No kidding. Michigan native is bringing goat yoga to Williamston

WILLIAMSTON — Ready for some upward-facing goat with your downward-facing dog?

Goat yoga will officially launch in mid-Michigan this weekend.

The Original Goat Yoga will open a satellite location in Williamston on Saturday. Classes are $35 and consist of a 30-minute yoga session and an hour-long "goat happy hour." Instructors from Our Space Yoga in Williamston will lead the classes.

Each class is limited to 25 people and is open to beginners, said Shawn Cannarile, the owner of Hilltop Views Farm. She said the focus is to relax and laugh rather than perfect poses.

“It's for anyone. You don’t have to be a yogi. You don’t have to be a yoga expert," Cannarile said. “It’s a different kind of experience than going to a typical yoga class.”

Goat yoga classes with four goats at Cannarile's farm will be held every Saturday afternoon through the fall. More information is available at lansingmichigan.goatyoga.net.

The idea for goat yoga is credited to Michigan native Lainey Morse, who currently lives on a farm outside Corvallis, Oregon.

In 2016, when Morse was going through a divorce and diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Sjogren's Syndrome, she noticed the impact her goats had on improving her mood and started hosting "goat happy hours" at her farm.

“They have this sense of calm, yet they’re really a fun animal,” Morse said. "That makes them a really great therapy animal."

Morse said she got the idea for goat yoga when a yoga instructor visiting her farm suggested holding a class in a field.

Morse has since opened satellite goat yoga locations in New York, Kentucky, California and Illinois. The goat yoga location in Williamston is Morse's first time bringing the activity to her home state, though other goat yoga classes have been held in Detroit.

Morse describes the event as part yoga, part animal therapy.

“The yoga is really kind of secondary," she said. “It’s really being in that atmosphere around the goats."

Contact reporter Haley Hansen at (517) 267-1344 or hhansen@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @halehansen.

Goat yoga in Williamston

Hilltop Views Farm and Lansing Goat Yoga will hold their first goat yoga sessions at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 28, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 29.

Sessions cost $35 and include a 30-minute yoga session and hour-long "goat happy hour." The farm is located at 161 Frost Rd. in Williamston.

For information call 1-888-992-GOAT (4628) or go to lansingmichigan.goatyoga.net.