Edinburgh's best yoga studios for those who want to improve their mental and physical fitness for 2024

These are our favourite spaces to downward dog in the capital
Karen Kirkness at MeadowlarkKaren Kirkness at Meadowlark
Karen Kirkness at Meadowlark

If you’re planning to take up yoga as part of your fitness regime, Edinburgh is spoiled for choice when it comes to studios.

Drop In classes tend to be expensive, costing up to £15 for an hour, but most studios offer big discounts if you buy a package of five or 10, or if you’re visiting them for the first time.

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And remember, if it all gets too intense, there’s always child’s pose.

Hot Yoga EdinburghHot Yoga Edinburgh
Hot Yoga Edinburgh

Lila Yoga, 37 Bruntsfield Place, Edinburgh, www.lilayogaedinburgh.com

This studio, with its view of The Meadows, is the newest of our selection, but its teachers and owners - Angie Lake, Sarah McCaffer and Moira McFarlane - have decades of experience. We love their Flow & Let Go session on a Friday at 5pm, which is followed by the equally relaxing Candlelit Restorative at 7pm. Definitely better than a glass of wine at the end of the week. Other notable sessions include Yoga for Cancer and classes for pregnancy and teens. If you want to try an unusual prop, their Chair Yoga sounds fun.

East Side Yoga, 109 Broughton Street (0131 208 5500, www.eastsideyoga.co.uk)

Look out for the neon YOGA sign in this studio’s window. Inside, it’s a lovely and Zen space, with high ceilings, wooden floors and a view out to a garden. They have a decent-sized changing room too, with a couple of individual cubicles, in case you don’t want anyone to see you wrestling your fleshy rolls into tight leggings. There’s a good mixture of classes, including a 7.15am Morning Glow Vinyasa for keeno-s. Depending on the day, this early bird session is taught by a couple of our favourite teachers, the fun Nina Romijn or the athletic Sharon Iacono.

East Side YogaEast Side Yoga
East Side Yoga

Hot Yoga Edinburgh, 2 Ladyfield (0131 604 0100, www.hotyogaedinburgh.com)

Fancy a challenge? Try Aerial Yoga at this studio. Their lessons in this style, which involves supporting yourself with a soft hammock suspended from the ceiling, take place on Sundays at 11am, with teacher Nardina Arico, and aren’t as scary as you’d think. However, the real focus at this large modern studio is heat. Expect to sweat, with Hot Yoga, Hot Yoga Flow, Hot Power Vinyasa, at 34-39 degrees centigrade and inspiring teachers like Angie Lake. If you’re a bit scared, start off with a Warm class at a balmy 26 degrees centigrade. Look out for their occasional taster days, which let potential yogis try a class for free.

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You heard us right. At these classes, you get to meet puppies while downward dogging. Expect to be distracted and potentially not get a lot of exercise done. The sorest muscles will be in your face, from smiling so much.

Meadowlark Yoga, 43 Argyle Place (0131 228 7581, www.meadowlarkyoga.com)

This studio is perfectly positioned beside the Meadows, and there are plenty of nearby places to reward yourself with a post-practice lunch, from Argyle Place to Wanderers Kneaded. They’ve got two yoga rooms - a bright one on street level, and a cosy basement space, where there are also changing rooms. Try a class with one of their founder members, Karen Kirkness, who has just written a book, Spiral Bound, and does Filament Flow classes that make you more aware of the positioning of your muscles and their surrounding fascia.

Edinburgh Leisure, various venues city-wide, www.edinburghleisure.co.uk

Okay, so you might not be guaranteed the incense, merchandise and the fanciest space, but Edinburgh Leisure have loads of excellent yoga instructors on their roster, with various pricing options, including the £43.50 a month for Fitness Classes only at your preferred venue. Our favourite is probably Meadowbank, since it’s still so box fresh and new, after a major refurbishment. They also offer the Les Mills class Bodybalance, which includes elements of yoga blended with tai chi, core training and Pilates, and Shapes, which is a mash-up of power yoga, barre and Pilates.

Edinburgh Yoga Room, 2-5 Forth Street, Edinburgh, www.edinburghyogaroom.com

This ‘boutique yoga studio’ specialises in mysore and ashtanga styles, and almost all of the sessions are taken by their experienced instructor and owner, Stacey Chavis. There are plenty of classes for beginner’s, but If you want to try it solo, without the rest of the class judging your bendy (or non bendy) efforts, they also offer one-to-one sessions.

Tribe Yoga, various venues city-wide, www.tribe.yoga

We’re always a bit intimidated by Tribe, since it seems to be where all the young and beautiful people go, with four studios in the New Town, Quartermile and Leith Walk, plus a Tribe Cycle branch in Stockbridge. Anyway, perhaps a little of their general gorgeousness will rub off on us, if we attend their excellent classes. At the New Town studio, these include Warm Yin Yang, the relaxing Candlelit Yin, and Flow. They also offer a ballet-influenced exercise routine, Barre, with a parent and baby version included. If you overdo it, visit their New Town branch, as it has a new therapy room that offers massage, including Swedish, deep tissue and sports.

Yoga’s Got Hot, 4-8 Learmonth Avenue, www.yogasgothot.com

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Don’t let this yoga studio’s proximity to the new Comely Bank branch of Mimi’s Bakehouse put you off your session. You can have all the tray bakes afterwards. Whenever we’ve visited this studio, we’ve worked pretty hard, especially when doing the fun Ballet’s Got Hot session with professional dancer Campbell Watt, though they offers some relaxing evening classes, like Yoga Nidra, to help you sleep. They’re currently offering newcomers a three class pass for £30.

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