About 35 participants found out for themselves Sunday in Schon Park in Glen Carbon. A section of grass in the park's north end was cordoned off with an electric fence, and the goats were placed within while participants registered.

Anna Evans, of Alhambra, owns the goats with her husband. She registered participants and explained the rules to them, telling them that, for the next hour, to focus on themselves and consider the goats a form of "animal therapy."

After a quick prayer and a pep talk, she had advice for the group: put their hair up and leave their purses, jackets and shoes outside of the fence. She also asked if anyone had expensive yoga mats, because the goats may void themselves on the mats. A couple of people raised their hands, so she let them borrow cheaper substitutes. She also mentioned the goats like to snatch straws, sunglasses and earrings.

Before entering the pen, Evans told the group the goats' collective mood varies. They may be excited; they may be blas. On Sunday, the general goat mood appeared to be famished, as grazing and dining on pellet food were highlights.

Evans said she got the idea for goat yoga after attending a Columbia, Missouri, session in April 2021. On her way home, she texted her husband about it, telling him that was the first time in her life she was actually calm and composed for an hour.

She wanted to set up her own goat yoga class; he told her she was crazy. However, he secretly began researching it. Three months later, Goat Yoga of Southern Illinois kicked off (pun intended).

The couple own 29 Nigerian Dwarf Goats and brought 17 of them to Sunday's classes, one at 10 a.m. and the other at 11:45 a.m. She advised the group that two of 17 are "fainters," and she identified them by their colors and markings.

"They usually don't faint in a class but sometimes when someone pops out a mat, they'll faint," Evans said. "They come back, I promise."

The goats are not pets and, as such, are not subtle. They cough, belch, burp, urinate and defecate with no regard for what their temporary human companions think.

"They will pee and poop but pray for poop," Evans advised. "[Goat] pee is much more obnoxious."

She thanked the group for coming and ask if anyone had done goat yoga before; a few people raised their hands. Evans said this hour-long class is a no-judgement zone and if they felt like moving beyond a beginners' class or not doing any yoga moves, that's fine.

Surprisingly, Evans does not lead the classes. That task is handled by Simone de Villiers Meszaros who reiterated that the class was a beginners' class and, unlike one inside a building, is fairly unstructured and moves at a slower pace.

She said the feedback has been amazing over the past 15 months.

"Most of our classes have sold out," she said. "We've had nurses and military members that have had a hell of a time since COVID and they just need a break; they come in and let it all go."

She has a few more outdoor sessions scheduled through the end of this month, with possibly one planned in early November for Maryville, weather-permitting, but that will end the outdoor season for 2022. The next outdoor yoga sessions will not take place until at least mid-March 2023, again weather-permitting. Sometimes, there are winter classes indoors at the barn at Willoughby Farm in Collinsville or at the Hidden Lake Winery in Aviston, she said.

For more information on classes, visit Goat Yoga of Southern Illinois on Facebook.

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Couple from Alhambra provides goats to enhance outdoor yoga classes at Schon Park in Glen Carbon - The Edwardsville Intelligencer