It's Sunday morning. You’re in the downward dog position when a goat walks onto your yoga mat and plops down beneath you.
There are only two possibilities for what's happening—either you're in a "Hangover" sequel or at Hux Family Farm, which offers yoga events with its 14 Nigerian dwarf goats. Located 20 minutes from campus near Falls Lake, the Hux Family Farm is a four-acre farm run by Amanda Avery and Matthew Hux that hosts free public events, often attracting Duke students.
“We were going to start a dairy farm, but we decided to use our goats for therapy, yoga, meditation and working with people of all ages instead,” Avery said.
Every fourth Sunday from April through September, the farm is open to the public for goat playtime. Last month, the farm started hosting Goat Yoga, sponsored by Bikram Yoga in Durham, after Avery heard about a goat yoga event taking place in Oregon. The popularity of it took her by surprise, she said.
“I posted a goat yoga event on Facebook with the expectation of it being a small event," Avery said. "The class sold out within 48 hours. It was crazy."
Goat Yoga has received such great feedback that Hux Family Farm plans to launch a full relaxation program at the end of March 2017. The program will include two goat yoga classes—one beginner and one intermediate/advanced—along with classes for meditation with goats.
First-year Rachel Sit, an attendee of the farm’s last goat yoga event, said she loved interacting with the animals.
"My favorite part was definitely that throughout the class you'd be doing some pose and all of the sudden you would feel a goat nibbling on your sock or one would come lay on your mat,” she said.
Hux Family Farm also plans to launch a reading therapy program, in which kids will read to the goats, at the end of March.
“This isn’t about the kids necessarily improving their reading but rather about them enjoying reading more and having a fun time reading to the goats,” Avery said.
Other events provided by the farm include goat milking, baby goat races, soap making, cheese tasting and produce picking. The farm is also known for hosting birthday parties, agricultural classes and boy scout and girl scout troops.
Of the farm's goats, the biggest female is 50 pounds, and the biggest male is 65 pounds. The farm sells a range of goat products like goat milk and goat milk soap—and occasionally the actual goats.
“The farm is such a fun and entertaining place. It's perfect for people who love animals, and you don’t need much experience for goat yoga,” said first-year Sam Kost, who attended the farm’s last goat yoga event.
Avery noted that the business aims to help people of all ages enjoy nature and animals.
"Our greatest pleasure comes from seeing people just excited to be around the goats," she said.
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