A Celebration of Compassion and Civic Spirit
We are an impact enterprise, every aspect of our design is built to fulfil a social purpose.
Since 2015 we have been pursuing broader access to effective and inclusive well-being practices for the whole community - particularly for people who don’t feel represented by, safe or a sense of belonging in conventional or commercial ‘wellness’ environments.
Within just 3 years of inception, our operation evolved from grassroots experiment to profitable, sustainable social enterprise delivering hundreds of fully funded well-being interventions every year.
It was in those early days that we established our voice as balanced, inclusive and driven by a deep sense of civic spirit. This voice has since been woven into our exceptional storytelling, our devotion to relationship building and a theory of change underpinned by principles of community cohesion, equality and participation.
We’re proud that, despite the fast changing world around us, we’re still striving to realise a vision that prioritises these values.
We began by sharing yoga-by-donation in east London's green spaces and inclusive community places. From wild flower parks and church halls to family arts centres, this is where we began to making mind:body practices accessible for everyone.
Our pay-what-you-can classes proved extremely popular, the volume of participants and their generous donations soon exceeded our operating costs.
We used our first profits to fund our first social impact partnership with a counselling service for survivors of gender based violence. We worked with them to develop a programme of one-to-one mindful movement and breath-work, completely free of charge to both the organisation and their service users.
500+ interventions
4000+ well-being experiences
400+ unique beneficiaries
This first partnership marked the genesis of our cyclical social purpose financial model - our affordable public classes supported free interventions for those with limited access to psychosocial support.
Having demonstrated public demand and proven the potential of our innovative financial model, we were awarded Investec backed Beyond Business social entrepreneurship start up funding.
the connection to the space, it boosts my moral and mental health
With our new found recognition, growing local support and hard won seed money, we were able to scale up.
In May 2017 we opened our own studio space and expanded our commercial offering to a full 7 day schedule of classes which increased our profit-for-good power exponentially.
While keeping sight of our operating principle to maintain affordable accessibility for all, we were able to build a bigger community of conscious consumers, generate more revenue and in turn bring mind:body practices to even more Londoners living with limited access to psychosocial support.
To date, we have delivered more than 500 interventions that have provided more than 4000 well-being experiences for more than 400 unique beneficiaries from across the city of London.
From migrant advocacy centres and peer led bereavement groups to loneliness prevention projects and cancer support circles, we’ve established a reputation as an innovative, valuable and knowledgeable organisation that is changing the culture of access to multidimensional wellness.
I have learnt to breathe ... I have found something to look forward to.
In 2018, our founder was recognised for her leadership as a change maker by Adidas, they invited her to feature in a high profile global purpose campaign with their women’s team and she was engaged to present at Adidas social and community impact activations around the world.
As part of the collaboration, we were funded by Adidas women’s Global Purpose team to continue our delivery of grassroots social impact programming, all underpinned by a shared ambition to change London lives using the power of movement, sport and play.
The impact of this programme and the many others we’ve designed since 2016 are most evident in the stories of transformative change expressed by our participants. We regularly record accounts of reduced stress and pain, improved sleep and a better quality of life among participants affected by the most acute social determinants of health.
I have noticed a marked change in my daily life, my balance, mobility & overall strength
In 2020, we closed our studio doors and set about designing a sustainable online model to help us weather the socially and economically trying times of the pandemic era.
Until 2023, we offered a curated collection of high quality on demand content and live streamed programming for both our commercial and community partnership participants.
Whilst nothing could emulate the joy of togetherness that we cultivated in our space, our evolution represented the most effective, economical and wholly relevant way to share our services while the world changed rapidly around us.
Throughout 2024 and beyond, we’ll continue to deliver trauma-informed mindful movement practices in partnership with some of London’s most extraordinary support services - both IRL and online.
We are actively seeking academic collaborators with whom we can design a formal evaluation project that measures the mental, emotional and social health outcomes of our work moving forward.
I feel so good and that people care about me too
We continue to be driven by the principles of equitable accessibility; we believe that opportunities for better health and a sense of belonging should be available to everybody despite social disparity.
In fact, we believe that equitable access to opportunities to be socially well will reduce those disparities and affect a positive cycle of change for generations to come.
We are dedicated to the notion that community healing is the rising tide that lifts us all and are developing a new model that will begin to affect the change we are so committed to.
If you’d like to help us achieve our ambitions to lift the psychosocial wellness of the UK, get in touch.