By Erin Pagel

Laughter, sun salutations and bleating. Giggles, child’s pose and frolicking. It’s goat yoga!

This fitness trend is sweeping the nation, and this summer, Rochester’s Urban Yoga offered a Goat Yoga Workshop in the sunshine and open air. 

Goat yoga is simply yoga that is practiced alongside baby goats in all their mischievous, energetic and bleating glory. It’s not as much about striking the perfect pose as it is about the fun of having a baby goat jump on your back during your chaturanga or bump into you during downward dog. It’s hard to take yourself too seriously with tiny goat hooves perched on you, after all. 

Part yoga and part laughter therapy, it’s hard to tell if the yogis or the goats are enjoying the class more. Urban Yoga owner and founder Destiny Breland says “Goat yoga is a hoot!” 

Erin Pagel is a freelance writer and goat enthusiast living in Rochester.