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Although Yoga Appeals to All Demo graphics, It's Strongest with Middle-Aged Women
The boomers are entering their fifties, and the stresses and strains on the joints don't allow for the high impact of certain cardio exercises. This, coupled with the fact that the sixties flower children were responsible for women's lib, earth day, counter cultural movement, and a lot of "getting high". Now, they want to get high, or at least deal with stress, but without the drugs. Yoga has natural appeal. Our poll has revealed that most people pursue yoga for a myriad of reasons, here are just a few: - Flexibility seems to be the numero uno reason for yoga pursuit.
- Posture, maintain alignment, people come in for a lot of back issues.
- Wellness: deep breathing and poses eliminates wastes from cells
- Stress Reduction: a great way to quiet the mind.
- Compliments other fitness programs, help with sports, in particular golf.
- Balance training, great for seniors reduces chance of falls.
- Strength: it makes use of body weight to strengthen the body but lengthens the muscles and not shorten them
- Stamina regular active yoga increases endurance
Who's Attracted to Yoga ?
It's mostly baby boomers, the 35-55 age group... A lot of working professionals looking for stress release... Couples can do it together...Many boomers are starting a fitness program for the very first time and this is attractive to them... It's good for the kids also, in many cases, they make it a family affair ...The 20-somethings are finding it 'trendy' so they have an interest".
-- Karen Gambill of Mt. Trashmore YMCA "Mostly female", no high school students...Seniors love it, popular to in the morning session, the mom's session is at 11:00 A.M. while the kids are in school, then the evening session is for working moms. ".
-- Margaret Decker of the Salem Athletic Club "It attracts a very diverse following...middle-aged people are finding they can't handle a lot of high impact group programs anymore, so they're favoring the lower impact programs, yoga is a gentler alternative ".
-- Anne Marie Miller, TSI
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Fees and Investment
Many fitness facilities are bundling yoga classes into the membership fees, while others are charging a slight premium, it really depends upon your pricing strategy. At the Mt. Trasmore Y, for instance, they charge $3.75 per class for members. Classes are 1 hour 15 minutes, once per week for 8 weeks. One instructor teaches about 30 students at a time. For those of you who don't yet include yoga, you couldn't ask for a more price-effective offering. If you have an existing aerobics studio, the great news is that you can easily add yoga to your mix; just add an instructor and some mats, throw a different CD in the sound system, they do it bare foot on the floor. As of this date, most fitness facilities have coalesced around two groupings of yoga, "Gentle" (Iyengar), and "Active" (Ashtanga). Gentle yoga has more held poses and can use props to achieve maximum flexibility. Active yoga is designed more for all round fitness and often goes under the name "power yoga". Although it's still unfolding, the active yoga programs will keep adding more moves as it evolves while the gentle yoga may require investment in various props to get to advanced levels.
Instructor Training
The great news is that you can take a competent fitness instructor and develop a respectable active yoga instructor in about a month. YogaFit, for instance holds instructor training at regular intervals all over the world, with regular classes at their Hermosa Beach, CA facility. The YogaFit® Teacher Training lasts 3 days, costs $299 per student including hands on-training, high quality sticky yoga mat, 150-page comprehensive manual with pose breakdowns and class formats. Students are encouraged to perform approximately 8 hours of pro bono community teaching before teaching professionally. According to Karen Gambill of the Mt.Trashmore Y, "In a month's time of diligence, an instructor can be ready. Factors that can make the instructor ready sooner rather than later are their previous knowledge, have they taken yoga themselves? And are they motivated?" Anne Marie Miller of TSI says: "Good yoga trainers are good [generic fitness] instructors, they have experience, good rapport with students, and have general skills such as how to cue." She went on to say: "The same 3 principles apply to yoga as with any group fitness program: the warm-up, the conditioning, and the cool-down." A twist to the cool down period, one of the most pleasant activities enjoyed by members is the "guided relaxation" offered at the end of each class.
A Word About Mats
After the investment in proper instructor training, the next mission critical element is the floor mat. There are a couple of things to take into consideration. The moves and held poses of yoga require good non-skid contact with the floor surface, consequently thin yoga mats with a special sticky side were developed to be optimal. Although when you're first getting started you could get away with the regular foam mats you already own, the sticky mats are best.  Gaiam Yoga Mats There are two camps on as to whether facilities should provide mats, or the members. Certain facilities want to remove any barriers to members trying out the activity and therefore provide the mats for free.
The Sweat Factor
Let's face it, human bodies sweat. Especially if they're taking an active yoga class. At the end of class members roll up the mats to store, so they never get a chance to full air out and dry before the next person uses it. Users could bring towels but that defeats the whole point of good contact between body and floor. In the case of the Salem Athletic Club they both provide the mats and sell the mats in the pro shop. So the intelligent thing to do is also be sure to stock mats in your pro shop and don't forget the stylish carrying straps. It's the best $25 investment your members can make in the pursuit of this activity.
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