Watch: I tried yoga for the first time in Birmingham & it really chilled me out

All the bar and restaurant openings across Birmingham this past year have started to take their toll on my fitness and I thought it was about time I got back in tune with my body.

I’m here today to get out of my comfort zone and give the old chakras a bit of a balancing with Birmingham yoga instructors Soniya Thorat and Rajat Khot. Rajat says: “The physical workout we do is just one aspect of the yoga. There are various limbs of yoga - it is said there are eight limbs of yoga. So stepping further into yoga is meditation.”

Yoga has always been on my to do list but if I had to be totally honest with myself I’m not the most graceful of blokes out there so I’ve always found an excuse to put it off. As you can see I haven’t quite dispelled that conception of myself but nevertheless I’m glad I got stuck in and gave it a go.

To my surprise the lesson I received wasn’t anywhere near as physically strenuous as I expected. Instead I discovered  that there are plenty of simple exercises which make yoga incredibly accessible to anyone. Soniya says: “So if a person is doing yoga for the first time they can experience a little bit of relaxation, peace of mind and a little bit of lightness in their body and productivity.”

There are so many physical and mental benefits to the discipline, which became clear to me almost immediately. It’s something I’ll personally be taking up more regularly. I felt incredibly fortunate to have had Soniya and Rajat give me my first lesson, who have been championing avid practitioners and newcomers alike across Birmingham as they embark on their own transformative yoga journeys.

Soniya says: “We teach meditation and breath workshops in Birmingham City Centre and around Birmingham. In that course we teach some of the yoga, meditation and breathwork. It helps people to get more productive, release the stress, anxiety - and to find themselves more happy.”