Garden courtyards yoga in Biarritz
Green Hinterhof calm.
Garden courtyard classes take place in or beside a green Hinterhof, the inner courtyard behind a Berlin street-front building. You step through a passage off a busy street and the noise drops away. Some classes move out into the courtyard in summer.
No classes scheduled in the next two weeks.
What Garden courtyards does for you
You get the quiet that starts the moment the street door closes behind you. Leaves, birdsong and filtered light make the studio feel removed from the city. Many people find it easier to slow down there. In summer, practicing under a courtyard tree feels like a secret the building has kept for you.
It suits you if
- you want calm close to home
- street noise wears you out
- you like plants and soft light
- you want to practice outside in summer but somewhere sheltered
Read the full guide to Garden courtyardsWhat a class is like, your first time, history and the words you will hear
What a class is like
Most are indoor studios in a rear or side building, looking onto a planted courtyard, often on the ground floor and reached through one or two courtyards. The light is softer and dappled. Sounds are small: birds, a bicycle bell, a neighbor's window. In summer, some classes move outside onto grass, gravel or a deck. Courtyards are shared with residents, so classes keep the volume low, especially early and late.
Your first time
- Check the address details, such as Hinterhaus or Seitenflügel and which courtyard, and allow a few extra minutes.
- Bring a layer, since courtyards stay shady and cool.
- Keep voices low as you cross the courtyard; people live all around it.
Good to know
- Finding the entrance can take a moment: look for the studio's sign by the street door and expect to cross one or two courtyards.
- Courtyard studios are often in older buildings with steps at the entrance, so ask if access matters to you.
- Outdoor courtyard classes keep things quiet out of respect for neighbors, so expect soft music or none.
Where it comes from
The Hinterhof comes from Berlin's rapid growth in the 19th century. The Hobrecht Plan of 1862 laid out streets and large blocks, and developers filled them with dense rental tenements, the Mietskasernen: a decorated front building on the street, with side wings and rear buildings behind, often around several courtyards in a row. Building rules required each courtyard to be at least 5.34 by 5.34 meters, so a fire engine could turn.
Those courtyards were often dark and crowded. The front building got the light and the wealthier tenants, while rear buildings and basement flats were damp and dim, and workshops shared the space with housing. Over the 20th century, many rear buildings were renovated or removed, and from the 1980s, public funding helped residents plant courtyards with trees, climbing plants and beds; residents have kept planting ever since.
Today a green Hinterhof is one of the city's small luxuries: a planted pocket of quiet behind the traffic. Studios in rear buildings benefit from exactly that, and in summer some move classes under the courtyard trees.
Words you will hear
- Hinterhof
- The rear courtyard behind a Berlin street-front building.
- Vorderhaus
- The front building that faces the street.
- Seitenflügel
- The side wing running back from the front building along the courtyard.
- Hinterhaus
- The rear building across the back of the courtyard, also called Quergebäude.
- Mietskaserne
- Literally rental barracks; the dense 19th-century Berlin tenement built around courtyards.