When you're open to finding joy, it has a way of finding you

My friend, Melanie, told me about an artisanal store I needed to check out in New Hamburg (thanks, Mel). On my Friday morning travels, I was near the town of 5,000 and decided to pop in and try to find it. Now it didn't help that I forgot my cell phone and couldn't exactly remember the name.

So I did what any intelligent woman would do: I stopped to ask for directions. Except the friendly couple I spoke with weren't familiar and suggested I go into the storefront a few feet away. "They'll know," the woman said, pointing to The Spark Centre for Joy, Creativity and Vitality. This wasn't the place my friend suggested but hot diggity dog, my search was over - I was looking for joy and it found me.

The Spark Centre is a place to go when your creative soul needs to be quenched with yoga (beginner to Qigong), meditation, sacred circles for women, writing and art classes (e.g. beginner stained glass, healing through art and journaling and multi-media art journal) and 'wise women retreats'. For those woo-woo lovers like me, there are also energy healing, osteopathy and reflexology services - even a tarot card reader!

For the kids there are 'creative spark after school' programs, a creativity combo (45 min of yoga, 30 min of expressive writing for 6-11 year-olds), an art history class and even a 'getting published' class for young writers aged 8-15.

The brightly coloured walls and comfy cottage-like furniture were almost as welcoming as owner, Stephanie Hahn, and LifeWriting instructor, Leslie Cook. I never did find that artisanal shop I was looking for but I did find a creative breath of fresh air in New Hamburg...and sparks were flying.