The best new yoga classes

Introducing the best new yoga classes to mix up your workout routine.

Yoga is a mainstay in our fitness routine for its strengthening, toning and mindful qualities. But, as with anything, it can quickly become stale if it’s not varied. A new year, however, is a great time to shake things up, capitalise on new yogic offerings and try something new. Whether you’re looking to tone up or wind down, there are plenty of classes for you this 2017. Here are the best.

Free yoga at Lululemon Regent Street

Lululemon’s new Regent Street store has certainly started with a bang, not least because it’s offering Sunday morning yoga classes free of charge. Head down for 10:30am (first mat, first served) and enjoy a yoga session with store ambassador Will Wheeler before making the most of the new Neat Nutrition cafe located directly opposite the workout/yoga space. Serving coffees, tea, vegan protein shakes, salads, gluten-free treats, and protein, brunch and granola pots, it’s the perfect post-yoga hangout for an easy-like-Sunday-morning weekend workout.
lululemon.co.uk

Calm by Candlelight at Virgin Active

Virgin Active has teamed up with international yoga expert Patrick Beach for its newest yoga class: Calm by Candlelight. You guessed it, the 90-minute class is performed in atmospheric candlelight for the full yogic experience, submerging both body and mind in relaxation. Working the entire body, Calm by Candlelight focuses on restoration and rejuvenation with calming postures and long holds that concentrate on stretching, recovery and breathing. Signature poses include a series of deep hip openers (such as dragon pose and pigeon pose) that aid flexibility and help the body to release tension.
virginactive.co.uk

FLY at Fierce Grace City

This new one-hour class at city yoga haunt Fierce Grace builds upper-body strength, balance and focus. While you may not fly, per se, you will learn the alignment protocols of inversions and arm balancing, turning yourself upside down while getting fit and attempting new challenges. Poses such as crow, crane, side crow, flying pigeon and dolphin are combined with the studio’s traditional framework of flow, intensity, rest and challenge to seriously shake up your yoga routine.
fiercegracecity.com

Cleansing & Rejuvenating Hatha Yoga at Thaxted Yoga

Head down to Thaxted Yoga in Essex on Wednesday evenings for its new yoga offering. The Cleansing & Rejuvenating Hatha Yoga class uses pranayama (breathing exercises) and the incorporation of drishtis (focal points) to cleanse both body and mind, while practising traditional yoga postures to clear and focus the mind. For a seriously dynamic but gentle practice, this class – suitable to all abilities – is a fast ticket to unwinding.
thaxtedyoga.co.uk

BoxingYoga at Fitness First

Not all yoga is intended to relax. BoxingYoga combines boxing philosophy and technique with Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga for an exciting and challenging workout. Abandoning yoga’s more traditional conventions – such as chanting and Sanskrit terminology – the 60-minute class swaps in streamlined boxing-inspired movements for a whole-body workout that will loosen tight muscles, develop body awareness and improve physical strength . The four stages  (warm-up, strength, mobility and cool-down) of the class are performed over 12 rounds in one continuous sequence to music.
fitnessfirst.co.uk