The Life Centre Notting Hill

If you are struggling with back pain, sciatica, or pregnancy-related discomfort, stop searching and go see Aarti. She changed my life. When I first met her almost two years ago, I literally couldn’t walk from the pain. A chiropractor had made my condition drastically worse, so bad that I was barely mobile and relying on painkillers just to get through the day. Aarti was the one who pulled me out of that nightmare after struggling for almost 2 months. From the very first sessions, she started undoing damage I thought I’d have to live with as seems forever. She healed my sciatica, fixed my chronic back pain, and throughout my entire pregnancy I had zero back issues. None. I even became taller from her realignment work. I still go to her regularly, and every session leaves me feeling energised, lighter, and completely at peace. I’m now in post-pregnancy recovery, and her treatments continue to make an enormous difference. Aarti is not only incredibly skilled, she is warm, attentive, and truly cares about her patients. I’ve recommended her to my family, friends, and coworkers, and every single one of them had an amazing experience. If your body needs healing, you won’t find anyone better. Aarti is exceptional.

The Life Centre in Notting Hill is a nice getaway from the hustle and bustle of busy London life. The downstairs studio is spacious and full of natural light. For the past few years I have been attending Satguru Kaur’s Sunday Somatic Breathwork classes and her Somatic Breathwork and Kundalini workshops. Sat brings a nice presence to the classes and workshops and creates a safe space for healing. I always leave feeling grounded and energised for the coming week. Sat is extremely knowledgable about the power of the breath. I throughly enjoy her classes and workshops and recommend them for anyone interested in Somatic Breathwork. Recently, I have decided to train to become a Conscious Connected Breathwork facilitator and Sat has been valuable pointing me in the right direction for training. I am not a yogi, but I have been attending these classes to deepen my understanding and experiences with Breathwork and I have always felt welcome by the centre.

Hi, I love this studio, there are many great, experienced and such a variety of teachers. My regular is the somatic breath work with Sat Guru (Cheryl Baker) every Sunday, it just sets me up for the week. I love the fact that this teacher is fully qualified in somatic experiencing and in breath work and brings her own unique quality of kundalini meditation. She is very experienced and holds the group in a very nurturing, safe and healing way. I have had amazing results, able to sleep better, think more clearly, make important life decisions and in general just a great tune up. I love all of Sat's workshops too, they're amazing and very powerful. I highly recommend her class and her 1:1 sessions.

I visited this studio during my holiday in London. I attended classes with Marcia, Jayne and Claire. All three classes were different, but I enjoyed all three and found all three challenging in the best way! I practice daily and am always looking for studios to visit on holiday and I will definitely be back during my next trip to London!

The minute I stepped into this studio, I felt it was more than just your average studio, it's a living alive community of healers, yoga teachers, sound therapists, wellness therapists, etc Almost felt transported back to my ashram days in India! It has a magical energy of transformation and healing and since going my life has definitely improved. I especially love Sat Guru's Sunday's transformative somatic breath class, which I feel aligns me for the week, it's deeply healing, her touch and the energy she gives is amazing. Total dedication to the field of releasing trauma and healing! All of the teachers are very good quality, very experienced and loving and all seem to enjoy working there. The workshops are of a very high quality, you can tell well planned and a very good space is held for going deeper into transformation and purification on all levels. Can't wait to go back!!!! It's my fav centre in West London!

Obsessed with this studio ever since I’ve moved here - amazing teachers, and so many different choices for classes. And the studio is so beautiful. Gave me the motivation I needed to get serious about my yoga journey 🥰

Knowledgeable yoga teachers, some of them have been in the industry for years and appear very nice pleasant people, a few of the teachers a little manipulative with unhealthy spiritual belief systems and power play issues which I have experienced first hand, they don't really possess high level healing qualities or frequencies however they are great for imparting knowledge to the average spiritual/health seeker. They hold learned knowledge as opposed to authentic high level Eastern frequencies/transmissions. Great health work out club for British clients.

Excellent place to practice yoga in the heart of Nottinghill. When I first walked in I immediately felt good energy and vibes and my mind relaxed. The classes are all given by fantastic teachers and all are highly qualified. Definitely recommend this place, it's a must! Felt almost like a spiritual yoga ashram in the middle of London!

I absolutely loved this studio. I was in London on a layover and I was in dire need of a good yoga class. I found the Life Centre and was able to catch a yoga and meditation class with Zephyr. I was so in love with the 90 minutes that I spent there. I was offered everything that I needed. Zephyr taught with such extensive knowledge and was able to share so much of her own experiences. The meditation portion was absolutely wonderful. The studio space was pretty good. I took class in the studio located on the main floor which was an all white room. There were mats available for use along with straps, bolsters, and blocks. The locker space was small but they did offer locked lockers to use which is a huge plus. I am definitely looking forward to my next time in London so I can go try another class. Thanks for a wonderful afternoon!

This practising and teaching centre was taken over five years ago by Elizabeth Stanley and Christine Letter who I must say have turned this into a very smart welcoming centre which is at the top of its game. There are 60 classes a week held here offering many different types of disciplines.They rang from Astanga,Iyurvedic,Self-Pratice and hard or gentle yoga. The Life-Centre has a huge following and other than classes they also hold talks and teacher training programmes to anyone who would like to teach the disciplines or open up their own school. The centre is alos know for its impressive list of complementary therapies.

I was lucky to find this studio shortly after arriving in London from San Francisco. Having been a committed yoga practitioner for several years now, the Life Centre has been a welcome refuge. The center is beautiful, warm and offers dozens of classes at various levels, from beginner to advanced. If you're looking for classes in the "flow" style that's commonly taught in California, take any class with the word "Dynamic" in the title - you'll get a flowing sequence.

With over sixty classes per week and a well maintained, smart, welcoming studio means The Life Centre has been able to offer yoga for over fifteen years. The centre runs as a fully functioning therapy centre. They offer pilates and a huge array of holistic therapies. It is well worth checling the website for a full list. Walk-in classes range from £12-£15.

I was treated to a massage at this hidden gem on Kensginton Church Road. It is a Yoga, Pilates or Life Centre as they preferred to be known. Paul who does the massage was great and being a computer glued personnel the tension is surreal in my neck and shoulders. Pleasant and tranquil and friendly staff.

Great place if you're looking for a quality class led by an exceptional instructor. I can't speak enough about how great they are (just grab a workshop flyer from reception and take a lot at the bios on the back). Most teachers have multiple trainings, and as someone with a sports science background, I am amazed at how well they know their stuff. Definitely not a cheap gym class quality instructor (so if you are accustomed to spending a fiver on a class or getting them for free at your gym you'll be pleasantly surprised and soon find out why it's worth the expense.) Reception is great and friendly too. A teacher recommended I try a class at their new Islington location (which I definitely think is the best environment - big open rooms) definitely worth the commute for a weekend workshop but I stick to the notting hill location during the week.

I've just floated home from the most delicious yoga workshop at The Life Centre in Notting Hill: "A Pre-Holiday Treat: Ground - Energise - Relax" led by Sybille Pouzet. Having taken Sybille's regular vinyasa flow class recently, I had wondered how a workshop would be different. Well, imagine a regular class at the core of the workshop, taken at a slow but strong pace - but with a variety of add-on activities and surprises. Sybille began with some encouraging words about getting through the craziness of the holiday period. It was helpful to be reminded that Christmas may well bring sad emotions as well as happy ones, and that we should be prepared for both. She asked us to consider how our lives might be different today from one year ago. My first mental response was a grumpy "nothing's really changed" and then I thought carefully and realised there were actually many positive changes for myself and each member of my family. We proceeded to the vinyasa flow, where I enjoyed several unfamiliar variants of familiar poses, some using props. Included were poses similar to triangle, prayer twist on one knee, temple, and seated forward bend - but all involved doing something a bit different from the usual. There were several varieties of crow balance pose which I'd never seen. Must confess I was not up to these, but enjoyed watching the others while I resumed pigeon pose. Sybille's sense of humour and "permission" to do your own thing if you wanted provided such a welcoming atmosphere while at the same time working us quite hard. Then came a few unexpected treats. First we partnered with another yogi for some Thai yoga massage which Sybille demonstrated very clearly, and helped us with as we went. This was delightful as we each got a chance to be giver and recipient. I enjoyed both the physical sensations and the acts of kindness given to and received from a stranger in the class. Another treat was a breathing exercise called Bees - something we could use at home or work to calm ourselves for a few minutes. This involved covering our ears and humming like - well - bees, in long slow breaths. At the end of the class was the final surprise - Sybille had made wonderful chocolate truffles to share with all of us! Many thanks to Sybille for this fun and restorative afternoon. My experience matched the advertised description of the workshop perfectly - am now feeling strong, thoughtful, and calm. If you've never done a workshop, I encourage you to try it out. It makes a great gift for yourself or a loved one at any time of the year.

This past weekend I had the painful pleasure of attending Leila's Body Rolling Workshop at the Islington Centre (we'll get to the painful pleasure part later). Being an avid yogi, fitness fanatic and having numerous major injuries over the years, I entered the studio pondering and curious as to what we could possibly do with three hours, and just what was I going to get out of "Body Rolling"? Would I get bored and distracted? Are we breaking for Tea & biscuits? Just what exactly were all 25 of us going to do rolling around on the floor with these balls? Well, little did I find out that not only did 3 hours go by in a blink of an eye, but I would learn that from feet up you can target superficial skin, fasciae, muscle fibers, tendons, ligaments, bones, internal organs with the use of a single hard plastic ball rolled along specific points of the body. Basically, you can ease all that tension and years of discomfort you carry around day-to-day, year-to-year from poor posture, old injuries or just stale and stiff joints. As Leila pointed out, it will be like "clearing the impact from the body...and re-building the blocks of the body one on top of another." As I like to put it is like a self-inducing Rolfing session, prompt the pain description here for those of you who know what Rolfing is. Some discomfort at times a level of 8 out of 10, followed by amazing openness and change. Leila warmly welcomed us into the room with a large smile and sincere eye contact as we sat comfortably in a circle. She enthusiastically explained us the origin of Body Rolling, her experience and training with Yamuna in New York City before opening the discussion to us, and what ails us day to day. Comments ranged from upper back pain, tight hamstrings, neck discomfort, crunchy feet to sitting at a desk, high heels, and just plain feeling crummy. She passionately listened to our ailments and addressed each issue with immense knowledge of the human anatomy, and how we can release and find freedom from discomfort with simple method of Body Rolling. Starting with a body scan standing upright, Leila had us close our eyes and feel how we were in that moment. What was pulling? Were we leaning on one leg more than the other, more forward, more backwards, was our jaw clenched, was one shoulder lower than the other, did we have any discomfort anywhere? What in that one minute felt icky and miserable? Remembering this feeling, she moved us back to our mats and we started literally from the ground up through the entire body. We worked repeating a deep inhalation and exhalation and varying ball sizes to literally roll on the ball in specifically placed locations along the muscles & tendons. Feet, outer edge, inner edge, middle foot, all the teeny tiny micro fascia between the toes, Achilles tendon, calves, lower, middle upper, shins, hips, outer hips, glutes, front body, spine & neck. We controlled the use of our own body weight, stimulating muscular origins, tendons, muscle bellies, and insertion points. She got into the nitty gritty places we all love to hate, but hate to go there. She had us "grrrrr.... (like a bear) and bare the weight of the body on the ball." We seized to fight the muscles and tendons and released into the freedom, freedom from past poor habits, inflexibilities, good & bad strengths and ailments. We sunk into that ball like it was going to break through the floorboards and pop out of the ceiling on the ground floor. We elongated muscles, increased the movement in the joints, we rolled on one part of the body only to feel it in another. Towards the end of the workshop, I looked up to find slumped over, unyogic bodies lying around. Looks of pure ecstasy and euphoria were setting in left and right. Grimaces turned to smiles, grunts turned to deep exhales of pure joy. Leila has successfully turned us into a pile of mush. My body felt literally like it was on cloud nine, tingly sensations ran through those tough spots I was nervous to work on, and felt as if I had shed years of discomfort. I got immediate and direct feedback with every move and change in pressure working through the ball. My nervous system was in shut down mode, my muscles and joints had undergone a gentle manipulation back to where they anatomically were suppose to be, the tightness in my neck was gone, and my feet felt like they were one size larger. In our closing body scan, I felt more open the front body, and like Leila mentioned, as If I had just restacked all the building blocks of my body back into place. She had accomplished convincing me that there something I was going to get out of the workshop. That being not only freedom in movement, but also this is something everyone should partake in and incorporate in their lives. Thank you Leila, I will be back!

I bought ten classes as part of a Groupon deal but would have been very disappointed if I had paid full price. I went to pilates on a Sunday - there were sixteen people in a tiny room and it was so crowded that people were laying their mats on top of each other and we couldn't do any standing poses because there was not room. The teacher was a bit manic, didn't stop talking the whole time and didn't really explain much since it was supposed to be a beginners class.