Why is yoga so expensive?

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NoxDineen
NoxDineen Posts: 497 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
The Bikram yoga place a 5 min walk from my house is $1400/year! http://activeyoga.ca/

That's just nuts. :( Especially with that supremely ghetto looking website. That's all, I just wanted to vent. Over $150/month if you buy monthly passes instead. Sad times.

Replies

  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
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    That's a ripoff. I don't understand why anyone would pay that much! Go somewhere else.
  • Dawnhasajeep
    Dawnhasajeep Posts: 180 Member
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    Thats a rip off! They better give you a gold trim mat. I pay 35 a month at the local Y and they offer lots of Yoga & other classes that are free to members.
  • NoxDineen
    NoxDineen Posts: 497 Member
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    I do sort of want to buy their new student $30 unlimited classes week pass so I can check the place out. I have a feeling it's full of trophy wives decked to the max in Lululemon.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    $1400 actually isn't that bad. I'm assuming that's for unlimited? Yoga places aren't like Bally's. They can't see 5000 memberships knowing people won't actually up to the facility. Plus they have to pay an instructor for every hour that they are open. Premium gym memberships cost $150-250 per month here in LA. And think how much more they'd have to charge you if they paid for a website design company.
    I do sort of want to buy their new student $30 unlimited classes week pass so I can check the place out. I have a feeling it's full of trophy wives decked to the max in Lululemon.

    Why would you want to go to a place where you hate the prices, loathe the website, and deride the clientele? How can a person attempt something like yoga with such a negative outlook? Perhaps it just isn't for you.
  • NoxDineen
    NoxDineen Posts: 497 Member
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    Why would you want to go to a place where you hate the prices, loathe the website, and deride the clientele? How can a person attempt something like yoga with such a negative outlook? Perhaps it just isn't for you.
    /something about the irony of judging me based on 2 short posts on the web ;)

    Their website is undeniably godawful (which is actually sort of amazing since if they're open to barter I could fix it up), and having done yoga for years (including, awesomely, with the Zen Buddhist monk who was my undergrad anthro thesis advisor) I'm okay with my disdain for women who live in Lululemon but only do an hour or so of actual yoga a week.

    I used to make a poop-ton of money doing unethical things for the energy industry, and now I make not enough to cover a $1400/year yoga membership doing ethical things. I don't think it's unreasonable to be a bit distressed that yoga is financially out of reach due to a choice to find something moral to do with my life.
  • Jalyst79
    Jalyst79 Posts: 50 Member
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    Yoga and other classes are avaliable through community education classes where I live. My friends and I like to do those because they are inexpensive and last 8 weeks for about $40.
  • sjohnny
    sjohnny Posts: 56,142 Member
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    ...yoga is financially out of reach due to a choice to find something moral to do with my life.

    Yoga is free. Just do it.
  • NoxDineen
    NoxDineen Posts: 497 Member
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    Yoga is free. Just do it.
    Touche. :) I actually do yoga & Pilates pretty much every day. I'm specifically interested in trying Bikram yoga which is why I was checking out the place linked in my original post. There is NO way my boyfriend (or dog) would stand for me cranking the heat in my place up to Bikram levels.

    Additionally, I'm not really comfortable trying headstands and new arm balances without somebody to ensure my form isn't totally off-base so I'm approaching the point where I do need to spring for access to good instructors. (Call me overcautious if you like, but new advanced yoga postures and a lot of kettlebell moves are on my list of "don't teach yourself.")
  • runzalot81
    runzalot81 Posts: 782 Member
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    If you have cable like Comcast, you can check out Yoga videos for free On Demand. I'm sure Dish has something similar.
  • Bronx_Montgomery
    Bronx_Montgomery Posts: 2,287 Member
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    Its summer time. Do the Yoga outside in humidity. Same thing
  • MtnKat
    MtnKat Posts: 714
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    Love doing yoga on Netflix or Youtube.

    My gym gives me yoga classes that are free with my membership.

    I would never pay $1400 for that.

    Hell, I wouldn't pay $1400 for a gym membership either.
  • aimforhealthy
    aimforhealthy Posts: 449 Member
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    I personally don't think $150 is expensive for an unlimited membership at all. If you go 5 days a week, which many people do, that's only $7.50 per class, which for a professional studio isn't unreasonable. It is a lot of money if you're struggling, though - perhaps they have a pay-as-you-go option or you can look for better deals to other studios through Groupon? Groupon often has huge discounts for 10 classes to this yoga studio or that in my area. You should contact them about bartering!
  • sjohnny
    sjohnny Posts: 56,142 Member
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    (Call me overcautious if you like, but new advanced yoga postures and a lot of kettlebell moves are on my list of "don't teach yourself.")

    I agree. My sister is a yoga teacher and has owned her own studio (and is in the process of doing so again). There are some things you need to make sure you're doing right.

    But the rest is still good.
  • Michellereducf
    Michellereducf Posts: 168 Member
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    Def a rip off! I agree that it's full of trophy wives.
  • drgndancer
    drgndancer Posts: 426 Member
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    Why would you want to go to a place where you hate the prices, loathe the website, and deride the clientele? How can a person attempt something like yoga with such a negative outlook? Perhaps it just isn't for you.
    /something about the irony of judging me based on 2 short posts on the web ;)

    Their website is undeniably godawful (which is actually sort of amazing since if they're open to barter I could fix it up), and having done yoga for years (including, awesomely, with the Zen Buddhist monk who was my undergrad anthro thesis advisor) I'm okay with my disdain for women who live in Lululemon but only do an hour or so of actual yoga a week.

    I used to make a poop-ton of money doing unethical things for the energy industry, and now I make not enough to cover a $1400/year yoga membership doing ethical things. I don't think it's unreasonable to be a bit distressed that yoga is financially out of reach due to a choice to find something moral to do with my life.

    Having been the minimum wage junior instructor at a Tae Kwon Do school for a while in high school, I know a little about the economics of this kind of thing. The previous poster is right, $100-$150 a month is pretty much the rates you have to charge. Exact costs vary based on size of the studio, real estate and other base costs, and how many junior instructors you pay, but the math is pretty undeniable.

    Figure a place like this has around 75 member on any given month, assuming it's fairly but not wildly successful. At $150 a month that's around $12500 in income. It sounds like a lot. Then the rent on the actual studio comes out, probably around $2500. Then the electricity, water, burglar alarm fees, Internet access, sundry mat replacements and minor repairs, liability insurance, business licenses, health insurance (for the owner at least)... Figure another $2000 a month. Then you gotta pay the junior instructors (most places with that many members have at least one), maybe $1000 a month (it's probably a high school or college kid working part time, but remember that payroll taxes include an employer contribution that the worker never sees). Take home is down to what... $7000 a month before taxes? A good but not extravagant living... till the month that membership drops or something significant requires an extra expenditure. That comes out of profit. You can't really live like someone who makes $7000 a month, you have to live like someone who makes $6000 (again, before taxes), to make sure there's extra for the bad times.

    Sure, assuming that the member numbers are reasonable, the owner isn't likely starving. If I underestimated membership they might even be making decent money (of course if I underestimated membership they're barely getting by), but I doubt anyone is getting rich.
  • BuffyEat2Live
    BuffyEat2Live Posts: 327 Member
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    Pretty much any "specialty" gym is ridiculously expensive. Yoga studios, kickboxing gyms, jazzercize clubs, pilates studios... all are over $150 a month here.

    Luckily my gym is only $19 a month, and offers classes in ALL of these things! They may not be as professional or whatever as a place that does ONLY one or the other, but for that kind of savings... I'll take it.

    I also hate how expensive it is! If I could afford it, I would belong to a yoga studio and a kickboxing gym instead of my gym.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    Why would you want to go to a place where you hate the prices, loathe the website, and deride the clientele? How can a person attempt something like yoga with such a negative outlook? Perhaps it just isn't for you.
    /something about the irony of judging me based on 2 short posts on the web ;)

    Their website is undeniably godawful (which is actually sort of amazing since if they're open to barter I could fix it up), and having done yoga for years (including, awesomely, with the Zen Buddhist monk who was my undergrad anthro thesis advisor) I'm okay with my disdain for women who live in Lululemon but only do an hour or so of actual yoga a week.

    I used to make a poop-ton of money doing unethical things for the energy industry, and now I make not enough to cover a $1400/year yoga membership doing ethical things. I don't think it's unreasonable to be a bit distressed that yoga is financially out of reach due to a choice to find something moral to do with my life.

    How am I judging you? I repeated back the comments you posted. Meanwhile, you put women down for their clothing choices for reasons that I fail to understand. No one on this site has ever heard me use the phase trophy wife, or cardio queen, or rate women by the clothing or makeup choices they wear at the gym. Putting other people down has never burned any calories for me, so I don't participate.

    As others have pointed out, there are many free, or cheap, or reasonably priced yoga options. I use a dvd at home, I have friends that take a class at the Y for almost nothing, I have other friends that belong to a posh yoga studio nearby. But you want a specialized studio with custom flooring heated to a particular temperature and humidity with a specially trained instructor that will aid your progress and make sure you are safe. These are things that cost $$$. We all have two choices: Pay more, or want less.

    Just because you can't afford it right now doesn't mean they are ripping you off. It just means you have to make other choices until you have the means. Just like me and everyone else. None of us gets to have everything we want in life; and when we don't get it we shouldn't treat those that have it or supply it with derision. Nothing good comes from putting negativity out in the world.

    And no extra credit given for making ethical choices in life and work.
  • sjohnny
    sjohnny Posts: 56,142 Member
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    Figure a place like this has around 75 member on any given month, assuming it's fairly but not wildly successful. At $150 a month that's around $12500 in income. It sounds like a lot. Then the rent on the actual studio comes out, probably around $2500. Then the electricity, water, burglar alarm fees, Internet access, sundry mat replacements and minor repairs, liability insurance, business licenses, health insurance (for the owner at least)... Figure another $2000 a month. Then you gotta pay the junior instructors (most places with that many members have at least one), maybe $1000 a month (it's probably a high school or college kid working part time, but remember that payroll taxes include an employer contribution that the worker never sees). Take home is down to what... $7000 a month before taxes? A good but not extravagant living... till the month that membership drops or something significant requires an extra expenditure. That comes out of profit. You can't really live like someone who makes $7000 a month, you have to live like someone who makes $6000 (again, before taxes), to make sure there's extra for the bad times.

    Sure, assuming that the member numbers are reasonable, the owner isn't likely starving. If I underestimated membership they might even be making decent money (of course if I underestimated membership they're barely getting by), but I doubt anyone is getting rich.

    And if they have a business partner they can cut that in half.

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