The Business of Yoga
Yoga is a 3 billion dollar a year industry in this country. Over 16.5 million Americans practice yoga, with a large percentage practing in yoga studios. The owners of some of the most popular studios in the country were on this panel.
Moderated by Bill Harper, publisher of Yoga Journal, the panel included Tim Dale, co-owner of the Yoga Tree studios, Ron Wrubel, Co CEO of Yoga Works, Joan Barnes, owner of Yoga Studio Mill Valley and Larkspur, Linda Sparrowe, editor in chief of Alternative Health magazine and former director of the yoga program at the SF Bay Club and Bay Club Marin, and Cyndi Lee, owner of Om Yoga in New York.
Bill first asked them to explain their studio's mission. Tim said he wanted to provide a clean, warm, safe environment in which to explore mind, body, and spirit on all levels. Rob said to stay authentic to the teachings and spirit of yoga while making it accessible to people's lives today . Linda said to make the Bay Club a great community for teachers and students. Cyndi, said to offer the best yoga possible to as many people as possible, to create a wonderful community, and to provide a grownup livelihood for yoga teachers.
Bill asked what they do for people who can't afford to spend a lot of money on classes. The answers were diverse. Joan said she charges a lot in order to provide her students with the best teachers possible. Rob said that if you don't charge a decent amount of money, people don't value the classes. Cyndi "totally disagreed" (isn't that interesting, she said!) She said it is her personal challenge to pay teachers a living wage, but she still wants to make it possible for people to study yoga regardless of their finances. She disagreed that people wouldn't value a class if they weren't charged a lot of money for it. She offers dancer discounts (Cyndi is a former dancer), student discounts, and if you can't afford class at all, work/study. Tim said that he too wanted everyone to be able to study yoga, and it's important to understand the income brackets of your community.
Then came the first audience question. Janice, who owns a yoga studio in San Anselmo, CA, said she saw a disconnect between the reality that all of us, yoga studios included, are interdependent, yet these same studios are often in competition. "I sometimes ask, where's the yoga in all this?"
The audience erupted into applause.
Tim said that as a studio owner, he learned great lessons - that running yoga studios should not be a competition, but more like being neighbors. Lots of studios is "great for yoga. You do not have to prosper at someone else's expense". Rob said that it's a brutally hard business to make a lot of money in, and mentioned rent and workers' comp. "The question of competition is central, especially for small studios, which have their own fragile little ecosystems."
There were other questions, on merchandising, expiration dates on yoga passes, mentorship, but I was struck by Robs' comment that it's hard to make a lot of money in the yoga studio business.
Joan Barnes had this wise thing to say. "Do what you love and the money will follow. Or it won't. But you'll be doing what you love."
Comments
I agree. It is almost impossible to make a living owning a studio. And as far as community, "ha ha" to that in Denver. "Core Power" has taken over and put close to half a dozen studios out of business to date. They are offering high end facilities (all with showers and locker rooms) , one hour classes, high intensity music, yoga with weights, pilate-yoga classes and much more off the beaten path of what I thought the study of Patanjali's yoga was all about. They hold huge teacher trainings (of which they reproduced two teacher's manuals almost word for word, Bikram and Baron Baptiste). They pack these trainings with 90 plus students at $2000 a piece, and then "offer" their graduates a job to teach 30 free classes! This is how they make money, no overhead for teachers, it all goes into their pocket. It has left me quite discouraged about not only the yoga business, but humanity, and about the competitiveness of the "business". The bigger presenters have come through their studios because they have the money to advertise and pay their minimums of $5K or more. It begs the question, do people not do things for people anymore or just for the almighty dollar?It has been a practice to just do what I love, and when my lease is over, hopefully somewhere I can continue to do this even if it just to my children.
Posted by: Denise Cook | January 25, 2006 03:16 PM
When I experience yoga studios competing it not only breaks my heart, it causes me to lose respect for the studio and the decision makers. For a studio to not promote a fantastic yoga event that could benefit their students, just because they are not the sponsors is petty. Understanding that it is rough running a studio and walking that fine line between being affordable to your students and paying your instructors decently, living in scarcity vs abundance affects the entire yoga community. Not very yogic.
Posted by: Kim | January 25, 2006 06:37 PM
I believe that yoga is like any other bussines because the rules of economic revenue are basically the same. We charge a fee in exchange of our services, therefore we sale a product (yoga).
I agree with all of the comments about the difficulty of making yoga a profitable bussines. However, I've witnessed success stories in harsh economic enviroments such as Mexico city.
Some of the most succesful yoga enterprises in Mexico City combined strategies such as social sensitive marketing campaigns, teacher's trainings, specialty workshops, specialty stores, etc.
If yoga can survive and thrive in challenged enviroments, it can trully be a succesful and spiritually mindfull enterprise in America.
Posted by: roberto astorga | January 26, 2006 11:47 AM
If we start with yama and niyama, we will realize that we are not attached to the final outcome. As a small studio owner, I realize I don't own my students, and I share with them what else is out there. They always come back, and I feel my mission to begin with was not to make money, but to help build a better community and to raise the conciousness of humanity. I have sent students to other studios, and I find that other studios send me students as well. As you sow, shall you reap, so remember however you choose to run your business (whether it's yoga or not) you will have to deal with your own karma. As I serve my students, I find we all grow together, and the business of it just falls into place.
Posted by: Rosa Santana | January 26, 2006 01:15 PM
As a teacher of yoga and having worked for several small studios and fitness facilities over the past 15 years, I have seen yoga classes get few and many. The same studio who trives on Sat AM, may be the same studio that has four people in an evening class on a Friday night. The ebb and flow is part of nature. Some classes will thrive and others will be slower, due to the time, the locations, etc. Yoga business owners, if passionate about what they are doing should not be after the almighty dollar - but be content that they are putting out a great yoga program for the community to which it is serving. If the yoga studio is their financial livelihood, then so be it. The decision to run a studio of yoga, if done with passion for the practice will always reap rewards, one way or another. Contentment is part of our obervances. Some days the dollars may have to be stretched out a bit more than others. If there is a family to support on the income of a yoga studio and it is just not satisfying the needs of the family, then maybe this is not the time to have the studio. Reassess, reassess and reassess and after all of that, be content in your decision. The key is to keep your eye on the process moment to moment and not so much on the bottom line at the end of the month.
Posted by: Carol Elia | January 26, 2006 07:27 PM
In Brisbane, Australia, the yoga community is supportive, yet disconnected. When we are grounded in the intention of union, we are naturally aligned. When we focus on ownership; we divide. Yoga as a business, is still yoga first. May we stay in the light of truth in all ways.
Posted by: Alexis Burns | February 26, 2006 03:23 PM