Community Movement Space Up and Running

Local start-up Wellness Movement is poised to become a strong brand in the Nelson community, only ten months after opening their doors. The multi modality wellness studio has sprung to life in one of Nelson’s historic buildings in the CBD, the Anstice’s building on the corner of Trafalgar and New streets, formerly home to MadCat.

Co-directors Ange Palmer & Penny Olsen are here pioneering a unique model of a health and wellness business. Both have health backgrounds – Penny as a former physiotherapist, now restorative exercise coach, and Ange as a medical herbalist and yoga teacher. The two came together to set a dynamic direction for health care and a new business partnership was born.

Wellness Movement is a collaborative enterprise with 20 practitioners working from the space. Restorative exercise, yoga, feldenkrais, reflexology, naturopathy, herbal medicine, therapeutic massage, polarity therapy and cranio sacral therapy are all on offer. The beautiful historic building’s first floor houses two movement studios, a consultation room and a retail area housing The Nelson Herbal Dispensary. The Dispensary offers free over-the-counter health advice from qualified practitioners for simple, acute conditions.

“Our focus is really on creating a community haven, a meeting place where people can come and explore different options for their health.We believe we can offer people support in being more proactive about their health and provide tools that can help them manage their own wellness. We will also be offering packages of health programmes for businesses and community groups” says Ms Palmer.

Wellness Movement has rooms that may be hired for workshops and causal users, and the public are welcome to visit.

“We like this old building. You can feel the layers of history here. The lovely old floor boards are a real feature and it’s great to see the surprise on faces when people come into the space for the first time. And the green wall in the main studio is flourishing which gives the space an earthy feel.”

Visit the website : www.wellnessmovement.nz