Aimee Bell was searching for balance in her life after suffering with anxiety for many years.

The scientist and teacher made a bold decision to step away from life in the laboratory and classroom, and discovering how the power of yoga and breathwork can help with anxiety as she travelled across India, Nepal and Thailand.

The 40-year-old UnLtd award winner is back in front of a class now, but life could not be more different.

Running her successful social enterprise in Teesside, she has expanded her expertise to offer accessible Yoga & Chair Yoga classes suitable for people with a range of health conditions.

As she has discovered, you never stop learning, especially when you set up a social enterprise.

“Starting a CIC doesn’t come with a guidebook,”

said Aimee,

“Which is where UnLtd stepped in.”

Opening AMALAwellness CIC at the end of 2019, the pandemic posed an immediate challenge to the new social entrepreneur.

Aimee said:

“I took the classes online, and on the other end of the Covid outbreak, someone suggested they knew people who would benefit from inclusive chair-based exercise.

Four years later, over 250 people are attending our accessible and affordable classes every week across Middlesbrough, Stockton and Redcar and Cleveland.

It just grew from there being a real need for gentle, accessible exercise for older adults."

With funding from organisations such as the National Lottery and People's Postcode Lottery and the social prescribing model linking GP services to community groups, AMALAwellness can offer free places to encourage those who need help most to access it.

Aimee said:

“Classes are suitable for older adults, people with long-term health conditions and people who struggle with mobility. If you go into a gym setting, a lot of the equipment is brilliant for people who are quite mobile, but not necessarily for people who need that gentle modality of exercise. I think that is why this resonates with a lot of people because it is designed for them - not just an add-on."

Between 70-80% of class attendees are older adults.

“We have quite a few clients living with Parkinson's. It's a gentle exercise that they can participate in that helps alleviate the stiffness in the joints or muscles and reduces anxiety and stress. Recently, a lady with a long-term health condition underwent a procedure in hospital where she had to be awake, and she said she got through it through the breathing exercises that we learn in class. It helped her just to stay calm, to relax the muscles, and to be able to get through something that she thought she would struggle with.”

Community and doing things from the heart are important to Aimee.

“We're just a kind of lighthouse, you know. It is the students who come, they put in the hard work and dedication. Obviously, a lot goes on behind the scenes, but without that sense of community, it wouldn't be what it is.”

At the post-class pop-up Café AMALA, tea, coffee, cake and a listening ear are offered by AMALA director and volunteer Trish, and there are opportunities to socialise and speak with teachers to help develop home plans to stay more active.

Carol, an AMALAwelleness class regular, said:

"It is for the companionship, I am doing something on a regular basis, regular exercise. Your whole body is just tuned into doing this. You can do the exercises no matter what your mobility issues are. You are in a class with people very much like yourself who do have issues, and you don’t feel that at any point you are striving to compete. I certainly feel I am doing something about my own health and that I am doing something positive."

Together with the team of instructors, they are committed to keeping the North East moving and connecting with 27 classes across Teesside and 10 café sessions a month.

Aimee Bell, founder of AMALAwellness CIC.

Third time lucky

While Aimee has always been confident in her yoga expertise and of the need in her community for what AMALAwellness CIC offers, she has felt running a social enterprise was overstretching her skills at times.

This realisation led her to look for support, for both the business and herself. She applied to UnLtd’s Movement for Change programme.

“It felt a lot like Dragon’s Den for social entrepreneurs!”

laughed Aimee.

“I applied twice but didn’t get in - I wasn’t ready, but I learned a lot from it every time, and on the third go, I was accepted."

As part of the programme, AMALAwellness CIC received £17,000 funding, which has allowed them to expand and employ more staff as well as invest in training and equipment.

“The funding has really helped, but I was mainly applying to get knowledge,”

explained Aimee.

“I needed support with leadership and management. They've funded a brilliant business mentor, Andy from Hcubed, and Kyla is my mentor from UnLtd. Kyla is also brilliant!

It is just being able to have that space to discuss things with people who have lived experience, coaching and guiding you. I've grown a lot in my confidence. In a leadership role, it is learning to be able to have those tricky or difficult conversations. It has taught me to push myself out of my comfort zone and challenge myself, which is really wonderful.

And the UnLtd Impact Measurement Tool has been a game changer for us - it demonstrates to funders the actual impact you're having monetarily. It gives us that data to prove that we deserve funding. It can be very difficult to paint that kind of picture, but this helps us convey the financial and quantitative data.”

Thanks to the Impact Measurement Tool, Aimee now has powerful evidence of the difference AMALAwellness programmes are making. On average, over half (56%) of participants show improvements in their wellbeing, particularly in their sense of purpose and overall happiness. Perhaps even more telling, nearly two-thirds (65%) said they’ve never experienced anything like this before, highlighting just how unique and transformative their support has been for the community they serve.

The peer support from the network of other social entrepreneurs going through the UnLtd programme has made a big impact on Aimee personally as well as professionally.

“It can be quite lonely running a CIC. And even though you do have a team around you, sometimes you just need people who get it, get the challenge of being that person the buck stops with. It can be very challenging at times, especially when you have got difficult decisions to make. So it's wonderful just to have those people and that support to bounce off.”

As the end of the year-long programme approaches, Aimee has been reflecting on the experience for AMALAwellness CIC.

“It has really changed us for the better. It has helped us to become more sustainable, to grow. Just knowing that there's someone that you can reach out to when things are challenging and there's that ongoing support when it ends, that's fantastic.”

For more information on UnLtd’s different awards please click here.

For more information on AMALAWellness CIC, click here.