A yoga and Pilates studio in the old chapel schoolroom on Llandaff High Street. Thirty-four classes a week with fourteen people at most, six on the reformer, four teachers who ask before they adjust you, and five minutes of quiet at the end of every class that nobody cuts short. Your first class is £8, and the first-visit page answers the questions people do not like to ask.
Classes
01
Nineteen yoga classes a week: hatha and slow flow for most people, a strong flow for those who want to work, yin and restorative for those who want to stop, and an early-morning class for people who need to be at a desk by nine. Every class ends with five minutes of stillness that is not cut short.
£8 for your first class, then £15 drop-in, £65 for five, £120 for ten, or £89 a month unlimited.
02
Eleven mat Pilates classes a week, from a gentle class built for stiff backs and new mothers to a strong class with the full classical sequence, taught by Sam and Nia with small equipment (rings, balls, bands) and a great deal of attention to how you breathe and where your pelvis is.
The same prices as yoga: £8 first class, £15 drop-in, five for £65, ten for £120, unlimited £89 a month.
03
Six reformer beds in the room at the back of the schoolroom, six people to a class, taught by Sam and Ruth: the springs and the carriage make Pilates precise for beginners and demanding for the experienced, and six to a class means the teacher adjusts every one. Booked only, £24 a class or five for £110.
£24 a class, five for £110.
04
Pregnancy yoga as a six-week course from fourteen weeks, with the same group each week and a teacher trained in pregnancy and birth; and a postnatal Pilates class after the six-week check where the baby comes too and nobody minds the noise. Nia teaches both.
The pregnancy course is £78 for six weeks.
05
A six-week course for people who have never done yoga or Pilates and would rather learn with other beginners than guess in an open class: the basic poses and principles, how to breathe, what the words mean, what to do when something hurts, and a free class afterwards to try the schedule. Eight people, Tuesday evenings, Eleri.
£72 for six weeks, including a free class on the schedule afterwards.
06
An hour with one teacher, on the mat or the reformer, for people recovering from an injury, people who are nervous of a class, people who want a home practice built for them, and people who simply prefer it. £65 an hour, £90 for two of you, and a plan after the first session that says honestly how many you need.
£65 an hour, £90 for two.
Your first visit
The first-visit page is the conversation we have at the desk a dozen times a week, written down: which class to pick (anything gentle or open), what to bring (nothing; mats and props are here), how early to come (ten minutes), what the teacher will do (ask your name, ask what hurts, offer a kinder version of everything), and what to do when something hurts (stop, lie down, nobody minds). Your first class is £8 whichever you choose.
Teachers
Yoga, the beginners' course, anxiety500-hour yoga teacher, breathwork and trauma-informed training. Here since 2018
12 classes a week; quiet, exact, never rushes the end
Opened the studio in 2018 after fifteen years teaching in church halls around Cardiff and a long training in India and Devon. Eleri teaches the hatha and yin classes, the beginners' course and most of the Sunday workshops, and is the reason the end of every class here is five minutes of stillness that nobody cuts short. She also teaches the staff of two local hospices, which shapes how she teaches everyone else.
Mat and reformer Pilates, sportClassical Pilates certification, sports rehabilitation diploma. Here since 2019
10 classes a week; precise, dry, counts in a low voice
A former physiotherapy assistant and club rugby player who found Pilates through a back injury and trained classically in London. Sam teaches the open and strong mat and reformer classes and most of the men who come here, and is the teacher the physios in Llandaff send their runners and cyclists to. He will tell you where your pelvis is in a voice you will hear in your sleep.
Pregnancy, postnatal, gentle PilatesContemporary Pilates, pregnancy yoga diploma, trained with a midwife. Here since 2020
8 classes a week; warm, unhurried, remembers the babies' names
Came to the studio as a pregnant student in 2019 and joined as a teacher the following year after training in pregnancy yoga and contemporary Pilates. Nia teaches the pregnancy course, the postnatal classes and the gentle mat classes, and does the private pelvic-floor work that nobody else in the area seems to offer. Her mother is a physiotherapist, which shows.
Reformer, backs, the over-sixties, sound bathsThirty years of Pilates teaching, reformer certification, sound therapy training. Here since 2018
9 classes a week; calm, authoritative, the one who fixed your back
Taught Pilates for thirty years, the last seven here, and runs the reformer room and the Wednesday over-sixties class. Ruth is the teacher people are sent to for a back or a knee that has been through the system, and the one who trained in sound therapy and now fills the studio once a month for the Sunday sound bath. She has no plans to retire and we have no plans to let her.
How we teach
Teachers ask before they touch, every class, every time, and a coin on your mat means not today. Props are not a failure; the teacher will hand you a block before you ask.
Gentle, open and strong, defined on the schedule page. A gentle class is gentle. Beginners are told which class to start with and are not put in a strong one to fill a space.
A five-class pass lasts three months, a ten-class pass six, unlimited is month to month, and all of them pause for illness, injury or a baby with an email. No forfeits.
No music in the mat classes, no mirrors, no phones past the tea corner, and five minutes of stillness at the end of every class that the teacher will not cut short to let the next class in.
The schedule
Early flows for the desk-bound, gentle classes through the day for backs and the over-sixties, postnatal with the baby on Wednesday and Friday mornings, strong classes in the evenings, the reformer room in the vestry, and Sunday afternoons for workshops. Every class on the schedule page has its teacher, its level and its cap, and the levels are defined so that gentle means gentle.
Students
Did the beginners' course at 52 having never done anything. Eight of us, Eleri explaining what a downward dog was without laughing, tea afterwards. Three years on I do yin on a Tuesday and hatha on a Saturday and I have not had a back spasm since. The five minutes of stillness at the end is the best part of my week.
Runner, bad hip, physio sent me to Sam. Three private sessions on the reformer, then the Thursday strong reformer class with five other people and a teacher who adjusts every one of us. Six people. You cannot hide and you cannot cheat. Hip is fine, marathon done.
Pregnancy course with Nia from twenty weeks, then postnatal with the baby on the mat beside me screaming for the first ten minutes while everyone carried on being kind about it. The breathing from the course got me through labour. Nia remembers every baby's name.
Find us
The stone building with the pointed windows and the pale door beside the chapel. The studio is the schoolroom; the reformer room is the old vestry. Two hours free in the cathedral green car park, the 33 and 62 buses at the door, and the river at the bottom of the hill for afterwards.
Either a gentle class for £8 (gentle hatha, yin or gentle Pilates, read the first-visit page first) or the six-week beginners' course for £72 if you would rather learn with other beginners. Both routes are used about equally. The teacher will tell you honestly which class to try next.
No. Flexibility is a result of yoga, not a requirement, and gentle classes assume neither. The teacher offers a kinder version of every pose and hands you a block before you ask. The stiffest person on the beginners' course so far was a rugby prop; he does yin now.
Your first mat class £8, then £15 drop-in, five for £65 (three months), ten for £120 (six months) or £89 a month unlimited. Reformer classes are £24 or five for £110 because six people share one teacher. Private sessions £65 an hour. Passes pause for illness, injury or a baby with an email.
Fourteen at most on the mat and six on the reformer, which is the number at which a teacher can see every person and adjust the ones who want adjusting. If a class is full every week we add one; we do not raise the cap.
Only if you want to be. Teachers ask before any adjustment, every class, and a coin from the basket on the corner of your mat means not today, with no questions. About a third of the room uses the coin on any given evening.
Any gentle or open mat class, mats and props provided, the teacher told you are new, and the kinder version of every pose offered without being asked. Book in the app, send the form, or walk in ten minutes early; the desk is open half an hour before each class.
