In case you missed it, I am becoming a yoga person. Except that with me being me, I can’t just go and do normal yoga, it has to be yoga with a twist. So here are five classes that have sparked my interest in the past couple of months.
The One Where You Strike A Pose
There are two things I’m slowly but surely becoming obsessed with: yoga and voguing (I blame RuPaul’s Drag Race). Good thing then that House of Voga has created a super fun class blending those two things together!
I recently went to their event at Landing Forty Two (at the top of the Leadenhall Building) where their lovely instructor Jess took us through a variety of voga flows, striking a pose with a view of the Shard, the Walkie Talkie and the river Thames.
I had such a blast and left with a lot of pain in my arms. All that voguing and flowing in lunge poses really gets to you, but it’s way more entertaining than a standard yoga or aerobic class – and it burns between 650 and 850 calories, so that’s a proper workout! Plus, I’ve been trying to up my voguing game but I often feel quite intimidated by straight-up voguing classes (too technical for awks people like me) and House of Voga’s event was the perfect way to get started.
Perks of the class: if you’re extra like me you can “dress to express”, i.e. with leotards, which are my life. House of Voga’s classes start at £12. The team also organise Voga brunches and retreats – read more on their website.
The One That’s Good For The Community
Supply Yoga is a tiny gem in my local community, Hackney. Nestled in the quiet streets of Lower Clapton, Supply offers yoga at sustainable prices and use the money from classes to help fund free yoga for community support service users across London.
Supply is my oasis for relaxation, and I have fallen in love with their more spiritual, strengthening and relaxing classes. My favourite ones are the Rest and Restore class, which is an hour that I take just for myself to open and stretch my muscles while my mind winds down; Yang to Yin, a slightly faster but equally relaxing pose-based class; and Move and Breathe, a class exploring movement and breath working on more or less challenging poses that has been helping me improve my flexibility considerably.
Like a true neighbourhood studio, Supply often hosts workshops such as Queer Yoga or Yoga For Anxiety that are set to target social ailments like mental illness, or strengthen community bonds. Give them a try – their Friday night classes are my faves!
Yeah, OK, I’m old
The One In A Hot Pod
With classes all over London, the UK and even Africa, Hotpod Yoga is a bikram-like yoga class where you practice inside a cocoon of glowing lights, smelling heady aromas and listening to soothing sounds.
The classes can host up to 20 people in a violet pod heated to 37 °C, and they feature achievable but still intense yoga flows. Hot Pod Yoga is ideal if you like a challenge and if you want to be part of a vibrant community – the studio was full of bubbly yogis who all knew each other on Monday night and you could tell the teachers loved chatting with and nurturing everyone who came to their classes.
I went to their Hackney branch, under the railway arches by London Fields park. Pay-as-you-go classes cost £14 but Hot Pod has a variety of membership options available to make the most out of your practice and still get a discount.
I feel like, however urban and cool, the setting makes the train noise inevitable, and that the studio might benefit from having a receptionist instead of leaving the teachers to have to sign everybody in. Despite the initial chaotic vibe however, the class itself was really fun and a perfect way to wind down and to sweat the stress out.
The violet pod and its lighting, together with the essential oils within the room, really do make the experience special and the community around the studio shows Hot Pod Yoga does become addictive. Like any successful workout, my muscles really felt the burn the morning after!
The One In A Pub
Registered yoga teacher and reiki practitioner Sasha Szczepanski, who specialises in pregnancy and women’s yoga, has come up with a pub yoga class happening in the mornings in Battersea.
Perfect for freelancers and stay-at-home parents, classes are held at the Duchess Belle pub in Battersea AND you can get 20% off on food and drink at the pub afterwards. Win win.
The One Where You Fly
As a pole dancer, I can’t really get enough time upside down and aerial yoga is pure bliss for me.
Although I find it slightly more challenging because you’re hanging from silks, it’s an amazing workout that will strengthen your arms and core while simultaneously helping you stretch.
I tend to practice it in my pole home London Dance Academy, to end a hard day of training with some Anti-Gravity time – however, aerial yoga is available all over London if you’re based too far from Clerkenwell. You can book here.
**Hot Pod Yoga and House of Voga gave me a free trial to one of their classes but all opinions are my own**
