Animal Lovers and Exercise Enthusiasts Can Participate In 'Goat Yoga' In September

PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA — ‘Goat yoga’ is being offered in Plymouth Meeting this month.

Yes, you read that right.

Animal lovers and exercise enthusiasts alike can rejoice in knowing that the Greater Plymouth area will be offering a place to tone up the body and play with some adorable miniature goats.

‘Namaaaste Goat Yoga’ will be taking place on Sept. 12 at 1 p.m. at Harriet Wetherill Park in Plymouth Township. (Use the Butler Pike entrance to the park upon arrival).

The program, open to those ages 5 and older, is being billed as a “triple threat to de-stress” and a “great way to break from your normal mindset and recap the benefits of animal/laughter therapy and yoga,” according to website for the couple who run the program.

Namaaaste Goat Yoga was developed by Bucks County natives Ed and Eileen Bowden, who one day decided to up and leave the burbs behind “on a quest to fulfill a long held dream of farming.”

Nearly a decade later, the couple still reside within Bucks County, but now they are in the more rural village of Pipersville, where they raise chickens, roosters, turkeys, rabbits, and … of course … goats.

The Bowden’s eventually decided to take their goats on the road and include them as a nice little addition to the yoga classes they offer throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

“Our miniature goat breeds are just the right size (think Beagle-size or smaller) to jump on your back, snuggle in your lap or take a nap on your mat as you move through our certified instructor’s guidance,” their website reads. “Watch your cares melt away with every goat touch and kiss. Beyond trendy, goat yoga is here to stay as many find unexpected joy in being in the moment and presence of goats.”

The Sandpaper, a weekly Jersey Shore publication covering towns along Long Beach Island, New Jersey, recently had a feature story about the Bowden's and their Namaaaste Goat Yoga class, which they brought to Veterans Memorial Park in Beach Haven in mid-August.

"You get to decide the ratio of goat to yoga," Eileen Bowden, cofounder of the group, was quoted as saying to a crowd of about 30 attendees at the LBI event.

The article said this was the third summer in a row that Namaaaste Goat Yoga visited LBI.

Bowden told the Sandpaper that she had years of yoga and Pilates experience under her belt, and that getting certified to teach yoga was a natural progression. Incorporating the goats, well, that was natural progression out of the couple's rural home life.

"We already had the goats on the farm to help with regenerating the forest," Bowden told the paper. "So we decided to offer a few classes, and it took off from there."

The Sept. 12 event in Plymouth Meeting will take place from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., and then again from 2:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. The cost to participate is $40.

Visit Namaaaste Goat Yoga online to learn more about the organization.