What You Need to Know about Goat Yoga: Mental Health Benefits and More with Lainey Morse
Have you ever tried goat yoga? Meet today’s woman dreamer, Lainey Morse. She is the Founder/President of Original Goat Yoga, The Goatel & Goat Happy Hour. With hundreds of appearances in publications and media outlets including CNN, The NY Times, Lainey is a big believer of living a life with no regrets. In this informative and fun article, she shares how she started her dream Goat Yoga company, her own health journey and adversities, and how the practice helps women with mental health and more! Enjoy her story!
1) Tell us your story. you are the founder of Original Goat Yoga and The Goatel. That is so cool . What inspired your passion for this, and what was it like launching these businesses? What were some obstacles and lessons learned along the way?
In 2015, I had been going through a divorce and had just been diagnosed with a disability disease. I would come home from my corporate job every day and the first thing I would do is go out in the barn or the field and just spend time with my goats. It was the only thing that gave me a happy distraction and made me forget the pain, the sadness and the depression. I started calling this time with them Goat Happy Hour because it always made me happy to be with them. I started to invite other people out who I knew were going through hard times and everyone always left happy. This was the beginning of a unbelieveale exciting and scary journey that would be later called Goat Yoga.
At one of my Goat Happy Hour events, a yoga instructor was there and we were looking out at the beautiful scenery and the goats were so calm and therapeutic and she asked me if she could hold a yoga class in the field. I told her sure, but the goats would be all over the humans! She thought that was an amazing idea and we ran with it. I first started marketing this new crazy idea as "Goat Yoga" and it quickly went viral and appeared in hundreds of media outlets all over the world. I had a waiting list of over 2,000 people to come to my farm and do goat yoga in my field. Since we first hopped on the scene in 2016, I have launched over 18+ goat yoga businesses all over the United States. Some of my locations have stayed on as licensing my brand since the beginning, some go their own way and make their own goat yoga brands. I currently have ten locations. In March of 2020, I had to shut all the locations down due to the pandemic. Our tagline is "Farming Happiness" and I didn't want to be "Farming Sickness".
All our revenue stopped and I was worried that goat yoga would not survive. We needed a pandemic-proof idea because having public classes was not in the cards. That is where The Goatel was born. This is a goat-themed vacation destination and every night's stay includes a Goat Happy Hour Experience with the option to upgrade to a private goat yoga class. In Spring of 2021, I launched my first one in California and it was a huge hit. The next came in Alvin Texas, Rabun Gap Georgia and Williamston Michigan. Going through a pandemic has taught me that we need to learn to pivot in life and business to survive. As vaccinations have been rolled out, our classes are once again starting to pick up again. The Goatel is in large part the reason that Goat Yoga has survived and we hope to continue to grow as time goes on.
2) Goat Yoga has become very popular over the past few years. What are the key benefits of goat yoga versus other forms of yoga?
The benefits of goat yoga are that it helps improve your mental health, it makes you laugh, it's also calming and therapeutic. Just being outdoors and surrounding yourself with loving animals has many health benefits like increasing your "feel good" hormone levels and lowering your blood pressure. It's also not as intimidating as a yoga class in a studio. People aren't watching to see if you can nail a pose. They are watching the goats and laughing and smiling.
3) Goat yoga is supposed to be great for mental health. Tell us more about the relationship between goat yoga and mental health?
I have always struggled with my mental health. Anxiety is my monster and without my goats, I'd be lost. When I'm around the goats, it feels like you take on the energy from them. They are calm and funny animals and they are great at distracting you and keeping you from going down a tunnel of depression or anxiety. They are great for many who suffer from ADHA, Anxiety, Depression, PTSD and many more.
4)You are a big believer in "No Regrets" and not being afraid to take a risk, what is your advice to other women?
The reason my farm is named "No Regrets Farm" is because I went through life with a lot of regrets and after going through so many tough times, I promised myself that I would never live a life with regrets again. If you don't try, you'll never know if that idea or dream can become a reality. You may think....this dream or idea will never work. I'm here to tell you that you have to listen to your gut and go for it. Those leaps of faith can be life changing, but not doing anything will never move you forward. We only live once....don't live life with regrets.
5) You have already accomplished so much. As the platform for women dreamers, what is the next big dream?
The big dreams make it hard to get sleep at night. My brain feels like it's on a rollercoaster ride going 100 mph and I can't get off...but I also don't want to. Dreaming is what my partner Sean and I do every single day. We do our nightly Goat Happy Hour walks with the animals and plan on making our farm focused on improving the mental health of everyone who steps foot on our farm. I also plan on expanding The Goatel and Original Goat Yoga Internationally.
Check out some fun goat yoga pics!
Please credit Nick Hill for Photographs
