Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of the Tri-Cities region. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around The Tri-Cities.
Is your business serving the residents of Tri-Cities? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpTri-Cities.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
EP# 243: Goats, Yoga, and Joy: One Nurse's Pandemic Pivot
What makes Ramona Schwartz with Kidding Around Asheville a good neighbor?
Laughter echoes through a brewery as Nigerian dwarf goats hop playfully onto the backs of yoga practitioners – this is the healing magic of Kidding Around Asheville, created by Ramona Schwartz. After working as a home health nurse during COVID's darkest days, caring for patients who couldn't access ventilators, Ramona found herself desperately needing joy in her life. For her 50th birthday, she got her yoga certification and launched one of Asheville's most unique wellness experiences.
What makes this experience special isn't just the novelty – it's the connection. "Goats have been domesticated longer than dogs," Ramona explains, describing how these animals naturally seek human interaction. Her classes maintain the perfect "goat-to-people ratio" with eight baby Nigerian dwarf goats for classes capped at 20 participants. These playful animals jump from person to person, snuggling in laps and creating spontaneous moments of delight that break through the barriers of everyday stress.
When Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina, Ramona pivoted her business to support the recovering River Arts District, relocating to RAD Brewery. The move exemplifies the resilience that defines Asheville's community spirit. Her clever business model includes a free brewery drink ticket after each session – an incentive that's proven particularly successful with male participants, who "love it more than the women do." But the real draw remains those moments of pure, uninhibited joy. As Ramona puts it, "The one thing I am most proud of about this little company is the amount of laughter and connection that happens during these classes." In our increasingly disconnected world, perhaps what we need most is exactly what Kidding Around Asheville provides – breathwork, baby goats, and the healing power of shared laughter.
Ready to experience goat yoga for yourself? Find Ramona at KiddingAroundAsheville.com or on Instagram at KiddingAroundAVL – and remember, no headstands required!
To learn more about Kidding Around Asheville go to:
https://www.kiddingaroundasheville.com/
Kidding Around Asheville
(502) 500-5080
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monty.
Speaker 2:Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. So I am I'm super psyched today to have a very special guest in the studio with us today and I'm sure you will be too, especially if you're a fan of yoga. Sure, you will be too, especially if you're a fan of yoga. And because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, ms Ramona Schwartz, who is the owner operator of Kidding Around Asheville. Ramona, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Hi, I'm so excited to be here. Thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 2:Well, we appreciate you taking time out to be with us today and, like I said, we're super excited to learn all about you and Kidding Around Asheville. And so, if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us what you do?
Speaker 3:I am a nurse by day and for my 50th birthday I got my yoga certification and really spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to do with it as a nurse. Of course I love to help people, but coming out of COVID, where I did home health so I took care of people who couldn't get vents I really needed a little bit of laughter and joy to balance out the rest of my life. So I thought about goat yoga, got online, looked it up here in Asheville it was already here and I was really super disappointed. But upon more research realized it was only at farms and I thought if they were smart they would be hosting Goat Yoga at the breweries. So that's exactly what I did.
Speaker 3:My first year I was at Whistle Hop in Fairview and they were wonderful. Second two years I was at Whistle Hop and New Origin Brewing Company. However, new Origin Brewing Company did not make it through Helene. So this year I decided I would love to support River Arts District. So now I'm at Rad Brewery and they have been so wonderful. I am really excited for this season.
Speaker 2:Awesome and especially I know the River Arts District was hammered pretty hard during the flood.
Speaker 3:Yes, they were, but this little brewery made it.
Speaker 2:Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, how I'm sure there are lots of myths and misconceptions about goat yoga.
Speaker 3:Would you any come to mind for you? Well, I did not realize that goats have been domesticated longer than dogs. They are the longest domesticated animals that we have. They are super attached to humans and love the interaction with humans, so it actually is a really beautiful thing to watch them during goat yoga classes. They naturally love to jump, so whether I have someone in tabletop or down dog, they just jump from person to person and snuggle up in laps, and they love it as much as as much as my customers do.
Speaker 2:Wow, now, I did not know that that goats had been domesticated longer than dogs. I did not know that. How many goats do you have?
Speaker 3:So I have goat owners and so this year there's eight babies and my classes cap out at 20. So it's a really great goat to people ratio, because I didn't know what would happen with tourism. This year I only have one set of goat owners it's Kate and Alexandra and they live in Marshall and they have a little homestead and I get to support them and help their little farm.
Speaker 2:Very good Goat to people ratio. That's a new term for me.
Speaker 3:Exactly. You don't hear that very often.
Speaker 2:And there is nothing cuter than a baby goat, I mean they're just the sweetest things.
Speaker 3:And these are Nigerian dwarf goats, so they don't get very big. So my season ends at the end of October. So they get bigger, but not like a normal size goat. They stay little.
Speaker 2:They stay little, very good, very good. Well, ramona, outside of work, which sounds like work is fun, but what do you do for fun?
Speaker 3:Oh well, what everyone likes to say. That lives in Asheville. I love to hike, I love to read, we kayak. I have my day job as a nurse, which I love Outdoor stuff, like you, probably in Tennessee you probably in Tennessee.
Speaker 2:Absolutely you. You live in a, we, we live in a beautiful place for all of that and I'm an avid fly fisherman too that love to hike.
Speaker 3:And Blue Ridge Parkway is coming back. They've done a great job clearing off the trails so that people can, you know, enjoy the mountains.
Speaker 2:It's amazing to me how quickly I mean it's been a while but it's amazing to me how resilient, uh, western north carolina asheville area, uh, hot springs I mentioned earlier. You know all the how resilient we are and what good neighbors people are to. You know to do the things that they're doing to help each other. Exactly, the community has really come together. It's amazing to me.
Speaker 3:After the hurricane it was a few weeks River Arts District was open and they were feeding people and providing water and I remember going in and having a beer and just for a second it almost felt normal.
Speaker 1:And it was just such a good feeling.
Speaker 3:It was packed, there were a lot of people there, everyone's checking up on each other. You're right, it's an amazing community, this little mountain town.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely and this may relate to what you just said. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge you've overcome, whether professional or personal, and how it made you stronger in the end?
Speaker 3:Well, I will tell you, during COVID, doing home health and taking care of people who could not get vents was heart-wrenching. That was a really terrible time as a nurse because there's just not a lot that I could do. That's probably as an adult.
Speaker 2:In the last several years that's probably been the hardest oh, I'm sure, I'm sure obstacle I've faced but you made, I did yes, and you're on the other side and stronger for it.
Speaker 3:I would imagine yes, yes.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Awesome. Well, Ramona, if you could think of one thing that you would like for our listeners to remember about getting around Asheville, what would that be?
Speaker 3:The one thing I am most proud of about this little company is the amount of laughter and joy and connection that happens during these classes. I'm able to get a lot of the male population to come in because you get a free drink ticket into the brewery after the class and they love it more than the women do. It is silly and fun and it is an amazing connection and we're really lacking that right now in our world. So, yeah, it's just. It's just joyful and fun and I highly encourage you to come.
Speaker 2:It's just joyful and fun, and I highly encourage you to come Awesome. Now, what breweries do you frequent?
Speaker 3:I'm at River Arts District, rad Brewery. It's off of Mystery Street.
Speaker 2:Gotcha mystery street. Well, you caught my attention with that free drink ticket.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, you come for free, Paul Come for free.
Speaker 2:Oh, oh, bless your heart, bless your heart, thank you, thank you. I would love to do that and I I would. I think I would enjoy it. I love goats too, so go to some beer.
Speaker 3:I'm not even kidding, just come I will get you in.
Speaker 2:All, I'm not even kidding, just come, I will get you in, all, right. Well, thank you so much, ramona. Now for those like me that are listening, that are interested in learning more about you and Kidding Around Asheville how can they learn more?
Speaker 3:They can go to my website, KiddingAroundAshevillecom. They can find me on Instagram at KiddingAroundAVL. And, side note, it's very beginner-friendly yoga. It's just about connecting breath to movement so we get out of our heads and come home to our body. We are not trying to land a headstand. It's very it's doable for everyone.
Speaker 2:Awesome. That's especially for me, For an old guy like me, that that would be great. Well, Ramona, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to to spend some time with me and with our listeners and moving forward. Wish you and kidding around Asheville all the best.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for your time. I'm super grateful.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, and maybe we can have you back again sometime when you got a big event coming up. Okay, all right, thanks so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-Citiescom. That's GNPtry-Citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.