Don't Miss the Yoga Boat

Has anyone noticed how extremely popular yoga has become? Just the other day I noticed three yoga studios very close to each other, each packed with 20 to 30 participants. Just for fun, I then went around the corner to a health club and noticed that only seven people were in the beautiful mind-body studio during prime time.

So what’s going on? It certainly doesn’t have to do with the cost for the participant, so it must be culture and lack of focus.

Yoga means “union” and small studios have it down pat. They build community quickly. We, in the health club industry, have beautiful, large studios, yet the maximum time they’re being used is 20 percent.

As a result, I think we need to question our use of real estate and take a hard look at the people who are directing our yoga programs. Trust me: If your group fitness director isn’t into yoga, your program will suffer. Therefore, it might be time to spend some money on hiring a yoga professional.

Here are some extra tips for maximizing your yoga programming:

Take a look at your schedule and see what is happening in your yoga environment. Regroup, talk about it and make some changes for the better.
Who are your yoga instructors, where do they come from and do they have their 200-hour teacher training certificate?
See what is happening in other studios and sharpen up your program and offerings.
Advertise your yoga programming. Use inviting taglines, not just a photo of the same woman sitting with her legs crossed and eyes closed.
Have events, do yoga master classes and bring in some great instructors to do special classes — they are all over the place.
What kinds of yoga are you offering and is there a pulse of consistency and union between the instructors?

Follow these tips and you’ll be one step closer to not missing the yoga boat.

Lori Lowell is the president of Group Fitness Solutions, LLC, and a Gold’s Gym franchisee. For questions on Group X, she can be reached at lori@groupfitnesssolutions.com.