GOAT Yoga

Yes, my loyal readers you read that headline correctly. I am not referring to the Greatest Yoga of All Time. I am referring to Goat Yoga. Yoga with goats. Baby goats specifically. Now if you follow this blog you know I am into bikes. Most of my posts are bike related. But goat yoga is important. What? How can yoga with goats be important? And why would anyone do yoga with goats? Well first have you ever seen a baby goat? I mean seriously. I am not afraid to alienate people but a baby goat is way cuter than a cat or dog. And has a soul. I know what you are thinking. Dude you have lost it bro. How many edibles did that nice guy at registration give you? One if edibles were offered of course I would have happily partaken. I mean this was in Noho. Or Eastho. Do they call it Eastho or did I just make it up.

Irregardless. I love Northampton. I am not of the "I would move there" mindset. Like VT it is a phenomenal place to visit but I could not live there. I go there to recharge. And to push maybe my comfort zone. My roots are in two places: Boston and SF. Those two Cities to me are my center. But let's get back on track. My wife makes me a better person. She drags my old, broken ass to yoga on a regular basis. She and her yoga journey are amazing. Most people as they age get rigid and set in their ways. My wife is more open now than she ever has been. A lot of it is thanks to yoga. She meditates. She reads yoga books to better herself. And she tries to help me along this journey as well. I love yoga. I really do. As a kid I went deep into the martial arts rabbit hole. It oddly began innocently enough. Needed to bulk up for hockey. I was a little kid. The weight lifting class at the Y was awesome. The instructor was a beast of a dude. Black belt in Kempo Karate. He invited me to a karate class. I got hooked. That started a pretty intense journey that led me to one of the most highly respect Wu Shu Sifus in Boston. I would drive into Boston 3 times a week to train my ass off. But martial arts are tough. You think you get broken down by bike racing? Try getting punched in the face again, and again and again. I would go to work the next day with black eyes, cracked ribs. It was nuts. And my co-workers were becoming concerned. 

Then we moved to SF. And Pam discovered Bikram yoga. That wasn't really my thing. But we tried Hatha yoga and I liked it. It reminded me of Kung Fu. Well, newsflash the Shaolin stole a lot of their Kung Fu from Yoga. I can't tell you how many times I am in eagle pose and I have flash backs to Yao Li's Kung Fu academy and Eagle Form. But yoga to me, maybe at my age, just peels it all back and gets to the source. Even when martial arts were martial. Aka an art you learned to kill someone else there was a spiritual component. But it is hard to accept the hurting someone else with I want to be a peaceful evolved person part of martial arts. Yoga strips that all away. The journey is more about letting go and only doing what you can do at that moment. Yoga believe it or not can get intense. People have lots of opinions and feelings about yoga. Especially hot yoga. It is what it is. I love the teachers I have had along the way. They have brought me back from lots of bike related injuries. And yes, I have hurt myself in yoga.

One of the more evolved teachers I have had once said "you choose to push yourself. I only offer suggestions" My blaming a teacher for a yoga injury would be stupid. I chose to not listen to my body and push myself past what it could handle. The same is true for cycling. 90% of our injuries in cycling are our own fault. We pushed ourself too hard. Or we decided not to listen to that voice in our head that said that drop off a rock feature was too scary. You need to listen my friends. And be like water. Water doesn't fight it flows. The whole point of goat yoga is to take yoga and life less seriously. Baby goats are a primal entity. This trip we went on as a family was a Mother's Day/College tour event. Baby goats say mom. It is the weirdest thing I have ever heard. I know everyone has heard a goat say maaaaaahhhhh. But when you hear it in the stillness of a yoga class in a room full of moms. Motherhood and what that means makes you stop in your tracks and pause. 

Goat yoga is kind of like an adult petting zoo. If you ever tried to do yoga at home with a dog or a cat you can imagine how goat yoga is going to go. The goats think its play time. Or cuddle time. Or hop over you time. And they want to eat your hair. And nibble your toes. And eventually sleep on or next to you. We are so disconnected with nature. Humans are an animal. An animal who has lost its soul and connection with mother earth but still an animal. Goat yoga is a gift. It helps us step away from the 24 hour news cycle and getting triggered by every intense thing we are exposed to. Yoga believe it or not just like cycling can be intense. It is HARD. I dare you to go to a hot yoga class with me. It is brutal. And people will scoff at it. Why add heat to something already "hard" The heat forces you to choose a path. And to listen to your body. Just like goat yoga takes you off your game a bit. Do I want to hold this pose? Or do I really just want to cuddle with this goat?

The goat yoga class we attended was held by Sage Farms in Easthampton. It was a benefit for a lot of really important local charities. And I know people don't always see it because we are riding through or vacationing but places like Easthampton, Deerfield, etc struggle. The people there don't make a lot of money. Most didn't go to Ivy League colleges. Most might not have gone to college. It is nice to give back to those communities. The goats themselves were adorable. A goat named Pie Jar aka Grace bonded with my younger daughter Syd. It helped her so much. The speech the farmer gave prior to the event hit so close to home. I hope my older daughter ends up going to Smith. One, I believe in that institution. Two, I want an excuse to get up to Noho more often. And Three, those pesky goats. They have so much to teach if you just step back and listen.