{"id":44676,"date":"2018-12-03T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/?p=44676"},"modified":"2018-12-03T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-12-03T15:00:00","slug":"cardiff-character-siwan-reynolds-meditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/2018\/12\/03\/cardiff-character-siwan-reynolds-meditation\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardiff Character: Siwan Reynolds"},"content":{"rendered":"

A local entrepreneur is expanding her Llandaff-based meditation business to reach a wider Welsh audience<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Mindfulness has become increasingly popular, with several health charities<\/a> now recommending meditation to alleviate the side effects of both physical and mental health issues.<\/span><\/p>\n

Siwan Reynolds is no stranger to the power of meditation. Last year the 25-year-old entrepreneur from Llandaff set up her own business, Cardiff Meditation<\/a>, to illustrate the influential nature of the practice.<\/span><\/p>\n

Siwan was diagnosed with epilepsy at 14 and tried everything she could to decrease her number of seizures, including cutting out dairy and gluten. It wasn\u2019t until she went to Exeter University in 2013 to study psychology that she found her answer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI came across an article in my second year saying how meditation could decrease seizures,\u201d she explains. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to take more medication so I grabbed the bull by its horns and did 20 minutes every day. After four months I was having fewer seizures as well as lots of other benefits.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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“I grabbed the bull by its horns and did 20 minutes every day”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Turning big ideas into business<\/b><\/p>\n

After realising the advantages of her new-found hobby, Siwan returned to Cardiff in 2016 with a view to setting up her own business. She sought help from Big Ideas Wales<\/a>, a Welsh Government scheme, to help start her business properly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI remember my first few months of trying to market my meditation classes and that was just a fail,\u201d she laughs. \u201cI only had the logo and name, so that\u2019s when Big Ideas Wales came in. They\u2019ve been amazing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Siwan\u2019s latest venture is to expand her business to a wider and more Welsh audience.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a native Welsh speaker, she recently rolled out a series of weekly classes in Welsh called Meddwlgarwch a Chacen (Meditation and Cake).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWelsh is such an old language and it\u2019s so beautiful. I\u2019ve been delivering Welsh-language classes in primary schools but I\u2019ve only very recently started doing it for adults and it\u2019s so fun.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Siwan

While focusing on the local, Siwan also has her eyes firmly on the global. March 2019 will see the launch of an online platform called Calm Cloud, aimed at allowing students of all ages to remotely access her guided meditations.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to have the freedom to be anywhere I want to be in the world. I might go and live somewhere else for a while,\u201d she smiles gleefully.<\/span><\/p>\n

Making a life-changing impact<\/b><\/p>\n

It is clear meditation is at the heart of who Siwan is. When talking about what it means to her, she enters full \u2018meditation mode\u2019: smiling, taking deep breaths and closing her eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNot everyone knows how powerful and life-changing meditation is. It\u2019s almost reminding myself that I am alive and what being alive truly means,\u201d she explains in an almost lyrical fashion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDuring meditation, you really stop and \u2018be\u2019. You\u2019re fully yourself and in the moment. It just pulls everything away and you\u2019re standing in the now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cNot everyone knows how powerful and life-changing meditation is. It\u2019s almost reminding myself that I am alive and what being alive truly means\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Siwan credits meditation as having changed her life completely in more ways than one.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m on way less medication now. I\u2019m much more much laid-back, happier and grateful than I was before. I see the world differently. Things like my bus running late – I see that from a different perspective now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Use Siwan\u2019s three top tips to try meditation yourself:<\/span><\/p>\n