By Luke Araujo | Staff Writer
Goat Yoga Texas visited Baylor to host multiple yoga sessions in celebration of Diadeloso 2022.
The event was hosted outside the Bill Daniel Student Center with three sessions at 9 a.m., 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Afterward, those who were unable to buy tickets were able to interact with the goats from noon to 2 p.m. The goats were then allowed to run across the campus to the trailer that takes them back home.
Goat Yoga Texas was founded by health coach Kimberly Pearson, a yoga teacher who has taught almost 1,000 goat yoga classes, had over 10,000 students since 2012 and completed over 2,000 total teaching hours.
Each session included a 45-minute yoga session with goats, followed by 30 minutes of free time with the goats.
Pearson, who hosted the sessions for Diadeloso 2022, said goats were chosen for yoga because they have an extended history of human interaction.
“They were the second animal to be domesticated by people,” Pearson said. “As much as we want to be around goats, goats want to be around us.”
The tradition of goat yoga was started in 2016 by Lainey Morse, who founded Original Goat Yoga because goats brought happiness to her while she was undergoing hardships. Since then, countless goat yoga-centric organizations have popped up across the U.S., and Pearson found herself creating a goat yoga organization of her own at the recommendation of several of her friends.
“I gave a lot of pushbacks,” Pearson said. “I said, ‘I do not want to do this; it is not real yoga.’ I fought it for a long time. But Hurricane Harvey happened, and it seemed like everyone needed something in their souls to lighten the mood and recover from that tragedy. I had just rescued some baby goats from a flooded farm, so I offered my first class in September 2017, and we have been going ever since.”
Cheryl Mathis, assistant director of Student Activities, said she participated in a goat yoga event at Baylor’s previous Diadeloso and saw Goat Yoga Texas’ event at Diadeloso 2022 as the best time for other students to participate for themselves.
“It is a neat way for students in the community to get to experience yoga and get to interact with cute animals at the same time,” Mathis said. “It is a great way to kick off Diadeloso.”
