Wednesday, 06 May 2020
A local wellbeing business founded by a University of Nottingham graduate has amassed members from all over the world during COVID-19 lockdown.
Before lockdown, at1.SPACE, based on Triumph Road in Nottingham, offered classes in yoga, mindfulness and meditation; as well as counselling, acupuncture, sports massage and nutritional consultations. The country-wide lockdown saw Yasmin Gregory, founder of at1.SPACE and Nottingham sociology graduate, make the decision to take the business online with the help of senior yoga teacher Mumtaz Haque.
Yasmin commented: “We had to adapt really quickly when lockdown started to be able to continue to reach our members. The business did not have an online presence before this – the whole concept of at1.SPACE is that all of the elements needed for wellbeing are under one roof; members don’t have to rush around from place to place, everything is provided here, from yoga to audiology.”
at1.SPACE is based on Triumph Road, Nottingham, nearby the University's Jubilee Campus
The company’s proximity to both the University of Nottingham and Queens Medical Centre saw many medicine students and health workers among its clientele and now during the coronavirus outbreak, at1.SPACE is offering free membership to NHS workers.
Thanks to social media and word of mouth, at1.SPACE has new members from across the UK and the rest of the world who are now able to access its services online. Through a private Facebook page for members only, at1.SPACE is delivering its sessions by streaming them live to its community at a discounted rate, which include live yoga, mindfulness and meditation sessions. Yasmin and Mumtaz have been working hard to find new ways of bringing wellbeing to the online platform and last week’s schedule included a session from a Specialist Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist and another from a registered nutritionist.
Yasmin said: “It was a baptism of fire but it’s been extremely rewarding, we’ve had previous members that had to move away from Nottingham, after their studies for example – sometimes to other countries – now coming back as online members and they are delighted to be able to take part again. Coronavirus is really impacting on people’s mental health and wellbeing; for some, the combination of isolation and worrying world events is bringing to the surface loneliness and underlying mental health concerns. So, our services are needed more than ever and it’s great to be able to reach people anywhere in the world. We’ve got members who are joining in from Sweden and Spain to Croatia and Qatar!”
Yasmin used her life savings to start the holistic wellbeing space in 2017 and has been co-running the business with Mumtaz since it opened. She subsequently registered to become a member of the Nottingham University Business School’s Ingenuity Lab, which offers the University’s students and alumni business development support free of charge. Yasmin made use of the Ingenuity Lab’s 24-hour opening time, office space, meditation room and business advice clinics while the company’s building underwent a complete renovation.
The Ingenuity Lab was a blessing. I couldn’t work in the building because of the renovations so it was great to have a warm, welcoming space to work in. As a new businesswoman, it was brilliant to be connected to a network of fellow entrepreneurs as well as academic experts from the University – Liz Bolt gave me a lot of advice, so huge thanks to her.
Erin Shaw, a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner in New York, USA, and member of at1.SPACE said: “Practicing yoga within a virtual setting at at1.SPACE has been a really amazing experience. Taking an online class becomes a lot more than just getting in shape at home during the pandemic. It allows you to safely practice with hundreds of other people from around the world, who are all going through similar experiences due to the pandemic. This sense of community and solidarity is so vital to our mental health right now. It’s easy to forget that you’re 3000 miles away because the at1.SPACE’s online yoga studio really makes you feel connected to others!”
Supporters of at1.SPACE have set up a GoFundMe page to help the business to meet the costs of renting the building while offering its services at a discounted rate during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Story credits
More information is available from Yasmin Gregory, Managing Director of at1.SPACE on 07743 624480 or at contact@at1space.com; or Katie Andrews in the Press Office at the University of Nottingham at katie.andrews@nottingham.ac.uk
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Notes to editors:
The University of Nottingham is a research-intensive university with a proud heritage, consistently ranked among the world's top 100. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our 44,000 students - Nottingham was named both Sports and International University of the Year in the 2019 Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, was awarded gold in the TEF 2017 and features in the top 20 of all three major UK rankings. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement. We are ranked eighth for research power in the UK according to REF 2014. We have six beacons of research excellence helping to transform lives and change the world; we are also a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally.
at1.SPACE is a yoga studio in Nottingham, located on Triumph Road, NG7 next to The Jubilee Campus, the University of Nottingham. It is the concept and creation of Yoga Teacher Yasmin, who felt there was a gap in the market for lifestyle+wellness experiences in Nottingham.
at1. SPACE provides a welcoming and unique approach to yoga and wellbeing with access to some of the regions most respected practitioners in yoga, mindfulness and mediation.
Combining a state of the art warm-yoga studio with a range of wellbeing services, at1.SPACE is a modern day urban sanctuary.
In addition, at1.SPACE offers a range of welling services, including counselling, nutritional consultations, sports massage, acupuncture, and space for corporate event and party hire.
Their online yoga, mindfulness and meditation sessions have been designed to address the current unexpected climate we now find ourselves living in, with a real emphasis on mind body, and community connection.
at1.SPACE's mission is to transform the daily lives of individuals, organisations and communities for the better. They offer access to yoga, mindfulness and meditation, in a calm, warm, nurturing environment. They pride themselves on making the practice of yoga inclusive to everyone.
SERVICES AND FACILITIES
yoga events, workshops and sessions |modern mediation & mindfulness practices | nutritional consultations | food and juice services | yoga studio | yoga shop | counselling | reflexology | events & workshops centred around wellbeing| Food based experiences | audiology | aesthetics |sports massage| free parking.
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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