Abergavenny Soul Yoga with Ciara

09/11/2025

Great summary of the benefits of pranayama and working with breath retentions.

03/11/2025

Still got three places left in Gentle Yoga, starting this evening, 5.30pm in Llanfoist Village Hall.

Suitable for all levels of physical ability and experience - breathe well, move mindfully, stretch gently and relax deeply!

£10 drop in or £49 for 7 classes up to Christmas.

More info: https://ciarabomford.wixsite.com/mysite/yoga-classes

02/11/2025

I have a few spaces in Gentle Yoga, Mondays 5.30pm - 6.30pm, Llanfoist Village Hall. Starts 3rd November, £49 for 7 weeks.

It's a good class for people who want to move gently and mindfully, focus on developing breath practices and relaxation. Ideal for seniors, people working with injuries or health issues, or people who are nervous of exercise classes! It's friendly and relaxed, a mix of men and women, and I always give options so you can find a way to move that works for your body.

Yoga can help you to feel more at ease in your body, build strength and mobility, manage and reduce stress, sleep better and cope with life's ups and downs.

More details at: https://ciarabomford.wixsite.com/mysite/yoga-classes Pre-booking essential.

25/10/2025

I have some spaces in my beginners yoga class, 6pm on Wednesdays at the St Michael's Centre, Abergavenny. It's a friendly class suitable for most fitness levels, where we will be learning the basic yoga poses to improve mobility, focusing on breath awareness to manage stress and always finishing with time for relaxation.

This time of year can feel dark and depressing, so why not carve out this hour for yourself, to focus on feeling good in your body and giving your busy mind time to quieten?

Please DM if you are interested. Men and women equally welcome; please let me know if you might need any adjustments to help you fully participate in the class.

£49 for the half term of seven classes. More details here: https://ciarabomford.wixsite.com/mysite/yoga-classes

13/10/2025

As the days get darker, there is a shift in energy, and we can be drawn to slower, more restorative practices, honouring the need to conserve our energy and hibernate. But sometimes we need to consciously think about how to bring more light into the darkness and boost our energy to counteract this sluggishness. So, here are a few ideas for practice:

Generating light and energy
Sun salutations! A great way to boost your morning vitality and keep fit and strong when going outdoors might not be so appealing.
Stranding poses - warriors, triangles and balances. Think of your autumn leaves falling as your practice tree pose.
Meditating with a candle (or visualising a candle at your heart)
Gratitude practices - who or what brings light into your life? How can you honour them/it?

Slowing down and honouring the dark
Restorative poses - a long legs up the wall, child's pose or supported forward fold.
Poses close to the ground - bridge, happy baby, banana-asana, reclined twist, supine cobblers pose.
Gather up beautiful autumn leaves and decorate your space.
Autumn and winter are often associated with old age - remember those you have lost with photos and keepsakes, make an ancestor alter.
Meditating outside in the dark - wrap up warm though!

13/10/2025

Really looking forward to visiting the Mandala Yoga Ashram in 2026 - just booked onto Anytime Anywhere Meditation in March and From Sound Into Silence in October. The Ashram is such peaceful place, really magical!

If you are interested, more details here:

Our residential yoga retreats are held at our beautiful ashram in the UK. Go deeper into the mysteries of yoga in an environment of great natural beauty and focused spiritual energy. We offer fully residential ashram retreats of between 2 days and 1 month in length. Mandala Yoga Ashram UK.

15/09/2025

What qualities do I look for in a yoga teacher? It's changed a bit over the years but here are my thoughts:

When I reflect on the truly outstanding teachers that I have been lucky enough to experience, the single quality that stands out is how they held space for every person, and every part of every person. They were watching the students rather than performing from the front, and they were keenly observ...

15/09/2025

𝗧𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 📚🧘‍♀️
September is exam season’s quiet build-up. New timetables, rising expectations and the weight of future choices leave so many students anxious before they’ve even opened a book.

At Teen Yoga, we see how this stress affects not only academic results but also mental health, attendance and even friendships. A constant “fight or flight” response is no way to learn.

Yoga in schools is not about bending into shapes - it’s about equipping young people with tools to regulate their stress response. Breathing techniques, short moments of stillness and simple movement can shift the nervous system into “rest and repair,” giving students the calm clarity they need to focus.

👉 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀: 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘮?

15/09/2025

04/09/2025

Loving kindness meditation, or meta meditation, is a beautiful practice, and can be life changing if practiced regularly. It has it's origins in the Buddhist tradition, but it can be practiced by anyone.

The idea is that we take four people - yourself, someone you find easy to love (the easiest person in your family or your best friend or even your dog), someone you recognise by don't really know (maybe a neighbour or someone you see walking their dog) and finally someone you have a tricky relationship with (possibly a family member or work colleague; world leaders and politicians also work well).

We take each of these four people in turn and direct kind and loving thoughts towards them. We can use phrases like: May you be happy, may you be well, may you be healthy, may you be loved. Or we can tailor the phrases more to the person.

This can be a difficult practice, and can bring up unexpected emotions. We might find it difficult to wish ourselves well, especially if we have trained ourselves to put everyone else first or we feel we can't be happy in our current circumstances.

Sending good wishes to a person you have an easy loving relationship with can be the easiest part of the practice, but again, this can bring up emotions if you don't see the person often or they are going through hard times.

The neutral person is always interesting because this is when we really start to train ourselves to be compassionate and empathic to people and living beings that we don't have a close relationship with. We remember that they too have the same wants and needs that we do.

And then finally to the difficult person. This can be really hard, and we might feel that we are repeating the phrases but not really feeling them from the heart. Never mind, we just keep practicing it anyway. I often remind myself that perhaps if this person was happier and truly at peace, they wouldn't be doing the thing that I am finding difficult, whether it is firing off unpleasant emails, making put down comments or committing genocide.

We can also extend our loving kindness thoughts out to all living beings wherever they are in the world. I like to include eco-systems too, whether that is the Amazon, the Arctic or local countryside. All living beings want the conditions to flourish.

If you feel that you would like to give this a try, there are lots of recordings online that you can use for practice. One of my favourites is the Befriending meditation on Danny Penman's page: https://franticworld.com/free-meditations-from-mindfulness/

I've definitely found this to be a life changing practice that has helped me to be more open and loving to the people in my life, and also more receptive and open to strangers.

Wishing someone you

31/08/2025

I've got one space available now for Beginners yoga, 6pm, Wednesdays at the St Michael's Centre.

This class is suitable for total beginners or those who would like to start from basics. We will be focusing on breath awareness, building mobility in all the joints and learning different postures to help us build mindful awareness of our bodies. We will always have time for relaxation as well!

Yoga has lots of benefits - feeling more comfortable in your body, breathing more effectively, managing stress, sleeping better and tackling life's challenges with a bit more calm and equanimity. Why not give it a try?

More details here: https://ciarabomford.wixsite.com/mysite/yoga-classes

29/08/2025

Why do we practice yoga?

For years, I assumed it was to get more flexible and do more difficult poses. It was a revelation to start delving into the philosophy behind yoga and realise this is really not what yoga is about.

These days I practice to keep my body healthy and maintain every day movements, so I focus on strength and mobility rather than ever increasing levels of flexibility. I am also much more concerned about the mental and spiritual benefits - calm, stillness and equanimity. Of course, life is often challenging, but yoga gives me the tools to navigate it better.

This is the gift I hope to give to my students!

Here is a picture of me in a windblown tree - it's a great pose for helping you learn how to stay balanced when everything feels unbalanced!