Can you believe from January 18th we have been open for 3 years?
Follow our journey from opening to now…
Cast your mind back to December 2018, where it all began…
Jules Laville and Louise Handy had finally found the perfect home for Space to Move
They searched for sometime to find the right location to start their dream business.
It was really important for both Jules and Louise to bring people together and have movement at Space to Move.
As yogi’s & dancers they wanted to create a calm, welcoming, friendly dedicated space for the community, students & teachers to move & be, to share & explore and to feel grounded, connected & well.
“ We looked at so many places, but they just weren’t suitable. I had walked past the cafe in Mount Wise several times and thought to myself, if only this was available.. this would be perfect! We were beginning to think we would never find anywhere! Then in the summer of 2018 in my morning yoga flow class one of my regular students, Ali mentioned that the cafe space was up for rent! I was straight down there after teaching and on the phone!” Jules explains
There was no hanging about! They literally picked up the keys and got started on the transformation! In just 6 weeks it was done!
“We couldn’t have done it without the amazing support of our families, friends & the community. From building walls to laying a fully sprung bamboo sustainable floor, from building kitchen units to building & designing websites, from installing infrared heaters & PA systems to sewing muslin drapes; there was always someone around to help! Friendly neighbours above the studio & across the road even supplied us with mugs of tea & homemade cakes! It was such an amazing experience and everyone’s interest and support really motivated us along.”
Opening day!
On Friday 18th January 2019, Jules & Louise opened their doors for the first time to the public, welcoming over 120 people for drinks and nibbles through-out the evening.
The opening event was followed by a day of taster workshops in various styles of Yoga, Dance, Capoeira, Meditation & Tai Chi. It was a great success, such a promising start to 2019!
“Plymouth is so lucky to have this beautiful space, make sure you check it out, plenty of classes to choose from”
“Amazing transformation in just six weeks! Well done and I can't wait to try a class.”
The first 12 months was a complete whirlwind!
Time seemed to fly by, so much was learnt along the way. Such as, working in partnership with many wonderful new & experienced teachers they started with over 20 weekly classes, plus a variety of workshops & events.
It’s hard to select a few highlights from so much activity! So in no particular order … here are some of our highlights from 2019:
1: Observing & supporting yogi’s/students to gain physical & mental confidence to deepen their practice.
“Space to Move provides a calm, safe environment, the expertise and the props needed to support people on their journey”
2: Yoga Warriors with Haidee, Dance Fusion with Vicky & Kindful Kids with Joanne
“Observing young people grow in confidence, have fun & enjoy moving”
3: In October 2019 Space Move visited High View School, Efford to facilitate a total of 22 Yoga & Meditation sessions for over 330 pupils & teachers as part of their inspirational day.
4: November 2019 Svaroopa Yoga - Transformational Yoga for backs workshops with Audrey Smith “Truly transformative”
5: The Reboot Your Natural Animal SMS Functional Movement Workshop with Paris from Physio Conditioning. “Such hard work and so much fun!”
Moving on…
2020 was off to such a positive start with the company’s first CPD Teacher Training Course taking place at the studio. Yoga for Every Body, run by Amanda Edlin from Waking Minds Yoga brought yoga & health teachers/practitioners together to learn, practice supporting people with ongoing conditions and those needing support during life changes.
Like for many businesses, not just locally, but globally, 2020 soon became the year of perseverance & learning how to adapt fast!
Within just one week of going into the first lockdown in March 2020, Space to Move were set up and ready to run classes live online via zoom.
“ We had never done anything like this before… it was all so new! We’d talked about streaming classes, as a possible future business development idea, but never dreamt we would do it in one week! With support from partners & friends we researched the best equipment and platforms for streaming our classes live and set about testing & trailing the set up so we could provide a good quality experience for our users. We wanted our business to survive this pandemic and to continue providing our well being services to our lovely community. So we just got on with it”
Louise explains …
Within a few weeks they were running an average of 6-8 classes a week.
It was wonderful to be able to stay connected to students. Jules & Louise admit they were learning as they went along, there were obviously a few hiccups, but the community was so very supportive and appreciative; it was a very special time.
“As the weeks progressed we were delighted that newcomers & old students who had moved away were able to join us online from across the UK and Europe.” Jules
Looking forward to September 2020, there was much anticipation to begin classes once again.
Hybrid timetables were introduced - running a mixture of online and small in person classes.
2021/2022
The here and now
Towards the end of 2021 the company made the decision to add another freelance member to our team, we’re excited to have welcomed Hayley Bentley to join us managing our Digital Marketing!
“I’m thrilled to be working alongside Space to Move, I will be covering their Digital Marketing from Social Media channels, to email marketing as well as capturing some images in sessions! Thank you for the opportunity to join the team.”
Space to Move are still offering face to face and virtual classes on a weekly basis, we have something for everyday of the week! Have a look at what we have to offer by our timetable below.
Do you have any memories of your time with Space to Move, we would love to hear them!
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