@She eldDevOps: She eld devops meetup on the 2nd Thursday of the month. @PyShe : Python She eld monthly user group on th
- Union St is a co-working & events space designed with collaboration in mind. A meeting ground for diverse and dynamic minds, Union St offers the comfort and convenience of city centre office space with all the freedom of the freelance lifestyle.
Try us out for size * Free two week trial. * No contract. * No sneaky catches. * Membership from £40/month As a new member you will receive a professional photo shoot to use on your social media and marketing. For more info, and to arrange a visit and a cuppa, drop us a line:
[email protected] www.union-st.org Twitter.com/unionstcowork Facebook.com/unionst.coworking
What is - Union St? Union St is an affordable alternative to working from home for freelancers and start-ups. Membership includes: * City centre location * Superfast WiFi * Range of desk spaces * Friendly, productive environment * Workspace pop-up cafe * Fresh coffee & teas * Shared kitchen * Roof terrace garden * Daily events & workshops * Rooms available to hire * Access to start-up support * Non-profit co-operative
Community Joining the Union St community not only provides a professional space from which to work but also connects you to a network of businesses and individuals across a broad range of sectors and specialisms.
Who’s Here? Freelancers, IT developers, contractors, social enterprises, designers, and people developing self employment
- Events & Cafes: February For info and links visit union-st.org/events KTN Entrepreneurs Forum Wed 17th, 6-8pm, free.
Excellent monthly event with free food, short talks, discussion and networking.
Social Enterprise Social Thurs 19th, 5-6:30pm, voluntary donation. Bi-monthly meet-up for people interested in, or involved in, social enterprise.
Yorkshire Connected Thurs 25, 7-9pm, £5, @ConnectYorks Creative Freelance Networking for creatives who’re self employed - watch their video!
InMVA @InVMA_IoT Tuesday 16th, 6-9pm, free Learn how to generate new opportunities using connected product solutions
School for Social Entrepreneurs @SSEYorksHum Wed 9th March, 6-8pm, free A free taster session to learn more about the SSE programme of funding and grant www.the-sse.org/taster
Before Work: Yoga Thursdays 9-10am, £6.50, @LeoniesYoga Highly recommended by co-working members, first session free
Lunchtimes: Drop-In Meditation Wednesdays 12:40-1:20pm, by donation Facilitated by Sheffield Buddhist Centre
Blue Sky Singing
Friday drop-in 12-2pm, £5, first session free www.blueskysinging.co.uk
Fridays: Twin Cafe
Twinned with Sheffield’s twin city Esteli in Nicaragua & re-investing profits into youth social projects and their fresh coffee is superb @TwinCafe 12
Thursdays: Pie Eyed
Proper pies, mash and gravy from one of the city’s most popular street food traders - see centre page interview @_PieEyed
Wednesdays: The Dr Bike Clinic
Bring along a donation for Sheffield’s food banks and the Dr Bike team will service your bicycle for free! @ReCycle_DrBike
Tuesdays: LGBT Cafe
Drop-in cafe for LGBT Sheffield, serving fresh Twin Cafe coffee and open to the public @LGBTSheffield
- Meet-ups ShRUG: Ruby User Group, every 2nd Monday of the month; http://shrug.org/ @Def_Shef: Functional programming every second Tuesday of the month @SheffieldDevOps: Sheffield devops meetup on the 2nd Thursday of the month @PySheff: Python Sheffield monthly user group on the last Tuesday of the month @Sheffield_JS: Connecting JavaScript developers of all levels & having a pint. Last Thursday of the month.
Booking details at union-st.org/room-hire
Tea Break with: Leonie’s Yoga
Words by Sarah Sharp @sharpscribbler
As her weekly drop-in yoga class moves into the newly refurbished studio space at Union St, we chat to Leonie Luxon about finding balance, rewriting life plans, and the importance of tea ’n’ toast. For many of us, yoga is a fearsome beast, clad in soft bendy fabrics and throwing weird shapes on the floor. What is crouching eagle? Why is it so bloody hard to get into? When does the zen epiphany kick in? In a world of mung bean warriors and lotus vigilantes, Leonie’s Yoga offers a practice that is as inclusive as it is instructive. As a teacher, she is more interested in the individual finding their own pace rather than hoisting people into headstands straight away; and where many instructors can be rather po-faced about the whole affair, Leonie’s classes are infused with a sense of fun. Sitting down after the Thursday morning class to some tea and toast courtesy of the Pie-Eyed pop-up cafe, she outlines her philosophy: ‘For me it’s a bit of a treat for the body: learning how to accept it, and also how to gently move towards changing it. It’s trusting that with practice you’ll eventually reach your goals, rather than trying to push it.’ As someone who was once jackknifed into a plough by an over-zealous instructor, I endorse this attitude. The refurbished studio space on the first floor of Union St has recently become the new home of what is informally known as the Breakfast Club the morning class after which people stop around to catch up. At this point I must declare my own interest: I’ve been a loyal member of the breakfast brigade since I first arrived in Sheffield 18 months ago. In a city where I knew nobody, twisting myself into peculiar animal positions and then laughing about it over a cuppa with fellow twistees turned out to be a surprisingly good way to meet people. Keeping an element of humour is important to Leonie, who is not keen on the evangelical attitude some practitioners adopt. ‘I don’t like people who are overly strict,’ she says. ‘Someone said to me recently that what they liked about how I teach is that I’m funny - I approach it in a bit more of a light-hearted way.’ One of her favourite poses is Half-Moon (Ardha Chandrasana to you boffins) - a joyous splay-limbed side angle pose balanced on one leg. ‘It’s a very joyful pose - it makes you feel quite childlike. You can’t really not have a laugh in a fun pose like that.’ She did her training through the British Wheel of Yoga: ’Three years, lots of essays’. Courses on core poses and meditation were twinned with study of the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, the central texts underpinning the yoga philosophy. One of her tutors was a bio-chemist, with a vast knowledge of anatomy. This has clearly informed Leonie’s own teaching style, which is physiologically informative without being overwhelming. (True story: in yet another escapade with other yoga teachers, I was once told to ‘relax my spleen’. I’m still trying.)
Yoga as a practical anodyne to modern life is a central feature of Leonie’s method, but it is also the reason she began doing it at all. While working as a copywriter in Manchester ten years ago she began to develop chronic pins and needles in her arms and hands. After many visits to a number of specialists, this would eventually be diagnosed as thoracic outlet syndrome, a condition where a bundle of nerves become trapped around the collarbone, causing severe pain and restricting movement. At one point she was unable to lift anything or even drive - typing for long periods became impossible. Her career as a writer was effectively at an end. ‘I had to completely rethink what I would do with my life,’ she says - ‘and one of the things the physiotherapist had advised was yoga - and it really was helping me enormously.’ Teaching it provided a double boon: ‘It would be doing me good, but I also knew how much it could be doing for other people as well.’ She moved to Sheffield about two years ago, and though setting up as an unknown in a new place has not been without its challenges, she credits the friendliness of the city and the existence of places like Union St as making all the difference. ‘Union St felt like a natural fit, doing yoga and also being freelance - being of a slightly independent frame of mind’. The refurb of the studio space came at the perfect time - when co-ordinator Matt Hill was looking for a yoga teacher to hold classes there and the Breakfast Club was on the scout for a new home. Union St member Sian Thomas already attended an evening class of Leonie’s and put the two in touch. It represents the kind of community vibe that makes Leonie’s ethos such a good match for the space - the idea that people will stay and talk to each other, not just come to conquer the poses and rush off. ‘It’s sort of living the idea of yoga: to pause a little in your life, not rush by every experience.’ A lot is said about ‘being in the moment’ these days, but it there is a real truth to it in Leonie’s teaching approach. Progress is something to be worked on bit by bit, not hurtled through. She recalls her own early attempts at Half-Moon, which she now enjoys so much. ‘I was in the garden, falling over a lot - it was ridiculous. And there’s this beautiful moment when suddenly you’re in it, and it’s effortless - but only because it was so much hard work the last thousand times you did it.’ Finishing her tea, she summarises: ‘It’s just having the courage to try in the first place allowing yourself to fail joyfully. You have to be able to revel in the failure, until you get to the success.’ Breakfast Club is 9-10am on Thurdsays at Union St. To find out more about this or annoy of Leonie’s other classes across Sheffield, check out her website: leoniesyogapilates.co.uk or follow her on Facebook or Twitter @leoniesyoga.
“Union St felt like a natural fit, doing yoga and also being freelance - being of a slightly independent frame of mind. ”
