I have a yoga center in an area of need for one, but am not gaining a ton of traction or visits yet.

We have our first class free, drop in rate of $15, student discount $12, and class packs that will save you a couple dollars per class.

Part of the entire space is a vegan cafe I opened and a little retail shop (desperately need ideas on what to stock in there!).

Any advice on marketing? I'm in this for the long haul and really want it to succeed.

I have some on again/off again tightness in my right glute and hamstring. Sometimes into my lower back on that side, but the back discomfort is pretty minimal. Sometimes it seems that this tightness gets worse after yoga classes, especially after doing backbends and cobra or upwards dog. Might there be a connection between backbends in yoga and the hamstring issues? If so any suggestions for how to address?

Doing yoga at home again has been great. It gives me an opportunity to work on breathing and visualization that I can’t get in a class. It also lets me adjust my pace and focus on areas that work for me, without distractions or ego involved. 💕

Hi there beautiful people!

So I (27 F) am trying to lose a substantial amount of weight. Around 30-35 kgs to be exact. I recently started weight lifting for twice a week, and i'm having a very hard time with my energy levels afterwards since i'm already in an aggressive calorie deficit. I feel extremely fatigued and unable to do anything else. I can't do cardio aside from walking either because of my asthma.

So i was thinking of switching to yoga three times a week as my main form of physical activity instead. I have practiced yoga on and off, never for weightloss reasons, but because i loved it and it made me feel great.

This time around i have concerns about losing muscle mass. That's why i started resistance training in the first place. I was wondering if yoga can help me build/maintain muscle while I'm losing weight, or if i should figure out something else in addition.

I would greatly appreciate any advice. Thank you!

Hi all. I sprained my left wrist sometime in April in a gym related incident. Before that I’ve kept up with a consistent practice of weight training & yoga, but now I realize I can’t do more than gentle yoga stretches. I haven’t done a full class in a while and find myself out of breath even when attempting. Meanwhile my wrist is better but certain poses still trigger discomfort. What are some practical guidance to regain some strength without straining? Or if there are any specific things I can do as rehab?

Any poses that are particularly good for disc space narrowing here?

Sometime ago, I started WFH, and instead of sitting on my chair for long hours again, I decided to do all my work in a vajarasana position, to keep myself from slacking off anf lazing away and to keep my posture in check.

Now it has become my default sitting position, my posture has tremendously improved with it over the past few years. I wanted to ask, is it too bad to sit like this in the long term? Will it damage my knees? Usually they stay cushioned while I sit. Vajrasana has also massively affected my digestion and made it 10 times better than before, so I'm not very keen to change my position back to what it was and go in the office chair.

Is it healthy to hold vajrasana for long hours? What do you think?

So, about ten years ago, I went to a Yoga place that just a person talking and a group of people listening. I don't even remember the type of Yoga it was called. I just remember that it was a free inteoductory session.

Thing is, at the end, while I was in my head thinking that this Yogi was using ideas from various philosophers without giving them credit, everyone sitting in the big circle faded from my attention, my vision narrowed on her face, her body also faded from my attention, and her face lit up with intense light.

I never did Yoga since.

Can someone tell me what happened if they know for sure?

Hello!

F38, been doing yoga (vinyasa, power yoga, ashtanga etc) for several years on a regular basis. Since a few months i started to do yoga more frequently, 5 times per week. However, since then every morning when i wake up i feel so stiff, inflexible, like a piece of wood!! For example i can barely touch my feet on forward fold while in the evenings i can place my whole hand on the floor… why do you think it’s like this?

I also noticed that this did not happen while in a very warm and humid country while once back home (north europe) i again got very stiff. Any views would be much appreciated!

Hi,

I’ve been wanting to visit an ashram in Rishikesh for a while now. Looking for ashram recommendations. Any ashrams that aren’t heavily commercialized and have a good yoga retreat?

Looking forward for some recommendations! Thank you.

Or from any of the previous challenges. If so, how many total minutes did you practice during the month? I was wondering whether the rewards were sent randomly or to winners in certain categories.

I've been doing yoga pretty consistently for about 15 years now. Went online for pandemic and then the instructor I love "opened" an online studio. She's local but doesn't do in-person classes. I love this instructor but my yoga practice is pretty stagnant.

It's very convenient to do yoga at home but I'm not very motivated to do it. Plus, there's not really any instruction. She's got an arc to her classes and she has her favorite flows. I used to love the predictability but now I'm a bit bored. I love this teacher but I'm wondering if it's time to move on. Thoughts?

I go to a studio that as a practice, does not generally do hands on adjustments. I love everything about the studio except this - I really feel like I thrive under some physical guidance. Plus, I have really long limbs so modifications are extraordinarily helpful!

Would it be strange if I went up to the instructors before class and let them know I am open to it? I also am worried about being the only person getting a hands on assist, lol.

Before I start this, I want to say that this was NOT on the teacher. She was lovely, but the class I took was obviously not for me.

I usually go once a week, Friday nights, to a beginner community class. With all of the holiday festivities, Friday blew right past me and I missed it. It's been a few weeks because of busy weekends, so I REALLY wanted to try and squeeze in a class today so I wasn't going a whole month without a class

I'm so sad I went. I read the description, I've taken classes like it before that were hard, but this was too much. I've taken level 1/2 classes before in a pinch and done okay with them. Yes, I struggled sometimes, but generally I was able to keep up with everybody else in the class. Today just felt like I was 10 steps behind everybody else. I was having a hard time with directions today. It was like my brain didn't want to work.

To make matters worse, I don't like being touched or looked at in class. I get to my usual class a half hour early so that I can be in the back corner. The instructor kept coming back to the back row, correcting my poses, leading the class directly next to me, so it felt like every eye in the room was on me. I know that my poses were incorrect. I was struggling and unable to move my body in some of the ways she was asking us to move.

The last time that she came and stood next to me and directed the class, I stepped out. I was feeling so embarrassed that I couldn't stand anyone looking at me any longer. I sat in the hall during the last flow until I felt like they had moved on to the hip openers. I ended up going to the bathroom and calling my husband, almost in tears because I was so frustrated.

I think the problem was it was so different from my usual classes and there were poses that I had never even attempted or heard of. The instructor was breezing through them and it usually takes me a time or two to hear the direction and see the pose before I can actually do it myself. The usual instructor I see gives very detailed directions and models the poses the entire class. I have a lot of problems with flexibility, so I'm not able to do many poses properly, I just do them to the best of my ability. It was like I had a magnet on my back to this lady because she would not leave me alone.

I really don't know what I'm looking for in posting this here. Maybe someone to tell me the next class will be better? Maybe that it takes years to become flexible and not 9 months of once a week classes? I don't know, but I left feeling so defeated and ashamed today. During the final minutes of meditation, all I could think of was how terrible I did instead of how proud I usually feel at the end of class.

So I'm an introvert who no one knows who somehow got a job as a yoga teacher at a studio, but I'm having a super hard time getting anyone to come. I try to social media and local page advertise, but I'm not influencer lol. Any tips?

Hi, I have hypermobile joins in general due to Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Anytime I sit on the ground with my legs out in front of me (like setting up a seated forward fold), it feels like my hips slide out a bit almost feeling like they are not centered in the joint and then I have basically no range of motion. I can reach just past my knees when keeping my back neutral. When I do a standing forward fold I can touch the ground with no problems (but not with palms on the floor). Any advice on how to work on my form or make it more comfortable?

Returned to yoga practise after a long time off. I kick myself for stopping and starting it but whatever.

Shocked to notice how stiff, tense and shakey i was. Although I felt relaxed by the end of it and I'm looking forward to the next one.

The practise sparked a question in my mind, 'how much control over your body do you have at this moment, in the poses?'

Anyway found it quite empowering as i've never thought about it like that.

I think life get us bent out of shape and knotted up. Yoga untangles it. Thats why i do yoga.

Update: Amazing replies. Really nice to read the various ways yoga helps people!

In the quiet and calm of my home, I'm reasonable at tree and other one legged balance poses

But put me in the middle of a flo class and I'm hopeless

I'm 60m so don't expect to be great but I'm underperforming relative to peers

Thoughts?

Hey everyone! I’ve been an aspiring yoga teacher for the last year. I was taking a 200 hour course online and I’m close to finishing it. I don’t really like learning online but it was all I could afford at the time. I am now unexpectedly pregnant. My partner is taking care of majority the financial responsibilities however is being a yoga teacher even a realistic career anymore being that I have a mouth to feed? I was already told before being pregnant it doesn’t pay the bills solely. It is my passion and I don’t want to give up I want to follow my dreams but is it realistic anymore?

My girlfriend is big into yoga and has been going a ton this past year, her best friend became a certified yoga instructor so she’s going to classes five or more times a week. I was looking into yoga related gifts for her for Christmas, and I saw a couple mentions of resistance leggings. The ones that have the built-in resistance bands to help you burn more calories Etc. She also does Pilates and other types of things like that so I thought these might be a cool gift idea. Anyone have any experience with these or could maybe recommend some good brands? Thanks in advance!

Please help! My wife LOVES these yoga pants but we can’t figure out what brand they are to buy more pairs of them. She swears she bought them off Amazon but i looked at all of our prior orders and don’t see any with this logo. Can anyone help??!!!

https://preview.redd.it/ory5yjbi7h4e1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=629f2cbe219afb5242a9bfd893b29ed94699e4b6

My blood pressure is currently 172/100 and am taking medication for it. I think the source of such bad BP is stress.

Aside from the physical benefits, has anyone experienced positive effects as far as stress relief (and subsequently lowering BP) from frequent yoga?

Thanks

When I lived in VT, I belonged to a studio where there were level 2 or 3 classes which meant more inversions or challenging poses. I haven't found the same class offerings here. Any recs?

I’m not sure what my instructor did, but while I was in downward dog I think she pulled my hips up/back and it felt so good. I felt light and a lot of relief. Is there a name for this?

I would like to get into doing some regular yoga classes, but I’m afraid it will hurt my back. A huge reason I’d like to go is because I think it would help the overall aches and pains I have with tight muscles and such. Does anyone else with sciatica engage in regular yoga?

Found this old yoga mat i havent touched for years and decided to wash it but what is this? I cant tell if its mold or not