The yoga program is reaching new heights at Pura Vida. Literally.
Suspension yoga at the health club located in Denver, Colorado, is quite popular at Pura Vida. The room is equipped for nine people at a time, each person situated in rigging that hangs from the ceiling in which they do their yoga poses.
“Suspension yoga has been around for ages, but it’s typically only taught in yoga studios,” said Keith Moore, Pura Vida’s general manager and vice president of brand development. “It got to be so popular and so sought after that we picked up even more people in the yoga community.”
Pura Vida’s goal in terms of its yoga program embodies a key idea: The aim is to make the club’s yoga program as good as, if not better than, that of stand-alone yoga studios. This means offering a wide variety of yoga types, in their case suspension yoga.
Often health clubs tend to treat yoga programs as part of group fitness when the reality, said Moore, is yoga has a community of its own. “We realized a yoga community is a very tightknit and happy community,” he said. “Particularly in 2014, in this day and age, it has to be done right or it just becomes an afterthought.”
With 20 years of experience in the industry, Moore has seen what it takes for health clubs to compete with yoga studios. He said the instructors have to be the best of the best. However, top yoga instructors usually won’t even consider working at a health club. Moore said clubs need to not only offer the same pay as yoga studios, but also develop a well-rounded yoga culture that will entice the best instructors.
“The question is, how rich are those yoga classes?” said Moore. “How tied in to the yoga community is that yoga instructor that’s teaching for you at your health club? Are you offering a yoga menu of classes that reflects the community and market of which you’re in? Because your ultimate goal is to create a yoga studio that could stand alone by itself.”
Pura Vida offers seven yoga classes daily, ranging from power flow to vinyasa. While between 300 to 400 of those who take the yoga classes are there strictly for yoga, the rest also utilize the club’s other facilities. Moore said whereas yoga studios can only offer yoga, clubs like Pura Vida have a variety of other activities all in one place and for one price.
Moore said clubs also need to keep in mind that the yoga culture changes depending on a club’s geographic location. While in Colorado suspension and power flow yoga are in high demand, that is not the case for every area. That does not mean though the yoga market should be ignored.
“I think that a club that doesn’t have a well-rounded and strong yoga program is a club that’s missing out on membership opportunity,” said Moore. “I think you would be surprised how many people are very, very interested in it and how it actually does drive membership.”
By Heather Hartmann
