When you want to relax, do you grab a beer, stretch back on the couch, and savor the moment? I feel like the moment after after that first sip of beer is like my meditation. I taste the cold beer on my tongue and just ahh…
But when I really want to relax my body and mind, I head to a yoga class. It relaxes me even more and makes up for all the sitting on the couch that I do. Still, there are times when I fell like the only thing that could make yoga better would be a good beer. Am I right?
When German yoga instructor Jhula first encountered beer yoga at the Burning Festival in Nevada, she saw her two passions in life collide in the best possible way. The beer drinking yogi brought the idea back with her to Berlin, Germany and started teaching beer yoga classes in bars, clubs, yoga studios, and the great outdoors.
You might not think of beer and yoga have anything in common, but they arguably go together better than the other unlikely pairs that have hit the yoga world in recent years—like antigravity yoga (hammocks and yoga), paddleboard yoga (paddleboards and yoga), and snowga (snow and yoga). So why not beer and yoga? After all, they both put you in a similar place.
Jhula explains on her yoga studio’s website, “BeerYoga is the marriage of two great loves—beer and yoga. Both are centuries-old therapies for body, mind, and soul. The joy of drinking beer and the mindfulness of yoga compliment each other and make for an energizing experience.”
Classes are a blast and really bring beer drinking to the mat. But before any yoga purists or beer snobs laugh too hard, Jhula explains that “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.”
Sound like your kind of yoga class? So far, classes are only available in a few places, like Berlin, Australia, and some breweries in America (where they’re offered along with beer tasting and brewery tours). But you can always pour yourself a pint and practice at home!
I can’t wait for a beer yoga class to come to my town. But until then, I think I’ll grab a cold one and head to my yoga mat for a session.
Would you try beer yoga? Share if you’d also like to see beer yoga come to your town!
Published by Beer Bible, please like
