Detox then retox at Three Magnets’ yoga class with a beer chaser

Unlikely as it might sound to the uninitiated, beer yoga is a thing — and now, it’s a thing right here in South Sound.

Bend, Breathe & Beer Yoga kicked off last month at Three Magnets Brewing Co., which offers two Sunday-morning classes in its barrel room.

“It seemed like a fun idea,” said yoga teacher Emily Bittrick, who started offering the classes at the suggestion of her friend Tasha Norton, who works at the pub. “It’s not as quiet as a yoga studio, but there’s a good vibe there.

“You get done with the class, and you get to hang out with your friends and have a drink and maybe get breakfast.”

Notice the order.

Unlike some beer yoga classes, Bittrick’s doesn’t include drinking on the mat. (If you want to see the kind where bottles are incorporated into the poses, check out https://youtu.be/KoDvXcTgTl4, in which the giggling participants seem to be either loving beer yoga or loving the idea that someone, somewhere believes they’re serious about this hybrid art.)

Some yoga teachers frown on students using alcohol. “Alcohol and yoga, don’t go together,” Rhonda Hobgood, owner of Salt Room Yoga in Seattle, told the New York Times in 2014. “If you’re drinking, you’re detracting from that very subtle process of fine-tuning your consciousness. Alcohol is a toxin.”

Though she doesn’t go that far, Bittrick isn’t entirely sure about the pairing herself.

“Although I don’t necessarily see alcohol as part of the yoga way, I like the fact that it’s inviting to people who wouldn’t normally try a yoga class because there’s a fun experience afterward,” she told The Olympian.

“Maybe somebody comes for the drink afterward, but they are being introduced to a practice that can be beneficial for them in so many different ways.”

She wants to make yoga fun and accessible.

“I don’t want people to be intimidated by yoga,” she said. “I really want this to be a class for anybody.”

Beer yoga classes — which often have such catchy names as “Bendy Brewski,” “Stretchin’ and Belchin’” and “Three Sheets to the Warrior Pose” — have been making news for more than a decade.

There’s disagreement about who first came up with the idea, but breweries, at least, see it as a trend with staying power.

“I think there is always going to be a strong relevance between the yoga and craft beer community,” Patrick Libonate, a spokesman for The Bronx Brewery, told PorchDrinking.com. “These are both ancient traditions that still play an important role in our society.”

“It’s the balance of detox and retox,” Kaleigh Morse, co-owner of Mantra Artisan Ales in Nashville, told Eater.

It seems as though that might defeat the purpose, but there’s evidence that alcohol had a place in yoga history.

Advanced yogis in the sixth century used alcohol to connect to a powerful goddess, yoga expert James Mallinson told the Independent of London in an article titled “The truth about whether fads like goat and beer yoga are as daft as they sound.”

“You should watch out,” Mallinson joked in the 2017 article. “With beer yoga, you might get more than you bargained for.”

Bend, Breathe & Beer Yoga

• What: Experienced yogis and newcomers alike are invited to stretch in the barrel room at Three Magnets and then socialize over a beer (or other beverage).
• When: Intermediate flow from 9 to 10 a.m. Sundays and beginner/gentle flow from 10:30 to 11:30 Sundays
• Where: Three Magnets Brewing Co., 600 Franklin St SE, Suite 105, Olympia
• Tickets: $15, including a drink token, available at three-magnets-brewing-co.myshopify.com/. Advance registration is strongly recommended because space is limited.
• Bring: Comfortable clothing, a yoga mat and water
• More information: 360-972-2481, threemagnetsbrewing.com