By Melissa Heckscher, contributing writer
Like yoga? How about goats? Free beer?
A new monthly class at TrustedGut Brewery in Redondo Beach is giving participants a taste of all three, letting new and experienced yogis do their downward-facing dog poses in the company of a foursome of goats.
What? You’ve never heard of including hoofed livestock in your yoga practice?
Well, hop on the barn wagon, because goat yoga is apparently as much a trend now as it was when it started in 2016 on a farm in Oregon.
“I have found that only the coolest people sign up for goat yoga,” said Michelle Tritten, owner of Hello Critter, the Glendale-based goat yoga company that runs the class. “We rarely have anyone who complains. Everybody’s laughing and happy and having fun.”
The class at TrustedGut — which includes a ticket for free beer (for those 21+) from the newly-opened brewery (formerly King Harbor Brewing Company) — is the newest local addition to the goat yoga craze.
Goats have been fraternizing with yogis for years at the South Coast Botanic Garden on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and elsewhere throughout Los Angeles.
Because goats and yoga go perfectly together, right?
“Well, they naturally want to climb on things,” said Tritten, who also holds the goat yoga classes at the Botanic Garden and at various parks throughout Los Angeles. “They don’t care whether it’s human, chair, tree. They just want to get higher.”
Tritten explains it like this: To a goat, a person doing “table position” may as well be an actual table. Similarly, a yogi in full plank pose is the perfect perch.
“Anything they can climb they’re probably going to be climbing,” she said.
And that’s the whole point of goat yoga.
Somehow, being stepped on by a goat is a joy-spreader. Tritten said not only do the goats bring levity to the class (there are no solemn “ohms” here), but the critters also help build a yogis’ balance and strength.
After all, if you thought plank position was hard; try doing it with a goat on your back.
“They’re challenging your balance when they’re jumping on you and you’re challenging their balance because they have to stay on your wiggling body,” Tritten said.
But let’s be honest: Does anyone come to a goat yoga class for the actual workout?
“It’s all about the goats,” Tritten told the 27 participants as they laid out their yoga mats on the brewery’s large stone floor last weekend. “You don’t have to do yoga if you don’t want to.”
Admittedly, it’s hard to stay “centered” when there’s a goat chewing the ends of your hair or resting atop a classmate’s rear end. And, unlike most yoga classes, cell phones are definitely allowed (because #Hellocrittercare).
“In this class, there are no expectations,” said Hello Critter goat yoga teacher Tanya Edgley, who begins class with the mantra, “Everyone take a deep breath and say, Baaaa (and, no joke, everyone does).”
“It’s really about the laughter,” Edgley added.
But wait! Goats aren’t the only furry friends to infiltrate the yoga world. People who want to spice up their practice with adorable animals can take part in all sorts of species spinoffs.
Kitten yoga? It’s a thing. Puppy yoga? That, too! Bunny yoga? Hop on in! The Peter Weber Equestrian Center in Palos Verdes has even hosted horse yoga — though the description on its website is transparent enough to add that it has no “certified yoga instructors.”
“The thing about having animals in class, especially goats, is that it kind of levels the playing field,” Tritten said. “You can’t really be too serious. It’s a fun, lighthearted experience.”
As for Tritten, she is, unabashedly, a goat person. She rescued her star yogis, Hansel and Gretal, from an auction (where they “had a bleak future,” she said) and has a total of 10 adult goats at her home in Glendale, plus a duo of 3-week old goats that she is fostering for a friend.
But while the babies elicited the “Awww” factor on Sunday, it was Hansel and Gretal who stole the show. The pair jumped from one back to another like children hopping on stepstones.
“It is ridiculous,” said Wendy Shubin, a Santa Manica yoga teacher who did the class out of curiosity and ended the session cradling a sleepy baby goat in her arms. “At first I thought, ‘Why would you do yoga with goats? But now I get it: They climb on anything.”
Kevin Robertson of Redondo Beach came to the class on the urging of a friend — and by the end of the class had Hansel balanced between his shoulder blades.
“I like beer and I’m in need of yoga,” he said. “I’ve always thought [goat yoga] looked fun but didn’t want to make the effort. This was local and easy and after 10 a.m.”
Naturally, things can get messy. “You can’t housetrain a goat,” Tritten admits, adding that it’s OK, because, “goat blessings are good luck.”
“Blessings can occur any time,” she said. “We recommend that folks buy a lottery ticket because they are lucky.”
In any case, a team is there to quickly remove any droppings or liquids that end up on the floor (though the same can’t be said for participants’ clothes or hair).
“That’s the gamble you take when you do goat yoga,” Tritten joked.
OK, you’re probably wondering: What about the beer? Where does that fit into yoga?
Just ask TrustedGut Brewery owner Chris Garett. He calls his company, which opened the brewery in February, a “wellness company,” specializing in gluten-reduced beers, kombucha and seltzers.
“Unique experience is what Trusted Gut is about,” said Garett, whose wife has celiac disease and cannot consume gluten. “We all participate in yoga but to involve the goats was just a fun addition.”
The facility, which sits on a large lot just around the corner from the South Bay Galleria, has a video game area for kids, as well as cornhole games outside and a large parking lot to accommodate daily food trucks.
The hope is the goats will bring people out and that they’ll stick around and have a beer outside afterward.
“Yes, we are an alcohol brand, but it’s about balancing indulgences with wellness experiences,” said Trusted Gut Creative Head Dan Hofstadter. “People who enjoy a beer, hard seltzer or hard kombucha may also enjoy playing with goats and maybe yoga or going for a run. It’s about balance.”
For information about Goat Yoga classes at TrustedGut Brewery (or others throughout Los Angeles), see hellocritter.com.