When one thinks of such a larger movement, one thinks of LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) an industry that supports a sustainable economy, healthy living, alternative health, personal development and ecological living. A leader in this field is Gaiam Living Arts in Broomfield Colorado.

Of their wide field of products, they produce the popular Rodney Yee videos on Yoga which scores high on Billboard's Top 20 Best-Selling Health and Fitness Videos charts, consistently outperforming most other health and fitness titles.

In response to the mind/body movement, Gaiam has recently expanded beyond yoga, meditation and massage programming and has added video programs on Pilates and stretch-cord workouts. Their success formula has been to feature renowned instructors, masters in their respective disciplines, with the ability to translate ancient Eastern traditions into easy-to-follow, effective fitness workouts that benefit and enhance today's health and fitness consumer.

For Gaiam, yoga is more popular than ever, especially since "The Oprah Winfrey Show" devoted an entire show to yoga on April 6, 2001. On that day, Oprah featured Rodney Yee and the very next day, 19 of the 20 highest selling videos on Amazon.com were from Gaiam, with the top two sellers being the videos Oprah mentioned and showed on air.

Click Here to go to Gaiam's press release on bringing yoga to the masses.

The Whale

Go To Time Magazine    Time's Article on "The Power Of Yoga".

By Yoga Journal's latest count, there are currently over twenty million practitioners of yoga. Of the approximately 100 fitness video titles on the market and any one time, approximately 10% are about yoga. Medical doctors such as Dean Ornish promote yoga for wellness and certain insurance companies such as Blue Shield prescribe and cover yoga for patients with heart disease, asthma, and diabetes.

Yoga has also become ingrained in wellness programs. In addition to employee retention, yoga is exalted for its ability to relieve stress and promote wellness. Fortune 500 companies including Nike, HBO, Citibank, IBM and Apple now offer on-site yoga classes for employees.

Go To Yoga Journal Release    Yoga Journal's data on the yoga marketplace.

A survey of IHRSA's member clubs highlight the tremendous growth in the popularity of yoga in a health club setting. According to IHRSA's annual Profiles of Success, in 1994, 36% of IHRSA clubs offered yoga classes. The percentage increased only slightly to 38% in 1995, but in 1999, that number increased to 74% of IHRSA clubs.

Go To   IHRSA press release on yoga adoption.