Glasgow’s Hot Scot Yoga & Fitness is breaking down barriers with the opening of two new studios.
By Isla McGraw
Glasgow based yoga company, Hot Scot Yoga & Fitness, is reaching new heights as they open two additional studios in the city. This community interest company delivers yoga with beneficiaries from third-sector support agencies and has opened a further two studios, with one in the Calton area of the East End and the other just a short walk from the main studio on Crow Road.
The newest Crow Road hub acts as a mini studio for those seeking private sessions up to three people with a choice of classes from Inferno Hot Pilates to Trauma Sensitive Yoga. The East End studio was created in March this year as part of the Calton area city partnership through a Glasgow City Council scheme, helping fund the refurbishment of the studio using a loan from Social Investment Scotland. Hot Yoga East End has a focus on aspiration and assisting people with a growing interest in yoga and fitness, with memberships costs structured in a way to make the practice more accessible.
The company was established in 2016 by Doctor Lou Prendergast who created a safe environment for people from all walks of life to experience the posture-based physical fitness, stress-relief and relaxation techniques of the practice. Lou was introduced to this industry through her struggles with Lupus, an autoimmune condition, with research showing a link to childhood trauma triggering the body and causing inflammation of joints. Lou’s son recommended Bikram yoga after taking a class, and this was the beginning of Lou’s yoga venture.
Yoga is a mind and body practice that can build healing and strength both internally and externally whilst helping relieve medical conditions and joint pain. The discipline and structure allow participants to feel better physically and emotionally by boosting serotonin and dopamine, uplifting spirits and tapping into their creativity and energy.
Lou refers to herself as the “most unlikely doctor” due to experiencing a challenging upbringing of poverty and instability. This formed her drive to achieve academically leading to a PhD in health & social science before her yoga career. This emphasises the company’s core value of inclusivity and the aim of achieving a place where people are at the centre.
Throughout the years the company has worked with partners like Phoenix Futures Drug Rehabilitation Service, offering people who have successfully completed the programme half price memberships, Glasgow Women’s Aid, Forth Valley Rape Crisis, offering free Bikram classes once a week to survivors of childhood abuse, We Are With You, Survivors Unite, Amma Birth Companions, and The Mungo Foundation.
Andy, a teacher at Hot Scot Yoga & Fitness, is a perfect example of how yoga and fitness can be a contributory factor in transforming disadvantaged lives. He attended the first studio in 2018 when he had arrived at a crisis centre after 30 years of addiction and got a place at Phoenix Futures Scottish Residential Service for drug and alcohol rehabilitation.
Andy is now in a Keyworker role at Phoenix, and an Inferno Hot Pilates Instructor at the Hot Scot Yoga and Fitness East End studio. From being on the streets as a heroin addict to earning a wage from the organisations that supported him through his recovery addiction, Lou and her business organised his teacher training and assisted him in becoming a qualified instructor. People in recovery in the area will likely identify with the challenges he’s faced and be inspired by how he has turned his life around and how they can also.
Hot Scot Yoga & Fitness is looking forward to supporting many more vulnerable people and will continue to break down barriers allowing anyone and everyone to experience the benefits yoga has to offer.
For more information n Glasgow’s Hot Scot Yoga visit –
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