Kidding Around

GOAT YOGA AT KINGDOM KIDS FARM

BY GENA GOLAS LISA NICHOLS PHOTOS

When you’re going to a yoga class at Kingdom Kids Farm,

you’d better be ready for anything.

You might get yelled at or jumped on. Someone might chew on your hair or even poop on your mat. No, this is not the behavior of your fellow yogis, but of the others in the barn—the farm’s baby goats.

At Kingdom Kids Farm in Danielson, owner Michelle Lyon and her family are passionate about their goats. On their 85 acres, the Lyons breed and raise Nigerian dwarf goats—26 does and four bucks—to support their homesteading lifestyle, and Michelle considers each goat as much a part of the family as her four children.

The Kingdom Kids goats are lovingly raised for milk production for use in goat’s milk soap and other body products for the Lyons’ two businesses—Sparrow Soaps and Just a Farm Girl. Sparrow Soaps products are sold at 35 locations in Connecticut and throughout the United States. The Lyons operate other businesses as well: baby goats are bred and sold to people interested in homesteading; the family designs their popular Flower Crowns and Tutus calendar, parlaying the idea of a newborn photo shoot into 12 months of goat kids dressed up in tulle and fresh flowers; and a farm stand on site sells the farm’s own honey and fruit from its orchard, while selling syrup, pickles, and jewelry from other local farmers. If all of that doesn’t make Kingdom Kids sound like enough of a destination for you, they are preparing to offer their second season of Goat Yoga.

Last year, Michelle and her longtime friend Sherry Guastini, owner of Insightful Wellness, a yoga studio in nearby Putnam, decided to collaborate and bring goat yoga to Kingdom Kids. Goat yoga caught on nationwide a year ago, after a farm in Oregon dreamed up the idea. For an introspective solo practice like yoga, the social baby goats can seem like an unusual pairing, but no one at goat yoga seems to mind.

Before class, participants are in the barn, talking quietly amongst themselves, some stretching lightly to ready their bodies for practice. Immediately, everyone’s phones come out, eager to snap pictures of the babies. The energy in the room changes and you can’t help but smile as the goats jump on each other, roam from person to person, and playfully head-butt one another. Before class even starts, a goat poops, scattering “goat berries” across a mat. There may have been a few laughs, but everyone takes it in stride, and someone swoops in quickly to tidy up. This is just part of goat yoga, and the staff at Kingdom

“Then the goats enter.”

Kids is prepared. The porous plastic rug under the yoga mats serves a purpose, so any goat pee can seep through and disappear to the barn floor below if it can’t be wiped up. There is always a staff member on hand during class to clean up or, if all else fails, scatter some goat food across the barn floor as a distraction.

Five goats join today’s class: Rosie, a brown and white baby, who is the smallest of her quintuplet siblings; brown-coated Oscar, the biggest and oldest goat in the room at two years old; Sven, born this year on New Year’s Day; Gwen, one of quadruplets, born a couple of days after Sven during a snowstorm; and Pipsqueak, aka Pippy, Gwen’s brother and the smallest of the quadruplets. Pippy is the Lyons’ house goat, wearing a plaid sweater to keep warm in the barn, clearly there just for the snuggles.

If snuggles are what the goats are after, the yogis are happy to oblige, breaking form between downward dogs and child’s poses to pet the goats or just watch as the animals skip around the barn.

“The happy distraction of a goat climbing up your leg during tree pose forces you to practice mindfulness and more deeply turn your focus inward, away from the goats.”

IF SNUGGLES ARE WHAT THE GOATS ARE AFTER, THE YOGIS ARE HAPPY TO OBLIGE.

“THIS ANIMAL- ASSISTED THERAPY REALLY

“Over the years, I’ve heard so many people say they really want to try yoga but feel intimidated,” said Sherry, who teaches most of the classes. “Since Michelle and I have started offering goat yoga classes, I’ve seen people sign up for a class who would never have considered going to a yoga studio. We keep our classes beginnerfriendly but modifiable for more experienced students.”

Goat yoga has proven to be an accessible entry point for yoga novices. With a goat bleating in your face or jumping on your chest during Savasana, the mood in the barn is understandably light. One of the babies, Sven, bounds from body to body in the middle of class, greeting each yogi and pausing briefly to chew on one of their sweater hoods. “What are we doing?” someone asks, trying to regain their concentration after pausing to pet him. “We’re watching Sven!” someone else answers, and Sherry calls out a new pose to refocus the group.

Goat yoga also attracts more serious yogis, as the happy distraction of a goat climbing up your leg during tree pose forces you to practice mindfulness and more deeply turn your focus inward, away from the goats. Whatever your yoga ability, Sherry said, “everyone leaves feeling refreshed from breathing, more comfortable after a good stretch, but also with joy in their hearts and a smile on their faces from having deepened their connection to the natural world through pet therapy from the goats.”

This animal-assisted therapy really is good medicine. Petting animals lowers anxiety and elicits relaxation in the body. Michelle knows that goat yoga can mean more for a person than simply coming to pet a goat. “You never know what someone is going through,” she said. “Maybe that person just lost a loved one. Maybe they just found out they have cancer. We feel, for one hour, if we can be a part of that [therapy], whether people think it’s silly or not—how can you not smile with a baby goat?”

Come to goat yoga at Kingdom Kids, and really come prepared for anything. Yes, you might get poop on your mat, you might choose to not do a whole lot of yoga, but you will certainly get to love on a goat and leave knowing you’ve done well, supporting a hard-working, sincere family and a whole bunch of their “kids.”

“PETTING ANIMALS LOWERS ANXIETY AND ELICITS RELAXATION IN THE BODY.”

SPRING GOAT YOGA AT KINGDOM KIDS FARM

651 COOK HILL ROAD DANIELSON, CT 06239

Classes, which are $25 each, can be found on their Facebook page. Dress in layers and bring your own mat and an old blanket. Space is limited to 25 participants. Well-behaved children over age 12 are welcome.

CLASS SCHEDULE

Saturday, April 7, 10 a.m. Friday, April 13, 7 p.m. (candlelit class) Saturday, April 21, 10 a.m. Saturday, May 12, 10 a.m. (Mother’s Day special) Friday, May 18, 7 p.m. (candlelit class) Saturday, May 26, 10 a.m. (Memorial Day weekend)