‘Lightened My Mood for the Day’: Popular ‘Goat Yoga’ Classes Come To New Canaan Library

The dolphin, the eagle, the downward-facing dog, the extended puppy—yoga poses are full of animal references. On Wednesday afternoon, dozens of locals gathered on the lush green lawn of “Christine’s Garden”—the New Canaan Library property at the corner of South Avenue and Maple Street—to practice the popular discipline with baby goats. Organized through the library, “Goat Yoga”—led by a Hamden-based livestock rescue farm—sold out three sessions on a hot, sunny day in downtown New Canaan, two for teens and one for adults. “It’s an hourlong class with little goats running around, jumping on you, being obnoxious, eating your clothes or trying to, peeing on your mat, pooping on you,” Leah Hilton, co-owner of Nadeau Farm, said from outside a corral at Christine’s Garden while Tanya Sage led a class of smiling, laughing, photo-taking women practiced a “gentle” version of Eastern breathing and posing techniques inside it. Asked what the appeal of goat yoga is, Hilton said with a laugh, “That is the appeal.”

The working livestock farm has been in her husband’s family since 1939, Hilton said.