Goat Yoga

Bleat in, bleat out. Goat yoga is really a thing and is building a reputation in North Louisiana’s Double BB Farms as a fun and relaxing yoga adventure. Don’t expect to go to a goat yoga class and tune out. In fact, tune in and get ready for a class you’re sure to not forget.

article by VANELIS RIVERA and photography by KELLY MOORE CLARK

Yoga trends get more extravagant by the year— cat yoga, dog yoga or “doga,” paddleboard yoga, beer yoga, wine yoga, heavy metal yoga. The fads seem to one-up each other. But when goat yoga entered the scene, it left many wondering: why hadn’t they opted for a pet goat? For a while, goats made the rounds with yogis on social media, introducing the world to what may be the best yoga partner since your last pair of favorite yoga pants.

Do you think goats are just slightly rebellious farm animals, domesticated for wool, milk and meat? If so, you’re missing out on how cool goats can be. Their reputation as the next-best-pet has grown because of social media, but as herding animals, they have been known to form close and significant bonds with their owner. Sociable by nature, they are the perfect addition to the yoga scene, and a happy distraction from what can be demanding yoga poses. Baby goats head-butting each other by your mat, eating hay under your downdog, and being placed on your back while you plank by the Babb’s daughter Nova seems counterintuitive, but ends up being a liberating approach to a difficult and sometimes serious practice. And thanks to local farm, Double BB Farms, you don’t have to drive too far to venture into what, for many, has become a much needed escape.

“I told my husband we didn’t need anymore responsibility, so he went out and bought goats,” says Judy Babb with a teasing laugh. Her husband, Bryan Babb, is vice president of the Northeast Louisiana chapter of the Master Gardeners. Located in Swartz, Louisiana, the farm began with fruits, vegetables and a few chickens. Initially, their investment in goats was based on providing goat meat to Flora Butcher in Mississippi. They began with four boer goats, but when they bought their buck, Criminal Activity “Clyde,” they became show goats. In keeping with Judy’s affection for themes, the couple named all of Clyde’s offspring after famed outlaws. They’ve had Jesse James, Butch and Sundance, Thelma and Louise, and Annie Oakley. All of their goats are registered. Though they get bred and sold, to this day, not one has been sent to the butcher. The switch to Nigerian dwarf goats was initially for milking purposes. But when Judy heard that goat yoga was a thing, the dwarf goats were tasked with a much more dynamic enterprise. For the Babbs, goat yoga was the perfect way to socialize their baby goats, a much needed skill, if they become future therapy goats. The plan is to eventually take the baby goats to retirement homes and children’s homes, spreading goat affection and comfort. Unconventional companions but companions nonetheless, their appeal is simple: “I mean, nothing is cuter than a baby goat,” claims Judy.

Holding the goats provided the Babbs with unmatched relief from their stressful lives. They both have full time jobs and look forward to driving back to the farm after a long day. “Holding those babies, it’s just therapeutic. I’d rather be out here than in corporate America,” says Judy. Being able to breathe in peace after a high tension day is what they wanted to share with other people and what has quickly gained momentum and the attention of those seeking a getaway. The goat-squad responsible for providing laughter and merriment are named after Italian fashion designers. Their first dwarf goat was Armani, named by a previous owner. Judy, being of Italian heritage, was inspired. They now have sisters Dolce and Gabbana, a “super sweet and laidback” pair that serve as lap goats. Then there is “tiny little baby” Versace, who in spite of size, breaks into the hayshed with Armani “all of the time.” Gucci is their buck, and his role is resident head-butter. Recently purchased are the wether goats, Cavalli and Valentino, a strategic purchase to keep Gucci company. The goats, in order to keep from mating, are kept separate, but since goats can’t be alone, Cavalli and Valentino serve as Gucci’s goat-bros. This is the crew that the Babbs plan to stick with for now.
Walking through a Sleepy Hollow-looking bridge and passing a pond of splashing mallards and floating Canada geese, Elizabeth Ernst Griffon, current goat yoga instructor at Double BB Farms, informs BayouLife that goat yoga is like “doing yoga with toddlers,” which she does quite frequently as a mother of two. Griffon, 200 RYT certified yogi, is a natural at balancing the unpredictability of the goats and the class sequence, a feat probably honed in her ten years experience working at a vet clinic. “The love of animals has never left me. This is my way of integrating it and sharing it with others.”

“It’s kinda the theme, distraction. My first class teaching, I tried to do more yoga. This time, I came with that in mind. I wasn’t worried about completing a class or sequence. I just had to let it flow how it flowed,” informs Griffon. Dawn Etheredge Eakin, first goat yoga instructor at the farm, seconds the challenge: “On one hand, it is discombobulating. It’s hard to get a real class in. If you think you are going to get a real yoga class, forget it.” Even the most highly trained instructor, like Eakin, recognizes that adaptability and improvisation are essential tools to lead a class. There will always be goat chaos, but it often leads to laughter yoga. “It’s fun. You just are going to pet baby goats,” says Eakin. Though, she warns even the cutest goat “will pee and poo” on your mat. But most times, even a spectacle like that will elicit a group to erupt in more laughter.

Even the Babbs admit that “something happens all the time.” In their third event, right in the middle of a class, Clyde jumped the fence, and upon getting his hind hoof stuck on a panel, began bleating bloody murder, inciting his herd to rush toward him in a panic. They’ve never had a goat try to jump the fence before, but unpredictability should be the only expectation of an instructor and practitioners alike. Even the dwarf goats have their moments. Sometimes during a class, the goats will just hang out as a unit; then all of a sudden, Gucci will show up and wapow the goats, forcing them to scatter into people’s mats. Griffon recalls a guy, new to yoga, goats and farm, who loaded himself with peppermint oil because of allergies. As a result, Dolce and Gabbana would not leave him alone. They climbed all over him, nibbled on his ears. At first he thought

it was cute, getting fun photo-ops. But after a while, he was turning to Griffon with a look of “Oh my gosh, now what do I do?”
“Goat yoga just brings in a different element. You’ve got the wildcard of the animals, but it’s also a way to expose people to yoga that would never want to set foot in a studio,” says Griffon. A practitioner who dragged her husband to the event later revealed to Judy that her husband had not laughed like he did at goat yoga in a long time. Not only did the goats make him giddy, but they allowed him to approach yoga in a lighthearted way. “This is as far as I can go, as far as I can go,” Judy heard him say as he cracked up. “The environment allowed for that,” says Judy. Griffon agrees, saying, “There’s a pressure off” when you are able to be out and away from town. Practitioners have approached Griffon after class and told her, “Wow! Yoga is not what I thought it was.” People may often think that yoga is only about stretching, yet somehow goat yoga reveals that there is more to it. “They’re always surprised by how much fun it is, even though you’re not doing very much,” continues Griffon.

Some may speculate that goat yoga strives to incorporate studio yoga in a farm environment; however, it’s far from the exercised-centered practice. “In order to be focused on the exercise, you have to focus on the work itself. Here, the focus is not the workout; it’s relaxing and having fun,” says Griffon. Eakin adds, “Normally yoga is very quiet. No cell phones. But goat yoga is the very opposite. It’s expected. It’s what happens.” Many people who go out to Double BB Farms for goat yoga have never done yoga. They attend the event to play with the goats, which the Babbs encourage, but by the end of the day, visitors end up liking the yoga part, too. It seems that the essence of goat yoga is laughter. Letting go a bit. Having a smile on your face, whether you’re playing with a goat or not.

The Babbs don’t claim to have it all figured out. “We’re still learning,” they say. But when it comes to baby goats nudging you for a pet, there’s not much that needs improvement. In only an hour and 15 minutes, not only will you be on your mat yoga-ing and/or petting baby goats, you will get a tour of the farm, meet Clyde and his gang of offspring outlaws, love on Harper the llama, and selfie with either the goat-squad or Taytay the diva hen. “Our lives are so go, go, go,” says Griffon, and simply being in a space full of bright-eyed animals “is a way to hit the brakes.”

Goat yoga at Double BB Farms is an all-encompassing experience. “Bring an open mind and a mat,” says Eakin, and “have the ability to improvise. Go with the flow.”

Don’t expect to go to a goat yoga class to tune out. You’re, in fact, tuning in. The Babb’s goat-squad teach strange and joyous lessons on the significance of awareness and that laughter can be the best medicine as well as the most apt coping mechanism for a stressful life.

Double BB Farms is located in 1816 Stubbs Vinson Road. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram to learn more about goat yoga dates and times. Also, check out their website, http://www.doublebbfarms.com, for upcoming events including family day, birthday party offers, and their farm-grown products.