As a part of SUSU’s Summer Festival, a Goat Yoga or ‘Goga’ session was hosted for students by Mucky Bucket Farm. It was free to attend one of the 30 minute classes, but booking ahead was essential to reserve a mat.
I decided I wanted to try out Goat Yoga because it’s actually something I have been thinking about doing for a little while now. When I say this to people, they find it quite strange, especially when people haven’t ever heard about it before. I first found out about it when I was watching This Morning and saw these gorgeous countryside retreats where you could experience the calm serenity of the countryside alongside the hilarity of goats walking around and climbing on top of you. However, the issue I found when I looked up these experiences was the price, particularly for a retreat experience. So when I saw the university running a session for free, I jumped at the chance.
After a long day sat at my laptop, I went to campus and went into the marquee where the previous session were having their last cuddles with the goats. There were goats of varying sizes and ages, but all were cute and happily wondering around. After the group before us had finished, we took to the mats, had an introductory talk about all the goats and their names, and began our guided yoga session. It was a great opportunity for a good stretch at the end of the day. Although you do have to be aware of where the goats are around you, I couldn’t stretch all the way forward in child’s pose because I had a goat standing at the end of my mat in front of me, but I was more than happy to share my space. The yoga part was around 15 minutes long, leaving us with plenty of time to stroke and play with the goats.
One of ladies looking after the goats got some hay for them to eat, which caused a little bit of a tussle for the best spot. The larger and older goats definitely asserted their dominance, but we just gave the little ones extra attention to make up for it.
The main thing I need to mention is that these are real life animals. Therefore, they will be loud, they will fight, but they will also go to the toilet anywhere. There was someone constantly cleaning up after them so we were safe, but yes, that does happen.
Overall, I would recommend everyone try Goat Yoga even once. Obviously, the animals are roaming around in the area, so if you aren’t the biggest fan of animals this perhaps isn’t the activity for you, but if you do like animals then go for it! A taster session like this is particularly good, giving you a similar experience without committing a huge amount of time and money. I’d definitely like to do Goat Yoga again, and I would probably pay for a retreat trip with a more extended experience.
This was definitely a worthwhile event and I hope that SUSU will run it again during Freshers or Exam season for a relaxing session for students.
For more information about Mucky Bucket Farm’s Goat Yoga, click here.
