Krista Northcott is hoping to build Sanctuary by the Sea, a place for area residents to take classes that focus on well-being, such as yoga and meditation. – Submitted photo
By JUSTIN ROBERT PAUL
PORT AUX BASQUES – Krista Northcott has some big plans for the near future. Northcott hopes to start up a wellness center called the Sanctuary by the Sea.
The Sanctuary by the Sea will focus on more holistic wellness practices and offer more options to people looking for alternatives to the traditional methods in pursuit of well-being.
“A few friends found that there really wasn’t really a lot of wellness spaces or wellness activities outside of physical health, like gym facilities, that sort of thing,” explained Northcott.
Northcott has a background and keen interest in more natural approaches to achieving and maintaining well-being.
“We all practiced more to do with yoga, meditation, and we look at wellness, I guess, through holistic approach and try to incorporate mind, body and spirit. And that’s what we’re kind of hoping to do with the Sanctuary by the Sea,” said Northcott.
The Sanctuary by the Sea started out as a way for Northcott to create a space that she and her friends could use to practice yoga and meditation.
“It’s just kind of started as an idea for me to have a space for myself to do my own practice, as well to have some space for my friends and I to get together and do some things together,” said Northcott.
Northcott began to notice that more people were showing an interest in having access to such a space.
“The more people we talked to about it, the more people got really excited about it. And then I thought ‘Gee Whiz maybe we need to look at expanding this idea and making it more open to the public, not just to our group of friends,’” shared Northcott.
The Sanctuary by the Sea intends to operate as a space that other practitioners may come in and do their respective classes, while setting their own prices for their classes.
“This is not a non-profit. The space will be open to private practitioners offering a variety of services from energy therapy, Reiki, individual empowerment sessions, healing touch massage, art classes, individual yoga coaching,” Northcott explained.
“They each set a price for their services and all I ask is that they give a donation to the scholarship fund. I, myself, will be offering my services to private sessions,” she continued.
Though practitioners may set their own prices for classes, Northcott intends to keep them low as a way to ensure the space remains as inclusive as possible.
“We don’t want to have low income be a reason somebody wouldn’t come that wanted to come, basically. That’s why we’re trying to keep costs down,” stated Northcott. “Group sessions and drop-in classes will be kept as low cost as possible, and we will collect donations for a scholarship fund to help anyone who wants to attend a higher cost workshop or retreat.”
At the Sanctuary by the Sea, group classes will only be available for those identifying as females, though males can always take advantage of private sessions.
“We have plans to start up, kind of like, a scholarship fund. So, some of our regular, weekly drop-in events for guided meditations and stuff, we would just ask people to give a donation and we would put that in kind of a scholarship fund we would call it, so that any workshops that required registration fees or supplies, for example, and someone wanted to come but couldn’t afford the registration fee, we could kind of dip into this slush fund or scholarship fund or whatever you want to call it, and cover the cost so they could still attend,” said Northcott.
There remains yet more work to be done before Northcott’s dream can become a reality.
“I would love to be able to have it open by November. That’s a time when the weather is starting to turn and people really need to get inside,” said Northcott. “The winter blues set in and people would need community and wellness more. I can’t set a firm date because we don’t know what our financial status is gonna be.
Anyone looking to get in contact with Northcott to donate, volunteer or get more information can reach her via e-mail at knorthct@gmail.com.
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