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