A heiter approach to movement with Studio 70 founder Laura Rice

heiter contributor Anna Considine sat down with Laura Rice, founder of Glasgow yoga and pilates studio, Studio 70. Laura shared how she follows a joy-led approach to movement, both personally and in the studio’s new reformer pilates space.

Hi there Laura! First of all, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and Studio 70?

Hi Anna! I’m Laura Rice and I’m the founder of Studio 70 in Glasgow. We offer yoga, mat pilates, and now reformer pilates too. We are a purpose-driven studio on a mission to make yoga accessible and inclusive for all.

Studio 70 founder Laura Rice

Amazing, I can so see that in everything you do. Getting more personal, I’d love to hear how has your idea of “joyful movement” evolved over time?

Well, I didn't actually have any particular sports or movement practice as a young person or as a child. I gradually got into running and found yoga complemented that, and I got into rowing as well. From speaking to our clients, I think not finding movement that resonates is so common at school, especially for women.

But, over the years, yoga has been my consistent practice while other things have come and gone. The most recent example has been getting into strength training since having my last baby 18 months ago. I've been wanting to refocus on regaining the strength I lost through pregnancy and focusing on other things over the last few years!

I’ve definitely found that exercise has also been about finding that social hub; it was one of the ways I made friends when I moved to Canada, and we've seen the studio become that for folks here, too.

I love that so much. I'd love to hear what your vision was when you first imagined Studio 70 and how it has shifted since opening?

Well, before opening Studio 70 I was teaching from different community venues and it left me wanting a space to teach and that I was able to shape… a bricks and mortar business where people could gather. It was normal to be in a room with a dance class next door!

Over the years, we’ve evolved a lot, expanding multiple times to create the space Studio 70 is now. We've brought in an amazing team of teachers, as I'm sure you'll know, and they’re sharing so many beautiful offerings. It’s let me step back a little, which has suited me for the last couple of years especially, but I’m always listening to the community to see what they want. 

We’re definitely more values-led now: we’re really clear on what our values are and they impact every business decision we make. I love that we’re making choices like offering a scholarship space for our teacher training, because we know that the wellness space can be quite whitewashed, and we want to bring people of colour into the seat of the teacher. Nowadays, I think that when folks come to our studio, it’s quite clear what we stand for.

That’s beautiful… I think a lot of fitness spaces can feel really intimidating! How do you ensure that Studio 70 is welcoming to all bodies and all abilities?

One of the things that we were really clear on with our teachers is that it’s really important that our classes feel welcoming and accessible. This means we encourage them to suggest a range of options for poses, and we have plenty of props too. It’s about ensuring everyone can decide what’s the right version of a pose for them on that day, and there’s no pressure for that pose to look a certain way. We also educate our teachers on asking for pronouns, to ensure that nobody will be misgendered while they are here.

And of course, we are very intentional about our marketing too. We try to make sure we are showing bodies of varied sizes and shapes, and also different ethnicities too.

Brilliant. heiter is all about joyfulness; how does that philosophy resonate with your approach to movement?

I think my approach to movement is that it should come from a place of self-love rather than punishment. So, I'm going to go to Pilates tonight because I know that that is a way of nourishing myself on so many levels: not just a physical level, but also for my mental being. For me, it's really about finding a sense of joy and nourishment. 

I love that too. Lastly, I'd love to know: where do you see Studio 70 in five years?

Ooh gosh, that’s a question! We’ve expanded a lot over the last few years, so on the one hand I can see that continuing. On the other, we might decide we are really happy at the size we are now. We have a project in the pipeline that we haven't announced yet, where we’re working on a bigger reception area, which is exciting. I could see us focusing on events, retreats, and workshops, that kind of thing. We shall see.

You can find Studio 70 on Instagram, TikTok, and on their website here.

A heiter guide to France’s Pink City: how to spend a day in Toulouse

“Toulouse has a special place in my heart as I first visited the city in the South West of France during my honeymoon. One year later, when my husband and I travelled to different cities across Europe to decide where to move next, we spent one month exploring the city during the summer. I recently went back to attend a creative retreat nearby and spent a day strolling across the now familiar streets, revisiting my favourite spots.”

Contributor Veronica Ferrari takes us around her heiter places in Toulouse, exploring different neighbourhoods of France’s Pink City.

Carmes

An elegant area near the central Place Capitole, Carmes is a maze of old streets and historical buildings that converge around the Carmes covered market. A walk down Rue Pharaon and Rue de la Dalbade is the perfect way to admire the surviving medieval buildings and peek inside the open gates of hidden “hôtels particuliers”.

Carmes

Galerue des Arcades on Place du Capitole featuring paintings by artist Raymond Moretti

Maison Pillon in front of the market is an elegant and delicious bakery where to taste traditional French pastries, including some flavoured with crystallised violet, one of Toulouse’s specialities.  

If you are visiting on a hot summer day, the Italian deli next door, La Dolce Vita, makes an incredible homemade gelato under the name La Golosa.

The nearby green areas, Jardin de Plantes and Grand Rond, offer a shady respite to enjoy your treats on the grass during the warm months. In colder months, the Café du Quai makes a great stop for a coffee and cake break.

Capitole & Arnaud Bernard

The city centre of Toulouse spreads between the quartiers of Capitole and Arnaud Bernard, with Place du Capitole at its centre. Stroll down the paved Rue du Taur, mingling with locals and students from the nearby university, until you reach the square of the Basilica of Saint-Sernin and the archaeological museum Saint-Raymond. 

Hidden in the narrow Rue de Périgord nearby, the seventeenth-century former chapel of the Carmelitans (Chapelle des Carmélites) might not seem much from its exterior façade, but it hides an incredible space with frescoed ceilings and large-sized paintings that is nowadays used for cultural and musical events, including candlelight concerts. It’s worth keeping an eye on the agenda to see if anything is on during your time in the city.   

Chapel of the Carmelitans

Continuing down the road, you will reach the city’s main market, Marché Victor Hugo, where you will come across one of the most delicious secrets of Toulouse: the Paris-Toulouse® pastry by B. Authié. This is a reinterpretation of the classical French pastry Paris-Brest with a hazelnut praline cream and a violet whipped cream.

Two more former convents that the city has preserved and converted into cultural centres, the Couvent des Jacobins and the Musée des Augustins (reopening soon in December 2025), make two great spots for an artistic and historical visit. The first hosts a fun programme of creative ateliers and exhibitions around the Middle Ages, while the second is the city’s fine art museum with a collection spanning from medieval sculptures to nineteenth-century paintings.

La Daurade & Saint Cyprien

With the Garonne flowing down its middle, the origin of Toulouse’s nickname as “la ville rose”, the pink city, becomes even more evident at sunset, when the late afternoon light hits the city’s numerous terracotta brick buildings with its pinkish hues and their reflections ripple in the water, turning the river the same colour.

Having a picnic and enjoying your favourite drink on the grassy banks of the Garonne is a favourite pastime for locals and a great place to enjoy the French tradition of apéro.

Afterwards, make your way across one of the bridges, Pont Neuf or Pont Saint-Pierre, to reach the neighbourhood of Saint Cyprien on the other side of the river.

La Promenade du Charles Rose is a short pathway above the banks of the river, from which to see the water up close and the strength of the river flowing. You can also buy a drink from the small kiosk Guinguette Saint-Cyprien and enjoy the view from the chairs and benches set along the dyke.

 At its back, Les Abbatoirs is a cultural centre dedicated to modern and contemporary art that focuses on innovative art trends from the 1950s onwards.

In the centre of Saint Cyprien, Cacao Fages is a gourmet chocolate shop where you can taste cacao beans and delicacies from across the world and admire the incredible chocolate statues adorning the boutique.

Stop at Hayuco Coffee Copola to pair your chocolate treats with a cup of speciality coffee.

Where to shop for unique souvenirs

Close to Place du Capitole, Rue des Arts, Rue de la Pomme and Rue Cantegril are dotted with plenty of independent boutiques where to find unique souvenirs from Toulouse and browse interesting independent brands.

Here is a selection of some of my favourite shops:

La Maison de la Violette

Violet from Toulouse is a traditional ingredient and speciality that is impossible to miss around the city. From culinary ingredients including violet liquor and violet candies to soaps, candles, perfumes and beauty products, you will easily find these traditional souvenirs in multiple shops, but La Maison de la Violette is the city’s official violet shop on board a purple narrowboat moored on the canal in front of the train station and it makes the shopping much more fun.  

Maison Bleu de Pastel

Known as the “blue gold” of Toulouse, pastel is a plant with yellow flowers that has been known for centuries to give a long-lasting blue dye through a complex process. During the Renaissance, Toulouse was one of the main cities known for this dye and its merchants became rich until indigo, which is much easier to process, replaced pastel for dyeing. La Maison Bleu de Pastel sells a variety of interesting products using pastel and also has a small museum to discover more about this forgotten natural dye. 

Ecume Store

Inspired by life by the Atlantic Ocean and designed by owner Aure-Line to offer a curated selection of products for both men and women, Ecume Store is an independent fashion store with a great selection of brands focused on ethics and sustainability.

Trait Papier

A stationery shop with a fantastic selection of brands of notebooks, pens, paper and art supplies, including Libri Muti and Legami, two favourite Italian brands, and the well-known Japanese brand Traveler’s Notebooks.

Les Ombre Blanches bookshop

Les Ombres Blanches bookshop spreads across a few different locations, all close to each other on Rue Gambetta, with specialised locations for travel books and cinema. The main shop at 50 Rue Léon Gambetta also has a small café inside, while the recently opened Ombres Blanches Internationale at 13 Rue Sainte-Ursule is the perfect stop for English-language books.

Les Ombre Blanche

Chez Zel - Mode and Deco Concept Store

Chez Zel is a fun boutique mixing fashion and home decor, where Élodie et Charlotte promote local French artisans and brands, such as Le Briquetier, which relaunches the brick, symbol of Toulouse’s traditional buildings, with special quotes and personalised words.

Veronica Ferrari is a freelance writer, publishing consultant and social media analyst based in Paris. She also writes More Than Just Views, a Substack newsletter and creative corner for culturally curious wanderers filled with travel stories and musings on creativity, art, books and life abroad.

Image of the Galerue des Arcades via Unsplash, all other images by Veronica Ferrari.