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Yoga at a vineyard seems like a no-brainer: You get to exercise outside in a beautiful spot and then drink wine. What’s not to love?

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That’s the thinking behind Whitney Schmella’s “Yoga in Wine Country” series this summer, which she started in June and hopes will continue through September. Branching out from the Yoga by Whitney classes she teaches at Zillah’s Studio Y, she’s now offering weekend classes at various wineries around Zillah for anyone who wants to join.

“I’m very excited that I’m kind of the first one getting in on this. … It’s a real treat to come out here and use these beautiful grounds,” she said in between classes one Sunday in July at Silver Lake Winery, gazing out at the view afforded by the hillside location. “These vineyards are so beautiful and picturesque.”

One of Schmella’s regular students, Deb Estrada, hatched the idea with her this spring. Estrada had long worked with regional tourism efforts in the Toppenish-Zillah area, so she knew many of the wineries and their owners.

“It’s kind of an exchange of services. They provide the wineries — a beautiful venue — and she brings people to the wineries,” said Estrada, who now works in the Silver Lake tasting room. “One way you could look at it is, we bring yoga to wine people, and the wineries bring the wine people to yoga.”

So far, Schmella has held classes at Bonair Winery, Knight Hill, Portteus, Hyatt and Silver Lake. Her first two-day event was at Silver Lake, which wanted to have two classes each on a Saturday and Sunday in July. The wineries don’t charge her for the use of the grounds.

Almost all of her students so far are regulars from her studio classes — some of whom are visiting the wineries for the first time. They bring their mats, unfurl them on the grass and listen to Schmella’s instruction amid chirping birds and buzzing insects. She teaches both Hatha and Vinyasa classes.

There are no mirrors to watch their practice as in most yoga studios, but Schmella doesn’t have mirrors in her studio, either.

The grass can make balancing tricky, said student Travis Ferguson, who’s also Schmella’s boyfriend.

“It’s definitely a little bit more of a challenge, but I think it’s always nice to kind of test your abilities a little bit more,” he said after a recent class. “I thought it would be a little bit harder to focus, but … having the big open area instead of just a wall, I think it allows you to zone off a little better.”

Out at the wineries, Estrada said, your “drishde,” or focal point that helps balance, can be “a rose out here, or a vine, or a blade of grass, for that matter.”

The Yakima Valley’s summer temperatures can make other forms of exercise miserable, but suit yoga quite well.

“During July and August, you can do some seriously hot yoga out here,” Estrada said. “We call it ‘solar yoga’ when we do it here at the winery. Instead of heaters, we use the sun.”

A few people have found Schmella’s winery classes through events listed online, and she hopes that keeps happening.

“We’re hoping to continue to spread the word and get people — even people who are over here for the weekend, wine-touring or whatnot, if they’d like to take a yoga class before they start their day,” she said. “That’s kind of our ultimate goal. But it’s been great to have the support of my regulars.”

Feedback so far has been all positive, she says.

“They really enjoy the scenery, just being outside, the sounds, the birds — just kind of getting in a different environment from the yoga studio,” Schmella said. “It’s just nice to take your practice somewhere else. It just changes things.”

Estrada says they hope to expand next year to host multiday yoga retreats, combining yoga, wine tasting, guest speakers and possibly juicing or other cleanse-type practices.

“It’s all about just kind of balancing your life,” she said. “In the wine industry, we encourage people to relax and enjoy themselves and enjoy the venue, and yoga teaches you to let go and unwind, as well.”