• Yogi Liz McKenney, in blue, watches goats walk around the yoga floor at the Denver County Fair. Helen H Richardson / The Denver Post via Getty Images
    Yogi Liz McKenney, in blue, watches goats walk around the yoga floor at the Denver County Fair. Helen H Richardson / The Denver Post via Getty Images
  • Julia Shorter takes a photo of her sister Elizabeth Shorter as she strikes a pose with a goat standing on her at Great Rock Farm in Georgetown, Massachusetts. Jim Davis / The Boston Globe via Getty Images
    Julia Shorter takes a photo of her sister Elizabeth Shorter as she strikes a pose with a goat standing on her at Great Rock Farm in Georgetown, Massachusetts. Jim Davis / The Boston Globe via Getty Images
  • Elizabeth Shorter plays with two goats during an outdoor yoga class. Jim Davis / The Boston Globe via Getty Images
    Elizabeth Shorter plays with two goats during an outdoor yoga class. Jim Davis / The Boston Globe via Getty Images
  • A Pygmy goats jumps past Rebecca Ballantine during goat yoga at Lil' Holler Farm near Westminster, Maryland. Ken Koons / Baltimore Sun / TNS via Getty Images)
    A Pygmy goats jumps past Rebecca Ballantine during goat yoga at Lil' Holler Farm near Westminster, Maryland. Ken Koons / Baltimore Sun / TNS via Getty Images)
  • Heather Carlson takes part ina goat yoga session at Oak Hollow Acres Farm in Burlington, Wisconsin. Carrie Antlfinger / AP Photo
    Heather Carlson takes part ina goat yoga session at Oak Hollow Acres Farm in Burlington, Wisconsin. Carrie Antlfinger / AP Photo
  • Goats patrol the yoga floor. Carrie Antlfinger / AP Photo
    Goats patrol the yoga floor. Carrie Antlfinger / AP Photo
  • Greg Wong looks at a goat during a goat yoga session in Burlington, Wisconsin. Carrie Antlfinger / AP Photo
    Greg Wong looks at a goat during a goat yoga session in Burlington, Wisconsin. Carrie Antlfinger / AP Photo
  • Casey Chaffin pets a goat while performing a yoga pose. Carrie Antlfinger / AP Photo
    Casey Chaffin pets a goat while performing a yoga pose. Carrie Antlfinger / AP Photo
  • Dozens of goats are let loose on the yoga floor in Denver. Helen H Richardson / The Denver Post via Getty Images
    Dozens of goats are let loose on the yoga floor in Denver. Helen H Richardson / The Denver Post via Getty Images

You've got to be kidding: Goats invade yoga classes


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Yoga classes are popping up across the US  that include playful goats.

At a recent class at Oak Hollow Acres farm in Burlington, Wisconsin, Bear Foot Yoga Healing instructor Megan MacCarthy advised participants to worry less about testing their physical ability and more about sharing their hearts.

She also told suggested that a yoga position usually known as "child's pose" should be renamed "kid pose" - 'kid' being the term for a young goat as well as a human child.

The yoga-with-goat sessions started in June. One of the owners of Oak Hollow Acres farm, Abigail Lippmann, says up to 45 people now come for the classes which now regularly include 15 lively goats climbing and leaping over the participants or simply nuzzling in for a cuddle. And the phenomenon is spreading.

In Massachusetts, Sage Meadow Farm provides goats to Valley Hot Yoga in Easthampton. Farm co-owner Stan McCoy says 2,000 people tried to buy tickets for recent classes. They sold out in four seconds.