We’re passionate about helping you grow and make an impact.
About Us
We create space — for rest, clarity, and joy.
At Viveka Centre for Being, a welcoming retreat centre in a small hamlet in the Ariège, every retreat, class, and shared moment is held with warmth, simplicity, and deep care. Everything we offer is designed to help you slow down, feel deeply, and return to your life feeling calmer, clearer, and more alive.
Our home is a beautiful Maison de Maître, with sweeping views of the river and surrounding mountains. Nestled in nature and surrounded by woodlands, hills, and flowing water, it’s a place where you can truly exhale.
Here, you wake to birdsong, breathe fresh mountain air, and share laughter around the dinner table. You might feel the warmth of the sun on your yoga mat, or head out on one of the many walks that begin right at the door — through shady woodland or up to far-reaching views of snow-capped peaks and sunlit hills.
Beyond the house, the region offers plenty to explore: local markets, horse-riding trails, thermal baths in Ax-les-Thermes, the remarkable Grotte de Mas d’Azil, and even an underground river.
Meet Claire-Louise
Claire-Louise is an experienced yoga and mindfulness teacher who works with sensitivity, care, and deep respect for the body. Her approach is somatic, mindful, and trauma-sensitive, with sessions that are gently therapeutic and always grounded in lived experience.
Her teaching is deeply responsive. She listens carefully, meets you where you are, and tailors each session to support your individual needs — helping you feel safe, supported, and at ease in your body.
Claire-Louise trained as a Scaravelli Yoga teacher with the Inner Yoga Trust, qualifying in 2009, and later completed further training with them in Pregnancy Yoga and Yoga Therapy. She is also a fully qualified mindfulness teacher, with a qualification from Bangor University, and is registered with BAMBA.
Alongside a strong grounding in anatomy and physiology, Claire-Louise is a qualified nurse. This medical background allows her to adapt postures and practices thoughtfully, ensuring they are accessible, appropriate, and supportive for a wide range of bodies and experiences.
Meet Jon
Jon is a creative and thoughtful cook who loves experimenting with flavours and cuisines from around the world. He brings curiosity, care, and generosity to the kitchen, and is highly experienced in catering for a wide range of dietary needs.
Jon prepares all the meals for our in-house retreats, cooking with love and attention to nourishment. He is also available to fully cater retreats hosted at Viveka, offering food that supports both wellbeing and enjoyment.
Outside the kitchen, Jon enjoys travelling, walking, and getting lost in a good book. He also loves staying active, with a particular fondness for badminton and padel.
Testimonials
I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed Claire-Louise's yoga sessions.
They have permeated every area of my life. This is the one night of the week that I actually sleep soundly and I'm sure it's due to the deep restorative relaxation session Claire-Louise guides us through. I have learnt the most amazing insights into the power of breathing - just breathe and stress goes! and the shoulders drop!
This has been a powerful tool on the walk to work every day, as I now arrive regenerated, energized and best of all happy! I'm more aware of my body and my ultimate journey too, and this has been welcome counsel. Thanks Claire-Louise.
Louise. Bristol 2013
One aspect that I enjoy about Claire-Louise's sessions is the easy and personal atmosphere which is nurtured. Since starting the sessions, I have become aware of how my posture has been having a negative effect in my everyday life. I have learned how correct posture and breathing is central to my well-being and is in turn relaxing, which builds confidence.
The positions are explained with clarity and gentleness and this has enabled me to bring the practice to my daily life. There are times where I can really feel my body, when I'm trying and not trying at the same time, I'm just really in it!
I may walk into the sessions with Claire-Louise tired and irritable but I always walk out refreshed, relaxed and have the best night's sleep of the week!
Paul. Bristol 2013
I can highly recommend Claire-Louise’s weekly Restorative Yoga sessions that I have recently attended at the Old Library on a Monday. Claire-Louise patiently eases us all in to “arrive in the space” after we all arrive in differing states of tiredness and stress and takes the time to ask us all how we are feeling and how our weeks have been. Then that often frazzled Monday evening feeling gradually melts away as she takes us clearly and step by step through a varied range of standing/sitting/kneeling/even lying mat routines, explaining as we go which areas of the body will benefit, and I certainly do feel the benefits in terms of feeling calmer in my mind no matter what may have been on it before coming to class and most of all the next day when I really do feel much more supple, loosened up and energised. Now I am very much looking forward to continuing next term with Claire-Louise’s new Mindfulness Class which will incorporate some yoga making it a perfect blend.
Anna. Bristol 2017
Come and join us!
Rest and relax
Join one of our Seasonal Retreats
Immerse yourself in nature
Through our monthly workshops
Develop your skills
Learn about mindful awareness