SOMETIMES you find places, and sometimes places find you. Mission smells like the leather interior of an expensive new car. The freshly polished hardwood floors carry the hope of new beginnings. And that’s precisely what the newly-opened East London yoga studio promises—a fresh start.
The five studios were already packed on the first week of its opening. Set in a four-storey, 14,000 sq ft Victorian warehouse, Mission is Europe’s largest and most innovative yoga and movement space, also featuring three treatment rooms, a sauna and a restaurant with a rooftop terrace overlooking the City’s skyline. I’d even argue that Mission is resetting the tone for yogic communities across the western frontier if put under the microscope.
Even the building feels empowering. The former Truman Brewery invites you to expand. After all, what’s all that space there for? Even its students are difficult to pigeonhole. Faces range from seasoned yogis to the novel, curious kind. It’s funny how the paint is barely dry on day one, yet the windows are covered in steam. If founders Genny Wilkinson Priest and Simon Davies aimed for diversity, they could tick that box off.
New spaces promise new beginnings—a fertile ground for creating or re-creating your practice. Unfortunately, yoga has a reputation for being dogmatic. But Davies and Wilkinson Priest flipped it on its head–they stripped yoga of its dogma. And that’s a challenging pursuit. With disruption at heart while staying true to tradition, they’re shattering the exclusionary barriers the yoga world has built up for too long.
With novelty comes a lack of limiting beliefs. What was once impossible suddenly takes shape. Take it from me. After a serious shoulder injury in 2021, I thought inversions were a part of my past and not my future. Yet during my first Iyengar class at Mission, I spent more time upside down than a bat does. My body/mind lost sight of their limitations. The novelty of a ‘people-first’ mentality in a city geared towards individualism can shift perspectives. And that’s what Mission stands for.
The studio’s throbbing heart is in the ideology of its teachers, founders, and the students that they’re instilling it into. So you’re looking at the top in London, if not the world. Names are instantly recognisable for their knowledge, charisma and longevity – Marcus Veda, Corrie Ananda Preece, Stewart Gilchrist, Imi Wiseman, Jermaine Straker, Zephyr Wildman, and Helen Russell Clark, to name a few.
‘Let the light in’ is taken very literally here. The former brewery’s high ceilings and enormous windows facing the nearby church invite you to go inward while gazing outward. This is a space for everyone. Taking yoga from its ‘beyoncified’ Western association, Mission brings the practice back to where it belongs–to the people who practice it.
A project born to create space for communities to unite post-Covid, Mission operates a three-tiered pricing policy that its founders hope will serve the community and enable them to welcome clients of various means. Offering 200 weekly classes from high-intensity hot yoga to callisthenics, dharma, Pilates, breathwork and guided meditation, Mission also aims to host mindfulness sessions in local schools.
And as of last weekend, Mission’s culinary counterpart also opened its doors to the public. So after your practice, drift to the restaurant, Maene, where Nick Gilkinson of Townsend fame will serve locally sourced plates. Or—should the inclination take you—sip cocktails (with or without alcohol) on the terrace with like-minded souls. As with the yoga practice, Maene operates with inclusivity at heart.
The conclusion is simple. When all things are considered, the concept behind Mission was never just about a yoga studio; it was always a story of yogic evolution waiting to be written. So let the typing commence.
by Adina Ilie
Mission is open now, drop-in classes from £12 depending on your financial means (mission-e1.com).
Reservation for Maene can be made up to 90 days in advance via Resy.