Free, friendly community Park Yoga forever
Our mission is to improve the health and wellbeing of the public by providing free yoga sessions in an open space for the public benefit. Our beneficiaries extend to those living throughout the UK regardless of age, disability, gender or ethnicity.
Free Park Yoga runs every Sunday morning, from May to September, to improve the physical and mental health of our participants. Our charity works in partnership with local organisations, such as Town Councils and Active Partnerships, and our amazing Yoga Instructors to bring Park Yoga to local communities, particularly those with residents who are likely to benefit more from the inclusive and welcoming atmosphere of Park Yoga.
Our story
After experiencing free outdoor community yoga in Pittsburgh, America, one of our founding Trustees (Alice King), alongside her mum (Sibyl King), made it their mission to bring the positive health and wellbeing benefits of outdoor yoga to the UK.
2017: Pilot venues
Starting in Dorset (which is where Park Yoga HQ is) we set up the first Park Yoga sessions in the summer of 2017. Our pilot venues were Bournemouth Central Gardens and Lodmoor Nature Reserve in Weymouth. Dorset Coast Forum organised these sessions which were funded by the Fine Family Foundation. After persuading the local councils to let us use these spaces for free and extensively promoting the sessions locally, we were very nervous about our first sessions, fearful that no-one would come, so we were ecstatic when both venues proved to be a massive hit that summer!
2019: Charity status
Growing to 10 venues across the Southwest of England in 2019, with some locations seeing over 250 people attending each week, the Park Yoga love was now being experienced by over 1,000 weekly. We also gained charitable status this year, cementing our Board’s commitment to bringing free Park Yoga to as many people as possible in the UK.
2020: Going virtual
As the world slowed due to the Covid 19 pandemic we brought Virtual Park Yoga into people’s homes for everyone to enjoy from the safety of their gardens. These virtual sessions are available on our YouTube channel for our Park Yogis to do from the comfort of their own home.
2024: 3,200 yogi’s each week
As we returned to our amazing parks in 2021, Park Yoga continue to grow from strength to strength with venues launching in the Northwest of England in 2023 and five locations in the West Midlands in 2024. In 2024 we had 48 venues, with an incredible average of 3,215 yogi’s enjoying Park Yoga each week.
What’s next…
If you are a venue and would like to be considered for Park Yoga in the future, please get in touch. Or if you are a yoga instructor who believes that Park Yoga could make a real difference in their community, then we’d love to hear from you.