Stillwater

Sixteen mats · 9 Farrow Yard

Breathe out for longer than you breathe in.

A breathwork and slow-movement studio in a converted wool-drying loft. One room, one skylight, no mirrors, and a basket by the door where the phones go to sleep.

Book a matSee the timetable

First class £8. No joining fee. Nothing starts before 9:30.

5.5 seconds in, 5.5 seconds out

Follow it if you like. Nothing happens if you do not.

It is not about doing more.
It is about bracing less.

Neve spent eleven years as a respiratory physiotherapist teaching people how to get up a flight of stairs. Stillwater is what she built when she wanted the physiology without the hospital — and without the wellness industry's habit of turning rest into another thing to be good at.

So there is nothing to win here. You lie down, someone counts, and for fifty minutes your nervous system gets told, very slowly, that it can stand down.

A week in the room.

Wednesday to Sunday, 11 classes, every one of them at the same time every week.

Four rules we will not bend on.

People ask us to relax each of these about once a fortnight. We have said no since March 2021.

  1. 01

    Phones sleep in the basket

    Every phone, switched to silent, in the willow basket by the door. Teachers' too. The front desk answers the landline through every class if someone needs you.

  2. 02

    Nothing before 9:30

    No 6am class sold as discipline. The earliest mat on the timetable is one you can reach after a full night's sleep and a proper breakfast.

  3. 03

    No streaks, no scores

    No leaderboards, no badges, no heart-rate screen on the wall, no email when you miss a week. Nobody is counting anything except your breath.

  4. 04

    The price, said out loud

    £16 a class, £8 the first time. No joining fee, no auto-renewing annual contract, and a cancellation rule that fits in one sentence.

Six classes. None of them are a workout.

From thirty-five minutes in a chair at lunchtime to seventy-five minutes under a blanket on the last Friday of the month.

All 6 classes

Four people, a midwife and a conductor among them.

Every teacher trained in something with a certificate and a hospital, a stage or a studio floor behind it.

Meet the teachers

Notes left on the front desk.

I booked First Mat expecting to feel ridiculous. June spent the first five minutes telling us we would sigh and should not apologise. I sighed. I did not apologise. I have been every Sunday since February.
Priya, Sundays
The Long Exhale class is thirty-five minutes and I am back at my desk by ten to two. It is the only lunch break I take that I actually come back from.
Dan, Wednesdays
Mats in the room
16
Seconds per breath, in and out
5.5
Your first class
£8

Questions people ask at the door.

I have never done breathwork. Where do I start?

First Mat, on Sunday at 11:00. It costs £8, June explains everything before asking you to do it, and the last ten minutes are for questions. She will suggest one class to try next.

Do I need to be flexible, fit, or calm?

None of the three. Most classes are done lying down or sitting in a chair. The only class that asks anything of your body is The Ladder, and we will steer you away from it on day one.

What if I cannot make a class I booked?

Cancel at least six hours before it starts and the class goes straight back on your account. Inside six hours the mat is spent. That is the whole rule, and it applies to everyone, members included.

Is there anywhere to change?

Two changing rooms with benches and hooks, no lockers — your things stay in the room with you. There is no shower; nothing on the timetable needs one.

More from the room in the journal —What sixteen mats actually cost,.

Ready to lie down for a bit?

Book a mat online, or ring the front desk and a person will pick up. First class is eight pounds, whichever one you choose.

Book a matPrices & membership