When she landed in Perth from Ireland in 2010, Janine Luck never imagined that 13 years later she'd be improving the lives of people in an outback Queensland town almost 4000km away.
Janine moved to Australia on the back of the recession and global crisis, and was soon enticed to visit Mount Isa by her brother, who was living there at the time.
"He convinced me to come over for a holiday at Christmas time, to see if I liked it," Janine said.
When she got to Mount Isa, she "just really liked the community feel that was here", so within a month, she packed her car and made the move permanent.
Fast forward to 2023, and Janine now owns the Yoga Hub on Camooweal St with her husband, local Shane, and has won an award for her efforts by international magazine GHP.
Janine's studio was opened in March 2012, and there was a demand for classes straight away as there wasn't a yoga teacher in Mount Isa at the time.
There was so much interest in classes, that what started out as two classes a week, quickly grew to a full timetable. Now, Janine has about 100 clients.
She was really grateful for the award recognition following a tough few years when the pandemic hit the industry hard. Janine said it was one of the biggest challenges she had faced as a business owner.
The knock-on effect was felt for some time afterwards.
Not only did the restrictions mean people weren't getting the physical benefits of being in a yoga class, but Janine said they were also missing out on the social and mental benefits of participating in a group activity.
Yoga offers many benefits, she says. Not only do people see the physical benefits, such as improved flexibility and feeling more fit, but it also has mental benefits, such as improving sleep, and relieving anxiety and PTSD symptoms.
"Particularly with what people have been through the past few years, it's been a life saver for a lot of people, I think," Janine said.
"That's what I love about it, that there's just so many different people that come to my classes - from teenagers to eighty-year-olds. That's when I feel like I am teaching properly, when I have that real vast range of people coming to my class, anybody can do it.''
''I feel really proud that I have won the award, and really grateful to the people that have been coming to my classes. Some of them have been with me for 10-11 years, since I started here. So I am really grateful to them for their support."
And now, her clients have the 2023 Best Multidisciplinary Yoga Teacher in QLD as their mentor.
