Free Yoga Online Is Back And This Time, I'm Staying
Free Yoga Online Is Back
I want to tell you a little story about a yoga mat, a laptop screen, and a lockdown that changed the way I think about community.
It was 2020. Like everyone else, I suddenly found myself at home with nowhere to go, a lot of uncertainty, and a creeping sense of disconnection that I couldn't quite shake. The world had gone quiet in a way that felt more unsettling than peaceful, and I needed something to hold on to — something that was mine, something that made me feel present in my own body again.
That's when I started the online yoga sessions. I also wanted to be held accountable, my yoga mat would lay out in the living room everyday just gathering dust.
It wasn't grand or planned. I am not a qualified instructor with a studio or a wait list. I was just someone who had found comfort and wellbeing in movement and wanted to share that with others. My experience in yoga goes back many years to a time before I had kids, I was a hardcore Bikram Yoga fan ( I have gone back since then and struggled massively, haven’t been back since!) At the same time I found a guided yoga app I trusted, it was free to use and the classes were easy to use. I would set up my mat in my living room, invited people to join me. And they did.
Every week, we would show up on our screens — tired, uncertain, sometimes a little chaotic — and we would move together. We would follow the guided session, I would offer encouragement and help with positioning where I could, and for forty minutes the world outside the window felt a little more manageable, until zoom would cut us off!
There was something quietly powerful about knowing that other people were on their mats at the same time, in their own homes, showing up for themselves and for each other. We were isolated, but we were not alone. On some evenings, we would log back on and do a 10 minute guided meditation session or 20 minutes of weights if people were up for it.
The sessions continued even after lockdown eased. But life slowly crept back, the commutes, the school runs, the social calendars — and somehow, against all odds still a few people kept showing up on Thursday evenings. It felt like something worth protecting.
And then, as life tends to do, it got to be too much.
Because some seasons are just hard and self care can fall by the waistline and neglected. But there came a point where I had to put things down in order to keep going, and the sessions were one of the things I had to let go of for a while, the way you miss something that had become part of your rhythm meant it was only a matter of time.
But here's what I know about rest: it isn't the same as giving up. Sometimes you have to stop in order to come back with more.
Free Yoga Online returns every Monday and Thursday at 8.30pm via Zoom, and it is exactly what it always was — a free, guided, accessible session for anyone who wants to move their body and take forty minutes for themselves. No experience needed. No performance required. Just you, your mat, and a little bit of space carved out from the week.
I want these sessions to be something you genuinely look forward to. Not just the yoga itself, but the whole ritual of it, giving yourself permission to create a calm environment, to light a candle, to put your phone down and show up for yourself. That is what self-care actually looks like in practice. Not a grand gesture, but a small, consistent act of choosing yourself, week after week.
If you were there in lockdown, welcome back. If you are new here, I am so glad you found us. Either way, your mat is waiting.
Come and join us. I cannot wait to see you there.
Every Monday and Thursday | 8.30PM | Free | Online via Zoom Register here to receive your Zoom link: artistsapothecary.co.uk/shop/p/freeyogaonline
