Yoga and the City: where the busiest go to stretch
The City is not a place one associates with yoga. Pounding away on a treadmill in a gym seems a more natural fit for the thrusting speed of life in financial services.
But dig a little deeper and you’ll find the City has more holistic alternatives, from mediation centres to secret spas. One of its greatest hidden gems, though, is the new Blue Cow Yoga, the City’s first and largest dedicated yoga studio. More reminiscent of a sleek Manhattan-style health palace than a basement on Moorgate, it’s fast become a favourite among City high-flyers, from hedge fund honchos to investment gurus, who find the focusing, invigorating effects of yoga to be well worth an hour at lunch-time. Designed by Shoreditch-based designers Household, the studio is an elegantly interconnecting space, all clean lines, pale wood and – surprisingly for a basement – full of light.
Founded by ex-Army infantryman Mark Evans and ex-City worker Fran Gillibrand, Blue Cow is both the result of its founders’ love of yoga – honed after stints in Goa – and an attempt to make yoga realistic for matter-of-fact people with busy lives. City workers just aren’t going to go for anything too incense-seeped or airy-fairy; they want efficiency, results and quality me-time, and Blue Cow’s founders know this. Gillibrand says: “We were frustrated by the mystic which surrounded the discipline, which we found could be very off-putting to the novice. We felt that it was time that a different approach to Yoga was available, one that is less worthy, less exclusive. I wanted the option of having a glass of wine after a class without being frowned upon.” Showers and changing rooms are gym or spa-like, too, rather than either non-existent or basic as they are at most yoga studios. Nice shampoos, towels, that sort of thing.
Choice is the name of the game at Blue Cow. There are a range of yoga styles on offer, from ashtanga to pregnancy, with daily classes from 6:15am to 7:45pm, as well as dance classes, mediation and breathing workshops. Better yet, there are also two massage rooms, offering a range of 30 and 60 minute treatments that include sports massages, reiki, reflexology, facial pressure point massage and trigger point massage.
I had an hour’s therapeutic massage and – though the therapist indulged in an irritatingly long preamble about how I was in a safe space, that I could allow myself to relax and so on (I had every intention of doing so without her permission), the treatment itself was firm, focused and worked through deep, firm knots in my upper back. It was also the perfect follow-up to my earlier attempts at Downward Dog in class.
These are stressful times. Paradoxically this means there’s never been a better time to make the time for yoga, pilates or even just a lovely massage – it’ll do you (and your work) a lot more good than a calorific sandwich scarfed from Pret. For more info, schedules and treatment menus, go to bluecow.glowlive.co.uk.