Jess Thompson has opened Jess Be Here Yoga Studio at 629 Washington Street in Whitman, Massachusetts, taking responsibility for the same local practice space where she once attended classes as a teenager. The September transition gives the studio a new identity while retaining its connection to the community that formed around the former Whitman Wellness Center.
A familiar room enters a new chapter
The change is both a business launch and a return to an important place in Thompson’s own development. She first encountered yoga in high school, then continued practising at Whitman Wellness Center with teachers LeeAnn Trigler and Cara Cappelini. In 2026, she moved from longtime student and teacher into the role of studio founder, describing the development as a full circle moment.
Jess Be Here now presents more than 35 classes each week, alongside workshops and retreats. The schedule is framed around an accessible community model rather than a single signature method. The studio’s central invitation is simple: participants can arrive as they are, slow down and practise without needing to fit a narrow image of what a yoga student should look like.
Experience across different communities
Thompson completed her first 200 hour yoga teacher training in 2017 and an advanced 300 hour training in 2020. She also became a certified breath coach that year. Her teaching has since included beginners, families, athletes, corporate teams, schools, people in addiction recovery and members of the LGBTQ+ community, with sessions held in studios as well as offices, parks, farms and private settings.
That varied experience informs the new studio’s broad remit. Jess Be Here is positioned as a hub for regular classes and deeper practice rather than a narrowly defined fitness venue. Thompson has also led domestic and international retreats since 2024, extending the studio’s work beyond its weekly timetable and giving established students a route into longer group experiences.
Continuity without standing still
The opening preserves a yoga location with more than two decades of local history while placing its next phase under an independent practitioner’s leadership. For existing students, the familiar address and emphasis on support provide continuity. For newcomers, the new brand makes inclusion, encouragement and the art of slowing down explicit parts of the studio’s identity.
Jess Be Here therefore represents more than a renaming of an established room. It brings Thompson’s teaching, breathwork background and community work into one permanent home, while acknowledging the teachers and relationships that shaped her own practice. The result is a locally rooted studio with a clear practitioner led direction and space for classes, workshops, retreats and everyday connection.
Source: Jess Be Here
Web: https://jessbehere.com/
