The Shala & Vahni a New Chapter
The Shala & Vahni | a New Chapter Announcement: January 2026 After nearly three decades — 10,227 days of holding space, teaching, learning, and shared practice — The Shala enters an exciting new era. From the earliest days behind the orange door on Battersea Rise in the late 90s, The Shala has been shaped by […]
Reclaiming the Crone | Womb Wisdom Beyond Menopause
Reclaiming the Crone | Womb Wisdom Beyond Menopause by Olivia Fallon For many women, the menstrual cycle is seen as something that ends with menopause a chapter closed. But in truth, our connection to menstrual health, hormonal balance, and womb energy continues long after our final bleed. The Crone, or Wise Woman, phase is not […]
Ayurveda & the Menstrual Cycle
Ayurveda & the Menstrual Cycle | Ancient Wisdom for Modern Women by Olivia Fallon How the doshas dance through your cycle, and how to care for each phase with tenderness In Ayurveda, the ancient sister science of yoga, everything in nature is seen as a dance of the elements. Space, air, fire, water, and earth […]
A Free Yoga Nidra for if you Wake Up at Night
Yoga Nidra if you’ve woken up in the night by Melanie Cooper We’ve all had those nights: you wake up in the small hours and suddenly your mind is wide awake. The stress of knowing you “should” be asleep can spiral, leaving you worrying about feeling tired, foggy, and drained the next day. This is […]
yoga for a 28 day cycle
Women’s Wellness | A Cyclical Approach To Honouring Your Body in Yoga by Olivia Fallon For many women, the message we’ve absorbed, whether from the fitness world, social media, or even certain yoga spaces is that consistency means intensity. That to commit to your practice, you must do the same thing, with the same energy, […]
The real reason my classes started filling up again
The Real Reason My classes Started Filling up Again by Jennie Wadsten Sharma There was a time when I kept wondering if people would return to my classes. I was working so hard to give my students everything. New flows. New playlists. But something was missing. Then I tried something simple. I started using a […]
Pranayama as an essential daily support system
Pranayama An Essential Daily Support System “When you own your breath, nobody can steal your peace” Unknown Prana can be translated as energy, breath, and life force. Yama is control and Ayama is expansion. So, Pranayama is a practice of controlling breath and through that increasing and purifying our energy. It is part of the […]
Yoga Nidra and awareness of opposites
Yoga Nidra and Awareness of Opposites “The world is full of paradoxes and opposites. The art is to embrace the opposites, embrace the paradoxes and live with a smile“ – Sri Ravi Shankar Part of the purpose of yoga is to create a union within the self. This aim is facilitated by the pursuit of […]
Interview with Charli Van Ness
Charli Van Ness How did you first become interested in yoga? This is a lifelong career starting from the tender age of 2 1/2 with my 1st tap & ballet lesson followed by acrobatics at 5yrs. Music, dance, flexibility ran through my veins, my daily life force. This provided a great foundation for my body-mind-spirit […]
5 Benefits of expanding your Level 1 Teacher Training
5 Benefits of expanding your Level 1 Teacher Training The yoga world has changed in many ways in the last five years. As a studio and training centre we see these differences evolve over time. Students have been introduced to a wider variety of styles of yoga and utilise classes for more than the physical […]
Five Unexpected Reasons to do a Yoga Teacher Training
Five Reasons to do a Yoga Teacher Training transformation Over and over, graduates from our teacher training course describe their experience as transformational. If you are looking for transformation and personal growth, a yoga teacher training is an opportunity to find just that and so much more. “I have learnt so much, felt so much […]
What is nidra and how can it help me?
What is Yoga Nidra and how can it help me? By Rina Modi teacher training Manager at the Shala Over the last few years I have heard more and more yogi’s talk about Yoga Nidra, with an increasing number of teachers offering this practice as well as the demand for teacher trainings in this area. […]
Mental Health Empowerment
Mental Health Empowerment Befriending Your Mind – The Wise Mind Our minds can be our harshest judge. To overcome this tendency towards self-criticism and self-doubt we learn to live through the wise mind. This is the intersection between our emotional and reasoning minds. Our wise mind allows us to balance our rational and emotional responses […]
What is Yoga?
What is Yoga? Yoga is many things to many people. When we ask this question on our teacher training programmes we usually end up with many words scrawled all over a huge whiteboard. Yoga is hard to define as it is so expansive and all-encompassing. Here we have chosen 8 words we associate with yoga. […]
Pregnancy yoga – Benefits for prenatal wellness and birth
Pregnancy Yoga – Benefits for Pre-Natal Wellness & Birth “Whenever and however you give birth, your experience will impact your emotions, your mind, your body and spirit for the rest of your life” Ina May Gaskin Designer Pregnancy and birth is a multi-faceted time in a woman’s life. Whatever the journey, there are for sure […]
Is Chair Yoga just a Gimmick?
Yoga has an undeniable transformative effect on physical, mental, and emotional well-being. However, the image often associated with yoga – flexible, toned individuals bending and stretching on a mat – can be a deterrent for many who could benefit from its practice. Enter Chair Yoga, a practice that challenges preconceived notions and makes yoga accessible […]
Yoga Philosophy – Know Your Own What, How and Why
Yoga Philosophy – Know Your Own What, How and Why The practical benefits of yoga philosophy training by Daniel Simpson What exactly is yoga and what is it for? There are many different answers in ancient texts, and few of them apply to modern life without being reframed. Teachers often do that without even realising, then […]
Sleep | Wellness Series
Yoga for Sleep More than 71 % of people across the country do not get the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep per night, which can have a severe impact on physical and mental wellbeing. As a wellness coach, I see many clients who report not being able to get to sleep or get […]
Stress | Wellness Series
Yoga for Stress The word stress often has negative connotations to it. However, in truth, stress is a double-edged sword. Too much stress can be unhealthy, but we need some stress to create a healthy level of motivation and a push to resolve inevitable challenges and issues that are essential to our growth. Stress can […]
Burnout | Wellness Series
Yoga for Burnout What is burnout? It is a term we often refer to, particularly interchangeably with stress, but what does it actually mean? As a wellbeing coach working with adults and young people, burnout often presents in a plethora of ways with one common factor – exhaustion. Recently the World Health Organisation classified burnout […]
Anxiety | Wellness Series
Yoga for Anxiety As a wellness coach, one of the most common features I see in people with anxiety is an overwhelming incapacity to cope with day-to-day life. Daily tasks that were once manageable become insurmountable, decision-making becomes almost impossible, and overthinking takes over. Worries about the future increase in frequency and intensity, alongside physical […]
Low Mood | Wellness Series
Yoga for Low Mood Low mood is a common human experience that affects all of us at some points in our lives. The range of low mood can vary from having a low day to a crippling and consistent sense of hopelessness and futility. Unlike Anxiety, where our mind is mainly in the future worrying […]
The Shala Teacher Training Review
By Kate Towers From the first module in my Level 2 teacher training @theshalalondon – Yoga Nidra with Melanie Cooper and Jennie Wadsten in 2019 – to the final one – Asana in Depth in 2023 with Gingi Lee & Melanie Cooper, it has been such a momentous journey and I have relished every second. […]
Top 10 Benefits of Chair Yoga
🪑💫 Top 10 Benefits of Chair Yoga 💫🪑🧘♀️ Increased Accessibility: Chair yoga makes yoga accessible to every body regardless of mobility or physical challenges. Improved Flexibility: Regular chair yoga practice helps improve flexibility and range of motion. Enhanced Strength: You can work on muscle strengthening and core whilst sitting in chair Better Balance: Using the […]
Yoga adjusts & assists
By Gingi Lee When Derek Ireland started teaching me the art of yoga adjustments in the early 90s I was overly confident. I had nearly finished the 3rd ashtanga series, had made up my mind that yoga was my whole life, had no family obligations, no job to get back to, no strings attached. I […]
What is yoga nidra?
This November we will be running a 3-day Yoga Nidra Teacher Training course with international teachers Melanie Cooper and Jennie Wadsten. In the article below, Melanie defines the rich and ancient practice of Yoga Nidra and how it allows us to access different states of consciousness. Like Yoga itself, Yoga Nidra is a process and a state. You […]
Yoga philosophy at the shala
Yoga philosophy teacher, Dr Matthew Clark gives truly brilliant down to earth, insightful talks on the origins of yoga. Matthew’s wealth of knowledge is remarkable but more remarkable still is how he makes his subject so accessible, interesting and relevant to modern day practitioners. In his lectures he pulls together many threads not only of this […]
10 reasons to come back to in studio classes
After this period of isolation and solo yoga practices, here are 10 Reasons to come back to the studio for in person yoga classes: Dedicated yoga space – Get away from the 4 walls of our homes Social – Tea and chats in the lounge area Physical Contact – Hands on teacher assists and adjustments […]
Exploring the yamas & niyamas
On our 200-hour yoga teacher training, our module on Yoga Ethics is without doubt the most important part of the training. These ten guidelines lay the foundations for the course and set the expectations to take yoga beyond the mat. This thought provoking essay by one of our graduates explores these simple, yet infinitely complex […]
Men do yoga
When did you start yoga? About 15 years ago I think. I really should be a lot bendier than I am! What is your profession? “Manager”. So I spend most of my time either at a desk in front of a screen or in a conference room. Age bracket? I’m 56. Deal with it. What is your favourite […]
Yoga in 2021 and beyond…
Yoga as a practise is on the rise – there is no doubt about that. In 2016 a Yoga Journal report found that people practising yoga in the US had gone from 20.4 million in 2012 to 36.7 million in 2016. Imagine what the numbers are now! In the UK, yoga was one of the […]
How to support your home restore (yin) classes
In these strange times of imposed isolation, an accessible yoga practice can help ground the body and calm the mind. The Restore classes at the Shala often encompass poses from several styles that range from the prop-heavy Restorative Yoga style to the traditionally prop-free Yin Yoga. Over the few weeks I have been teaching online, […]
Reflections on becoming a yoga teacher
By Lesley Collinson Reflecting on yoga and how it has become my life leads me back to when I was 10 years old; following a sequence from a series of 1960’s black and white photos from a landscaped yoga book. I would question the universe in plough, thinking about the possibilities of my future; one […]
21 years & counting…
This year we are celebrating the 21st birthday of our yoga studio. 21 years, 252 months, 13,104 weeks, 91,728 days of yoga for the yogis of South London. So many moments, so many connections, so many vinyasas, so many ujjayi breaths!!! Here is some of our story from those two decades. 21 years: Connections The […]
21 years – thank you
By Gingi Lee, Founder of the Shala Twenty one years ago I climbed the stairs in an old Victorian brewery in Battersea, opened a small door into a light filled room. It was like no other space I had been in, a room with energy, nurturing, exciting, full of potential. I had spent most of […]
Practice while you can
This is a mantra I’ve repeated hundreds of thousands of times over the years when I was too hungover, depressed, heartbroken, anxious, sad or just couldn’t be arsed to get to the yoga studio. It’s also what I’ve told many people I’ve taught. Not just the able-bodied ones, but especially the less able, older people, […]
Derek Ireland
Derek was larger than life. He was the sort of person who walked into a crowded room and everyone there would turn to notice and gravitate towards him. Of course he understood this. He held court like any royalty or rockstar. Unabashed and loving the attention like a child. He would have everyone joining him, […]
Yoga nidra as a journey through the brain waves
Yoga Nidra as a journey through the brain waves by Melanie Cooper . Like yoga itself, Yoga Nidra is both a process and state. It is a set of techniques to help people get into the state of consciousness between waking and sleeping. Yoga Nidra literally means “Yogic Sleep”, but it’s not really about sleeping, it’s […]
Yoga in early pregnancy
Should We Stop Doing Yoga in the First Trimester? As a long-time ashtangi, a yoga studio owner and a mother twice over, this is a question I have agonised over during both my pregnancies and in subsequent years when advising students. It is a complex issue. During the first trimester of my first pregnancy, I […]
The beginners journey
Yoga is such a rich tradition that in many ways we all remain beginners. Those with the most advanced yoga practice may well not be the ones who can even touch their toes. Yoga is about how we live our lives and not just the shapes that we make on our mat. It is much […]
Wavemaker ~ trailblazer
Commemorating Derek Ireland Tribute Weekend | 17 & 18 Nov | with Gingi Lee and Kristina Ireland | Donations to Children with Cancer UK Have you ever flowed from upward to downward dog? Then your yoga practice has been touched by Derek Ireland’s legacy. Derek was a charismatic yogi pioneer, central in bringing Ashtanga Vinyasa […]
“A beautiful beginning”
This weekend we heard the group’s reflections on the start of their teacher training journey and how they had tried to take the teachings from the course and assimilate them in day to day life – and the challenges that that inevitably brought up for each of them. There was much talk of leaving the […]
Through the lens of a teacher trainee
Here we share the objectives, expectations and personal challenges of Ana Miranda who has just begun her teacher training at the Shala School of Yoga. “After my very first yoga class more than thirteen years ago, I have now make a conscious decision to not be guided by fear, not to regret life, to take on […]
My body rolling journey
In 1998 I was completely immersed in Ashtanga Vinyasa third series. Life was pretty much eating, sleeping and lots and lots of intense Yoga. The postures didn’t come easy for me and at times it was pure willpower to get on the mat. I was pushing the limits with my body. My body ached right […]
The gift of mindfulness
‘The precious gift of Mindfulness; like putting on a shade of brightness and clarity, mindfulness works in its simplicity. Years ago, I remember being in Moscow on a prestigious acting course and the teacher asking us pupils: “When are we truly happy?”. There was a lot of silence and thinking, followed by talking about what […]
Exploring mysore classes
A common misconception about Mysore “self-practice” classes is that they are for advanced practitioners only, but this is not the case. In fact we regularly encourage students who are newer to the practice to join our Mysore classes, especially if they have specific needs due to injury, health conditions etc. The only real prerequisite to […]
Harness the energy of the full moon
By Amy Bisazza The first full moon of the year in Cancer offers us an opportunity to create a strong foundation for the direction we wish to move in during 2017. The new and full moon have long been recognised and celebrated as auspicious times of the month in Yogic, Buddhist, farming and gardening traditions. Every […]
Brightening our inner skies
By Norman Blair I have been planning to write Brightening Our Inner Skies for more than ten years. There are notes that I made in April 2005. In 2008, I was writing down possible titles such as Opening Doors. Brightening Our Inner Skies seeks to help the reader to have a better understanding of Yin yoga. And […]
Top 5 reasons to do yoga in pregnancy
Pregnancy yoga classes not only provide a nurturing and supportive environment to guide you safely through pregnancy and birth, they also connect you with a community of pregnant women who you can share that journey with. The benefits expectant mothers and their babies receive from yoga are well documented. Here are just five reasons why […]
Rolling your way to a happier body
By Nichi Green The instant I started body rolling, my body felt more relaxed, more balanced, I felt better alignment in my joints, I felt my weight differently in my feet. My legs felt more alive and more toned. It was like the best massage I’d ever had but I was able to give this to […]
Establishing an ashtanga self practice
On Saturday 27 February, Gingi Lee will be teaching “Transition to Mysore” workshop aimed at guiding students towards an ashtanga Mysore self practice. For some students, the thought of making the transition in to Mysore classes is daunting, but once students fully experience and understand the Mysore classes, they rarely look back. The quietness and […]
The body – by norman blair
Titles can be tricky, especially in this society of speed, sound-bites and stimulants. Other options included ‘What happened in the summer holidays’ and ‘My appendix, the NHS, sangha and sustainability’. It began on the first Saturday of August. A busy day with many commitments. In the afternoon I was feeling a bit unwell – nothing […]
Sri lanka yoga retreat
We may have taken a break from running retreats this year but our next retreat offering should (hopefully) make up for the gap year! This March we will be returning to our all-time favourite retreat venue – Ulpotha, a sustainable eco-village/retreat centre in the heart of Sri Lanka, which has laid claim to being “the best […]
Slowing down with yin yoga
Beneath our busy and hectic modern lives, can lie oceans of exhaustion. In this world of speed where the senses are intensely stimulated, in our culture of distractions and instant gratification, what we often most deeply require is…slowing down. Come and experience yin yoga this Saturday afternoon with Norman Blair one of the most experienced […]
Yin becoming in
By Norman Blair who teaches Yin Yoga at the Shala | South London Fifteen years ago and yin yoga was an unknown form. A few might have heard of it and there were classes and workshops in America – but that was that. Nowadays it is becoming increasingly popular: there are several books about the practice and […]
Springtime practices
By Mimi Kuo-Deemer Ahhh, springtime. This is an expansive, strong yang time of year, where we can begin to experience a significant, energetic shift. After the quiet, cold winter months, everything is starting to transform and expand: trees are budding, flowers are blooming, the days are growing longer and (a bit) warmer. Soon, Nature will reveal a magnificent […]