetness to practicing in a quiet studio, or making space in your own home, but there is a special joy that I have found in practicing surrounded by the herd. The ground in the pasture is uneven, and it can be noisy on the farm, with goats calling to their children, dogs barking, people laughing, cars driving by, but to me those sounds are the beautiful sounds of life. What a perfect soundtrack to practice yoga to! Also goats and yoga are a lovely match because of the fact that goats are herd animals, it’s a beautiful reminder to us all that humans are as well. When a goat lays down, often the rest of the herd becomes peaceful as well. When one of the herd sneezes, the rest of the herd becomes alert as it is a sign that perhaps danger is near, in that way they protect each other. When one goat leaps, often many other goats join in as well. Our joy is contagious. Perhaps my favorite thing is that when Bruno Mars comes on the playlist for yoga and we begin to dance the postures, it never fails to get all the goats moving! Just like us, they respond to music and the energy of others! For so long during the pandemic many of us were deprived of the feeling of what it meant to be in a larger community. We realized how important our human herd was for our happiness. Each week when people come to yoga and fill the pasture with their laughter, breath and movement, I am reminded again it is something I should never take for granted. As I get older I am less worried about the “right” way to do things, and more interested in seeking out experiences that make me feel truly alive and human. Traditions that lift us up as individuals while also lifting up the community. Yoga with you all as one of those experiences for sure. I hope that we all discover many others as we dance into the summer months ahead.