The calm workout

What is it? A new breed of holistic workout that promises to care for your head as well as your heart. With an emphasis on mental wellness as well as physical, its about freeing your mind (while toning your body). Who does it? Stressedout urbanites who want to look and feel good in a pair of microshorts. What does it do? Take Psycle, a new spinning gym, where classes take place in darkly lit rooms, with inspiring music, ballet moves and a meditative free time section in the middle of the session. Other Zen workouts include CardioLates classes part spin, part Pilates; gyms such as Third Space already have resident wellness doctors, offering all manner of treatments, from zero balancing to humanistic counselling. The trend is gaining pace, with a host of calming workout classes scheduled to arrive here from America, among them Spynga (a fusion of spinning and yoga) and SoulCycle, the hit US holistic spinning class, which opens in the UK early next year.