How Beth Shaw’s YogaFit has helped clubs train instructors, stay current and reach out to members of diverse fitness levels with yoga programming that is designed for every body.
Beth Shaw is perhaps best known as the founder and president of YogaFit Incorporated, a company that trains and certifies fitness instructors to teach an athletic blend of yoga, strength training and stretching that has already certified more than 70,000 trainers on six continents. Today, her clients include big names like TSI, Lifetime Fitness, California Family Fitness and 24 Hour Fitness, as well as many smaller, independently owned, facilities like Express Fitness, featured here.
Shaw’s company seeks to demystify the ancient art of yoga and include people of every race, age and fitness level. To help appeal to a wider audience, YogaFit classes always include a warm-up and a cool-down (just like any other fitness class), and instructors play energetic music instead of the sleepy tones that are featured in many more traditional yoga classes. They also offer a more manageable 60-minute session, in addition to a more traditional 90-minute yoga class for more advanced students.
According to Skila Ramirez, regional training director for Express Fitness in Texas, this flexibility was key in the club’s decision to use YogaFit to train instructors. “Yoga is an activity that everyone can do within their own realms of strength and flexibility,” she says. “With YogaFit we are able to offer mixed-level yoga classes that cater to any age and body type.” Ramirez adds that, while many people may want a well-rounded fitness regimen that includes yoga, they often have to search outside the club (and pay studio prices) to get it. YogaFit training systematizes a club’s yoga programming and brings this popular exercise into the gym, so members can choose between lifting weights, running on a treadmill or taking a yoga class. “YogaFit nurtures a sense of community among participants and, in turn, improves member relations,” says Ramirez.
YogaFit also offers training that is specifically designed for kids, seniors, pre- and post-natal, plus-sized members and parent/child activities, among others. “Express Fitness’ success revolves around our reputation as being family friendly, and the diverse programming has helped us grow our membership base by filling a need for family-oriented fitness classes at our facility,” Ramirez says. She adds that time is also spent educating instructors about common health concerns like diabetes, hypotension and hypertension, asthma, arthritis, head or eye disorders, multiple sclerosis and various spinal issues, so instructors can design classes based on the needs of members.
“At YogaFit, we believe that anyone can do yoga. If you can breathe, you can do yoga,” says Shaw. “Yet, people often feel threatened by the traditional chanting, the Ohms, all the confusing Sanskrit names of basic exercises and everything else that goes along with what they consider yoga to be. I’m here to tell them that even if they lie down on their mats and breathe for an hour, that’s darn good yoga.” To that end, she often asks that yoga novices in her own classes stand on one side of the room so beginners don’t feel overwhelmed or threatened when more advanced practitioners perform more extreme postures. “When I demonstrate a particular pose, I always show the beginner version first so that everyone starts from the same place. YogaFit instructors all teach that way.”
As part of the curriculum, all YogaFit instructors must also donate eight hours of community service by teaching yoga to people who might never get the chance to practice otherwise. Of this dedication to service, Shaw says, “I believe that yoga can shift the consciousness of disadvantaged people and chase away their frustrations and sorrows to some extent. I believe it’s our obligation to help and do good in the world.” – CS
To learn more about YogaFit, go to www.yogafit.com. To learn more about express fitness go to www.expressfitnesscenters.com
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