A few tips to navigate the London Yoga jungle!

London, as usual with this city, can be as much amazing for the number of things it offers, whilst at the same time confusing given it offers too much sometimes!

This is true also for yoga: I mean, probably after New York and India, London can be considered one of the best cities to live in if you want to practice yoga.

However, finding the right studio, with right teachers, also based on the type of yoga you practice is not easy and requires quite a lot of research and trials before creating your shortlist of favorite yoga studios.

This led me to thinking of sharing my personal shortlist of yoga studios where I usually go to attend classes in London (see map below).

Note: my practice is more aligned to Ashtanga and Rocket yoga (the more physically intense ones), but the studios you find listed below offers also other types of yoga. Also, I have highlighted on the map the studios I usually go to (mostly based on convenience based on the fact that I live in North Greenwich), but most of these names have several studios across London, which you can choose based on your convenience.

1. Indaba Yoga (Marylebone)

Address: 8 Hayes Pl, Marylebone, London NW1 6UA

Indaba, in Marylebone, is one of the biggest and well known yoga studios in London. It counts great teachers as Leon London, Stewart Gilchrist, Steffy White and Hortense Suleyman for example.

It offers a great variety of classes, every time and day of the week and with different styles.

Unfortunately, the location of Indaba is not convenient to where I both live and work, so I mostly attend weekend workshops here. I can suggest the Leon London ones, Steffy White and Hotense Suleyman offers small group workshops focused on arm balances (I did the pincha one, and it really helped me in starting to nail this pose!).

2. Kindred Yoga Life (Deptford Bridge)

Address: Unit D, Norfolk House, Brookmill Rd, Saint John's, London SE8 4HL

Kindred is probably my favorite studio in London as of now, both in terms of quality of teaching and students attending the classes and for the friendly and familiar environment and community created by the couple which founded it (the founder Katarina Rayburn is a great teacher too!).

Also in this case I cannot attend many classes during the week, but I try to join for weekend classes and workshops. A few suggestions is the 7.30 pm Rocket class led by Katarina or a cover (David Pearce is also very good!) and the Dynamic Vinyasa class at 4 pm on Saturday led by Hannah Whittingham. In terms of workshops watch out for the ones to nail Tricky Transitions (held by both Katrina or I recently did one with Lita Sattva), Arm Balances (Helen Russel Clarke and Lita Sattva). I also went for the Dharma Masterclass with Mark Khan once, but I strongly suggest to take it if you have a quite advanced practice incorporating multiple arm balances, as pinchas and handstand.

3. YogaRise (Peckham)

Address: 133 Rye Lane Second Floor, Unit B 2.1, London SE15 4ST

Note that Yogarise has also studios in Covent Garden and Stretham

I recently started to attend weekend classes at Yogarise; I personally go to the Peckham one, given it is quite convenient to reach from where I live and, also, because practicing in the Bussey Building is very enjoyable given the high ceiling and bright and natural light.

I have started to attend classes here mostly because the 2 teachers I will take the ypga teacher training with (Marcus Veda and Hannah Whittingham) teach here a few classes. In particular, I strongly suggest the Marcus Veda 11.30 am Rocket yoga class on Sunday and also the 1.30 pm Ashtanga Vinyasa class led by Hannah on Saturday.

3. More Yoga (Tower Bridge)

Address: 49 Tower Bridge Rd, Bermondsey, London SE1 4T

Note that More Yoga has multiple studios across London (check out the list here https://www.moreyoga.co.uk/studios/)

More Yoga is building a big presence in London and is now counting more than 20 studios all around London.

The offer is quite varied in terms of courses and everyone can find a class based on different styles (I tried here the Vinyasa, Rocket and Jimavukti classes).

4. Triyoga (Shoreditch)

Address: 2, 10 Cygnet St, Shoreditch, London E1 6GW

Note that More Yoga has studios also in Chelsea, Ealing, Soho and Camden.

I have to be honest saying that I have never been in this studio (even if I am planning to go!), but I could not miss this big name in the London yoga scene.

Triyoga has some great yoga teachers as Marcus Veda, Julie Montagu, Emi Tull and Hannah Whittingham to name a few - so strongly suggest to give it a try!

5. Canada Water Studio (Canada Water)

Address: Surrey Quays Road, London SE16 7AP

Even if probably this small studio is not comparable with the ones above, I wanted to include it as it is the one where I started practicing yoga and still attend classes here as it is the most convenient for after-work practice.

In particular, I attend 2 classes during the week: the 7.30 pm Dynamic Yoga class led by Olga Orlova on Tuesday, a very good and dynamic class, and the 8.15 pm Rocket Yoga class led by Irene Corosu on Thursday, classic rocket class where you are invited to play with inversions if you wish.

A few other studios to keep in mind ...

- If you are working on learning or improving your handstand then the place to go is the London School of Hand Balancing and Acrobatics led by Sainaa in a church hall in Belsize Park. He offers both Beginners/ Intermediate courses (I went twice last year) and Intensive training, where a lot of yoga teachers go to perfect their handstand

- If you fancy hot/ Bikram yoga, then Bikram Yoga London (either in Canary Wharf or in London Bridge) offers a wide range of 90 min classes. I suggest, however, not to go there as complete beginner given that the heat makes the practice pretty intensive, especially in terms of keeping a constant breadth

- Fancy free classes? Check the Sweaty Betty and Lululemon websites for schedule of free yoga lessons in their stores (usually either pre or post closing of the shop)