WATCH: People are doing yoga with goats - yes, really

Goats and yoga are not two things you would necessarily put together but goat yoga – AKA ‘goga’ has arrived in Southampton.

It is all thanks to two enterprising school friends from the city who have latched onto this new fitness craze that’s sweeping America and the classes at Next Generation Martial Arts (NGMA)at Shamrock Quay Marina are believed to be the first of their kind in the UK.

Alice Glasspool, 25, who set up the NGMA gym put her head together with Victoria Hobin, 26, who set up Mucky Bucket Farm – an interactive mobile animal farm, to create the classes.

And whilst the furry animals might have left them the ‘butt’ of many jokes the friends are delighted that goga is proving a great success.

The pair who went to Brookfield School in Southampton had not seen each other for four years until they were reunited at Victoria’s wedding when they hit on the business idea.

“The next thing I know Victoria sent me a Facebook message saying check this out – do you fancy pairing up and doing this?It was a Youtube clip of a goga class in America,” says Alice.

“I thought it was quite surreal but thought, ‘why not’!

We put on a taster session at the gym and everyone went crazy for it!

“Primarily we are a martial arts gym, but our ethos is to have fun, so these sessions of goga are fantastic. Our competitive kickboxers participated in the first one and they had a great time!”

Goga is designed to promote good mental health. Throughout the yoga sessions the goats are free to wander and play as they please and due to being hand reared they love the human attention.

Of course, one questions how you maintain the meditative and spiritual elements of yoga with miniature goats wandering onto your mat and even climbing on you. Isn’t yoga about clearing your mind – so called ‘inward practice’, rather than giggling at this strange encounter with the three Billy Goats Gruff?

Just how do you blend the movements and stretching of yoga with the naturally playful antics of kid goats threatening to trip you up or even leave an unwelcome deposit on your yoga mat?

To be frank, when yoga teacher Alice is giving instructions on how to achieve the perfect lotus position or hold that plank, would the four legged friends not keep butting in?

Alice says they adapted her gym for the session by investing in tarpaulin and gaffer tape so they could protect the yoga mats from the stampede of goats’ hooves and droppings.

Victoria arrives with about ten goats and a team of ‘pooper scoopers’ who instantly clean up any mess and ensure the venue is clinically clean in accordance with her licence.

Alice explains: “They are young Pygmy goats so they are like little cats. They walk on people but it’s ok. So for example if you are in downward dog position they like to climb up you like a climbing frame. Everyone was desperate for them to do it to them! Some people are more attractive to the goats than others – maybe some of the calmer humans, and they had four goats on them!

They can be quite mischievous, bouncing around and jumping on and off people and head-butting each other!

They are super cute!”

Alice added: “We said to people at the taster class do you need the yoga or would the goats alone be a great thing to do and they all agreed the goats help you settle in. We had 45 minutes of goga and then 15 minutes with the goats – or rather 15 minutes of goat selfies!

“One of them even fell asleep on someone’s lap! It’s really enjoyable.”

She added: “With goga there is little of the holistic, spiritual side and there is no ‘umm-ing’ – we think the deep sound would freak the goats out. We’ve taken the movements that are lower to the floor as we felt the goats would feel slighted if we were high up, and that way they can use you as a play ground, so we’ve adapted it slightly. They like it when you lay on your back for your core work with your feet off the floor – they like to jump on your chest.

“When we were in the prayer position goats were literally sat in people’s laps. They are just super inquisitive!

“Everyone loved petting them – the unconditional goat love and some loved the activity – it was all super positive.”

Lucy doesn’t think it is just a gimmick because she says “animals are generally better than humans and don’t question anything.”

She adds: “We’ve discovered that the best ratio of goat to human is 20 adults to seven goats. Any more than that and it’s chaotic, either way.

Lucy opened her gym when she was only 20 after turning down a place to study law at Kingston University.

“It was something I always wanted to do and jumped in head first.”

She was also offered a job kick boxing on the England team.

“I won the world title at 21 in 2012 and that meant I never went to university. I still sometimes fight with the England team but running the business has taken priority where I have my own team of fighters.”

Victoria is in her third year of running Mucky Bucket and said: “We’d always seen first hand how animal therapy can work.

“As a mobile farm we hold a displaying license so we can move our animals around and they are used to it. The goats are very relaxed.

“We go to pre-schools and parties so going to yoga is not an issue as they are so chilled out.

“Our USP is all our animals are miniatures – miniature donkeys, horses and goats.

“We work with children so it’s easy for them to groom them.

“The classes are all about the exercise as well – the calmer side of it and the slow exercises are beneficial and the goats are calmer because they are in a relaxed atmosphere. They definitely go to people who have that relaxed attitude and energy about them.”

They say never work with children and animals but Victoria disagrees: “I always wanted to work with animals – I wish I was a farmer’s daughter! I think it all started because my grand parents had donkeys. My granddad was the village police man and anything lost or not claimed ended up at his house.

“They had a donkey, a cow and ducks because in those days the village policeman was the centre of the community.”

This led to Victoria studying animal management at Sparsholt College in Hampshire before doing a degree in business management because she “wanted to make a business out of keeping animals”.

At her home in West End she has guinea pigs, rabbits, tortoises, an African pygmy hedgehog, bearded dragons and a dog. In a nearby field meanwhile she has miniature horses, miniature donkeys, alpacas, pygmy goats and Ouessant sheep.

She says the goats all have individual characters, from Pipsqueak the “naughty and mischievous” one to Pop Eye “the friendly one who dives across a room to say hello” to Penny the “sweet and loving” one.

Goga – £20 a person – will be launched to the public on Bank Holiday Monday – May 29.

Further classes are scheduled for Thursday, June 1 and Sunday, June 4.

For further information visit: www.facebook.com/ngmauk

How to book: www.muckybucketfarm.co.uk.