GOAT YOGA = KNAPP TIME

It only happens once a year. Two sessions. 26 participants per session. 

Of those 26 participants, 18 are human and eight are four-week old goats. 

And the antics of the “kids” keep the yoga participants smiling ear-to-ear. 

You just gotta make sure you’re wearing the right apparel. 

If your shirt doesn’t totally cover your back, you can expect some hoof indents by the end of the hour. 

The goats are Pattie Knapp’s. She’s raised goats for 24 years. 

She says four weeks is the perfect age for goat kids and goat yoga. They’re too young at three weeks and too food-obsessed at five. At four, they’re at peak playful. 

Sheet: So that’s why it’s just the one day? 

Pattie, a matter-of-fact, no-nonsense Texan, nods politely at Captain Obvious without rolling her eyes too much. 

The instructor for this, the second annual Goat Yoga event, is Julie Faber. 

Julie teaches a 45-minute yoga class every Tuesday at Sierra Shanti. 

Sheet: Is teaching a goat yoga class a lot different from a regular class?

Faber: It’s super fun. They literally ramp up and down with the energy flow in the class. At peak flow, they go wild, hopping from person to person. But then they cuddle during the quieter parts. 

Faber also teaches a beer yoga class once a year at the Eastside Guesthouse and Bivy so she is clearly the queen of eclectic yoga. 

Pattie and husband Scott retired to Bishop from Sylmar about fifteen years ago. Scott taught for 38 years at Glendale. Their well-appointed home would be the envy of Martha Stewart, cats roaming the yard, flowers blooming, lawn neatly cut. 

I tell her she should rent out the place for weddings. 

“You’re not the first,” she replies drily. 

She maintains a small goat herd of three mamas and one buck who lives off-premises (because he stinks). 

Of the goat kids, usually several end up going to 4-H, and some find a purpose in brush clearance. The ones that aren’t spoken for by November become birria.

As of Tuesday, she had a few slots left for this Sunday’s event. Text her at 760.258.7779 if you’re interested.