Leeds based yoga studio North and Soul offers online yoga classes for everyone.
Looking after our physical and mental health is more important than ever right now. But, with all the gyms now closed, our opportunities for exercise have diminished. However, just because we need to spend more time inside, it doesn’t mean that we cannot keep active and look after our wellbeing – especially when companies like North and Soul are still there for us.
North and Soul is a yoga studio based in Otley. The studio normally runs popular daily yoga sessions and also offers regular yoga retreats to relaxing locations such as Andalucía, Spain. However, when the studio closed a couple of weeks ago following government guidance about social distancing, the owners, keen to keep going, diversified their offering and moved some of their classes online.
North and Soul know how beneficial yoga can be to physical and mental wellbeing. Whilst yoga can be good for fitness, with some challenging postures, the practice can also give us the time and space to let go, take our mind off the craziness of the day, and make the most of the stillness. Sounds good to me. North and Soul wanted to release this potential of yoga to help all the people stuck in their homes out of usual routines and away from their friends and family. The owners wanted to find a way spread the benefits of yoga with the masses, and were keen to ensure that, despite all the calamity going on outside, a social support network could be developed.
So, they started offering online yoga classes every day via Facebook. The classes can be joined live but are available to view and join after filming. This means that anyone, anywhere, can join the class at a time and place that suits them. Incredibly, despite only launching at the beginning of the week, the North and Soul Facebook page has gone viral. In addition to the studio’s usual members, who have moved online with the owners, there are 25,000+ other people from across the world engaging with the classes and practising yoga from their homes. Simply incredible.
I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, so I ‘attended’ one of the yoga classes yesterday morning via Facebook Live. I loved how easy the class was to follow, and enjoyed the time stretching, moving and clearing my head. I also found it incredible how close I felt to others, despite being on my own at home. I would encourage others, no matter their age, fitness level or yoga experience, to give a class a go. You can join the classes via their Facebook page, here: https://www.facebook.com/northandsoul/?ref=br_rs
The classes are offered for free, but if you would like to make a donation to North and Soul to help cover the costs of their daily online yoga sessions and help them to keep their heads above water throughout this period of flux, you can make a payment via a secure portal on their home page here: https://www.northandsoul.co.uk/otley-courthouse-vinyasa-flow/
Main image by Irina L.
