London:
SUP Yoga
Embrace your inner yoga mermaid (or merman) to experience one of the latest fitness trends available in London, Stand Up Paddle Boarding Yoga. Your balance and core strength will be challenged as you are tested by the elements to stay focused on your pose whilst trying not to fall in the water.
As well as soaking up vitamin D and connecting with your natural environment, practising yoga around water will give you the benefits of negative ions, which increase your sense of wellbeing and enhance respiratory function.
SUP Yoga classes are currently being run by Pure Yoga Zone at Kew Bridge and Paddington Basin with both group lessons and private coaching available.
Voga
An interesting fusion of Madonna’s famous 80’s dance and yoga, Voga was created by Juliet Murrell, a former film industry art director, who wanted to combine a cardiac workout with yoga.
Voga classes include stretching and striking a (yoga) pose to an 80s beat, but with a strong focus on the mind, breathing, listening to the beat and expressing yourself. With each new music track, a new flow is introduced, with moves flowing from strong warrior poses to vogue arms.
It gets easier with practise and classes are available at Bethnel Green Working Men’s Club and The Proud Archivist, Hertford Road.
Boxing Yoga
A growing trend for those into boxing sports, BoxingYoga™ fuses Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga principles with boxing techniques to create a new discipline for competitive fighters.
BoxingYoga™ from Total Boxer improves mental strength, physical power, flexibility and control. Key to building up all over body strength and flexibility, BoxingYoga™ opens up the hips, chest and shoulders and helps to increase the range of movement through spiral dynamics of the spine.
Classes are held every day of the week at the North London Boxing Club near Muswell Hill.
Yoga breaks near London
Yoga Break at Oxon Hoath, Kent
With vegetarian meals, body work treatments and massage on top of seven classes of yoga over three days, the Oxon Hoath Rejuvenating Yoga weekend from Yoga Jeannie is perfect for devoted yogis. Forty minutes from Hildenborough station (London Bridge trains to Hildenborough run every thirty minutes), Oxon Hoath estate is an ideal location for a serene weekend out of the capital.
Find out more about Yoga Jeannie breaks
Forest Holidays, Blackwood Forest
For those who prefer to practise yoga without instruction, take a break to Blackwood Forest. Forest Holidays provide luxury lodges where you can practise yoga on the private deck of your cabin or in a serene forest clearing. Early morning is the perfect time for outdoor forest yoga, giving you the chance to absorb the sights and sounds of the woods as they stir into life.
Find tips and stretch ideas from forest yoga expert Gerry Broom
Champneys Spa, Henlow
The 150 acre parkland estate of Henlow is just an hour from London, with Champneys Spa running weekend breaks from a Friday afternoon to Sunday evening. Pilates classes and yoga are available as well as an impressive eighty different spa therapies! Detox with a high energy session of spinning, aqua classes or even hula hooping.
Find out more about Champneys Spa with Free Spirit Travel
Escape Europe
Villa Nicole, Cannes
Make like a celebrity with an at-home visit from a private yoga instructor at the glamorous Villa Nicole in the south of France. The manicured lawns and scented gardens are beautiful surroundings for a yoga session, and you can keep the healthy holiday theme going with a dip in the private pool and a hike around the surrounding Opio hills.
Villas Cepheus House, Corfu
Detox in your own time with a stay at Cepheus House, with a private gym and visits from your own yoga instructor. You’ll be glad you won’t need to leave the house to exercise, as the rooms and views at Cepheus are too good to miss. The villa even includes its own sauna and steam room for post-yoga relaxation. Find out more about Cepheus House
