A Ripon holistic healer who built her business from her bed while battling Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) has been shortlisted for a prestigious Yorkshire award for the second year running.
Mandy Nunn, founder of Calm Aura Healing, has been named a finalist in the Best Wellbeing Specialist category at the Muddy Stilettos Awards 2026.
It comes after Mandy achieved regional success in the same category last year, when Calm Aura Healing won the Yorkshire finals despite the business being less than a year old.
Now, the Ripon-based therapist is hoping to retain her crown and go one step further in the national competition.
Behind the recognition, however, lies a deeply personal story.
Just three years ago, Mandy was bedridden with ME and struggling with extreme burnout.
At her lowest point, she feared she may never recover enough to leave her bed again.
Yet during short periods of energy, sometimes lasting no more than 15 minutes, she began laying the foundations for what would eventually become Calm Aura Healing.
Mandy said:
“I was drowning. I was exhausted, alone in it and nobody really understood what I was going through.
"There was no support, no one who got it. When I was diagnosed with ME I felt completely abandoned.
"There was nothing out there that combined genuine holistic support with an understanding of the psychology behind chronic illness and burnout.
"So I decided to build it myself - fifteen minutes at a time, from my bed.
"Sometimes only managing that once every three or four days.”
Mandy credits holistic and energy healing with helping transform her own recovery journey.
Mandy said:
“Without it I believe I would still be in that bed. I won't pretend I have it all figured out - I am still healing too.
"But I have enough of myself back to sit with someone in their darkest moment and make them feel less alone. And that is everything.”
Drawing on her Open Degree majoring in Psychology, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Mandy launched Calm Aura Healing in Ripon to support people living with burnout, chronic illness and overwhelm.
Her approach combines holistic and energy healing with psychological principles — something she says was shaped directly by her own experiences of feeling unsupported during her illness.
Clients who visit Calm Aura Healing often arrive after exhausting other avenues of support, with many describing the sessions as the first time they have felt genuinely safe and understood in a therapeutic setting.
Mandy said:
“I couldn't believe it. To be recognised by my own community, voted for by real people who believed in what I was building - that meant more than any title ever could.
"It told me that this work matters. That it is making a difference. And it gave me the push to keep going.”
The Muddy Stilettos Awards celebrate independent lifestyle businesses across the UK and are decided entirely by public vote.
Voting for this year’s awards is open until Tuesday 26th May at 1pm.
To vote for Mandy Nunn and Calm Aura Healing in the Best Wellbeing Specialist category, visit: Muddy Stilettos Yorkshire Awards voting page
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