Nearly 80 residents took part in an outdoor yoga session held at the Villa Marina gardens in Douglas.

The event was a collaboration between Year of Our Island and Shine Om Yoga with proceeds being donated to the Manx Wildlife Trust and Paws for Thought charities.

The crowd of yoga enthusiasts and novices brought their mats to take part in the experience as part of the Quality of Life Month run by Year of Our Island. They were instructed by Janet Bradley, Aoife O’Donohue and Rachel Crellin of Shine Om.

Janet, founder and owner of the yoga studio, said: ’It was amazing and went really well. We raised £275, but I am thinking of topping it up to £300 so the company can donate £150 to each charity.

’The Isle of Man is such a beautiful place to live and the event gave people the opportunity to come together and take in their surroundings.

’The weather was just perfect for it. Not too baking hot for everyone. I’ve tried to do an event outdoors like this before, but the weather has never been in my favour. I want to do it again!

’It’s been a dream working with Year of Our Island. We’re very honoured to have taken part in an event like this.

’A lot of people who came out were my students but we also had some people come along who we’d never seen before. It was great to support local business Mother T’s as well, which provided refreshments. It was a nice and really inclusive event.’

Janet shared that she has been practising yoga for 15 years and officially teaching it for 10 years.

’I came into it really by chance,’ she explained. ’I went to a session at a local gym and it was the nicest way to make the best of my health and sickness without it being punishing.’

Find out more about Shine Om at www.shineom.me or search @shineom.me on Facebook.