By Christina Maren Brown – Contributor

Motionball and the Happy Hour Club hosted Tipsy Yoga at Tuesday Gait night where there were varying levels of sipping and stretching!

Bishop’s motionball is a student-run non-profit that raises funds and awareness for the Special Olympics Canada Foundation. Motionball partnered with the Happy Hour Club to hold a yoga class with a twist where students were invited to grab a drink and unwind with some stretching, chatting, and mostly sipping. As guests arrived, they were met with the sound of slow, soft music, with candles and fairy lights decorating the Gait floor and low blue, green, and purple lights. Once everyone had thawed from the snowstorm, it quickly turned into a lively and playful class that made a total of $80 which contributed to motionball’s overall fundraising goal of $20,000.

Motionball committee’s junior lead, Taylor Mason, ran the session and began by prefacing that if you find your glass is empty you are welcome to get a refill at any time. As any yoga class, guests were encouraged to choose their own intention, and that they did. Every pose that allowed the yogis to reach their drink, they were invited to take a sip, with some taking sips unprompted and others sitting on their mat with their drink comfortably in hand.

The originality of the event was very well received. Co-creator of the Happy Hour Club, Avery Piche, said what she loved about the event was that she’d “never really seen anything like it before” and had “never been to a bar where they did yoga at the same time”. She goes on to say that “since the campus is so small people can have associations with different spaces,” and, “while we have yoga at the Sportsplex, by doing it at the Gait it’s just a completely different vibe.”

The feedback from the event was overwhelmingly positive. Jada, one of the guests, was feeling burnt out and was not planning to attend that day, but said “when we arrived the vibes were immediately so good. It was so calm and welcoming and everyone was so nice.” Reflecting on the experience, she said she was “extremely happy” that she chose to attend and “hopefully something like this will be hosted again soon!”

Yoga instructor Mason said “I’ve never heard of it and never taught it, so it was really fun to have a great reaction and an interactive crowd. I definitely would love to keep doing it in the future.”

Piche was very happy with the turn out, but did notice it was all girls. With that in mind, when looking at future events, perhaps the next addition should be some puppies?

Overall, the event proved to be a hit and one that would do well being brought back. Piche says “stay tuned…because Happy Hour club will for sure be bringing Taylor back for another round of Tipsy Yoga!”