A mother with a passion for yoga has officially opened the doors to her new studio after receiving support from the Northam Women in Business through their annual scholarship.
Be the Change Yoga & Wellness owner Theresa Lee opened her new yoga lounge last week, a move she said has fallen into place perfectly.
The yoga lounge took out a lease at the old Northam Toy World store, filling what would have been another empty shop on the main drag.
"I am so blessed to have the most amazing landlords," Mrs Lee said.
"They are very dear friends of mine.
"It's been the easiest process to work together.
"One day a year ago I was walking up and down Fitzgerald Street with my son and looking at all the empty shop windows and asking myself is this my building.
"That same day I met with the owner of this building for a coffee and she said to me 'our plans aren't going the way we thought. Would you like the building?'."
"I could have cried."
Mrs Lee, who had already been running her yoga business privately, said successfully being awarded the Northam Women in Business bursary helped her obtain a permanent space for her work.
"The idea was there, the plan was there," she said.
"I guess I didn't know how I was going to fund the takeoff of it and having a young family there wasn't a whole lot of spare cash floating around.
"I ended up applying for the bursary and crossing my fingers that it would come through so that it could help off with the lift off of this project, and that is exactly what it's done.
"I'm still waiting to hear about a bigger grant that will help shape the studio to allow for more options for the centre.
"Without the bursary grant we wouldn't be open.
"It gave me not just the finances but a whole lot of encouragement."
The mother-of-two and Northam local said she hopes to be able to bring more services to the centre as business grows.
"At the moment we have a range of different yoga and meditation classes available; that's what's happening on the ground floor," she said.
"In the lounge set up it's intended to be a space for the public to come in and sit and enjoy the space whether they are doing something here or not.
"With the progression of building the studio walls and separating the studio area from the lounge area it allows the space to be utilised from 9am to 5pm no matter what is happening in the studio.
"We want to be able to offer merchandise, health products, a tea and coffee facility.
"In the future I would love to set up a kitchen for a juice bar.
"You'd come to a class in the morning and buy a fresh juice on your way out.
"I also eventually want to re-do the bathrooms so that we we have a shower facility so people can shower before they head to work.
"It's just going to keep getting better."
The yoga lounge is also home to alternative therapy specialists who practice reiki healing, bowen and spiritual connection workshops.
Be The Change Yoga & Wellness is located at 222 Fitzgerald Street, Northam.
