Abby McLachlan is the founder of East of Eden and has lived in Walthamstow since 2011. Before opening the studios, she’d been in the music/media industries for 15+ years. When she became unexpectedly pregnant, that career was no longer viable long term, not as a completely solo parent, and she started to dream of opening her own yoga and arts space in Walthamstow and naming it after her favourite book, East of Eden by John Steinbeck. In 2015, the first one-room mat studio opened in Hatherley Mews. After crowdfunding in Autumn 2015, they took a neighbouring studio and opened a bigger mat studio plus reformer Pilates in 2016. The next expansion was in 2019 when, after 2 years of negotiating, Abby signed a new lease with Waltham Forest Council in October 2019 to add better facilities, a cafe and new studios downstairs. Despite a build riddled with difficulties, finally in March 2020 everything was finished, and life looked good, except for the news about a new virus called Covid-19 circulating round Europe. A week after the grand opening, the brand new studios closed as it became clear a national lockdown was coming, and everything shifted online. The studios managed to fully reopen in May 2021, and then in July 2022, expanded to open a new reformer Pilates studio plus a barre and hot yoga space. The next (and last?) expansion add spin and better therapy rooms and opened in March 2024. Abby gives thanks always to the community of staff, teachers and students who make East of Eden what it is.