Yoga On The Roof with Create Victoria

Perfecting my downward dog in the middle of a bustling London shopping centre isn’t the first thing that springs to mind when I imagine my happy place, but it turns out that’s exactly where it is.

Arriving slightly late after a typically fraught post-work tube journey, I found a spare yoga mat and surrounded myself with lots of enthusiastic yogis of different shapes and sizes as I tried to catch my breath. Not the most serene start to the class, but I suppose that’s the whole point of yoga – it brings calm to an otherwise hectic and muddled life, right?

The class at Cardinal Place in Victoria was held by expert yoga instructor, Jo Arthur, and as she got into the swing of things I wondered if I’d be left behind (I’m more of a high intensity kind of girl than a zenned-out goddess) but luckily she’d brought along some helpers who were on hand to guide us, or more importantly me, which I found them doing rather frequently.

Jo took us through various standard poses including the table pose, child pose and cobra pose (please don’t ask me to repeat the actual terms) and I finally started to relax as I felt the evening breeze dance around my shoulders.

I even started to forget the crowd of onlookers who were situated directly in front of us at the local Wagamama. That is until we transitioned into the floor poses and I found myself with my legs in the air in some questionable positions. Let’s just say the two soldiers sat on the front table probably weren’t focused on the food they were eating.

Miraculously the sun had been shining down on us throughout the whole session as we worked our legs, glutes, arms and core – yoga’s not just about relaxation you know. My body began to feel the burn. But before long it was time to lie down and as the class came to an end we closed our eyes and were each treated to a short but sweet-smelling head massage.

I left feeling refreshed and with a positive reminder that it’s possible to find calm in the most unexpected of places if you put your mind to it. Oh, and something we all remember once in a while – London’s quite nice when it’s sunny.

To find out about the next Yoga on the Roof Visit Create Victoria: http://www.createvictoria.com/whats-on/free-yoga-roof-cardinal-place

Written by Laura Hill

@builtlikeaboss