New ‘Shake the Dust’ classes bring sober social scene to Galway City Centre 

By Jean Daly 

After more than a decade running two of Galway’s most recognisable cafés, businesswoman Gill Carroll is transforming one of them into an evening space for yoga, mindfulness and sober socialising. 

Inside 56 Central on Shop Street, her new evening classes, Shake the Dust, blend movement, music, and meditation — bringing a new energy to the restaurant and to the city centre. 

A Galway native, Carroll studied hotel management at Atlantic Technological University (ATU) and later pursued nutrition. “I opened my first restaurant beside the college — it was called 37 West, and our slogan was Healthy is the New Sexy,” she recalls. 

That slogan, she says, set the tone for everything that followed. “It was a real hub for the college kids to go to. And I suppose that’s where my love for wellbeing started and I could do it through the restaurants and through the food and we were a very community-led café.” 

But behind the smiles and the bustle of a thriving business, Carroll was struggling to keep up. “I had sold 37 West just before COVID because it was just too much for me trying to run the two places” she explains. 

“One was really busy when the students were there and the other one was busy when they were off school. So I was working way too much 24/7 — and then I just burned out.”  

When the pandemic hit, the forced stillness became an unexpected turning point. “I kind of went into myself and found that love of yoga again and meditation;” she says. “And then when the opportunity came, I went and studied to become a yoga teacher.” 

What followed was a transformation — not just for her, but for her business. Carroll completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training, and then an additional 50 hours “specifically for Shake the Dust with a teacher called Satya. She’s based in Finland and she has an Authentic Tribe of Yoga Teachers.” 

Shake the Dust, she explains, is “a little different”. It’s not a traditional yoga class, nor a typical dance session. It’s a sensory experience that combines movement, meditation, and live music — all within the familiar walls of 56 Central. She describes it as “more yang, which is a little bit more fast-paced,” in contrast to the yin yoga she also teaches, which she says is “the feminine, soft, slower” practice. 

“It’s kind of like a perfect balance because I was very yang, masculine energy wise — always go, go, go,” she explains. “And then I discovered the yin side of me, the feminine, softer, which I probably had to push down a little bit.” 

That mix of energies has become central to both her teaching and her life. “Now I have that balance that everyone looks for in life because I can have that busy, hectic life and then drop into the yin and slow down,” she said.

“And with the Shake the Dust class, all of it happens in the hour and 15 minutes — you’re yinning and you’re doing the yang and it’s all happening at the same time.” 

The class itself is a sensory journey with live music, poetic guidance, and movement that blurs the line between dance and meditation, guided by Gill. 

Each session unfolds as a series of musical “containers.” Each song has a theme and a meaning, Carroll explains. She collaborates with Galway DJ Brendan Mullen, who performs live every week at the Shake the Dust classes. “We build the playlist together, which can take hours, because every track shapes the emotional arc of the class.” 

The result, she says, often moves people in unexpected ways.

“Some are jumping and dancing like crazy, others move slowly — but everyone is having their own experience. From tears to laughter to bursts of energy, it’s deeply personal.” Gill said her attendees, “absolutely love it! Some going from tears to laughter to high and energised”; everyone’s experience during Shake the Dust is different and personal. 

After class, the community continues to flow — over kombucha, nachos, and conversation. “After yin everybody wants to go home because they’re tired,” Carroll laughs, “But after they shake the dust they’re just enlightened — there’s like a new energy in them. They all love to stay and have nachos, a drink and a chat.” 

The new classes also align with Galway City Council’s Café Late initiative, which aims to boost the city’s nighttime economy without alcohol.

“It’s an initiative to open up the spaces to people in Galway,” Carroll says. “We close at five o’clock every day and now we’re bringing people in on a Tuesday and a Thursday where we never would have had. The streets have come alive again.” 

This year marks ten years since 56 Central opened its doors, a milestone that feels, to Carroll, like reconnecting with where it all began. 

“When I opened here in 2015, we used to do yoga at 7 o’clock in the morning,” she says. “People were like, what are you doing yoga in a restaurant for? And now it’s very common to see yoga in a restaurant. So now it’s kind of like this full circle moment — now I’m actually the one who’s teaching it.” 

Looking ahead, Carroll says her focus remains firmly on community. “The business is alive and it’s a hub on Shop Street. The more we can offer people — connection, movement, mindfulness — the better.”