Thanks for this question Erica. I was curious about the same thing as yoga classes have gotten so expensive that I have essentially been priced out of them. When I started yoga three years ago, classes were $14 -17 a class (large city and using drop in prices as a measure.) In those three years the prices had inflated to $17 – $20 (don’t want to get in the bulk classes pass argument as that muddies the point). Due to economic conditions and other factors, I have essentially started a home practice (discovering inexpensive used video through Amazon.com in the process). Though the videos are pretty basic and tend to lack some of the more juicy advanced stuff, I do an occasional workshop for things like arm balance and inversions not ordinarily shown on videos or taught in level 1 classes (I also know enough yoga to do advance poses in place of the simple ones on the videos. I’m essentially using them as pacing so the level really is unimportant to me). The studios have essentially prices me out of their classes since my wages have not kept up with class prices (I know you’ll get some spirited arguments from studio owners that yopa classes are a bargain no matter what price. No surprise there).

There seems to be a tendency to raise prices despite a drop in attendance in an attempt to compensate for a fall in revenue. This seems to lock out even more students economically resulting in yet even less people showing up. I can only see this is a viscous cycle and curious how it plays out for the studios. It’s probably counter-intuitive to most studio owners to reduce class prices when attendance starts to drop which should attract more students. This is a fairly common tact in business.

I’ve gotten to the point where I think that the class model the independent studios are using is becoming outdated. I sense two trends happening. First is teachers conducting classes in a coop like settings. Cutting out the owner’s take would go a long way to providing teachers with decent income and students with cheaper classes. I don’t think it’s any secret that it is really the owners that are making money on the yoga boom. I also wonder if the independents will be swallowed up by a Yoga Works/Wal-Mart/gym model. Large multi-city studios with inexpensive monthly memberships. Economy of scale might start to make sense in this financial environment despite distracters who will howl that yoga has sunk to a new spiritual low.

I am a small studio owner located in a small community and have not noticed a decrease in attendance and don't really worry about it. The reasons I opted out of having two studios in one location or having a large studio room is because of rent and because there is not a large population to support a large studio. The main reason though is if you have more expenses you have to increase your rates, which means you cut out the average person who can benefit from yoga.

Just recently a franchise has moved in town and I am finding that a lot of people are now asking us if we are a franchise as well, when they find out that we are not they are pleasantly surprised. Which surprised me. Apparently in my area people like to support their local businesses. Plus because our expenses are not too high we don't push people to buy anything. I get them to be realistic about their schedule and encourage them to buy what is right for them. If I did otherwise I would have a guilty conscious. Going back to the rates, the franchise' location is much larger than ours and in a more costly shopping center and as you probably have already guessed their rates are higher than ours.

As to the comment about cutting out the owner and how the owners are cashing in; I decided to open a studio because there were no quality yoga places. At the time gyms were the only place to practice. We have all of the props that the gyms wouldn't pay for, the environment is more conducive to meditative states, we hire properly educated teachers and offer many different levels of yoga, from therapeutic to advanced vinyasa which just aren't offered at gyms because of all of the other classes they have to fit in.

In regards to making all of the money, I know I'm not raking it in and that is not my intention. As long as I'm not going in to debt then I'm happy. I do this because I love it and I can't imagine doing anything else. We offer discounts for the elderly and at times we do work for study programs. We can't pay the teachers a whole lot, but they get paid based on how many people are in class and I make sure they are happy, can take off when needed, they don't have to drag around props or other supplies since we have everything including the music, they don't have to clean the studio or check people in. A lot of times I secretly pay them more to show my appreciation even if they don't realize it. Call me crazy, but I do my best to make sure no one is getting taken advantage of which includes the students, teachers and myself.