Goats and yoga, what an interesting combination. You take a fan-favorite animal and combine it with the ultimate form of relaxation. Unsurprisingly, it is actually quite popular. 

The idea behind goat yoga is very simple: a yoga instructor teaches a standard yoga class while goats interact with those in the experience, making it 10 times more enjoyable. It is a very niche event that is offered to John Carroll students with the tradition beginning in the fall semester of 2021.

Yoga comes with many benefits, especially goat yoga. Along with the natural serotonin that is released from seeing the goats, it also reduces stress and anxiety. This is due to the fact that interacting with animals reduces the stress hormone, cortisol, prevalent among college students. Yoga is also a natural de-stressor and helps a person practice mindfulness.

This year, goat yoga came to the main quad on Oct. 7, 2022. A section of the quad was fenced off for the goats to roam during the class. There were about four full-sized goats with three babies present. To make it that much cuter, the baby goats were wearing sweaters.

There were two time slots offered to students for a yoga session; one was at 2:25 p.m. and the second one began at 3:15 p.m. According to the sign-up sheet, the event was completely filled. 50 people total were allowed to participate while those who did not sign up could watch from outside of the fence. The goats hopped onto people’s backs, head-butted them and sprinted around the fenced area. You could hear the collective gasps and the unanimous “aww”’s coming from those participating in the yoga as well as those just observing.

Melissa Canetti-Lamb ‘24, a graduate assistant for campus programming, offered a statement. “The Goat Yoga on the Quad Event was such a success! Before the event began, people walked up to the fence to look at the goats. The Feels Like OM staff were so much fun to work with and made this event fun and carefree. It felt very personal and fun. 

“As I was there, everyone who did yoga looked joyful and relaxed as they saw the baby goats play with each other while doing different yoga poses. One of the baby goats kept jumping on the instructor’s back, and the instructor was having fun with it. Once the petting zoo opened up, students had fun petting, playing and learning about the goats. The whole experience was relaxing. Seeing goats play with each other and students on campus enjoying the company of those cute animals was exciting. I was so glad it was an enjoyable event for everyone! I would recommend doing this event again!”

This event was hosted by the University Club which hosts many on campus events open to all students.

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Maia Echols