Gust Post by Author Janet Finsilver feat Murder in the Wine Country-Great Escapes Tour

Goat Yoga

by

Janet Finsilver

Goat yoga? Seriously? I was raised on a cattle and horse ranch in Wyoming. Goat yoga was not something that was ever discussed, or even known about. I wondered if it was a California thing. The subject came up after I spent part of a morning helping Scott Thompson, manager of the Redwood Cove Community Center, with a herd of renegade Nigerian dwarf baby goats.

My name is Kelly Jackson, and I’m the manager of Redwood Cove Bed and Breakfast. I was very fortunate to be chosen as the main character in Janet Finsilver’s mystery series. The goats are in her latest book, Murder in the Wine Country.

I arrived at the center to attend a meeting. When I entered the living room of the main house, I found it filled with the cute creatures bounding, leaping, and jumping in the air. A black and white goat stood on a table nibbling on the flowers in a vase while another one pulled a blanket off of a rocking chair. Meanwhile, Scott darted back and forth yelling, “Shoo…out…go.” The goats ignored him. Bleating filled the room.

We had some laughter filled moments before the goats’ owner arrived with his border collies and rounded them up. He apologetically explained he had put them in the backyard temporarily until he could move them because he couldn’t get his rig close enough to the livestock pens. He hadn’t known the back door was open.

After he left, Scott explained they were going to try out goat yoga classes at the community center. It would fit in with their goal of promoting a healthy lifestyle for the residents of the area. He assured me goat yoga was all the rage.

As I drove back to the inn, I knew I had a little spare time in the afternoon and decided to research goat yoga. I discovered it wasn’t only a California thing, it was the latest craze in many areas across the United States. Goat yoga is when a teacher leads a yoga class and the goats are allowed to roam loose to be able to interact with the people.

As Scott and I discovered, it was easy to find yourself laughing at their antics. I found comments from people who said they couldn’t remember the last time they’d laughed so hard. Many people left the classes feeling relaxed and happy in a way they didn’t experience from a traditional yoga class.

Most articles I read credited Lainey Morse with starting the fad on her small farm called No Regrets in western Oregon. In one piece I read, Morse said it wasn’t uncommon for the goats to snuggle with the participants, and there would be the occasional upward goat on a downward dog position. I saw photos of goats standing on people’s backs. Morse commented in an article the little goats’ hooves provide a bit of massage as they moved to keep their balance. An added benefit!

I don’t intend to join a goat yoga class any time soon. However, I’m guessing I’ll have fun watching the classes once they begin. You can follow this herd of adorable creatures in Murder in the Wine Country. I hope you’ll come and see more of their amusing behavior

About the book 

Kelly Jackson, manager of the Redwood Cove Bed and Breakfast, is excited to participate in an event to raise awareness for the plight of struggling veterans in their Northern California coastal community. Local wineries are sponsoring tastings, and to prepare for a culinary competition, professional chefs will forage for wild edible greens. Kelly plans to come along, despite a warning to beware of poachers, who have been stealing the highly valued succulent Dudleya farinosa. The senior sleuths who call themselves the Silver Sentinels join forces with environmental activists known as the Succulent Saviors to thwart the poaching operation. When a consultant for the sale of a local winery is murdered, the poachers are suspected—but so is a wine merchant, Kelly’s friend Phil. As Kelly and the Silver Sentinels attempt to root out the real killer, what she digs up might just put her permanently underground . . .

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