I really didn’t want to go. My head was pounding, my eyes were blurry and I felt like all I needed was my warm bed. But I had committed, and so I forced myself out of my hungover dome of comfort, and forced myself to travel to Shoreditch for yoga.

This wasn’t just any yoga, it was called Do.om Yoga, a concept thought up by… They’ve paired the traditional practises of Yoga with the loud bellowing sounds of Doom metal. I had seen the class shared time and time again over social media, so when January hit, it only seemed right to find out what Do.om Yoga actually is.

Their current practise space is located in the Ace Hotel. As I walked in on a Friday night, I found myself wondering around an extremely expensive looking bar area with many people that looked like they came straight from work. I instantly felt a bit weird about walking around in leopard leggings and my bed hair. But thankfully, I soon found instructor Sanna standing by a flight of stairs. She lead me down into the basement area into a darkened room lit by candlelight and the glow of red lights.

There was a place to change, to avoid any leopard print legging embarrassment, and all the mats were provided. I found a spot at the back of the room, in the shadows, which was perfect for my hangover. People were slowly filling up the room. Some in groups, a lot were on their own. There was a few boys and a lot of people were sporting a band tee- quite different from the usual yoga classes I’ve been to.

The instructor …. takes to the stage and begins explaining the class. I insteadly relax a little more as she tells us this is a class for beginners. The thoughts of collapsing half way through an hour and a half leave my mind.

“This is a vineassa yoga class.”

The music started as a slow and a droning vibration sounded. She began with a guided meditation.

“Locate the space in between the eyes, and just watch that space.” she said in her firm but soft tone.

We breathed in jolts through our noses in order to warm our bodies up. The sounds of breathe from everyone around almost masked the music, and made me hope no one had a cold for the fear of snot flying everywhere. With my eyes pinned shut, I felt completely, I felt comfortable and began to forget about my dreadsome hangover, and focus completely on my breath.

The well timed switching of music broke us into the stretching and yoga poses. I suddenly found myself upside down with my head in between my legs as the doom metal was becoming louder and more intense. The instructor weaved in between us, adjusting our positions as she gently gave us clear instructions on our breathing and where to place ourselves. It was fairly easy to follow along, and ….. explained every position and politely telling us the names of the poses.

A few times we all chanted, and there was one really long ommmm at one point, and as someone walked past, I could imagine that this would from an outsider perspective, look like a cult. And I could perhaps see that this has the potential to have a cult following too, if it doesn’t already.

The music cleverely converted to something softer as we wond down, with our forheads to the floor and felt the vibration of the doom  throughout our bodies. It felt good to slow down after holding really tough poses for a lenght of time. …. brought me back into the room by instructing us to smoothly roll back up and do some more poses, but not as intense. The music adapts.

Then we lie flat on our backs, forming my favourite postition – the corpse pose.

“You are dead”

I close my eyes and completely let my mind drift. The music is now soft and quiet. I am extremely relaxed and almost feel like I’m half sleeping. Suddenly my shoulders are pushed down and my head is lifted. I half open my eyes and it’s ….. She then rubs my forehead with some kind of balm, and it felt like a warm hug to the skull. She leaves me and continues onto the next person.

We lay for a little longer and …. finishes the practise by warming our hands and chanting. I felt like there should have been a round of applause, but there was only silent rumblings of appreciation.

I get up feeling completely relaxed and refreshed. My hangover had seemed to have made a quick exit and was just replaced by a healthy appetite. I was facinated by how well the music was timed to the pace of the practise. Do.om yoga is more than just a yoga class, it’s an experience – and for £10, I really think they’re undercharging.