With all the food and drink activity happening on 19th Ave E, it seemed almost inevitable that the long time performance space vacated by the Washington Ensemble Theatre last year would be the area’s next bar or restaurant. Even the space’s property owner thought so.

It turns out, there is still room for other types of sustenance in the neighborhood.

After 20 years as a theater, a new yoga studio is hoping to tap the space’s creative energy and breath new life into the storefront adjacent to Fuel coffee. Ritual House of Yoga will be holding an open house May 2nd-3rd, where the newly opened studio will offer 30 days of unlimited yoga for $40 to anyone who stops in. Classes officially start on Monday.

After spending years teaching and practicing in the yoga Mecca of Boulder, Colorado, Ritual co-owner Sarah Pohl said she was ready to harvest her range of experiences to create a studio of her own.

“We’re basing it more on a feeling of what we want to create than a certain style of yoga,” Pohl said, who’s opening the studio with her husband, Stuart Pohl. In a departure from many studios in the area, Pohl said she especially excited to offer non-heated and low-heated classes.

Ritual has also partnered with Capitol Hill’s Juice Box to bring a “micro juicery” refrigerator stocked with juices and a selection of raw food.

Pohl signed the lease on 19th Ave E in September after barely starting her search for a new space. The space’s natural light, cozy size, and location on the neighborhood’s commercial stretch sealed the deal for Pohl.

“I wanted this to feel like not just a yoga studio but a community space,” she said.

Last year, Capitol Hill lost a longtime yoga studio when Samadhi Yoga shuttered after 15 years at 12th and Pike. Meanwhile, Capitol Hill’s The Grinning Yogi appears to be going strong with its recent expansion to Portland while 8 Limbs recently marked 18 years and an overhauled studio in the redeveloped Greenus Building. Meanwhile, 10th Ave’s Sweatbox is trying to hang in until Pike/Pine development means new customers, not torn up streets.

Meanwhile, 19th Ave E will also be celebrating a reopening Friday as the Molly Moon’s ice cream window at Hello Robin debuts for the season with free scoops for kids from 3 to 5 PM.

For more on Ritual House of Yoga, visit ritualhouseseattle.com.