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A longtime certified public accountant, Dawn Michelle had accomplished all her goals, yet still wasn’t satisfied with life.
But she wasn’t sure what else she wanted to do, either.
What she did realize, was that she didn’t want to spend three more decades in accounting.
So she jotted down a few ideas.
“I was at work,” she recalled of that day in February. “And I just pulled up a blank document and started brainstorming. One of items on the list was to open up my own center where people could come and improve their lives.”
So where’d that notion come from?
Among other things, her experiences during lunch breaks.
“I had started listening to these guided meditations on my phone in my car,” she said. “And in just that half hour I would feel like a different person.
“And I kept thinking, I want this for other people.”
That’s about to become a reality for the Shirley woman, who’s getting set to open a holistic healing center called Tranquility Within (A Sanctuary for Inner Peace) at 64 West Main Street in Patchogue. Just last month she purchased the 3,300-square foot building that previously housed a framing shop.
There she will be building a gift boutique, waiting area/lounge, a babysitting room, two rooms for holistic healing professionals to work out of, space for yoga and other classes, and another four rooms she’s calling private relaxation rooms.
“It’s sort of like my own unique concept,” she explained of the relaxation rooms. “If you have kids, you can drop them off. It’s going to be set up in a way where it’s very relaxing, inviting, tranquil. We’re going to have guided meditation, either though headsets or on speakers. You would pick the best [guided meditation] for you, based on your situation.”
Her first experience with potential customers first came at Alive After Five on July 9 on Main Street, where she set up a booth and got discuss her concept with festival-goers. Those people, whether they were cancer survivors or had been through other physical or emotional struggles, seemed thankful just to talk.
“We met the nicest people who were really interested in what we had to offer,” she said. “I think people just felt like this was a safe place and that they could open up — and this was just a booth at Alive After Five.
“So it was really encouraging.”
The plan is to open Tranquility Within sometime this fall.
In the meantime, she’ll be overseeing the renovation of the building, which is over 100 years old, and meeting with holistic professionals in order to offer an array of services, such as reiki, sound healing, emotional freedom technique (tapping) and more.
“It’s my belief that everybody has in them a spark,” she said. “With some people, maybe theirs shines brighter with energy and enthusiasm. Others might be stuck in a bad place in their lives. What I tell people is that I’d like to be a billows. I want to build a place that can feed that flame, that spark, and help people grow.”
Photo: Tranquility Within owner Dawn Michelle inside her future business in Patchogue. (Credit: Michael White)
