Free yoga sessions for people in north Devon

A community group in north Devon is hoping to get people active and improve their mental well-being with free yoga sessions.

The Community Yoga Project started running the sessions earlier this year and now has 250 members.

Hannah Shackleton founded the group because she wanted to remove financial and societal barriers to people being able to do, what she considers to be, a very important practice for one’s mental health.

She said it is for everyone: “We have people come along with babies in prams, people who have toddlers clambering over them, through to older people in wheelchairs and with walkers, it’s really special.”

The group relies on donations and funding as they pay their yoga teachers but want to keep the yoga free, particularly in relation to the cost-of-living crisis.

Ms Shackleton said: “People might not have the disposable income to pay 10 or 12, or even seven pounds on a class, that is why we run these sessions.”

For the team of yoga teachers, it is also about breaking stereotypes.

Aimee Hill, one of the instructors, said it was not about competing for who can be the most bendy, she likes to make it about community.

“It’s a shared experience which helps fight loneliness”, she added.

Ms Shackleton also wants to make yoga more accessible in terms of geography.

She said: “Everybody talks about how nothing comes to north Devon, and if it does it’s just the main towns.

“It would be great to take [Free Yoga] into other places, Torrington, Holsworthy, any where that wants us.”