Castle Yoga, Mountain Yoga, Doggy Yoga

Sunrise Shenanigans with YogiSoc

Have you ever wanted to do yoga with dogs? Or try it during a sunrise on East Sands? Or maybe even in the castle? Luckily for you, St Andrews Yoga Society offers these classes right on campus. 

Along with the usual ten classes per week, Yogi Soc collaborates with other societies, like Dog Walking Soc, to bring fun events like doggy yoga to St Andrews. The society also has free weekly meditation classes in partnership with Disabled Students' Network. Anya Bodine-McCoy, President of Yogi Soc, wanted to make collaborations a priority so that more students get into practicing yoga. 

"This weekend we have a morning sunrise flow at East Sands, an aerial yoga class in Dundee where we're all going to bus in together. We do a lot of collaborations […] Any society that wants to host a yoga class can message us and they can do a class specifically tailored to their society. Mountaineering has done one with us before where we do a special class for mountain climbers and for activating those specific muscle groups," Bodine-McCoy said. 

Alysha Murjani, Head of Partnerships and an instructor, started yoga to help with her anxiety. Ultimately, it became her daily practice which led her on a journey to Greece to get certified to teach. 

"I told my dad one day. I was like, ‘You know, it's on my bucket list to become a yoga teacher.’ He was like, ‘Well, you have the summer, why don't you just do it?’ I didn't plan to actually become a teacher, but I just went for it. There was a school in Goa in India that was doing a one-off in Greece […] So I went in the summer, and I did 200 hours of training on my own. And, then, at the end of my training, they actually hired me," Murjani said. 

Getting the certification to be a yoga teacher can be pricey. Bodine-McCoy paid £2,200. Recognising the inaccessibility to yoga outside of Yogi Soc, this year, board members introduced a teaching scholarship of £500, which will be awarded to two committee members interested in becoming instructors. 

“That's the most rewarding thing, to see people who have never done yoga before then come regularly to classes and then maybe even start a teacher training," Murjani said.

Cheap, accessible, and inclusive: that’s what Yogi Soc is all about. Equipment, clothing, and expensive classes can make yoga inaccessible to college students. They even have the first week of each semester free. 

Bodine-McCoy spoke about why it was important to keep prices low. "Yogi Soc is the cheapest yoga that you'll ever have. As someone who's been to many studios, I've paid so much money to go to yoga classes before […] A drop-in class [for Yogi Soc] is £5. Whereas, [if] you go to a big studio, drop-ins can be upwards of £20 or £30. So, it is accessible to students, it gets a lot of new beginners into yoga, and it feels like such a safe space," Bodine-McCoy said.

Yogi Soc invites people of all body types, gender identities, and backgrounds to be a part of their classes and hopes to break stigmas around yoga. In the future, the society's main goal is to increase participation from all students. Anna Conti, Head of Events, suggests other sports societies should partner with Yogi Soc to bring in participants from all corners of campus. 

"[Yoga can be] seen as a 'stretch', or as a 'girly' thing, [but] I really think it shouldn't be. I would love for people from other sports societies to try it out," Conti said.  

The Yogi Soc committee hopes that everyone attending classes, whether they follow every move or simply lay on the mat for an hour, can use yoga to take a break in their day, relax, and be mindful. When I’ve attended classes, the instructors always offer adjustments to make it inclusive for everyone and remind us to guide our thoughts back to the practice. 

"[Yoga is] a nice way to check in with yourselves and get some time to just be still, not be in the rush of things […] There's so much more to it than just the poses, Conti said. “I applied to be a yoga teacher because I wanted to share that, and I just felt it's a very nice way to help the community just like yoga helped me. I hope to have other people know about it and use it as a daily tool to overcome discomfort." 

Graduating in the spring, Bodine-McCoy reflected on her time in Yogi Soc. She encourages everyone in St Andrews to try out a class. "I love the society so much […] I tell people, anyone I meet, I'm like, ‘Go to a Yogi Soc class’ […] and I think it's just so worth it." 

Illustration by Amelia Freeden