by Jodi Schwan, Pigeon605
“I’m going to make this happen.”
Nikki Highby was a newly trained yoga instructor with a goal: Find goats.
“Yoga with animals in general kind of brings together all our loves: the outdoors, animals, yoga,” said Highby, who lives outside Garretson with her husband, Clark.
They both completed their 200-hour yoga teacher training over the past year, and he suggested opening a studio.
She agreed – but first, with a twist.
“I love animals, we both do, and we live in the country. We have a million animals, and I had always wanted to do goat yoga, but I couldn’t find a place that did it,” she said.
So one day not long ago, she logged onto the Garretson Living Facebook group and put it out there in a post.
“Who’s got goats?”
And who responded?
Dr. Beth Jensen, whose family happens to live 5 miles up a gravel road from the Highby family.
“Within two weeks, they put up a fence for me, and we put up a trial run,” said Jensen, a family physician at Sanford Health who founded the nonprofit Glean for Good at her family farm as a way to encourage sustainable access to food.
“All three of us had heard about this before and thought, how hard is it? You just get a couple instructors and add some goats, and it’s goat yoga, so we said let’s make this happen.”
And they did. The first session in late May drew 28 people.
“We had somebody approaching 90 who had never done yoga before and a couple little kiddos,” Jensen said. “It really is wonderful just to watch people of all ages getting in there.”
Goat yoga essentially is what it sounds like – full flow yoga class held outdoors in a pen while goats comingle with the participants.
“There are just goats running around the pen, and you can expect they’re going to come up and nuzzle you and maybe nibble,” Highby said.
“They love to come up and get in your hair, and there are baby goats jumping all over the place and climbing up on you, but it’s pure fun and joy.”
The second week again drew a crowd, with some repeat visitors and others who have said they plan to come from up to an hour away.
“It’s been amazing,” Highby said.
“I really do just believe we’re in the very beginning stages and the very beginning of an amazing relationship. Beth and her whole family are just amazing, and the whole idea behind Glean for Good is … being conscious of people around you, helping out, and that’s kind of why my husband and I started with yoga. It’s more than a workout. It’s mind, body, spirit, so I feel like mine and Beth’s ideas just feed off each other.”
For now, there is a $10 charge for the class, and guests are asked to considering bringing an ice cream bucket or equivalent container with food scraps from home to feed to the animals at Glean for Good. Jensen’s menagerie includes sheep, pigs, a llama and soon – more goats.
“We’re expecting quite a few more goat kids this summer,” Jensen said. “Heather is really fluffy and white and looks about ready to pop. We have another one, Thelma, who usually has triplets.”
There are about 20 goats at Glean for Good – only those that make the cut are invited to yoga, which means not trying to leap over the fence or sneak under the pen.
“All our goats are very sweet, but some are just a little bit more escape artist than others,” Jensen said.
The broader vision at Glean for Good is to create an edible park and food forest.
“We have about 400 fruit trees … and the idea is eventually we have so many bushes and trees and perennials it could feed the masses and people can just come out and pick it themselves,” Jensen said. “We have done several events already.”
Goat yoga will continue as long as the weather allows, which could be well into the fall, they said. The next class is Thursday, June 23. To learn more, click here.
When they’re not instructing yoga in a farm pen, Clark Highby is a heavy equipment operator and Nikki is a first grade teacher who also volunteers doing equine therapy. When she left after last week’s session, she realized her face hurt from smiling for so long.
“So far everything I’ve gathered is that everybody has loved it,” she said.
“It gives people something new and fun, and nature is therapy, animals are therapy, and yoga is therapy, and you put it all together and what a better way to feel better.”
This story is reprinted with permission from Pigeon605.com. To sign up for your own free virtual news “pigeon” visit www.pigeon605.com
