Baron, a gray and black-spotted pot belly pig, bursts with excitement when he hears a car door open.

“He loves going on outings,” said Erin Brinkley-Burgardt, co-owner of Hog Haven Farm. “If he’s out and about just here on the property and we open a car door, he wants to get in the car.”

A therapy pig, he’s always ready to go on a trip. Sometimes it’s a trip to visit elderly residents or individuals with disabilities. But other times, he’s going to yoga.

Hog Haven Farm, a 38-acre pig rescue just outside of Denver, has been hosting pig yoga since 2019 at local breweries around the area — and yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like.

‘Silent Night’ event set to highlight natural sounds of Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

“It’s pretty similar to the concept of goat yoga,” Brinkley-Burgardt said. “While the attendees are actively doing yoga, we have pigs walking around and interacting with people.”

Each class consists of small groups of 15-20 attendees and about two to three pigs, Brinkley-Burgardt said.

“Pigs are such social creatures that it’s a rewarding experience for them, and it’s a lot of fun for the attendees as well,” Brinkley-Burgardt said.

Cheerios are sprinkled around the area of the yoga class to encourage the pigs to interact with attendees. The organization also provides a selection of bite-size fruits and veggies, like carrots and celery, to feed the pigs with at the event.

“We kind of let everyone know how to interact with the pigs before we get started,” she said. “Letting the pigs sniff their hands, the appropriate places to pet pigs and how to feed them treats, too, because some pigs can take your treats pretty quick.”

The pigs who attend the yoga classes are trained therapy animals from Hog Haven Farm, Brinkley-Burgardt said.

Here’s your chance to see Keanu Reeves’ band during three shows in Colorado

To become a therapy pig, they must complete one to three months of instruction, where they learn potty training, leash training and how to remain calm in an unpredictable environment.

“The potty training is actually the easiest part. Pigs are very clean animals and very easy to work with on that behavior,” she said. “Harness and leash training can take some time and getting them to respect basic commands can take a little bit of time, but they’re smart animals and easy to work with, especially if you use food to motivate them.”

While the rescue is home to 151 pigs, only some are selected to pursue therapy training.

“We usually have a good idea of which pigs will be a good fit for the program to just based on their personalities,” she said. “Some are just pretty naturally disposed to being good therapy pigs.”

That includes Baron, who stood out immediately with his outgoing personality.

“He’s one of our most social pigs. He loves meeting new people,” she said. “He took barely any training at all, honestly. We kind of picked up on his personality early on and said, ‘He’s going to be a good one for the therapy program.’”

The therapy pigs at Hog Haven Farms are permanent residents, Brinkley-Burgardt said, but the rescue does have pigs available for adoption. As the largest of only three pig rescues in the state, Brinkley-Burgardt said there’s plenty of room for their pink-nosed friends.

Full Throttle: Colorado Springs pilot has flown over 90 combat missions, stunt doubled for Tom Cruise in ‘Top Gun’

“We primarily work with pigs that have been abandoned, abused, neglected or have jumped from slaughter-bound truck,” she said. “We focus on rehabilitating them, providing a safe, happy, healthy home for them. We’re located on 30 acres. So we’ve got ample space for pigs, and we adopt out as many as we can as pets.”

As for the beginnings of pig yoga, Burgardt thought of the concept in 2019, trying to find a way for the general public to interact with therapy pigs.

“We do have pigs that are very used to seeing the public and interacting with strangers and we wanted to have more of an inclusive environment for just the general public without having to have people come all the way to Hog Haven,” she said.

And it just so happened that a close friend of Brinkley-Burgardt, Mickey Freese, is a yoga instructor

“A dear friend of mine is longtime yoga instructor, so she and I collaborated to create this,” Brinkley-Burgardt said.

In addition to starting up pig yoga again, the farm is also re-opening its farm days this summer, allowing visitors to come by and meet the pigs. Brinkley-Burgardt and her husband, Andrew, opened the farm back in 2014 after adopting their first pig, Pipsqueak.

“I’d always wanted to pig my entire life and the right opportunity came around,” Brinkley-Burgardt said. “She totally changed our lives.”

Interested in pig yoga? Brinkley-Burgardt says grab your tickets quickly, as the event sells out fast – usually within 48 hours. Oh, and don’t worry about hitting every pose – it might be difficult.

“By the end of yoga, almost everybody is into it,” she said. “It’s very popular. Everybody enjoys hanging out with the pigs. I don’t think a lot of stretching gets done during yoga, because people will stop to take selfies and feed the pigs.”