Advertisers Finding Yoga Now In Mainstream

[Guest guest]

Good, Bad and the Ugly

ananda

 

2. Advertisers Finding Yoga Now In Mainstreamhttp://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2004/08/09/smallb2.htmlSAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, August 6, 2004: A Bay Area publisher is expanding its coverage to encompass yoga's increasingly mainstream practitioners. Yoga Journal, of Berkeley, launches a redesign of its 310,000-circulation national magazine with its September issue. The magazine, which is published seven times a year, has brought more mainstream advertisers onboard, including Target stores, the FordMotor Co. and General Mills. The Ford Motor Company approached Yoga Journal to buy an ad to promote the new Escape Hybrid SUV. Toyota already advertises its Prius hybrid car. The redesign is also intended to appeal to a younger group of women practicing yoga without alienating its original audience. The magazine will now feature more stories about the broader lifestyle of people who practice yoga--stories on travel, avoiding overeating, alleviating stress and dealing spiritually with relationship issues. When John Abbott bought Yoga Journal in 1998 from the California Yoga Teachers Association, the average age of a yoga practitioner was 47. Today, it is 38 and a recent rush of new practitioners includes women in their 20s, says this article. Market research that Yoga Journal commissioned pegged the number of Americans practicing yoga at close to 15 million, up from 5.8 million in 1998. Readership has grown with the interest in yoga, a Hindu tradition of exercise, meditation and controlled breathing that practitioners say provides spiritual as well as physical benefits. Yoga first gained publicity in America in 1968 when the Beatles made a pilgrimage to India to study under the M

aharishi Mahesh Yogi. Now yoga is regarded, along with swimming, jogging and aerobics, as one of many ways Americans stay fit.Yogacharya Dr.Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani

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[Guest guest]

Namaste Ananda and all in Rishiculture group.

 

I am close to this commercialization of Yoga because Yoga Journal Conferences is a big advertiser in my magazine, Nexus, Colorado's Holistic Journal. (Two full-page color ads in the last two issues.) I have mixed feelings about Yoga's attractiveness to " the mainstream " and about entrepreneurs playing to that market. But I'll share those feelings with you another time.

 

I am attending their main (of 3) USA conference in Estes Park Colorado (near my home). It is 6 days and includes 3 days of continuing education for teachers. I'll let you know what I learn, see, and feel there. You can read about it and view the class names and teachers at yjevents.com. I wrote an article about the conference in my July-August issue, included below.

By the way, I write a Yoga column in every issue of Nexus. See another one (from May-June, " The answer to the big question: Who am I? " ) at http://nexuspub.com/yoga.htm. You'll find future columns there too.

 

I truly appreciate what you are doing, Ananda and Amma. Your link to Business Journal's site was useful to me. I just received Yoga Journal's emailed press release about their re-design a few days ago, and Business Journal did a good re-working of it. Here's the best article on an aspect of this topic, entitled, " Yogis Behaving Badly " : http://www.business2.com/b2/web/articles/0,17863,514969,00.html. I learned about it from Trisha Lamb at The International Association of Yoga Therapists.

 

Namaste,

Ravi Dykema (With Swamiji from '72-76 in Lawspet)

 

Here's my column on the conference:

 

The famous Yoga conference in Estes Park

 

Starting with our May-June issue, we have explored Yoga by asking, is Yoga exercise or meditation? In that issue’s feature interview I spoke with three experts who commented on Yoga’s current popularity and who addressed a controversy in Yoga circles: Is exercise-oriented Yoga an authentic version of the ancient tradition from which it arose, or is it a distortion of Yoga? Last issue, in my first column (July-August), I further explored the question, “what is Yoga?” by presenting Yoga’s historical goal, a state of consciousness that enables you to see who you really are. (These are available online at nexuspub.com.)

In this issue I wish to alert you to the country’s most famous Yoga conference, right here in our back yard in Estes Park, the Yoga Journal Conference (September 27-October 3).

The conference attracts over 1200 participants to the YMCA of the Rockies to attend classes with 23 teachers. This faculty includes many of the “big names” in American Yoga such as Rodney Yee, Patricia Walden, Judith Hansen Lasater, John Friend and Boulder’s own Richard Freeman.

Yoga Journal and other organizations conduct Yoga conferences elsewhere throughout the year, but the Estes Park conference is the most famous, in my opinion, because it is in its 9th year and it is backed by the marketing muscle of Yoga Journal Magazine, based in Berkeley California, the largest circulation Yoga magazine in the country at 310 thousand copies, average, per issue.

This makes the YJ conference in Colorado influential within the Yoga world. For instance, meetings about teacher training standards at the 1995, 1997 and 1998 conferences were important steps in the creation of the Yoga Alliance, the dominant accrediting organization for Yoga teachers in the USA.

The conference is also a great opportunity for local Yoga enthusiasts and teachers to learn more about the practice of Yoga poses, which is the aspect of Yoga emphasized at the conference. Class titles include, “Awakening sensory intelligence within Yoga” and “Opening Your Shoulders to the Light,” as well as, “Restorative Yoga, the Art of Letting Go” and “Freeing the Heart in Standing Poses.”

I say that the conference emphasizes Yoga poses because 107 of the conference’s 129 classes (82%) are primarily âsana-focused. (Âsana in the Sanskrit word for Yoga pose.) The non-âsana-focused classes (called the “contemplative track”) include 9 which explore meditation, 4 which explore Yoga philosophy, 2 which deal with breath and 2 which focus on relaxation. Some class titles in this track include, “Dancing with the Heart Energy,” and “Inner Process in Meditation: A Practice for Clearing Obstructions.” Conference director Elana Maggal says that by their inclusion of the comtemplative practices organizers “wish to stress that not all of Yoga is âsanas—Yoga offers opportunities other than just a workout.”

The conferences’ emphasis on poses resulted, Maggal said, from past attendees feedback. She also noted that most people come to Yoga as a form of exercise, and so are most interested in âsana classes.

The YJ conference is really 4 conferences over 7 days, starting with Continuing Education for Teachers on Monday to Wednesday (September 27-29), All Day Intensives on Thursday, a 3-day Main Conference on Friday-Sunday (October 1-3), and a 2-day Beginners Conference that overlaps with the Main Conference on Saturday and Sunday (new this year). Prices range from the day-long intensive for $175, to the Main Conference for $450. All 7 days cost $920. Lodging and meals are a separate charge.

The 3-day Continuing Education for Teachers conference includes an emphasis on teaching Yoga poses safely, and lists a number of classes on rehabilitating an injury using poses.

The Thursday all day intensives (9:30-4:30) give you the opportunity to study in more depth with one teacher. You can choose between Baron Baptiste, Beryl Bender Birch, Sean Corn, Richard Freeman, John Friend, Gurmukh Khalsa, Judith Hanson Lasater, Cindi Lee, or Shiva Rea.

The main conference, with 23 teachers and 80 classes, gives the attendee a chance to take a number of classes in one system or to sample a variety of Yoga styles. The styles of yoga being offered are (these are all derived from Hatha Yoga): Iyengar Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga (of Pattabhi Jois), Kundalini Yoga, Anusara Yoga©, Forrest Yoga©, Viniyoga, vinyasa flow yoga, and Barron Baptiste Power Yoga©. You will also find classes with teachers who have studied Siddha Yoga, ayurveda and Pilates.

 

Why attend a Yoga conference? I think there are three main reasons.

1. You may need a vacation, and a Yoga conference is just that, a vacation from your normal worries and responsibilities. Instead, you’ll be invited to spend hours feeling the pleasure of moving your body, discovering muscles you didn’t know you had, and then sinking into deep rest. Yoga practice is renowned for turning off your mental chatter.

2. You will feel the camaraderie of a thousand others who practice Yoga too. Most are women (85%), and about half are professional Yoga teachers.

3. You could be inspired by great teachers. They could ignite your practice for months to come, giving you new insights about how to release your neck tension, or how to bring that Yoga-feeling into your work life.

 

Resources:

On the web: yjevents.com.

By phone: 800-561-9398

Reach Ravi Dykema at ravi