Meet the Community.

Isabel

Member since 2012

“Brain switch off. After more than 20 years, I still feel it every single time.”

Isabel has been practising yoga for over 20 years and has been part of this community since 2012 — here when the studio first opened its doors. Off the mat she has spent her career in human rights work with Amnesty International (she has also, separately, met both the Dalai Lama and Daniel Craig — twice, on the Daniel Craig front). She comes to Phoenix for the space, the teachers, and what she calls “brain switch off.”

Heather

Member since 2014

“When Phoenix was born, I felt such a strong connection to this community. Thrilled to be here — an old-timer among so many wonderful new faces.”

Heather’s yoga journey started after breaking her ankle on a remote Greek island — surgery, physio, and a recommendation to try yoga to get her mobility back. She walked into Kylie’s fundamentals class in 2014 and never looked back. Yoga has since carried her through full-time work, two kids, GCSEs, A Levels, university, empty nest, and lockdown. Weekend yoga and post-class coffee with friends is now a permanent diary fixture.

Alex

Member & community photographer

“The studio became my happy place. When Phoenix rose from the ashes, I was determined to help my new community thrive.”

Alex came to Phoenix via the 21-day offer, thinking yoga would be a gentle easing back into exercise after a period of poor health. Her first class was Juliet’s Power Flow. She lay panting on the floor and laughed at herself — and was immediately hooked. A former BBC TV producer who left to become a photographer (@lightbylexi), she found in the studio the community she’d missed from the newsroom. When Phoenix rose from the ashes of The House of Yoga, she was determined to help it thrive, and has since photographed all of our teachers.

Jo B.

Member

“I come out of the room as a different person — broader in my mind and my body, breathing easier, seeing clearer.”

Jo has done yoga most of her adult life, but it has come and gone. In the past it was about pushing herself physically. Now it’s about losing herself in the moment and coming out of the room as a different person: broader in mind and body, breathing easier. She is currently filming the final series of BBC One’s Doctors — and her character, for the record, definitely also does yoga.

Johannes

Member

“Starting my day with yoga in the studio energises me and never fails to set me up for the day.”

Johannes started at his company gym, fell in love with the practice immediately, and pretty soon noticed that minor body aches he’d had for years quietly disappeared. Yoga became his refuge through City life and lockdown both. These days he starts every morning with a class in the studio. His favourite asana is child’s pose — for the calm and groundedness it brings. He recovers from it all with nature walks, his dog, and a day that never passes without chocolate.

Ali J.

Member

“I kept coming back because yoga taught me to actually be present. Live in the moment — that’s what it gave me.”

Ali found yoga during lockdown — when, like a lot of us, she needed somewhere to put all that restless energy. What started as a physical practice became something else: a way of focusing, of truly being in the moment. She’s sporty, direct, not remotely interested in the quiet-and-slow stereotype, and loves the energy of practising with others in the room.

Rachel T.

Monthly member since 2023

“I’d been meaning to start yoga for three years. The 21-day intro finally got me through the door — and the monthly membership kept me there. I didn’t expect this to become the thing I organise my week around, but here we are.”

[Phoenix team to add: Rachel’s story — what finally made her take the leap, what surprised her about the studio, what “organising her week around it” looks like in practice.]