Lainey always loved and wanted to own goats while growing up, but never lived in a place that could house them until she built her No Regrets Farm located in the beautiful Willamette Valley of Oregon. Lainey tried breeding first, but after one round, she realized that wasn’t the road she wanted to follow. She then began adopting and now owns 11 goats, most of them rescues.
Following her divorce Lainey discovered she was feeling extremely tired and sick with pain in her hands leading to her elbows. After many different tests, she was diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome. According to the Sjogren's Syndrome Foundation, this is "a systemic autoimmune disease that affects the entire body. Along with symptoms of extensive dryness, other serious complications include profound fatigue, chronic pain, major organ involvement, neuropathies and lymphomas."
Struggling with extreme fatigue that debilitated her, Lainey wasn't able to do much, but she vowed to sit outside with the goats every single day. The goats made her smile and laugh and gave her relief her from her pain, more so than she felt from any medication.
This is how “Goat Happy Hour” came into existence! Animal assisted therapy (AAT) is used to improve a person’s social, emotional or cognitive functioning and has been proven to reduce anxiety and produce calmness. All types of animals can be used for AAT but goats are especially therapeutic. Even when chewing their cud, Lainey says, “They go into a meditative state and are truly present in the moment.” Humans get an overwhelming calming sense just being around them - happiness, joy and calm. The goats wander around the class and might sit on your mat, lick your face or even jump on your back when you’re in a table top pose.
After starting with Goat Happy Hour, Lainey was auctioning off a kid’s birthday party at the farm for charity when Heather Davis, a yoga instructor said, “You should let me have a yoga class here!” Little did anyone know that a couple promo shots and videos later, the yoga class with goats would have over a million views. People loved how the goats romped all over the yogi’s and although the session was extremely fun, it was also very relaxing. Lainey was interviewed by Modern Farm Magazine soon afterwards, and then by The Oregonian Newspaper. She has now gone international with Australia just launching their first goat yoga session this month.
Lainey discovered a special connection with her goats early on and when Goat Happy Hour came along she saw others found it impossible to feel sad around them as well. Lainey says videos and messages have poured in from around the country about how powerful even watching the videos of the goats have been for people suffering from physical and mental pain. The calmness and presence of these adorable, friendly and loving animals transfers over to the viewer.
What Science Says Animal Assisted Therapy Can Do!
For Mental Health:
For Physical Health:
Lainey is dedicated to providing people with the same therapy that helped her bounce back with Sjogren Syndrome. She will be doing Goat Yoga at Hanson Country Inn in Corvallis where she hosts annual events but Lainey will also continue to focus on small therapy groups doing Goat Yoga in a nature place for healing.
What are your tips for listeners feeling stuck?
If you want to get your goat on, check out Lainey’s website and hurry to sign up for one of her events before they sell out! You can also sign up to receive her newsletter with updates on holiday goat yoga, special events and pictures of these beautiful creatures when you can’t make a yoga session.
To stay in touch with Lainey and the goats, follow No Regrets Farm and Your Daily Goat on Facebook for a behind the scenes look at goat life.
Today we are ecstatic to welcome VH1 celebrity, designer, and life coach and superhero mom, Christina Johnson to the Fitlandia Podcast! After seeing the Starting Over TODAY segment on the Today Show, Christa knew she had to share Christina’s health journey and resilience to overcome extreme obstacles with her Fitlandia listeners.
Born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, Christina characterizes her upbringing as being “turbulent,” being a teen mom born to a teen mom, struggling with being abandoned by her father and growing up with a misconstrued definition of love. After having two girls by the age of 20, Christina moved to Atlanta and worked briefly in the nursing field. She left that job to work for Steve Madden and soon after, met and fell in love with the artist CeeLo Green. During their five-year marriage, they shared their mutual love for artistic expressions, launching Christina in a successful interior design career and consulting company, InnerPiece Designs (IPD).
During this time, Christina experienced weight gain and later was diagnosed with Graves disease, an autoimmune disorder that affects the thyroid gland. This is when, she explains, “the reset started” and she began her weight loss journey. Amidst her divorce Christina had a defining moment as she sat in the parking lot of a McDonalds wolfing down more junk food than she ever had eaten before. Breaking down in tears Christina told herself, “I don’t know what you’re hungry for Christina, but it’s not this. Something is going on internally.”
While still living with her ex-husband, and trying to save face for their children, Christina knew she was crumbling on the inside and had to make some changes for herself. To push her be consistent and disciplined, Christina called her trainer and soon dropped 40 pounds. Moving into her new home she started yoga and dug into loving herself from the inside.
Her message to woman is to make sure you make the time to love yourself, forgive yourself, forgive your past and the mistakes you’ve made.
During her near life-threatening struggle with Graves disease, Christina relied on the promises of faith and with the power of gratitude and affirmations, her health actually shifted. By tapping into her inner wisdom and forgiving others and herself for past doings she exclaims, “I’ve learned to turn my pain into compassion.” This is what drives Christina and allows her to help others during the process.
When asked about the show, “Atlanta's Exes”, Christina was extremely hesitant to participate because as a hands-on mama bear, she didn’t want the opinions or actions of others to manipulate her family dynamic. Instead, she used the show as fuel for inspiring other woman and daughters who may be suffering from domestic violence, struggling with an unhealthy habit or battling a disease. Christina’s experiences and how she worked to overcome her challenges has helped many women conquer their own fears and obstacles.
Today, Christina has learned exactly how to listen to her body and fuels it with an 80% plant-based diet but enjoys a well-deserved celebratory meal or glass of wine on occasion or at events. When doing so, Christina makes sure she rises early the following day so she can hydrate and begin to work towards her goals again and doesn’t get in a physiological craving spiral. Her extreme gratitude for her body and its healing abilities motivates Christina to always keep herself well rested, hydrated and property fueled.
If you struggle with getting out of bed early and starting your day off productively, make sure to include this rising early Mind Zoning® into your daily routine!
Here are Christina’s tips for the person who still hasn’t experience their “defining moment” but is itching for change:
“Let go of your always and become something new”
If you’re ready to reset your life, make sure to connect with Christina for personalized life coaching, videos and retreats through her website, or follow her on Instagram @christinajohnson_ and @InnerPiece on Twitter!
This is part 2 of our two part series of top tips from the fitness experts attending the IDEA World Fitness Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Michael runs BeachFit Long Island in Oceanside, NY, a small group TRX studio and Mike Soster runs Functions of Life out of Broadview Heights, OH where they specialize in American Ninja Warrior training for children 6 though 12.
Shelby is a yoga and group fitness instructor in Ft. Collins, CO and owner of the blog Live Fierce Wellness. Christa again asks what her top tips are to get over the hump of getting started with a healthy lifestyle. It’s no surprise she reinforces the common thread the others have:
Elizabeth is the founder of Cirqueit Fitness to help people get Fit, Fun and Done in 45 Minutes and bring the playground back to fitness. Her philosophy is that you can make great use of 45-minutes, focusing on a structured class that goes by super fast so that her clients have the best workout possible. She and Christa bond over their work to revolutionize the fitness industry and break through old paradigms. Elizabeth’s tips to include:
Today’s Sponsor: Dr.’s Mark and Michelle Sherwood of the Functional Medicine Institute. Check out their DNA test today to help you identify food sensitivities to support your health, wellness and fitness goals.
Welcome to our 50th podcast! In celebration of this exciting milestone, we are giving you Fitlandian’s an insider’s view of the people and trends from the Idea World Fitness Conference that Christa attended in Las Vegas in July. This two-part series includes interviews from the fitness industry experts she encountered at the conference who focus in the cornerstone areas that Fitlandia is founded on; better nutrition, more daily movement, positive mindset and encouraging community.
Our first guest is Anna Gemma with ChoreoBarre®Fitness. This company was created in 2014 in the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s formatted from Vaganova’s Method, a training devised from a Russian dancer, fusing together elements of Italian technique and traditional French ballet. ChoreoBarre® Fitness involves the entire body using cardiovascular intervals, core stability exercises, ballet inspired moves and can be done at three different levels so it suitable for everyone to try.
Want to give it a go?
ChoreoBarre®Fitness classes are in Danville, California at The Studio, as well as in Livermore, California located at LifeStyleRx in the Stanford Health Care – Valleycare Recreational Center.
Tips when feeling stuck:
“We all started from somewhere, you can do it!”
Also at the conference, Christa found some fellow Oregonians, Derek and Shaelah who work in La Grande, Oregon at the Mountain Valley Fitness and Health. This holistic gym and physical therapy clinic has a variety of services they provide including acupuncture, group fitness classes, personal training which Derek has been involved in since 2013, a nutritionist to help with meal prepping and sports performance training to help everyone reach their health goals.
Shaelah, the manager at Mountain Valley Fitness and Health helps people daily face their mental challenges in their health journey by introducing them to other clients so they feel more comfortable in a “transitional program”. When working with his clients during personal training sessions, Derek explains that he focuses on finding what people want specifically from their training and then helps them break down walls and barriers to achieve it.
Tips to keep moving forward and making fitness a priority:
At Mountain Valley Fitness and Health, they work hard to provide members with the highest quality of individualized fitness experience to maximize functional abilities and improve overall quality of life.