Yoga on the roof of Coq d’Argent

Thursday mornings at 07:45 Jessica Skye of Fat Buddha Yoga teaches Rise’n’shine yoga on the roof terrace of Coq d’Argent, the french restaurant at 1 Poultry. If you think that sounds cool, it is.

The roof terrace isn’t very big, but it’s green, it’s a roof, you can see the sky for miles and it has a great view.

As for the yoga class, I really liked Jessica’s style. Her soothing voice with clear instructions, but not “preachy”, led us through a great sequence of poses. In the background she played the beats Fat Buddha Yoga is so well known for. (Find the playlists on Spotify.) At various point during the class I found myself looking at The Shard over my left shoulder and a few minutes later I was looking through my legs at the sunrise. Cool.

Towards the end of class when things were winding down, I was able to really appreciate the seagulls, sun on my face, the hum of the traffic below and even the odd aeroplane flying overhead. That’s probably the only time in my life when the drone of an aeroplane sounded soothing. I guess that’s the power of yoga.

Jessica ended the class by going round to everyone and doing a quick face massage from jaw to hairline with Herbivore Orchid Face Oil. I was smelling jasmine for at least an hour after yoga class. Beautiful!

We were all so relaxed that no-one really wanted to leave. Everyone just hung out for a few minutes revelling in the cool vibes. The calm and centred feeling I had on the roof stayed with me even as I walked the 15 minutes to the office trying to dodge the stream of people. In fact I felt calm and centred all day Thursday. Rise And Shine indeed.

Jessica runs many pop up yoga classes. Some weekly, some once a month but all in interesting places around London. Have a look at the list here. I’m definitely going to attend more Fat Buddha Yoga classes.

Instructor: Jessica of Fat Buddha Yoga

Location: The rooftop terrace of Coq d’Argent, 1 Poultry, London, EC2R 8EJ

Time: 07:45 to 08:30

Price: £12 or £40 for 4 classes

Date attended: 8 August 2019

Yoga mats provided: Yes

Good to know: The lift to Coq d’Argent only starts operating from 07:30. Before 07:30 it’s a service elevator only, so there is no point in arriving at 1 Poultry earlier than 07:30.

Something I learned: When your fingers are spread out on the mat for Vinyasa Flow, make sure your index fingers are at the 12 o’clock position.

If you like doing yoga in quirky places, outside, or in iconic London buildings, check out my list of Funky places to do yoga and pilates around London.