Adonna Ebrahimi is stretched out on her yoga mat, struggling to maintain a cobra pose — and her composure — as a couple of baby goats do a balancing act on her back.
Welcome to “Goat Yoga,” the latest fitness craze sweeping the US, where young and old are lining up for the popular classes that leave participants not only saying namaste, but also in stitches.
The new workouts taking place on farms across the country involve Nigerian dwarf goats — miniature goats of west African origin — roaming about as yogis practice their exercise routines.
Photo: AFP
“At first, it was a bit scary, because I didn’t know the goats were going to jump on my back,” 53-year-old Ebrahimi said after completing her first “Goat Yoga” class outside Los Angeles.
“But then they were there and you felt the warmth of the animal and you’re on the straw, in the sun, with the trees and the blue skies around you, and it just felt so calming and peaceful,” she added.
About 20 people and 15 goats — 11 kids and four moms — took part in the class that was organized outdoors in a pen covered with straw.
As yoga instructor Meridith Lana encouraged participants to “exhale,” “pull your navel to your spine” or “watch your posture,” the sound of bleating reverberated in the background, the nimble animals skipping about, jumping on people’s backs, munching on their hair or a beard and licking their faces.
A few also answered the call of nature.
“They’re adorable and they’re friendly,” Lana said after the class. “They do eat your hair, they do leave you presents on your mat, but it’s all in fun.”
“The therapy you get here is priceless,” she added.
Danette McReynolds, whose family owns the goats, said she decided to host the classes to raise money for her 16-year-old daughter and a friend who are planning to showcase the animals at a farm show in Wisconsin this summer.
“We didn’t know how it was going to go, but it’s taken off, we’re booked solid,” she said. “People love it. They decompress, they cuddle the goats and relax.”
Lana said interacting with the goats is an experience similar to playing with a pet, which has clinically been proven to relieve stress and improve well-being.
“The happiness the goats bring is great,” she said. “All animals are therapeutic, but there is something about these goats that is just incredible.”
“You can be in a child’s pose position and the next thing you know, you don’t want to get up because there is a goat on your back,” Lana said. “If there’s anything these goats allow you to be, it’s conscious.”
Several of her students said that while the goats did admittedly get in the way of the yoga stretches and poses, they were a welcome distraction that had everyone giggling and vowing to come back for more.
“It was a pure release of tension, a pure release of frustration,” said Judy Waters, who attended a class with her husband and several other friends, one of whom was celebrating her birthday.
“You can’t really be upset when you’re around a bunch of baby goats climbing around and being silly,” she added.
There was also one added bonus to the class, Waters said.
“I didn’t think about the administration in Washington once during this entire hour,” Waters said. “I would love to do this every week if I could.”
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia