Norman Blair — Yin
Widely regarded as the UK's foremost Yin yoga teacher. Norman began practising in London in the early 1990s as an Ashtangi and moved deeply into Yin from 2001, studying with Sarah Powers, Paul Grilley and Bernie Clark. He has run Yin trainings since 2013 alongside a 200-hour teacher training, and teaches across The Shala, Yogacampus and Indaba. His book Brightening Our Inner Skies: Yin and Yoga came out in 2016.
Bernie Clark, one of Yin yoga's most senior figures, describes him as ‘a highly experienced Yin Yoga teacher’ with ‘decades of practice’, and his writing as ‘thoughtful, clear, and deeply grounded in lived experience rather than theory alone’.
Known for: long, quiet holds and a genuinely literary approach to teaching. Website: yogawithnorman.co.uk.
Celest Pereira — vinyasa, anatomy & biomechanics
London-based with around fifteen years of teaching behind her and a BSc in physical therapy, Celest comes at yoga from dance, martial arts and physiotherapy. Her classes fold biomechanical and neurological drills into vinyasa flow, which has made her one of the most sought-after teachers in the city for people who want to understand why a shape works.
She now teaches largely online, running 50, 200 and 300-hour certifications as well as yoga anatomy and functional neurology courses — a good example of how London's senior teachers have moved beyond the studio timetable.
Known for: science-led teaching that stays playful. Website: celestpereira.com.
Nahid de Belgeonne — somatics & the nervous system
Sometimes called ‘the nervous system whisperer’, Nahid opened the central London studio Good Vibes in 2006 and later sold it, and now teaches The Human Method — her own system blending somatic movement, restorative practice, breathwork and meditation. She is a registered Feldenkrais practitioner and published Soothe: the book your nervous system has been longing for in 2024.
If you have come to yoga for stress, burnout or sleep rather than flexibility, this is the corner of London teaching that will make most sense to you.
Known for: slow, regulating work for overloaded nervous systems. Website: thehumanmethod.co.uk.
Stewart Gilchrist — Ashtanga & Jivamukti
A fixture of East London yoga and one of the city's most distinctive teachers, Stewart runs the East London School of Yoga with an emphasis on breath, vinyasa, philosophy and hands-on adjustments, drawing on Ashtanga and Jivamukti. He holds a Master's in Traditions of Yoga and Meditation from SOAS and is a PhD candidate there researching yoga — unusually serious academic grounding for a teacher of dynamic classes.
Known for: strong, uncompromising classes with real philosophical depth. Website: eastlondonschoolofyoga.com.
Lisa Sanfilippo — yoga for sleep
A senior teacher with degrees in psychotherapy as well as a long yoga career, Lisa effectively created the Sleep Recovery approach and now trains other practitioners to deliver it. Her teaching pulls together biomechanics, energy anatomy, depth psychology and neuroscience, and she is a long-standing presence on the UK online platform Movement for Modern Life.
Known for: the most credible yoga-for-insomnia work in the country. Website: lisasanfilippo.com.
Adam Husler — contemporary alignment-led vinyasa
One of London's most visible teachers, Adam teaches at triyoga and Equinox and runs trainings, workshops and retreats internationally. His approach is deliberately non-dogmatic — strong, intelligently sequenced classes without the ideology — and he co-runs an online platform of classes, sound journeys and meditations.
Known for: precise, thoughtful vinyasa for people who want to be taught, not just led. Website: adamhusler.com.
Simon Low — Yin & Hatha
One of the most senior figures in British yoga and a teacher of teachers: a great many of the instructors you will meet in London studios trained under him. Through The Yoga Academy he runs teacher trainings and retreats worldwide, with a yin-and-yang approach that pairs restorative depth with structural precision.
Known for: a lineage of his own — his graduates are everywhere in UK yoga. Website: theyogaacademy.org.
Michael James Wong — stillness & meditation
Founder of Just Breathe, Michael is less a studio teacher than a public advocate for slowing down, known for large-scale group meditation and stillness events as well as books and speaking. Worth knowing if your interest sits closer to meditation than asana.
Known for: bringing stillness practice to audiences well beyond the yoga room. Website: michaeljameswong.com.
A note on student feedback
We have deliberately not reproduced student testimonials here. Reviews of individual teachers are scattered across studio booking systems, Instagram and private mailing lists, and we have no way to verify who wrote them — so quoting them would tell you very little about whether a teacher suits you.
Instead, every teacher above links to their own site, where you can read their students' feedback at source alongside their current schedule. The most reliable test remains the oldest one: book a single class, and notice whether you leave feeling taught rather than merely exercised.
Ones to watch: where London's next teachers come through
The teachers above are established. If you want to find the next ones first, it helps to know where they emerge — London's teaching talent is unusually concentrated in a handful of training schools and studios that function as incubators.
Yogacampus and The Shala between them have trained a large share of the city's working teachers, and both run faculties worth browsing. Indaba Yoga in Marylebone and triyoga across its London sites tend to give new teachers their first proper cover slots, so their timetables are a good early-warning system. The Life Centre has long been where more experimental and somatic teaching finds a home, and the East London School of Yoga produces teachers with a distinctly philosophical bent.
A practical tip: the genuinely exciting teachers usually turn up on a studio's schedule at awkward hours first — early mornings and late Sunday evenings. That is where to look.
Teach yoga in London — or anywhere
London teaching has changed. The teachers on this page mostly do not depend on a single studio: they run their own trainings, teach online, and reach students in other countries entirely. That path is now open to teachers at every stage, not just established names.
If you teach yoga, you can create a profile on YogaStay and offer your classes and trainings to students worldwide — including online. It costs nothing to list, and it puts you in front of people already searching for teachers and retreats rather than asking you to build an audience from scratch. Head to yogastay.app and choose ‘I'm a Teacher’ when you sign up.
We refresh this guide periodically, and teachers listed on YogaStay are the first place we look.
What to bring to a London class
Most London studios rent mats, and the good ones keep them clean, but anyone practising more than once a week ends up wanting their own kit.
The bottom line
London's best teaching is spread across the city rather than concentrated in any one studio, so the useful question is not ‘which studio’ but ‘whose class’. Pick the teacher whose approach matches what you actually want — Yin and stillness, anatomy and biomechanics, nervous-system work, or strong traditional practice — and follow them wherever they teach.
And when a weekly class stops being enough, London is well placed for a proper immersion: our guides to the top yoga schools in Thailand and the best schools in Indonesia cover where to go for a residential training or retreat, and how to choose a yoga retreat covers what to check before you book.
Ready to find your retreat?
Browse verified yoga schools and retreats worldwide — accommodation included, no booking fees.
Browse retreats →Frequently asked questions
Who are the best-known yoga teachers in London?
Among the most established are Norman Blair for Yin, Celest Pereira for anatomy-led vinyasa, Nahid de Belgeonne for somatic and nervous-system work, Stewart Gilchrist for Ashtanga and Jivamukti, Lisa Sanfilippo for yoga and sleep, Adam Husler for contemporary vinyasa, and Simon Low, who has trained a large share of the UK's working teachers.
Do London yoga teachers work freelance or for studios?
Most senior London teachers are effectively freelance. They teach across several studios — triyoga, Indaba, The Life Centre, The Shala and Yogacampus among them — while running their own workshops, trainings and retreats independently, and increasingly teaching online to international students.
Can you train with these teachers online?
Often, yes. Several London teachers now run online courses and certifications — Celest Pereira offers 50, 200 and 300-hour online certifications, Lisa Sanfilippo trains Sleep Recovery practitioners, and Simon Low's Yoga Academy runs trainings internationally. Check each teacher's own website for current dates and formats.
How do I get listed as a yoga teacher on YogaStay?
Create a free profile at yogastay.app and select 'I'm a Teacher' during sign-up. You can then list classes, workshops and trainings — in person or online — and take bookings from students worldwide.