I did alpaca yoga at a farm just an hour outside of New York City

Travel Insider

Insider reporter Jordan Erb spent the day doing yoga with alpacas and reconnecting with nature.

Transcript

00:00 Nice, that's tasty.

00:02 So snuggly.

00:04 He's such a baby.

00:06 Yeah.

00:08 And exhale.

00:10 This is Blue,

00:12 that's Poncho,

00:14 and that's me doing alpaca yoga.

00:16 Growing up in Montana, I spent a lot

00:18 of time outside. Whether it was at home

00:20 or on my grandparents' farm,

00:22 I was always outside. But since moving

00:24 to New York City, I really haven't had

00:26 the chance to be out and about with nature.

00:28 So I decided to take a day trip

00:30 to escape the city and go to Bluebird Farm

00:32 Alpacas. There, I spent the day

00:34 hiking with alpacas, doing yoga

00:36 with alpacas, and just being outside.

00:38 This is Everyday Adventurer.

00:40 Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Jordan.

00:46 Jordan, Nick. Nice to meet you.

00:48 We're excited to introduce you to a few alpacas.

00:50 Sweet. Should we head that way?

00:52 Absolutely. Let's do it.

00:56 The best place to pet an alpaca is really on their backs

00:58 and about halfway up their necks.

01:00 Alpacas are really not crazy about

01:02 having their heads patted. They're animals

01:04 of prey, so they're always looking out

01:06 for predators. You get near their heads,

01:08 they tend to shy away because they always

01:10 want to be able to see, and of course, they're concerned

01:12 you're going to block their vision.

01:14 You might be interested to know alpacas have no

01:16 upper front teeth. Their mouths are

01:18 actually designed to eat the grass out in the pastures

01:20 here in New Jersey, or amongst

01:22 the rocks in the Andes Mountains.

01:24 The grain that you're going to be feeding them,

01:26 it's very simple. You put a little grain in your hand,

01:28 and because they have no upper front teeth,

01:30 it kind of tickles.

01:32 No concerns about being bitten by an alpaca

01:34 here at Blue Bird Farm.

01:36 We get folks from

01:38 all over the area.

01:40 From Manhattan, from

01:42 Long Island, from Philadelphia,

01:44 and everywhere in between.

01:46 And they are of all ages.

01:48 I mean, from one-year-olds to

01:50 centennials.

01:52 And the best part about what we do here is that

01:54 99.9%

01:56 of the people that come to visit us

01:58 are genuinely nice people

02:00 because they're animal lovers.

02:02 And they're coming to hang out with alpacas.

02:04 So we're really in the business of

02:06 smiles and giggles and laughs

02:08 and showing everybody a good time.

02:10 And they have this phenomenal fiber.

02:12 Their fiber is actually

02:14 similar to a polar bear's fiber

02:16 in that the fibers are hollow.

02:18 So it's very warm. It's also

02:20 incredibly soft, as you're going to note.

02:22 Feeling them or things in the store,

02:24 it's also hypoallergenic.

02:26 And each alpaca can produce as much as

02:28 10 pounds of fiber.

02:30 So you can come to

02:32 our farm, you can

02:34 meet an alpaca, and then

02:36 you can wear that alpaca.

02:38 Do they get to run free-range?

02:40 They do. Anything

02:42 that's within the white fence,

02:44 they have free-range too.

02:46 Fabulous! Great job!

02:48 Thank you. I was born for this.

02:50 See, this practice

02:52 is nothing like

02:54 a typical yoga practice

02:56 that you will have inside of a studio.

02:58 Having the alpaca,

03:00 you've spent time with them.

03:02 They are so inquisitive,

03:04 curious, observant.

03:06 They just have this natural,

03:08 grounded sense about them.

03:10 We'll see all the people

03:12 come in with this frenetic energy

03:14 and everybody just settles.

03:16 It's almost like we become part of

03:18 this alpaca herd.

03:20 And they're very entertaining.

03:22 They all have a different personality.

03:24 Some of them will eat off of

03:26 people's mats if they put the food.

03:28 And it's just really fun.

03:30 The most amazing thing to me

03:32 about these alpaca is how smart

03:34 they are. I've never seen one of them

03:36 step on anyone's mat.

03:38 They have this incredible proprioception

03:40 awareness of their body in space.

03:42 You will see them eating grass.

03:44 You'll get some really good ASMR

03:46 grass chomping sounds in the background.

03:48 It's like our soundtrack for the class.

03:50 They kind of hang out with each other.

03:52 You won't often see one of them alone.

03:54 So it's kind of neat

03:56 to be in with them.

03:58 [Alpaca singing]

04:00 [Alpaca singing]

04:02 [Alpaca singing]

04:04 [Alpaca singing]

04:06 Beautiful!

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