ON any other day, a yoga class on the lawn at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens might merely have been a pleasant change of scenery.

However, for the teachers and students of Absolute Yoga, it will represent a new start.

Today at 9am, Absolute Yoga owner and instructor Tracey Hargreaves will hold a yoga class at the gardens with several instructors and up to 20 of her students, just 36 hours after she watched her studio above Plaster Fun House burn.

“I don’t know if I would use the word “wake” to describe it,” she said. 

“Maybe its more about a new start.

“We will just go and chuck the mats on the grass and have a practice together.

“I’m going to miss the place (the studio) and so will the other teachers.

“We also had a couple of hundred people who came regularly and they’ll miss it to.

“We loved the place but it was always about the people who made it special. 

“For us, this is a next chapter. We will get back on with it somewhere else.

“We’re lucky in a way because all we need to find is a place to put our mats down.” 

Ms Hargreaves said she was speechless and in shock when she saw the fire take hold of the building on Thursday night.

She said she was more saddened for the building’s owner, Marian Curnow, and Plaster Fun House owner Brad Billings than for herself.

If there was a positive to come out of the disaster, it was the offers of support from people she did not know.

“We’ve had a couple of people donating some mats to help us out already,” Ms Hargreaves said.

 “I’ve also had 20 other businesses who have offered space for us – people who we didn’t know.

“I think people in Ballarat really do help out and they want to see others succeed.”