July 12, 2021 - One thing I like about yoga philosophy is that it is quite diverse. There isn’t one “yoga philosophy”, there are lots of options. One option I talked about on Friday was the idea of “Not This”, which is basically the concept of not paying attention to the world, because the world is a distraction. It’s not the philosophy I live by, but it’s cool to know it’s out there. The philosophy I more resonate with is that the world is supposed to be lived in, and experience is why we are here.

With that in mind, we had a few great experiences this weekend, but I wanted to share one of them. Jane and I were driving down Route 116, heading toward a swimming hole, and Jane said, “The goats are out!” We drive by this small farm with goats when we go swimming, and she thought the goats had escaped. I saw some people standing nearby, so I told her that and that it was all ok.

We went swimming, and on the way back we wanted to check to see how the goats were — sure enough, they had escaped. What I saw as people as we were driving by was something else on the farm….the goats were out! So, we jumped into Animal Rescue mode. We’ve rescued turtles, like most Vermonters have, but never goats. We pulled into the driveway and figured we should first see if the farmer was home. I knocked on the door and there were a couple dogs barking, but no people. Saving the goats was up to us!

So, we went to the plastic-type fence where the goats are held, and there were a few goats actually tangled in the fence, with the fencing wrapped around their neck. It was awful, but they were alive, thank goodness. Jane started working on some goats and I focused in on one goat that had the material of the fence wrapped many times around its neck. I was super focused on figuring out how to free the goat…it was really cooperative and after a few tense minutes, I got him free.

When we looked around we saw that there was also a GIGANTIC pig standing nearby, along with a bunch of piglets — farming chaos. We didn’t know what to do with the pigs, but we did end up lifting all the goats that had escaped back into their pen, which they were delighted about.

After a couple more minutes of standing around wondering what to do, a car pulled in and a woman rolled down the window and said, “We can’t ever do anything!” And then she proceeded to get out of the car and start to round up the pigs, and a man got out of the driver’s side, along with 4 kids. I told the guy we saved his goats, and said, “Thanks,” and then went to focus on the pigs. Jane and I looked at each other and figured it was time to leave, so we headed home.

To me, this is what yoga is. It’s about being super present with the experience of being alive. In saving the goats, I had no other thoughts. Just being there and being focused…it was great, particularly since it all worked out. :-)

Enjoy whatever your yoga practice is today, particularly if you need to perform an animal rescue.