Goat Yoga at the Iowa State Fair: Why Everyone’s Flocking
Ready to baa-lance your chakras? 🐐🧘♀️
We step onto the mat at the Iowa State Fair to see why goat yoga sells out, how the handlers keep goats (mostly) on task, and what makes this mash‑up of mindfulness and barnyard chaos so irresistible to fairgoers of all ages.
Transcript
[Instructor] And bring it back up to tabletop. And we're going to do the same thing on the other side. So stick that left hand through that keyhole. We're going to take our hands back down to the mat. I want you to leave your left hand planted. We're going to come into a modified side plank. So our left hand is planted, left knee is down. You can lift that right leg if you like.
[Tami Bingham, Yoga Instructor] There's just a lot of noise around. Just noise from the barn. The goats are going crazy. We've got music, there's people talking. It's just a loud atmosphere. So to be able to get everybody engaged is, I would probably say, the most challenging part.
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After our first Goat Yoga numerous years ago, I ended up getting goats myself. So that's been the best part is just getting the animals that after I have a session that I think that I like.
[Nicole Bandstra, Yoga Participant] It was so much fun. The goats are so cute. And I was not expecting the yoga to be as, like, advanced as it was, but it was a lot of fun. It was a good stretch.
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[Instructor] All right, then we're going to jump forward into that lunge. If you want, you can press those hips forward, bring your hands up.
[Stacy Koenigs, Yoga Participant] It was really fun. It was just fun to have the goats walking around and interacting. And I love yoga. It was a little different with goats kind of coming by, but it was really fun.
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Just a fun interaction with the animals. I mean, I'm not usually around goats, and so they were very friendly. One tried to get my shirt a little bit, but just all in fun. So I think they were having a good time, too.
[Woman 1] It was so much fun to just play with the goats and pet them and to just get a little mini workout in while you're at the fair.
[Instructor] Up and under your armpits. Take your right leg, press it up into a hip circle. Nice and slow. Press up, out and around.
[Tami] Goat yoga, or any of the barnyard yogas at all different levels. So there's people that have never done yoga before. There's people that are amazing at yoga, way better than I am at yoga. There's kids. We've had bachelorette parties. It's kind of for everyone, like grandmas, kids, everybody. It's just a fun, fun event.