A Letter from Emily: Shifting into the New Year.

What a year 2025 has been. It’s been beautiful, it’s been turbulent. One constant for me has been Open House - the presence of community every time I step through the door. 

As we move into 2026 our upstairs schedule will continue to evolve - to reflect natural rhythms, teachers stepping into new adventures, and our ongoing intention to cultivating wholebeing in community. 

Here’s what you need to know! 

Early Mornings.

Queen of early mornings Holly is heading off to Sri Lanka for a couple of months to host a wellbeing retreat, enjoy the slow life, and in her words ‘inevitably, eat an unholy amount of rice and curry’. Holly will be back, don’t worry, but in the meantime early mornings will be shifting!

Rachel Roy, who is an incredibly experienced teacher (and absolute gem) will be bringing Ashtanga yoga to Open House on Friday mornings at 7am. Ashtanga is a strong, dynamic flowing form of yoga. It is the style that got me hooked on yoga; if you want to get the day going with a bang, ashtanga is the way to go. 

Alongside Ashtanga Fridays, I am incredibly excited to announce our new morning offering of… drumroll please… Open Studio!!

On Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 7am to 8.30am, upstairs will be open for personal practice. These sessions are not led by a teacher, the space is simply open for you to roll out a yoga mat and spend the time as you see fit, for free. Maybe you come for 30 minutes to meditate, maybe you use the full 90 minutes to practice the ashtanga primary sequence that you’ve learnt on Fridays with Rachel, maybe you turn up and just see how your body wants to move. 

No set structure, no expectations, simply a peaceful, welcoming space to roll out your mat, in community.

During Open Studio on Wednesdays Rachel will be on hand to give guidance, making this the perfect opportunity to practice the Ashtanga sequence in a Mysore style session.

Other Class Changes.

A few classes on the schedule are having a little rejiggle. We’re offering a NEW 5pm Tuesday Slow Flow class (with myself!) to offer double the yoga flow trouble on a Tuesday night. 

Wednesdays are shifting as our wonderful Sam Jenkins (who you’ll know from Wednesday evening Slow Flow) is moving up to Scotland in January for an exciting new venture, and while Holly is away Yin will be taking a pause. Taking over Wednesdays at 6.15pm the fabulous Layla Abdallah will be leading Restorative Yoga. This is a quiet, nourishing practice, with breathwork, somatic movement and a focus on relaxation. It’s going to be absolutely gorgeous.

Layla will also be taking over Friday lunchtime Slow Flow and I’ll be shifting to Slow Flow on Wednesday lunchtimes. if you haven’t been to one of Layla’s Slow Flow classes yet you’re in for a treat.

Kelly’s Wednesday morning class will be staying exactly the same, we’re simply changing the name to reflect exactly what it is - and that is Dru Yoga!

Community musician and Qigong/meditation superstar Matt will be offering a free meditation class which will take place on Thursday mornings. Matt will be running the session between 6am and 8.30am; you are welcome to drop in for as little or as long as you like. If you’ve been curious about meditation - here is how to create your new habit for 2026. 

Final class adjustment is that Yoga Meditation is taking a break for the darker months. Get yourselves an early night and head over to Layla’s restorative class on Wednesdays, which will be just the fix you need.

If you want more of the slower, juicy stuff check out our wholebeing workshops programme with events each month giving the opportunity to deep dive into things like breathwork, relaxation and yin, alongside more dynamic sessions and opportunities to explore subjects like yoga philosophy. Lots of exciting stuff coming for 2026, keep an eye out!

Stay in the Know.

If you want to be updated via email about upcoming Open House events join our NEW Monthly Mailing List - a simple once a month email that lists every up-coming event at Open House - from yoga to music to supper clubs. You will need to sign up (no-one is automatically added, we respect your right to choose!) and you can join the mailing list here.