Why Taking Your Practice Outside Changes Everything: The Magic of Yoga Outdoors

There's something transformative that happens when you roll out your mat under an open sky. While studio practice offers consistency and focus, yoga outdoors opens up an entirely different dimension of connection - with nature, with your breath, and with something larger than yourself. Laura Pearce, chief Yogi at the Glasshouse Yoga Studio, tells us how she's harnessed natures healing, soothing power for her Glasshouse Yoga studio community.

The Glasshouse Yoga studio Ravenscourt park West London

The Science Behind Nature's Healing Power

Practicing yoga in The Glasshouse with an open vista of the sky offers a unique sweet spot for circadian rhythm support. In a standard building Yoga studio setting you're sheltered from the sky and from natures elements, so you don't receive the full spectrum of natural light that your internal clock aka circadian rhythm craves. The transparent walls and ceiling of the Glasshouse Yoga Studio allow unfiltered sunlight to stream in, providing that crucial bright light exposure that signals your brain to suppress melatonin and boost alertness (wake us up and energise us!). As you move through your morning flow, gazing upward toward the sky during poses like warrior one or camel pose becomes a form of natural light therapy, helping to anchor your circadian rhythms for the entire day. This glass-enclosed environment gives you the best of both worlds—the consistency of a controlled studio space combined with the biological benefits of natural light exposure, making it an ideal setting for establishing healthy sleep-wake cycles while deepening your practice.

Studies also show that spending time in natural environments reduces cortisol levels, lowers blood pressure, and boosts immune function. Combine this with the mindful movement of yoga, and you've created the perfect recipe for holistic wellbeing.

The view from the mat at The Glasshouse Yoga studio

When The Yoga Studio Meets Nature: The Glasshouse Yoga Approach

Our Glasshouse Yoga studio sessions build strength and flexibility in a controlled environment, while connecting to the seasons, the birds and flowers around us, and the changing weather through the year. I keeps us connected, grounded, present, and it keeps our circadian rhythms robust!

There's a beautiful metaphor in moving between these environments. Our practice together is just like the Glasshouse; controlled, nurturing, perfect for growth. But eventually, every plant needs to feel real sunlight and weather to truly thrive. Your yoga practice is the same.

Making the Most of Your Outdoor Yoga Sessions

Practicing yoga outdoors requires a slightly different mindset than studio work. Here are some tips to get th most our of your nature-immersed practice:

Embrace the elements: Wind becomes your teacher in balance poses. Instead of fighting it, use it to develop micro-adjustments and deeper awareness. That rustling tree and birdsong overhead isn't a distraction, it's nature's soundtrack for your flow.

Ground down to rise up: Without the familiar boundaries of four walls, outdoor practice can feel scattered. Focus on your connection to the earth. Really press into your hands and feet, imagining roots growing deep into the ground.

Let go of perfection: Outdoor conditions change constantly. Your perfectly aligned comfy warrior three might wobble when a rogue raindrop or butterfly taps you, and that's exactly the point. These moments teach us to find stability within instability, a skill that translates beautifully on and off the mat.

Gaze at the sky: We're blessed at The Glasshouse to be surrounded by sky and bathed in sunshine. Actively looking at the sky, clouds, sunset etc. again is one of the best ways to support your inherent circadian rhythms, to help you sleep better, and feel better.

Seasons of Practice

Each season offers its own gifts for outdoor yoga. Spring brings renewal energy perfect for energizing vinyasa flows. Summer's long days invite hot morning and sultry evening practices that sync with the natural rhythm of heat and longer daylight. Autumn teaches us about letting go as leaves fall and the garden evolves around us. Winter practice, though challenging, builds incredible resilience and inner fire. Most of our Yogis still attend practice in the colder darker months. We all know how hard it can be to self-motivate to even leave the house during the winter months sometimes, but with a nurturing and ingrained habit we learn to embrace the darkness, the cold, the wind and the rain, and let it comfort and teach us new lessons.

Summer at the Glasshouse Yoga Studio

Your Invitation to Step Outside & practice Yoga outdoors

If you've been curious about taking your practice outdoors, start this week. Even ten minutes of gentle stretching in your garden or local park can shift your entire relationship with yoga. Feel the ground supporting you, breathe air that hasn't been recycled through building systems, and let the vast sky remind you of your own limitless potential.

The Glasshouse Yoga Studio will always be here for those days when you need consistency, heat, energy, and most importantly, community. But the whole world is your yoga studio when you're ready to explore it.

Ready to explore both indoor consistency and outdoor adventure? Join us at the Glasshouse Yoga Studio in West London, where we honour both the greenhouse growth and the wild flowering of your practice. BOOK NOW.