News
Lets EMPOWER HER! Do you know someone who might benefit?
We're busy behind-the-scenes setting up our women's health programme , Empower Her - and we want to hear from you!!
Do you know of group of women in Shropshire who would benefit from free or subsidised holistic health sessions including yoga, acupuncture, aromatherapy and creative arts workshops.
Contact us at jenna@jennablairyoga.co.uk explaining who the group are, and why they may benefit.
Jenna & Hattie
Join Jenna this summer on a retreat like no other ....
WRITING RETREAT WITH YOGA - OFFERED BY ARVON AT THE HURST, SOUTH SHROPSHIRE
It was a privilege to collaborate with Arvon Literary Foundation earlier this year via our Arts Council England funded project, Creative Connections. Together, we offered a number of very well attended writing workshops at stunning writing house, The Hurst, near Ludlow, and at our beautiful yoga space here in Shrewsbury.
... so Jenna was thrilled to be asked to be a guest tutor on this wonderful retreat experience in July. For Jenna, it's only when she get the stillness and clarity her yoga practice provides that creative ideas can land. Jenna says, "It's a joy to be able to offer this opportunity to others".
MORE DETAILS & BOOKING HERE > https://www.arvon.org/.../cour.../writing-retreat-with-yoga/
Jenna
We did it ~ thanks to you!
We are so excited to share our crowdfunder 'Empower Her' has reached its fundraising target - which means we can officially kick-start our women's health project forward to support girls and women in Shropshire!
We wanted to say the biggest, heartfelt thank you to everyone who has contributed. It means more girls and women will be supported and heard in Shropshire.
We can't wait to get started and share the campaign's impact as we go.
Empower Her:~ Support Women’s Health in Shropshire
Supporting women's health is an important part of what we do - through yoga, movement, holistic treatments, creative activity, and more.
But with so many women and girls feeling lost and unsupported my mainstream healthcare, we're passionate about doing more to EMPOWER HER. And that's why we've just launched a Crowdfunder - and we need your help!
Through the crowdfunder, we want to kick-start a women’s health programme for women and girls in Shropshire to provide access to better paths to better physical, mental and emotional wellbeing, from puberty to menopause. We will offer free and affordable supportive yoga classes, workshops, education, holistic therapies, support groups and more.
This comes at a time when despite 1 in 3 women in the UK suffering from a reproductive or gynecological health issue in their lives, less than 2.5% of UK research is dedicated to reproductive health.
Women's health needs need attention, but to do this, we need your help. Any funds raised will be recognised and supported by Shropshire Council, which is why even the smallest amount really matters - even just 50p.
Find out about the campaign and how you can help us here: www.spacehive.com/empowerhershropshire#/idea
Gentle Yoga with Jenna Blair returns to Gather Ludlow
Saturdays | 10am | £9 or £8 with an 8 class pass
Location: Unit 2, SY8 Studios, Gravel Hill, Ludlow SY8 1FP
A legacy of our Yoga Connect project funded by Shropshire Council, we continue to bring Gentle Yoga to Ludlow in 2025 ...
Move your body, use your breath and find some stillness within.
Perfect for beginners
Mats available to borrow
All welcome - come and try one class (no need to commit every week!)
Hard Hats and Yoga Mats!
Building works get underway as Jenna Blair Yoga unveils news of its expansion
Jenna Blair Yoga in Shrewsbury is switching Lycra for high-vis and hard hats as we announce work is underway to transform a derelict, outdated building into a brand-new haven for the community.
The works will see the creation of a second studio space, additional treatment rooms offering holistic therapies, and more.
We have far outgrown demand, with classes and a variety of offerings to support wellbeing often fully booked with waiting lists.
With a busy programme of events thanks to numerous funding grants from the likes of Arts Council England and the National Lottery Community Fund, as well as new Yoga Teacher Training programmes starting in 2025, more space is desperately needed.
The building undergoing transformation requires a full-scale rip-out and redesign to turn it into an oasis of serenity and calm. The ambition is to complete the renovation works in time for the space to open later in 2025.
Founder and Director, Jenna Blair, said: “We’re delighted to share the news of our upcoming transformation! This is a plan that’s been in the works for a while now, and it’s an exciting chapter for our team here at Jenna Blair Yoga as we start this new phase of our expansion. We took on the first building back in 2021 transforming the space from a dilapidated office block to what we have now which is a much-loved, peaceful haven for a huge variety of classes, treatments and offerings that support wellbeing.
“We welcome more than 400 people through our doors each week - demand for what we offer here is more popular than we ever could have imagined. We are growing our building as we grow as a business and a not-for-profit community organisation. It’s our ambition to benefit as many people as possible through yoga, and our new second building will help us to do this.
“We’re now also offering so much more than yoga - although that will always remain at the core of what we do. Recent funding from Arts Council England, the National Lottery Community Fund, Lingen Davies among others has seen us offer a full programme of mindful creative activities including arts, crafts, writing, singing and walking workshops to name a few.”
“The growing community strand of our work means we want to make the new space fully accessible for wheelchair users and families with baby changing facilities. It’s our mission to make yoga, creative practices and activities that support wellbeing accessible to all, which our new building will allow us to do.”
Jenna Blair Yoga continues to stay open while the building work next door takes place.
Gentle yoga to support those living with and Beyond cancer New Classes Available
We are delighted to announce that Lingen Davies are continuing to fund 3 weekly Gentle Yoga sessions for those living with and beyond cancer.
The sessions will resume week beginning Monday 6th January at Jenna Blair Yoga in Belle Vue with Jenna’s class being available to attend online too!
We would like as many people to benefit from these classes and would appreciate you passing this incredible offering on so they can experience the magic of yoga!
To book, go to the booking page of the website and simply scroll to the date of your chosen session and reserve a space. If you have any questions please contact enquiries@jennablairyoga.co.uk
Gentle Yoga with Jenna Blair - Mondays at 1.30pm (also available online)
Gentle Yoga & Qigong with Emma Hickson - Wednesdays at 9.15am
Gentle Yoga with Debbie Suckling - Saturdays at 10.30am
Jenna Blair Yoga Community Awarded £5000 To Deliver Shropshire Wide Yoga Programme For Ukrainian Communities
We are grateful to be receiving grant funding of £5000, to provide a programme of yoga activity across Shropshire for Ukrainian refugees. The funding has kindly been provided by Homes For Ukraine and awarded by Shropshire Council.
Jenna Blair Yoga Community share the mission of Homes for Ukraine - to provide connection, support and guidance to all those in our community.
This project will be run in partnership with Shropshire Supports Refugees and Shropshire Council and sessions will take place between October 2024 and March 2025.
Full details coming soon.
All the yoga for all the people!
Relax Kids with Jess Irvin Wright ~ Yoga and Creative Practices for children
Block of 4 classes commencing Monday 30 September | 4.30 - 5:30pm | £36 | For children 7 - 11 years
Relax Kids classes use mindful and relaxation techniques to help support children's mental health and wellbeing.
Jess will work with your child to build up their sense of positivity, gratitude, resilience and compassion, using techniques from simple yoga stretches and breathing exercises to positive self-talk and guided meditation.
Through a unique 7-step system that works with your child's natural energy system, a Relax Kids class takes them from high energy to a relaxed state, bringing their nervous system into a more harmonious and balanced place.
As well as being fun, classes help children develop skills to aid relaxation, sleep, self-confidence, stress and anxiety management and promote positivity and mindfulness.
Gentle Yoga and Tai Chi to support those living with cancer ~ funding update
We are delighted to announce that Lingen Davies will continue to fund our weekly Yoga & Tai Chi sessions for those living with cancer, for a further 12 months! These sessions have been really beneficial for those who have attended to date, so we are grateful to be continuing the classes over the next year.
The sessions will resume week beginning 16 September - Gentle Yoga at 3:15pm on a Tuesday with Cat, and Tai Chi at 3pm on a Wednesday with Tom. For anyone wishing to joining us from home, classes will also be available online this time too!
Grant Awarded From UK Shared Prosperity Fund To Take Yoga To Rural Shropshire Communities
We are absolutely delighted to be able to share this wonderful news ...
Jenna Blair Yoga Community has been awarded nearly £4000 to deliver a programme of Gentle Yoga sessions in various parts of the county.
Rural isolation is real in Shropshire and we know first hand how yoga can provide a sense of connection. Providing accessible classes in areas underserved by public transport, hit hard by the cost of living crisis and sometimes missing out on opportunities to find that sense of connection and community is something I have felt passionate about for some time. We are incredibly grateful to Vibrant Shropshire: A Cultural Compact Grant Scheme (part of UK Shared Prosperity Fund) Shropshire Council for kickstarting what we hope will be a long term service.
The sessions will begin this Autumn and we have starting making plans.
Do you live or work in a rural part of Shropshire and know of groups / individuals that would benefit from some Gentle Yoga sessions? We would love to hear from you - enquiries@jennablairyoga.co.uk
All the yoga for all the people!
help us create our Connection Garden
We love it when people take some quiet time before and after their classes, to sit peacefully and connect just outside our front door. It's a tranquil spot here at Jenna Blair Yoga, and the birds are often singing loudly. Thanks to Veolia UK and Shropshire Council we are now able to make this lovely little area even more special. We have been awarded almost £1000 to create what we are calling our "Connection Garden".
We will be able to purchase seating, new bike racks, containers and bee and bird friendly plants to enhance our outside space enabling more people to connect to themselves, each other, and nature.
We need some help to do this and require a small number of volunteers to collect items of garden furniture, paint and repair existing furniture and plant up containers. If you feel you could spare some time, please get in touch at enquiries@jennablairyoga.co.uk
We would also be grateful for any plants you would like to donate and/or items of garden furniture that you are no longer using (please drop us line first to check we have enough space for them though! enquiries@jennablairyoga.co.uk)
Free yoga sessions for people living with cancer
People living locally with cancer can benefit from free classes to maintain flexibility and mobility, no matter what their stage of treatment.
The classes are being provided by qualified yoga teacher Jenna Blair and her team thanks to £1,780 funding from Lingen Davies Cancer Fund. Those taking part will be encouraged to do what they can, while listening to their body, as part of living well, with and beyond cancer.
The charity, which works to raise awareness about cancer throughout Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin, and Mid Wales, supports a wide range of technology and services for those going through it. It has recently funded six weeks of cancer specific yoga and tai chi classes for anyone living with cancer, which will start this Spring.
The funding has been agreed through the charity’s small grants applications process – available for anyone looking to run services and support to benefit those impacted by cancer.
Jenna has run these kinds of sessions before and said they were a huge benefit to people, in more than just a physical way.
She said: “Some of the sessions we have previously offered have been specifically for people living with cancer, Gentle Yoga and Tai Chi classes that focussed on mindful movement, breath work, finding stillness and peace, and also offered a sense of community.
“What really struck me was that cancer wasn’t spoken about but there was a real understanding that people had a shared experience. I’m often asked about cancer specific sessions, people feel comfortable knowing others understand.
“It can be a little daunting trying something new but I would encourage people to give it a go - the team likes to have a conversation before any class to help build the confidence of those attending.”
Lingen Davies has funded 24 sessions in Shrewsbury to begin with, with a view to rolling them out further across the region. It will be a combination of Gentle Yoga and Tai Chi, open to everyone impacted by cancer.
Anna Williams from Lingen Davies said the charity was very pleased to be able to offer this different kind of support to those living with cancer in the region. She said: “This can be a huge benefit to anyone affected by cancer and I would encourage anyone who can access them to take up the offer. We are working with a wide range of organisations that deliver physical and mental wellbeing in the wider community. We want to ensure those impacted by cancer can access a wide variety of services to help them physically, emotionally, and mentally as they go through treatment and live beyond it."
“We are proud to be able to offer these yoga sessions and hope to be able to offer this further afield in the coming year.”
For more information about Lingen Davies and the life-saving work underway visit the website www.lingendavies.co.uk.
For more information about the sessions on offer at Jenna Blair Yoga, call 07812 596609, email enquiries@Jennablairyoga.co.uk or visit the website jennablairyoga.co.uk.
Jenna Blair Yoga secures generous Arts Council England Funding
We’re delighted that Jenna Blair Yoga has been awarded a £22,000 grant by Arts Council England (ACE) for the roll-out of a brand new community project that will offer extensive workshops and classes combining creativity and wellbeing for local communities. The money will enable local creatives to deliver new experiences that support community engagement, specifically for people who would otherwise not have access, including refugees, people experiencing physical and mental health challenges, as well as many other groups of people such as young carers and those experiencing homelessness.
The project, called Creative Awakening, will see Jenna and a team of local creatives and other yoga teachers offer introductions to journaling, painting, crafting, sound therapy, as well as further yoga sessions.
The grant follows Jenna Blair Yoga’s recent successful National Lottery Awards Community funded project where a £10,000 grant saw over 600 people access yoga classes and workshops, including sessions for people living with cancer, classes for people with dementia as well as classes for carers.
Jenna Blair said, “I’m blown away to have been awarded this grant by Arts Council England and it’s fantastic that we can build on the momentum we started last year on our community work. I am hugely passionate about the power that both creative practices and yoga can have on our lives - the two are so connected and help us to find opportunities for self-expression, relaxation and mindfulness, as well as being invaluable in supporting our wellbeing.
“The scale of the funding means we’ll be able to offer a breadth of enriching creative experiences that support people’s wellbeing, as well as helping to develop new skills. Through this generous funding, we’ll be able to reach more people than we’ve been able to reach before, specifically for those most in need or who wouldn’t ordinarily have access, thanks to Arts Council England.”
The funded workshops will take place at Jenna Blair Yoga and will also be offered across venues and communities in Shropshire. Initial workshops have been confirmed together with charities including Shropshire Mind as well as Headway, a charity supporting people living with brain injuries.
The full programme of activities will be shared soon. Stay tuned on our website and social media channels, including Facebook and Instagram.
Jenna Blair Yoga Community ~ All The Yoga For All The People
We are delighted to have been awarded funding from The National Lottery to deliver a range of community yoga and wellbeing sessions facilitated by our team of fully qualified teachers at zero financial cost to participants. My mission has always been to offer as much yoga to as many people as possible to this opportunity has been received with huge gratitude.
Do you know of any groups or individuals who may benefit from accessing yoga and wellbeing sessions without financial implication, either here at our base in Belle Vue or in other locations locally?
Get in touch - I'd love to hear from you! 07812 596609 / enquiries@jennablairyoga.co.uk
More news coming soon!
Jenna
