No that wasn’t a farm on the Yellowjacket Union lawn, it was goat yoga. The event which was co-sponsored by the Mindfulness Club, Pruitt Center for Mindfulness, and Student Involvement presented the opportunity for students to relax and take photos with goats.
“Baaa!” | Photo by Evan Ludwig
11 goats from Duluth Goat Yoga roamed the lawn and hopped on students’ backs and posed for pictures. Lori Tuominen who works with the Pruitt Center for Mindfulness believes this helps students tremendously. “They are outside in nature and nobody is outside upset, you can see everybody smiling,” said Tuominen.
The first goat yoga event occurred in the Fall semester of 2021 and is now in its fourth appearance on campus. “Student Involvement always gets involved with creative ideas and it has always been a popular event,” said Tuominen.
Research finds that goat yoga does have its benefits in reducing stress among people. Interacting with the goats increases serotonin and dopamine and helps to connect with the people around you.
These benefits were shared by students who attended the event including Grejsi Xhanari. “The experience was relaxing and I feel good plus the goats were so, so cute,” said Xhanari.
Goats were placed on peoples backs and were also picked up in order to get pictures. Students were also able to stay after the event to pet goats and get more pictures.
“It was actually really fun and relaxing and surprisingly not super smelly,” said Kaitlyn Rettke after the event was over.
Goat yoga is an extremely popular event among students and is poised to make a return in future semesters.
