BRENTWOOD, Mo. — It’s been a rough couple of weeks around the St. Louis area. How about some stress relief?
Brentwood was one of the communities hit hard by recent flash flooding. Though it was on the Brentwood Parks & Recreation calendar long before flooding struck, goat yoga proved to be just what the doctor ordered.
At Memorial Park on a hot Saturday morning, you could find a kid – that’s what you call a baby goat – on top of a precariously balanced kid.
That second kid was Marie Bush. A 5 On Your Side reporter, whose wife made him, and their boys partake in goat yoga, asked Marie if she was nervous.
“Kind of,” said Marie. “It felt like there were these little rocks that are moving around on my stomach.”
Those would be the hooves. Marie’s father, Brian, said he “kind of” knew what to expect.
“A little bit,” said Brian. “Not the yoga part. I was impressed my daughter could do it.”
The sights and sounds of goat yoga will make you look twice. While yoga instructor Lauren Langhauser handles the stretching, slightly painful yoga moves, entrepreneur Anna Henschen handles the goats.
Literally.
“Tell me when you’re ready, because this throws it all off,” Henschen could be heard saying while she placed a hooved animal the size of a small dog on the lower back of a woman who was bent over.
The goat promptly jumped off.
“It’s hard!” said Brittany Hoyng, after the goat's dismount.
“It is hard,” agreed Henschen.
Nobody said goat yoga was easy.
“I held a few goats,” added Hoyng. “I don’t really like wild animals, but it was fine. If I can do it, anybody can do it.”
But why? Many people are familiar with goats, and a lot of us have done yoga. But together? At the same time? Seriously?
Henschen provided the connection.
“Yoga is intimidating to people,” said Henschen, whose first year as a goat wrangler has been successful. “People are a ball of stress a lot of times, and we forget to stretch out and let go. Mixing that up with animal therapy, it’s just incredible.”
The goats are disarming. They all have names, personalities and reputations for being cuddly, disagreeable or escape artists.
“We end every session with an infused lavender and peppermint cold towel,” said Henschen.
That’s just in case the heat or the goat stress gets to you. Henschen said you don’t have to do the yoga moves with a goat. Believe it or not, some people just like to sit and hold one.
For more information on Goat Yoga of Southern Illinois, visit its Facebook page.