I did yoga briefly over 10 years ago and now I am trying to start again and I am finding that many, including the one I use to go to have closed and that there are only a few left. The fact Kripalu closed really shocked me it had a lot of students when I was there.
Is this a trend?
Is yoga not a popular as it use to be?
Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
I can see it might be a good thing for Yoga but a bad thing for Yoga business.
My quest for a school continues I guess.
Hello Walter,
Kripalu has not closed, in fact it is adding programs every year. Amrit left in 1994, but the community continues to flourish–please see Kripalu Center
I am curious where you live that you are finding Yoga schools closing, mistakenly or not, an issue?
If you are looking for a teacher training program, you can check out Yoga Alliance for all YA registered schools in your area.
Kind regards,
[quote=Nichole;10395]Hello Walter,
Kripalu has not closed, in fact it is adding programs every year. Amrit left in 1994, but the community continues to flourish–please see Kripalu Center
I am curious where you live that you are finding Yoga schools closing, mistakenly or not, an issue?
If you are looking for a teacher training program, you can check out Yoga Alliance for all YA registered schools in your area.
Kind regards,[/quote]
I’m sorry, I should have been more clear the Kipalu center in Albany NY, I know the main one in Lenox is still there and that is a good thing, and thanks for the link to the Yoga Alliance.
Some know how to teach yoga but not how to run a business. Others can run a business but haven’t the slightest idea what yoga is. Still another group has no idea about yoga and no idea about business either.
So it follows that some would leap into the market without their right mind or requisite preparation to BE in the market. Businesses that close rarely do so “by accident”. But I do not think, generally speaking, that yoga is less popular. there will always be kind-hearted people teaching yoga for the evolutionary benefit of human beings. They just may not be renting a retail space to do it.
Interesting phenomena in South Africa: when I came to Pretoria (which was then a city of 1.2mil people now over 3mil) from rural South Africa in 1991 there were only a few yoga teachers and it was hard to get hold of them as well. Usually at the Theosophical Society one could get numbers, but rarely an advertisement for them and mostly one would speak to someone who would then put you onto the path of a teacher. Studios just didn’t exist at that stage, let alone yoga at a gym, it was unheard of.
Over the past 18 years, especially since 2000, yoga teachers, studios and yoga at gyms just mushroomed and proliferated. Some good others not so good, but that is besides the point here. What this tells me is that the consciousness of people has changed, expansion of awareness has taken place and that is always good. I am glad that it has taken such a positive turn for the good.
In the rural town where I grew up, yoga was viewed as demonic and not mentioned at all. Today I see there are an Inyengar and Bikram teacher in that town. :))
I am sorry but I the title of this thread just make me sing, Where have all the flowers gone ?, and I could not stop the urge to share it.
To further the infestation: YouTube - Where Have All The Flowers Gone? -Peter, Paul and Mary
I believe one of the situations that has risen is that yoga is now being offered at health clubs. For a set fee a member can take a yoga class, a pilates class, play tennis, swim, sauna… all for sometimes less than it would cost to take one yoga class per week. Some good yoga teachers are teaching in these facilities. No rent, pay is stable, no headaches or hassles, just go and teach. Many yoga schools have closed their doors because they can’t compete. Rents have risen, insurance also. Heat, water, cleaning supplies, all have increased in price.
Some teachers have converted a room or garage into a yoga studio and take limited amount of students. Others are teaching at the clubs.
Its all about money. And as much as we would like to be “yogic” about our offering yoga to people we still need to make a living. We can’t compete with the health clubs. Yoga studios are closing unless they offer other classes: pilates, yoga with weights, martial arts, etc. And then they are still having a difficult time.
Yoga won’t go away and I’m sure there will be a turn around, but with the present economic situation everyone is having a hard time. If the corner store is closing, so is the yoga studio.
peace,
Cathy
Until the mercantile thinking rules this field, you are right Cathy.
Still, I think, Yoga should be free.
Also, students should change their mindset about it … they should freely give anything they can afford to the teacher.
Yoga students should realize that what they recieve is more than the money they give. The money you give is not for the yoga you recieve, it is because the teacher needs to live, too. A student must realize that they recieve someheing they cannot get anywhere else, and that thing is also invaluable.
This, if we talk about yoga. If we talk about Pilates with an esoteric tint, where we play “enlightment”, of course one might not get the feeling I described. Than that studio does not have the reason to exist, IMO.