The building that goes by many names. To Londoners its the “Walkie Talkie” coined while it was being built, when some strong 2013 summer sunshine caused a weird concentration of sunlight making it a “Scorchie” on the streets below. I was there and can still remember the feel of the concentrated sunlight as it melted cars and drew a small crowd. The official address is 20 Fenchurch Street and the area on the top which is publicly accessible is the Sky Garden.

I’ve blogged about the Sky Garden before (my breakfast at Dawin’s post is my most viewed ever!) and living in the Square Mile it’s a great place to take visiting friends and family as entry to the gardens is free and the views are incredible – just be sure to book a slot in advance and bring along some photo ID. You can buy a coffee from the bar but there’s no pressure to spend any money.

The area at the back of the Sky Garden is the perfect venue for a the Sky High Yoga class, it’s spacious, high-ceilinged and the views are amazing in all directions. I headed along for a weekend class and was so impressed. London life can sometimes feel like a constant battle in managing one’s own expectations and the ever-present niggle that everything is a rip-off but despite the main draw of this class being a novel location I would definitely go back.

 

Unlike the Tower Bridge yoga across the glass floor I attended a few weeks back the space didn’t feel cramped in the slightest and even those arriving late could find spots with decent views. The standard of the class was higher than I expected too as often these one-off type classes are having to cater for a mixed bag of participants but as a regular yogi I found the class challenging enough for 9am on a Saturday! The class is 60 minutes long and is in the vinyasa flow style. I’d say there were around 40 people there – from an ambitious hen do event to regular yogis and tourists. Our instructor Mona was a great,  – I’m currently training as a yoga teacher myself and so experiencing as many different instructors and styles of teaching is really helping me to develop my own.

Classes can be booked here – for £10 its cheaper than a lot of normal London classes. FYI – no mats are provided and you definitely need one a the floor is hard! There are also no showers or changing facilities so arrive and depart in your yoga gear because, hey, it’s good enough for the women of NYC who appear to dress exclusively in yoga gear during day light hours.