‘Lucky’ student yogis enjoy practice with goats

Henry Wise

Sophomore John Osborne, right, appears with students who tried goat yoga during Interim Term.

John Osborne, Contributor

I know people have heard of regular yoga as a great way to get exercise and relax with friends or family, but I bet fewer people have thought of adding goats to the mix. Animals have proven to have therapeutic benefits for humans and adding them to an already therapeutic activity like yoga is bound to benefit almost anyone. 

If you are thinking where am I going to find goats to do yoga with, the business Goat Yoga Houston has you covered. You can either make a reservation at their location in the Houston Heights neighborhood or you can have someone from the business come to you and bring goats and yoga equipment for your very own goat yoga class. 

“The Power of Pets,” an online article published in “News in Health” by the National Institutes of Health states that spending time with domesticated animals has been shown to lower levels of cortisol in the brian and also lower blood pressure. 

“Other studies have found that animals can reduce loneliness, increase feelings of social support, and boost your mood,” the article stated.

Reports show that yoga also offers mental health benefits

The few lucky students who had the opportunity to do goat yoga can personally back up all these claims.  

“I’ve never thought of combining cute animals and yoga, but it just works,” said Ms. Lauren Stutts, an Upper School chemistry teacher and a yoga teacher during Interim Term. 

As a student and lifer at Kinkaid, I’ve never seen so many students truly engaged in such a humorous activity before. 

Everyone seemed to love the goats and students were eagerly participating in every activity we did that day. 

Goat yoga was one of the most popular activities offered to students during Interim Term and I hope it will make a return next year.