‘I Tried Pig Yoga—Here’s What I Learned’

If there’s one fitness fad I never could’ve guessed would catch on, it’d be working out with farm animals. Actually, it’s more specific than that: doing yoga with farm animals. But right as everyone and their mother started talking about downward dogging with goats, I had the opportunity to chaturanga with a different kind of pet: a pig. 

Yeah, you read that right—I did yoga with a pig. A mini micro pig, to be exact, while I was on a recent trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was named Tequila Barbie, and she scurried underneath my crow pose, wore a ridiculously cute tutu and hat, and even performed tricks on a Bosu ball. And even though I was pretty skeptical when I first heard about the class—I mean, how good of a workout could this actually be?—the more people told me about how popular the donation-based experience was (they regularly host between 100 and 170 participants), the more I wanted to get bendy with Babe (err, I mean Barbie). 

As soon as I arrived at El Pinto, which hosts the YogaRita class in their open-air pavilion every week, the energy was infectious. Women of every shape and size were decked out in yoga gear, the mats were rolled out, and tequila was poured. I wasn’t sure how many people would actually imbibe during the practice, but once I asked around it was obvious that it’s more rare for someone not to. Plus, if your drink runs low, there are servers walking around ready to give you a refill. 

But before I moved into my first sun salutation, I had to know what gave yoga instructor Sydney Forestal the idea to create this unconventional concept. 

“It happened randomly one day when I wanted a margarita during class and I had people chant, ‘When I say yoga you say rita. Yoga-rita, yoga-rita,” she says. “[Soon after] I introduced drinking before, during, and after class into the yoga community…I love that the environment is something that you will not find in your average yoga class. Each one is full of energy and challenges, and you walk away with a memory that’s definitely worth sharing.” 

After my final savasana, I had to agree with Sydney on all counts. It was a yoga class like no other (and I’ve taken a lot of yoga classes). It was energetic and, maybe most surprisingly of all, full of challenges. Here’s what I took away from the fun-filled practice.