Let’s say you hear that a yoga studio is closing. You might be all, “Fail!” Hey, that’s how we’ve been culturally trained to see things. Closing = failing.
What we think a successful yoga operation looks like goes something like this: a beautiful zen space, a perfect-setting location, a huge schedule of 4+ classes a day 7 days a week, a large diverse line-up of teachers, and classes that anyone can walk in to – and anyone can be challenged in.
This is the current reigning premise that most studios have been set up under. It’s a near impossible goal. And that shit costs money. But guess what? I did it. I could keep doing it if I want to “look” successful. But I’m not going to. I think I’ll do something I can handle easier. I think I’ll change the world.
But before you listen to me about anything, like, oh, say, changing the world, we better find out if I’m a reliable source. I mean, I’m closing my yoga studio. I could be a total fuck-up. But damn, check out the company I’m keeping: Cindy Lee closed Om Yoga, Elena Brower closed Virayoga, and Rusty Wells closed Urban Flow.
Peeps, I think there’s a yoga studio paradigm problem here. We see the needs and only one way to meet them. But that way isn’t the only way. The pieces don’t fit, so let’s stop shoving ‘em together.
There’s a yoga studio paradigm problem here. The pieces don’t fit, so let’s stop shoving ‘em together.
A successful small biz in the service sector has a pretty clear definition:
- a service that meets a high mainstream demand
- a price the mainstream demanders can justify
- service times when the mainstream demanders want them
At first glance this may appear to have plenty in common with the current yoga studio paradigm: offer what yoga looks like in mainstream media (beautiful zen space thronged by the skinny young spandexed masses getting their flow on), a justifiable payment structure (set rates that can compete with fitness centers), with ultimate service flexibility (lots of “all-level” classes all the time).
That’s one way to connect the dots. But just like anything else, a more sophisticated analysis will reveal a more true truth. (I’m a big fan of getting sophisticated on shit.)
Mainstream Demand
Yoga doesn’t have one. There is no mainstream demand. It is way too misunderstood. The closest thing to a mainstream demand for yoga is actually a mainstream demand for a misconception of yoga: that it’s a bliss-out for young, skinny, flexy, women. So, one solution is to shoot for the Misconception of Yoga market. This makes yoga studios successful. Oh yeah – and it leaves out nearly everyone yoga can serve. The people not demanding the Misconception of Yoga. The majority of people out there.
The closest thing to a mainstream demand for yoga is actually a mainstream demand for a misconception of yoga: that it’s a bliss-out for young, skinny, flexy, women.
Damn, peeps. This means I’d need to stop putting studio resources into reaching and serving real people needing yoga. And guess what? I don’t want to stop. I don’t want to put resources into perpetuating the external focus of the Misconception of Yoga – how hot you can look, or even limiting it to how good you can feel immediately afterward. I don’t want to keep to the all-level fitnessy flows in a heated room that are the means to this misconception. And guess what? I don’t have to. Because there is another way.
Maybe I could take the yoga message to real people. Lots of them. Maybe I could set up a model that includes the kind of juicy yoga goodness that is usually only offered in yoga teacher trainings. Maybe I could show this truth of yoga – this comprehensive system for personal and professional growth – to people with no aspirations of ever becoming a yoga teacher. People who just want to learn how they can live their lives based more in the things that really matter to them. I bet that’s a lot of people. I bet that’s a mainstream market.
Justifiable Rates
What we justify as payment for anything is based in our understanding of it. We pay $100+/month for our unlimited data plans on our phones, because we know what the service is and we know we want it. When we know what it is and we know we want it, we are less likely to question the expenditure.
With the rampant Misconception of Yoga, nobody knows they want it. Nobody knows it’s the foundation of total well-being and a better life than they’ve ever imagined. Nobody knows how it can change how you look at the world, and change the world’s response to you. What they “know,” is that from the outside, professional yoga looks just like that yogapilatecoreburn class at the fitness center that you can go to as many times as you want to for $40 a month. We question a professional service yoga program that costs $100/month. Wait – most people don’t question it – they don’t even consciously consider it. It’s an unconscious dismissal – gone before any conscious information-seeking for decision-making about its value can even enter in.
With the rampant Misconception of Yoga, nobody knows they want it. Nobody knows yoga is the foundation of total well-being and a better life than they’ve ever imagined.
It took me the same contact hours to acquire my Masters degree in Engineering as it took to acquire my RYT-500 certification in yoga. Working in one field, my education is highly valued and considered a huge part of my service. I get a 6-figure salary. In the other, my education is often trivialized. I get a poverty level salary. Guess which is which? 😉 (Not-so-side note: successful yoga studios are made up of workers under the poverty level.)
After “retiring” from engineering and starting my yoga studio, I attended a work gathering of my husband’s – who is also an engineer. One well-meaning (engineer) guy asked me how my Jazzercise thing was going. Not to slam Jazzercise or anything, but I don’t think Jazzercise offers a comprehensive training in mind-blowing Eastern psychology and its life-changing techniques that max out your human potential. I don’t think.
I just told him, “Goin’ good.” You see, this kind of thing happens all the time, and you learn not to deplete your prana on it. And hey – this guy ain’t in no place to take in anything about yoga. Maybe next lifetime, someone else can hit him up.
So. It’s gonna take educating. So that the cost has a justifiable value. I know that I have never regretted a cent I’ve spent on yoga classes, workshops, private sessions or trainings. But I’m a discerning yoga consumer. I seek out the best because I know what to look for. I only buy from teachers of the “deep well” variety, and I know how to divine the water. (Score! I’ve been waiting my whole life for a great divining rod metaphor.)
It’s gonna take educating. So that the cost of yoga has a justifiable value.
So, I’m gonna help other people see what I see. Help them become a sophisticated consumer of yoga. Educating the public like this can not only help real people benefit from the huge value of yoga services, but it can help those deep well yoga teachers everywhere creep over the poverty line.
Service Times to Meet the Demand
Is the answer really yoga classes all-day every-day? Or is the answer yoga when people are more likely to be available? And – bonus! – when people are more likely to have the willpower to do it?
My studio built on the current yoga studio paradigm never pulled a profit between 8:00 am and 5:30 pm. And these hours… they look a lot like most people’s work hours. Huh. Too bad the world ain’t set up with magical yoga spaces that could pop up before and after working hours and not cost a full-time rent plus a full tax/maintenance “NNN” plus the overhead of heat/A/C/utilities during work hours.
Waitaminnit! They popped up a long time ago! They are called existing businesses. Sure, they’ll have to meet certain requirements like having the right kind of floor and movable fixtures – but they’re there. Sitting unused at the times we need them. Ho. Ly. Shit.
Part-time space-sharing makes sense. It’s downright conservationist. Let’s jump that train.
This makes sense. It’s an efficient use of a valuable resource – space. It conserves resources. It’s downright conservationist. Let’s jump that train, yoga bitches.
A New Yoga Delivery Paradigm
It looks like this:
- Teach the entire empowering full-faceted system of yoga that can serve everyone
- Include resources that educate and make the value of this powerful system ridiculously clear
- Ditch the full-time yoga tomb and get smart about part-time space-sharing
So, FAIL! No more full-time lease of a zen space that only breaks even during a small window before and after biz hours. No huge schedule with a perception of flexibility that actually works against students’ willpower and motivation. No more selling yoga short – limiting what it is to a fitness foray. No more throwing out the baby and keeping the bathwater.
No more selling yoga short – limiting what it is to a fitness foray. No more throwing out the baby and keeping the bathwater.
Now for the mushy stuff: I will miss my studio dearly. For every person who gathered there in real community. For the energy everyone put into it – the very real energetic imprint of real people aligning with some greater guidance.
And, paradoxically, that very energy has driven this decision. Authentic guidance – it can be a real bitch. I have a responsibility to not only say what I know, but to act on it. To not just think different, not just say different – but to do different than I have been. To shine a light on the things holding yoga back. To pull yoga ahead.
There’s a lot of pull on the other end of the rope – a lot of momentum going toward a paradigm that’s not working. So I’ll pull harder. And maybe some other yoga leaders will grab hold and take a chance with me. Be vulnerable to judgment. Proudly sport a “Not a Fuck-up” team shirt. Yeah. Let’s do this thing, Tug-o’-Warriors! Whether you’re a teacher ready to escape the studio paradigm or a student trusting that you could be served a better way, let’s do this. All together now. Pull!
Tagged: closing, failure, judgment, justification, misconceptions, paradigms, value, vulnerability, yoga, yoga fail, yoga studio
Well said. You Go Girl
Okay! I am! Going!
Amen, Mary. You’re fighting the good fight- or walking your righteous path. You’re chosing what serves you AND your students. They are intertwined. I think building a community of longtime learners can benefit everyone- students and business owners. But it’s the longer road, yet has a lasting effect. There’s nothing easy about it, but all of it is the good shit. Way to be strong and aware!
Ann, love this: “building a community of longtime learners.” That says a ton. Thanks for your support, your excellent contributions, your great energy.
That mind of yours! It never stops and oh how grateful I am! Of course, very well said. pure dynamite. What’s been interesting about the journey in my own mind, since I found out about the changes coming…I have been even more determined to seek out certification. Partially for the reasons you speak of here, bringing the yogic way of thinking to more and more people of all ages, with a variety of life challenges and abilities and partially because i can’t get enough of the yogic wisdom you and FOYO teachers exposed me to. I am hooked and craving more. I love your courage and conviction. It inspires me to get up on that surf board and ride the next big wave. with gratitude Mary. Always.
Well it sounds like you are a Tug o’ Warrior, hmmm? Yes. Seek the teachings. Apply them in the way they are most effective – from your authenticity and in your authentic way. It doesn’t have to look like it does. Love you, girl.
It’s the next step, and it sounds like a damn good and powerful one. You’re the perfect woman to take that step and make it happen. You’ve got my love and support, Sistah.
Susan, I have loved watching your path to the real, your work in art as practice, the fantastic susansantee.com. You have been an inspiration. Taking this step is easier with people like you around. Thank you.
If you put it that way, it makes me look forward to Field of Yoga 2.0.
Thanks for your vote of confidence, Eric. You’ve been a great student of yoga – wanting to learn, not just work out. And now, learning will be an integral part of the model. Onward!
Mary–you’re a genius. Thank you so much for writing this…I have been thinking about/looking into renting a space for a permanent studio here in NZ (just so that I could have my OWN SPACE–to have it look the way I want and to have as many classes on the schedule as I want), but what you said is completely true–why waste valuable time and resources on classes the majority of people won’t be able to attend! Keep posting your journey–you are still a mentor for me 🙂 Light & Love~
Amy, there are many ways, as you know, and some feel clearly “right,” some feel just a little “not right,” some are a lot “not right.” It’s almost easier when it’s glaringly obvious – a lot “not right.” But with everyone in the yoga biz struggling and hiding it (yes, we don’t want to be the one that says it isn’t working when everyone else looks so great from the outside), it feels just a little “not right,” and it’s hard to pick up on. But there are so many ways to do this! So many! Find your way, girl! You always have, and I’ve always loved what I’ve seen!
Love it, Mary! You go! So happy for you! As always, thank you for your insight and thoughtful commentary on subject near and dear to me.
Thank you, Dawn. Now get over to Sparrow Cafe and get your gig lined up. I already planted the seed.
OMG Mary Thank you so much for this post. I am a full time yoga instructor, I teach 13 classes, plus 3+ privates per week, plus the occasional workshops, corporate gigs and yoga talks I do and I am exhausted. nobody tells you when you decide to teach yoga full time that you are expected to consistently come up with creative sequencing, be a life coach, anatomy expert, doctor, trauma counselor, and spiritual guru all for the same pay as flipping burgers at the local fast food joint. They also don’t tell you how expensive it is to keep getting more training (especially if you travel to exotic places you tend to have more street cred) on a McDonalds salary. I too have a B.S. and a Masters in Traditional Chinese Medicine. I work at 4 different studios and for the most part my hourly pay is determined by how many people decide to show up in my class that day. As instructors we also do not get paid for the time before class setting up the room and checking people in, or after class answering life problems or waiting for people to leave, or the travel time from studio to studio. We also do not get paid for the endless strategic planning and marketing meetings we must attend to keep the studio afloat. Yet yoga has not only SAVED my life I know many many many people who can say the same. Just before I read your article I was considering throwing in the towel.
When I was getting my yoga therapy training in India (had to save up for years) I met a couple from Germany. They rent a space 5x a week for 2 hrs, tag-team teach and make a livable wage for 2 people. They said to me when I told them I teach about 15 classes a week, “are you crazy? We never teach more than 5 classes a week – together”. I absolutely love teaching but I often wonder how great of a teacher can I truly be as part of this yoga factory-slave labor? At some places I get paid per student, which means if only one person were to show up, I have to teach the same regardless, I get $4.80 for 2 hours work. Not to mention no PTO, vacation, sick or benefits.
If you are starting a revolution I am the first to sign up!!!!!
So many fucking good points here, Marnie! (1) The skills of a truly studied yoga teacher are largely unknown and unrecognized. (2) A teacher teaching a 75-minute class is really logging at least 2 hours studio time when you take into account the studio befores/afters. Actual content prep time and travel time not included. Most teachers end up at minimum hourly wage for their time. (3) Yoga SOOOOO saves lives! Ain’t that worth a shit-ton? Guess not. 😉 (3) It will take a revolution. This yoga thing is ingrained. It is locked down. And we gotta shake it up. Thank you for joining in.
And keep the faith. That’s all for now. Take on a faith practice – simply say to yourself, “I have faith that one day I will be serving my purpose and loving my life.” Or something like that. 😉 A faith practice gets some space around the compression of your current situation. Then, Sankalpa, baby. Sankalpas are powerful things. With a Sankalpa set effectively, you become a powerful manifester. And now for the sell-job: I am offering “Intention Setting” as the recommended first step in my new model. It. Works. A bow to Karina Ayn Mirsky for her masterful training in Sankalpa.
OM. I read your blog and would feel the exact same if I were you. I understand, and as a “sister” in this magnificent industry — I am leaning into those same edges every day. I have also been on the R&D side of studios and the model, as you have indicated, does not pencil out. It is my sense that we must each go deep within and listen for the shy soul to speak and say how it is that we want to offer back whatever it is that we have received from Yoga, and then bring it on. So, the yoga studio and the market to whom it caters? Just might be the tiny crack where the light gets in for some…. and then there are others of us (you are part of this I presume) who are ready to be blasted by, in and through the Light….. and so, our place is not so “studio-esque” — as the day to day operations of such an adventure take away from the magic of light seeking. Sending you support whatever you choose. And grateful you are out there sharing the teachings ♥
EVERYONE! Read these beautiful words of Britt Bensen Steele. Thank you, Britt, for this gorgeous addition to the dialogue. Love the work you do.
I would never think “fail” when a small biz closes. I am only sad. Maybe cuz I know what dedication and love is involved!! As usual, you blow my socks off with your original and innovative thinking. I love that you are pushing the boundaries, and I’m so excited for you to make the world your studio! Truth is, if I didn’t have my family’s support and needed to make a living wage from my studio, well, good-bye studio. Hence, I do sometimes feel pressure to be what I think of as a “big city” studio. And that just ain’t me or the yoga I love. But damn, I love our space and our wild assortment of people, and if for some reason we can’t come together in this space, I know we’ll come together somewhere else. So I’m grateful for what we have now, and I’m at peace with where it will or won’t go. Huh, funny…gotta thank the yoga for that!
Monica, thank you, you’ve hit on the community aspect of yoga studios. Sangha. People who affirm us in connected living. It is necessary. Required. And it can be significant or insignificant in any studio. When it is significant, it is hard to see any other way for community to continue on. But just like this has us opening our minds about the way we offer yoga, we can open our minds about how we offer community. We can gather for community hikes. Community movie night – replete with “salon” after, where the real community happens. Community volunteering. All kindsa community. Time for me to get on that!
This is a such a great post. I must admit that I’ve kept silent up to this point on your new direction because I’ve been mourning my personal loss of the studio. I wanted to be ready to congratulate you sincerely. 🙂 The community the studio provides is paramount, but perhaps we can move it beyond the space. I know that if anyone can do it, you can.
My favorite aspect of the post is the development of the Misconceptions… that we will pay for some things without batting an eye, but we tend to undervalue what matters most. This is true for me as well. Thanks for making me think about it. I look forward to what’s next.
Brenna, you take your time with the loss. I did. A year. And it still rises up sometimes for me. I know that community can happen. Check my response to Monica, lest I repeat myself. 😉 You are under no obligation to be excited for me, for fake or for real. You are doing the yogic thing of holding the space, and I will always hold the space for you.
And yeah, we can’t change what people unconsciously choose to spend money on. We can start an education mission around what yoga really can do. There was a time when I was ready to give up on this mission. If the word “yoga” has been co-opted by the mainstream fitness world, then let ’em have it. The full faceted yoga can take on a new name. It’s one creative solution, and it may take a lot less energy than trying to change what is already “known” about yoga. But, I think I’ll try the education thing for now. I think I’ll just make sure my practice provides a LOT of energy. 😉
Congratulations Mary on taking this big step forward. I’m impressed with your courage and strength; giving up on what “we should be doing to be successful” and following what you know is right. I will miss your studio. It was a place of much healing for me. I am really looking forward to learning more about your new model of yoga.
Namaste,
Jessica
Jessica, I am so grateful that things aligned so that you could be part of studio when you needed what it could provide. Thanks for joining me on that journey. You are a great example of how the study of yoga, and individualized practice of yoga, can be, as you said, healing. More study of yoga, more individualized practice is on the way in the new model.
why wouldn’t a person just get certified themselves if they wanted to practice on their own. The money spent without blinking an eye might as well be spent getting their own certification and educating themselves to equal value. People go to studios to be lead, and people need leaders.
Joe, I think you’re referring to my statement about limiting the full facets of yoga to yoga teacher trainings. The deal there is, many people don’t want to get a teacher training, but they want to learn how to uncomplicate their lives. That can’t happen in a general studio class. We don’t have to draw a line in the material of yoga – making a “for teachers” category and a “for non-teachers” category. The material serves everyone. Learning, for example, how to set a Sankalpa and implement it for powerful change in your life has equal value whether you do it in a teacher training or in a people training. And everyone needs it – not just yoga teachers. So, studied teachers can lead all people, not just those wanting to become teachers.
I’m a fairly new yoga teacher. I only started to teach while holding a full-time job in 2011. On to 2014, I no longer have a full-time job but still teaching yoga. Today, I have difficulty knowing where to go with my teaching because of the many just graduated young teachers (by the way, I’m 48-far from the young, skinny, handstanding girl). Your blog reminds me what yoga is all about and helps remind me why I was drawn to yoga. I still am not sure where I’m going but I feel better knowing that there are many true yogis and teachers out there, not just the “I’ll give you a sweaty, athletic, inversion ready class” kind of teacher. Thank you for your words here.
Love your article! I’m there now. 7 years in and I want out. Your perspective aligns well with mine. I left a 6 figure job to own a studio and do love it but…too many new studios and working students make it impossible to sustain. News just hit that Exhale in Venice is closing next week. Maybe this is a message that the limited yoga we offer is harmful to the community and our own well being.