For the second time in a week, farm animals graced campus. Students had a chance to lay out their mats and practice yoga alongside 10 goats at Stafford Commons on March 28. Organized by the University Activities Board, Goat with the Flow provided plenty of laughter as goats hopped on the backs of students doing downward dog.

Kandace Taylor, a fourth-year studying parks and recreation, is the chair of Talley Tuesdays and the event’s organizer. Taylor said Talley Tuesdays are the Board’s most consistent events, offering a smaller weekly event that is not bound to any particular subject. 

“We highlight the smaller events and keep things consistent for people that can’t attend Wolfstock or can’t attend PackHowl,” Taylor said. “It just gives something more for everybody else that doesn’t want to go to a concert or doesn’t want to go to a ball — just little craft activities or side things that people can do.”

Taylor said she wanted to organize a goat yoga event for years but had difficulty finding a farm that was willing to participate. This changed when one of her staffers found The Homestead at Little Creek, a Clayton-based family farm that provides animals for events and specializes in goat yoga.

Megan Graper, the owner of The Homestead, said goats have always been a pillar of her farm. She got her first goats only two weeks after moving into her home in 2019. Graper said she had always been interested in goat yoga, but the COVID-19 pandemic gave her farm a chance to try it since events like birthday parties could not be carried out due to distancing regulations. 

“I just joked about starting up goat yoga, and then it actually came to fruition,” Graper said. “Then the pandemic hit, and it was actually a good thing for people to get out and do something outdoors. So it just kind of built from there.”

Victoria Privette, a yoga instructor who owns Victory Power Yoga in Clayton, had to temporarily close her business at the start of the pandemic but teamed up with Graper shortly after closing. The two have hosted goat yoga sessions ever since. 

During Goat with the Flow, Privette drew students’ attention to watching the goats breathe and noticing how the goats made them feel. Privette said the novelty of goat yoga is a great way to introduce people to yoga.

“It’s just a different way to get people introduced to yoga because a lot of people have never even done yoga before,” Privette said. 

Privette said starting goat yoga with Graper gave both of their businesses a way to prosper during the pandemic while spreading the joy of animals to their community.

“We tried [goat yoga] out because I had to close my yoga studio during lockdown,” Privette said. “It was just a really good way to bring something different and outdoors, time to get people really connected with the animals.”

Privette said goats provide a different dynamic to yoga, setting a more relaxing and accessible atmosphere than typical yoga sessions.

“If you go to a quote-unquote ‘regular’ yoga class, you might do a lot more postures or more breathing, but we still try to focus on that here,” Privette said. “Yoga can be for everyone and you can customize it.”

Privette said goat yoga promotes mindfulness practices.

“People come [to goat yoga] and they’re just so relaxed,” Privette said. “It’s part of mindfulness and finding joy.”

Graper said goats are naturally shy around humans, but the 10 goats present at the event had been conditioned to be handled by people since birth.

“Typically, goats are very skittish by nature,” Graper said. “So the key is when they’re babies, you want to socialize with them. Some people actually bottle feed them to help get that interaction between human and goat. But we’re very involved with our animals, so they’re used to it.”

Although students had to register for the event beforehand, Taylor said onlookers were welcome to watch and pet the goats.

“I think it’s really cool to see how excited the students get even if they’re not attending the event,” Taylor said. “Even some people that couldn’t get in, they’re like, ‘Okay, I’ll still watch and pet a goat,’ and I love that Megan and the yoga instructor are being so hands-on. Literally, they lifted up over the fencing for somebody to hold that wasn’t attending, so, I love how they’re really interacting with everybody as well.”

Lauren Slakter, a fourth-year studying environmental technology, attended the event and said she had always wanted to try goat yoga and was ecstatic when hearing Talley Tuesdays was hosting it.

“It was a good break just from doing work,” Slakter said. “I was looking forward to this for a while. Like, I saw that they were having this event and I signed up as soon as I could. This is literally on my bucket list.”

Slakter said she found goat yoga more enjoyable than yoga classes she had previously taken.

“It’s a little less focused on the yoga, but I enjoyed goat yoga more than just regular yoga,” Slakter said. “Who wouldn’t want to play with goats?”