I was born in France but I moved to Ireland over 20 years ago. I have lived a very varied life and worked in many different areas, including tourism, IT and teaching yoga.
A few years ago, I gave up a promising :) career managing a small IT company, went to India, and come back only to settle on Clare Island where we started the yoga retreat centre (and a family). I still work with computers, though, as I am the webmaster of a few websites, including Yoga-ireland.com, workinghorses.ie and clareisland.info. Living at Macalla farm is an ongoing journey, and I am learning every day.
I love cooking (I am French after all...) and I am passionate about organic food production. My past loves, sailing and horses, are getting a new lease of life on the island, and I am developing new interests such as gardening and growing trees. Theo and Maud are currently teaching me the art of fatherhood, which I enjoy very much.
Ciara Cullen
I came to yoga in a round about way, after a background in dance--both ballet and modern, as well as cross-country running. After exploring various alternative forms of movement and exercise, I found myself doing yoga and immediately felt 'at home', and have been practicing now for over ten years. Ashtanga yoga has had the strongest influence on my practice, and I have studied intensively with John Scott, Graeme Northfield, Patthabi Jois and most recently Nancy Gilgoff,in Europe and India. I have also enjoyed greatly the 'lyrical' and 'poetic' styles of teaching from a number of Scaravelli influenced teachers including Rosella Baroncini, Victor Van Kooten, and of course, Paddy MacGrath.
For me, yoga is about practicing alone, facing one's self with one's breath on the mat. My own personal practice has also been greatly influenced in the last five years by two pregnancies and two very happy homebirths.