Bartender/yoga teacher Julie McCarthy with former NDP leader, Jack Layton, who died of cancer in Aug 2011 (image via macleans.ca)

Okay, she’s actually not the NDP‘s official yoga teacher – but she definitely is the official bartender of  the NDP (New Democratic Party, a Canadian left of centre political party and the official opposition, for all you Americans out there), who gather every Wednesday night at Brixton’s Pub in Ottawa.

And when not serving drinks, McCarthy moonlights as a yoga teacher.

In addition to bartending, McCarthy also teaches yoga at various Ottawa studios and runs into a lot of politicians in that line of work, too. She teaches yoga abs, baby and mom classes and power yoga, and has even offered yoga classes for MPs from different parties. NDP MP Dennis Bevington takes her yoga classes. She gives an “iron yoga” class that uses weights. NDP MPs Nathan Cullen and Fin Donnelly told McCarthy they could not walk the day after they took that class. Tory MP James Bezan had McCarthy as his personal trainer. [via macleans.ca]

Politics are a high-stress business and Ottawa is a high-stress town, so people need to relax in whatever ways they can, including yoga or booze.