Birmingham’s yoga hotspot, yogahaven, is celebrating ten years of success in the city centre. Situated in a prime location, adjacent to the old railway arches, the business has grown from strength to strength since it was founded in 2008 by expert yogi, Allie Hill. yogahaven has graced the pages of Grazia, OK! Magazine and The Sunday Times; and as yoga- particularly hot yoga- and its insurmountable health benefits remain a hot topic in the UK, yogahaven’s success can only continue to soar.
The first of its kind in Birmingham, yogahaven was set up by Allie Hill, who noticed a need for an alternative kind of exercise and promotion of wellbeing within the city. yogahaven prides itself on its compassionate environment, which welcomes people of all ages, abilities, backgrounds and body shapes. The last decade has seen the curation of a strong yogi community in Birmingham, where budding yogis have the opportunity to practice a multitude of variations of the discipline, from hot yoga, to Jivamukti, to soothing candlelit sessions.
Founder of yogahaven, Allie Hill, has teaching experience that expands over seventeen years, originally training in Bikram yoga. Understanding the benefits of practicing yoga in the heat but with desire to learn more, she went on to study with many wonderful teachers around the world. Allie set up yogahaven in Birmingham back in 2008 as she wanted to combine her passion for teaching the discipline with the city’s demand for a type of exercise that would promote the health of both mind and body. Since then, the business has expanded to many areas of the UK including several London branches, Brighton and even closer to home in Solihull.
Speaking on the ten year anniversary, Allie said the following:
“I consider myself extremely lucky that both my passion and my career have manifested as the same thing. Being able to impart my knowledge of the discipline to people of all shapes, sizes and abilities, day in, day out, brings me so much joy, and I’ve loved seeing yogahaven grow from strength to strength over the last ten years. Birmingham, as a city, has such a strong and diverse energy, and I try to do my bit to maintain that by nurturing the minds and bodies of the people who make up its inhabitants.
The fact that I’m celebrating ten years of success is not just down to myself, but the incredibly skilled, dedicated instructors, and most of all the customers- whether you try yoga once and decide it’s not for you, or you’ve developed into an expert over the last decade, you’re all part of the success.”
The tenth birthday celebrations for yogahaven have come at a time when the business is stronger than ever before, and a key factor of this is the fact that the studio is inclusive and opens its doors to anybody who is willing to take the time to learn. A large demographic of the yogahaven community is made up of the city’s corporates, and Allie is thrilled to be aiding other businesses within the city through helping their employees find time for themselves at the end of a busy working day. Tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the city centre and the business district, the city’s high flyers are able to find time to de-stress, disengage from ‘work mode’ and focus on their mental wellbeing. It has been cited endlessly that exercise isn’t just for the body, but for the mind as well, and yoga in particular allows development of both of these areas.
Though the last ten years has seen immeasurable success for yogahaven across the UK, the community of yogis in Brum need not worry, as yogahaven’s loyalty to the city remains stronger than ever before. The dedication of yogahaven, when it comes to building and nurturing a diverse community of Brummie Yogis, has shone through over the last decade, and as hot yoga is currently hotter than ever before, this can only continue. It’s undeniably been an amazing ten years for yogahaven… let’s see what the next ten have in store.