J was struggling. Suffering from pressure headaches, she was bedbound most days with extreme pain and unable to face the world. Her relationship with her children was suffering and she felt herself sliding into depression.
She had heard about a new free Pilates class in a community centre near her house and managed to get herself to the first session. This simple act set her on a transformational pathway. She began to feel less pain, less depressed and is now training for a 5k. “It has saved my life and given me back a life with my children.. the improvements in my physical, emotional and mental health have been immeasurable and invaluable… if it wasn’t for the course I could still have been in bed with extreme pain and incredibly depressed.
J was a beneficiary of one of the free mindful movement classes offered by the Brighton Natural Health Foundation (BNHF), a charity with a mission to make Brighton a happier, healthier place to live. On the face of it, the seaside city has a lot to celebrate on the health and wellbeing front! It ranks second in the most active places in the country, and 69% of residents rank themselves as in good, very good or excellent health.
Yet the abundance of seafront runners, vegan cafes and yoga studios masks some real and troubling health inequalities. Men in the poorest areas of the city are likely to die 9 years earlier than their counterparts in wealthier neighbourhoods just a stone’s throw away. And rates of heart disease, high blood pressure, COPD, chronic pain and diabetes are significantly higher than in the rest of the city.
These are the very conditions that research shows can be helped by mindful movement such as yoga, qigong and Pilates. Yet most studios are an expensive bus ride away and in any case, with classes costing up to £16 a session for most people, they are out of reach for the people who need them most.
BNHF bridges that gap – taking movement and mindfulness into community centres, housing associations and health hubs across the city — meeting people where they are. “Having somewhere nearby is a lifeline for me,” says J who is a full time carer for her son and attended one of our yoga courses, “I only literally have an hour – there is no way I would be able to go into town for a class and anyway, I couldn’t afford it.”
The sense of community is just as important as the classes themselves: “Even when I don’t have the energy to do many of the postures it’s helpful to enjoy the sense of connection with the class, to listen along and mentally go through the moves.”
Every BNHF class is designed to be genuinely inclusive. There’s chair yoga for those with mobility issues, gentle movement for people managing pain or stress, and trauma-sensitive sessions where participants can rebuild confidence in their own bodies. Classes are free or low-cost, removing financial barriers that too often keep wellness out of reach.
Teachers are experienced and trained in supporting people who’ve experienced exclusion — whether through poverty, race, gender, disability or mental health challenges. The focus isn’t performance, but on movement, breath and belonging for people who may otherwise have been left behind by the ‘wellness revolution.
To find out more about our work visit www.bnhf.org