Anna gets hot, Part I

 

Where: Pop up Hotpod Yoga in W9

When: h 14 - 15, 14 Dec 13

How: Booked on line, have received, receipt, relevant instructions (towel, water, recommended to get onsite 15m before), and friendly reminder the day before

 

Having practised hot yoga before I was not at all worried by the prospect of yoga at 37 degrees.

I took me a while to find the place, though. I was looking for a studio, instead a few lads from a nearby pub told me that the class was probably at the Paddington Arts Centre, a pretty decadent building, no info of any sorts, none at the reception.

As I go up the stairs, I meet Nick Higgins, one of the two founders of hot pod yoga. He is very friendly and welcomes me with smiley eyes to this inflatable pop up hot yoga pod, asking if I am familiar with yoga at all. He seems so young - def in his 20ies.  I have practiced some - I say. You will be fine, he mentions, my classes are flow  - just slow down if the heat bugs you.

I enter a parquet floored room where there this this massive inflatable tent (so it seems). Nick tells me it takes him 10 minutes to get it set up and roughly the same to get the pod to 37 degrees.

I chat in the kind of changing room with two girls, Americans, telling me that the class I am going to have is going to be awesome, so much fun. Ok then, I am ready.

There are 18 mats laid in this dark violet pod, no props, lights are down, nice and cosy atmosphere - if only I did not have the fan heater next to my mat.

The class comprises 50m of flow and 10 min of savasana. The sequence being quite balanced in fact, open level with good variety and a few challenges. My class mates are all girls expect a guy, the majority in their twenties. Americans and French dominate. How do I know? Well, it seems they had to talk during the entire class...not cool. Nick managed the class well, but it felt a little shallow to me. No philosophy, little more than a hot aerobics class I am afraid. But my class mates seemed to have loved it. I asked a few after call if this is what they expect from yoga. I got a unison yes - they like it hot, and they prefer this to Bikram as more personal. Indeed, Nick provided individual attention, he told me he changes his sequences - and he genuinely seemed a nice guy, happy to be there and teach.

He trained at Yoga Haven and set up this company with a friend of his, newer to yoga. They started this pop up last Jan, but they are getting a 'permanent' hot pod place in Portobello and another one in Hackney from Jan 14. Maybe more. They also have a number of corporate and school clients - where they hold classes regularly, every time bringing all the equipment, pod, mats, heating system, music etc. Nick and Max (Henderson, his business partner) are serious about hot yoga. They have created the designs of various pods – in essence pop-up, heated studios - and they have even got a patent pending on the concept.

Prices vary from 10 pounds (the 1h class I attended) to 35 per class (their boutique classes), and there are of course various carnet on offer.

They managed to transform a good idea into a promising business which is taking off: pop up and not, corporate clients. franchising: hats off.  
Having sad that, I wished the class was a little deeper.

From their website (www.hotpodyoga.com):

'We make hot yoga accessible – that’s the real raison d’etre of the business. Accessible to all types and accessible at any location. We passionately believe in the good that hot yoga can do, and want to get as many people involved as we can. We want to get it into offices, into halls, into gyms and into schools. Everywhere! We also want to give the entrepreneurial yogis amongst us the chance to have their own hot yoga business in a really accessible way – through our franchising operation'.