At One for All Yoga our guiding mantra has always been “Community”. In the present circumstances, under the shadow of the global pandemic, we will continue to put the wellbeing of our little community and that of our wider society first and foremost.

Working hard to keep us all safe

We want to reassure you that we are doing everything in our power to create a safe environment. Below you’ll find what changes we have made and importantly why we’ve made them. For every measure mandated by the government we have exceeded requirements and taken extra steps wherever we thought them necessary.

In the Studio

Hand sanitising available in the reception and antibacterial soap in the changing rooms

WHO guidance still recommends soap and water where possible and hand sanitiser if not.

Continued enhanced cleaning

As before we will continue to ensure the studio is cleaned thoroughly daily by people who are completely invested in your safety (that’s us).

Studio 2

We’ve opened up our second studio to use as a cool practice space. This gives us more flexibility in the evenings when it’s busier and allows us to alternate classes during the day so the studios have much more time between classes to be cleaned and ventilated.

Staggered class times

We’ve altered our timetable to minimise crossover between classes, keep the common areas less busy and enable thorough cleaning without the need to rush for the next class.

Ventilation

For some months now the scientific community has been extremely clear about the need for good ventilation and airflow and the government guidelines reflect this. We’re blessed at the studio with beautiful natural light through our large windows which we can open up to allow fresh air from outside to circulate through the studio. Between classes and during the day as much as the weather allows we will be throwing our windows open. On top of this we have increased the volume the HVAC unit in the Studio 1 will be processing. The HVAC unit pulls air from the studio and extracts the heat from it before expelling it outside. At the same time drawing fresh air in from outside, heating it with the heat extracted from the old air and then circulating it into the studio.

Warm and cool classes

For the time being we’re going to cool our classes down. I know this will be disappointing for some of you (us included) but it’s the right decision. The heat in our practice has innumerable benefits one of which is raising the heart rate and causing our breathing to increase, which unfortunately is not what we need to be doing right now. We’re toning down the heat in Studio 1 to warm and Studio 2 will remain room temperature, this will enable us to sustain as safe an environment as possible for experienced yogis and total beginners alike. I need to stress there is nothing to suggest heat and sweat increase transmission rates it is simply that when you get hot your breathing increases to help cool the body.

Showers are still available but not encouraged

This is mainly because most changing rooms struggle with ventilation, we’re lucky that our ladies has beautiful south facing windows but the mens is not quite as blessed. Ideally we all arrive and leave in our kit but we know that this just isn’t practical all the time.

BYO mat

Everyone will need to bring their own mat from now on. We have some absolutely gorgeous Manduka eKO Lite mats for sale in the studio. Also a few Almost Perfect Maduka PROLite mats which are what we use at home and love them. We know that not everyone has £50 to spare for a new mat so we’re also offering our studio mats for longterm rental, they’ve been disinfected and cleaned repeatedly over lockdown and they’re perfectly good, just well used. Talk to us in the studio if this is something that would suit you.

Filtered water is still available

Just bring your own bottle or buy a reusable one at the studio. 

Increased staffing

While we’re all finding our feet Lucy or myself will always be at the studio to provide support for the students and teachers and just help things run smoothly. If you have any questions or concerns we’ll be there for you.

In Class

Room to breathe

In both studios each student will have a minimum area of 6m² and a minimum distance between them and the next student of 2m. This is a good amount of space that will feel extremely roomy. 

Marked mat placements

To ensure the above we have chevrons marked on the bamboo floor to make situating yourself in the studio straightforward. 

Propless practice

All classes including Yin will be taught without the aid of props. You are of course welcome to bring your own. Sadly we’ve had to take Restorative Yoga off the schedule for the time being.

Adapted teaching 

Our teaching has had to adapt to the circumstances, amongst other things there will be no physical adjustments, chanting or any pranayama that involves breathing through the mouth.

What can we do as students?

1. The number one thing we can all do is be aware of and respect each others’ space.
2. Recognise that we’ve all had very different experiences of the pandemic so far and all will continue to do so.
3. In class and throughout your practice, practise your Ujjayi breath. In through the nose, out through the nose with a constriction at the back of your throat to regulate the inhalation and exhalation. Please talk to your teacher or Lucy or myself if you’d like to go over this.