Beer Plus Yoga Equals Tipsy New Way To Work Out

If you’ve ever been in the middle of a sweaty yoga sesh and thought, “The only thing that would make my life complete right now is a cold, foamy brew,” then there’s an answer to your deepest wishes: Beer Yoga. 

Yes, it’s a thing. 

Initially launched in 2015 by a yoga instructor named Jhula, BierYoga has bubbled up in select hops-loving hotspots, including Germany and Australia. 

“BeerYoga is the marriage of two great loves – beer and yoga. Both are centuries-old therapies for body, mind and soul,” the company's site says. “The joy of drinking beer and the mindfulness of yoga complement each other, and make for an energizing experience.”

The classes were inspired by a beer-yoga combo at Burning Man, and though the founder—a brew-loving yogi—never got to attend the Nevada session, she liked the idea and kept it in mind, according to Mashable.

“I think I found a zeitgeist. People in this city just like beer and like yoga,” she told VICE at a class in Berlin. “I’ve had all kinds of people—students, but also Tinder dates, policemen. Some people bring their parents. It’s a very mixed crowd.”

Although it may sound like a tongue-in-cheek excuse to drink between poses, the class is a (slightly) more serious endeavor. “BeerYoga is fun but it’s no joke – we take the philosophies of yoga and pair it with the pleasure of beer-drinking to reach your highest level of consciousness,” the site says. 

Instead of just taking a swig after a sun salutation, the class actually incorporates the glass bottle into traditional yoga poses—raising bottles up during mountain pose, balancing them precariously during tree pose.

Of course, the sequences do incorporate sips every few minutes so that by the end, yogis have imbibed the two bottles included in the class entry fee of $5 to $7, according to BuzzFeed.

Unfortunately for beer-lovers looking for a little Namaste stateside, the only upcoming classes listed are in Sydney and Melbourne. 

But there is some small consolation for American yogis looking for some soused spiritual sense—there’s a Yoga + Beer class offered in an Oregon brewery, and an annual retreat slated for Colorado in May. Ommmm. 

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