A bright, sunny day at Etown calls for two things: yoga and baby goats. On April 14th, OSA and the Animal Services Club hosted Goat Yoga on Brinser Field. Lots of students came out to the event and enjoyed the Sunday warmth. The event had a seventy five person capacity. The goats were fenced off in a little area on the field where yoga was held. Students were asked to bring a yoga mat or a blanket for yoga. The event went from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.. There were at least seven baby goats around the enclosure, and students were able to play with the goats and hold them. Students even had the opportunity to bottle feed some of the younger goats. Lily Snyder, a first-year, bottle fed one of the baby goats for a while.
“I’ve done goat yoga before. However, this yoga has been fun because the goats are babies instead of adults, and they don’t smell,” Lily said.
Another first-year, Bella Deblasio, said, “I was really excited to play with the baby goats. It’s a beautiful day out: what could be better than this?”
Students did yoga for about thirty-five minutes. They were instructed to do different yoga positions while the goats roamed around them.
“They would put the goats on your back, and have them walk on you,” first-year Lauren Woodruff, said.” .
Yoga focuses on breathing exercises, meditation and mindfulness. These are all aspects that help make yoga a relaxing experience. Yoga is a popular practice around the world, and is popular amongst the students at Etown. Woodruff described how while practicing yoga, students were instructed to not think about their worries, and to be mindful of the space that they were in.
“When we are in this fenced area, we are not allowed to think of the outside world”, Woodruff said. “We are only to think about nature, our breathing, and of course, the goats!”
Goat Yoga helps relieve stress and anxiety. With the end of the semester looming, students begin crunch time and begin preparing for finals. Lots of students find themselves feeling stressed or anxious. Goat Yoga is a great solution for this. Interacting with animals, such as goats, reduces the stress hormone (cortisol) in our bodies, while increasing hormones that trigger happiness (serotonin and dopamine). Hugging a baby goat can only make you feel happy and excited!
“It was really nice to be outside and connect with everyone around me. It was a great way to spend my Sunday,” Woodruff said.
This yoga class helped students feel more at peace and in the moment. Students enjoyed cuddling with the baby goats, who were dolled up in clothes. The goats were all around, sitting with different groups of students and roaming around the grass. While I was talking to Deblasio, who was giving milk to a baby, another goat, named Dunkin, came up and stole the milk from the baby! Dunkin found the bottle and began drinking the milk. He got down on his two front legs, and stuck his tail up in the air. We all noticed that his little tail was wagging! I could only describe his position as “Downward facing goat”. Goats will do this when they are happy, or as a sign of affection for another goat or human. Clearly Dunkin was extremely excited to be drinking milk!
“When we first started, we were instructed to escape reality and enter “goatality’”, Woodruff laughed.
“I think we accomplished that,”Snyder said..
Students enjoyed practicing mindfulness and breathing exercises whilst in the presence of adorable baby goats. Woodruff, Deblasio, and Snyder all agreed that they would participate in this event again. They also told me that some of the goats were born on the day of the solar eclipse! Goat yoga was a positive experience for the students who participated, and was a great success for OSA and the Animal Services Club.
