Goat yoga comes to Alaska: part workout, part petting zoo, all fun

SOLDOTNA — What is goat yoga? Is it goats doing yoga, or are you guided through a yoga class while goats jump around, climb on your back, eat bananas and snuggle up next to you?

If "unexpected" is the word most use to describe it, my first experience of goat yoga at Liberty Alaskan Goat Farms in Soldotna lived up to expectations.

Our teacher, Amber Harrison of the Yoga Yurt, began class with a few disclaimers. The first was that goat yoga was not as serious as her regular class offerings.

She likened it to the Running of the Reindeer at Fur Rendezvous, in which racers make a mad dash down the streets of Anchorage in an effort to outrun reindeer.

"That isn't really a run that is about athleticism," she said. "It's about doing something that is fun."

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If there was a connection to yoga, she saw it in the concept of "Santosha," or the joy aspect of yoga. Being in the presence of goats, who may pee on our mats or chomp on our hair, was a way to rejoice in the way things are.

Be at peace with goat pee, I thought at the very moment one of the goat wranglers scooped up a Nigerian Dwarf goat that took a suspicious position at the front of my mat.

"This is a female," she said. "That position means she is about to pee."

"Well, hi there," I said. And so my first goat yoga class began.

In other yoga classes, I have been guilty of the occasional glance around the room to see how my efforts compare to others. In this classroom, which was in the backyard of a hobby farm, it was impossible not to look around and see which adorable and social Alpine and Alpine/Nubian kids –provided by Barbra Wills of White Gold Farm in Sterling — were climbing onto my fellow yogis.

The owner of the Liberty farm, Jennifer Hawbold-Enersen, told us goats are her therapy. The founder of goat yoga, Lainey Morse, has shared a similar story that led her to the idea in 2016 when she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and went through a divorce.

Since then, goat yoga has caught on, and many people go because, hey, goats are cute and it's a fun idea.

The class I attended was the second of the day. Both the goats and the participants were all new to goat yoga, but from the kicks and smiles I saw all around me, I knew we were doing it right. Some of us abandoned our routines entirely and just enjoyed the good company.

The entire hour was one part petting zoo and one part yoga, with yoga being the excuse for a group of adults to get down on all fours and be "kids" again.

Christine Cunningham of Kenai is a lifelong Alaskan and avid hunter. Contact her at cunningham@yogaforduckhunters.com.