Pricing and Costing of Yoga Programmes
Pricing and Costing of Yoga Programmes
One of the key components a potential customer searches for, inside the website of a yoga practise, or a yoga studio is how much it will cost. The customer is keen to learn what they are in for. This is something that is so fundamental, yet most yoga studios and yoga practises fail to address this issue in their website. This often frustrates the potential customer, and they will click out of your company website and click into your competitor’s website to find out. This means you lose the privilege of selling to them.
Another factor that potential customers who are new to yoga like to know is, how much it would cost them do commence and sustain a yoga regime in the long term.
Because cost and pricing are very important and rarely covered in the websites of the majority of the yoga schools’ or yoga studios, I thought to address this head on in this article.
First, I discuss the major factors that raise the cost of a yoga class or a programme.
Second, I look at why yoga studios should not be charging so much and how they can reduce their cost and pass that benefit to their potential customers and current customers.
Third, I address how current and potential customers can sustain their practise in the long term by reducing their costs related to the practise of yoga.
Finally, I provide a comparison of costs and pricing of various yoga programmes that are offered in Sydney with a schedule of prices for similar programs offered at the Sydney Yoga School.
What Raises the Cost of a Yoga Studio?
When the cost of providing a service by the yoga studio or the teacher increases, it has to be eventually incorporated into the price or fees that has to be paid by the customer. Here are some of the costs that are passed onto and then finally paid by the customer.
1. When yoga is promoted as new age spirituality, hype or fad, it is often blended with meaningless but interesting features (not benefits) such as goat yoga, dog yoga and beer yoga. As we know, yoga is big business and are money-making ventures that has been culturally appropriated. Thus, it is no surprise that such insulting and meaningless additions and appendages are added to the ancient and spiritual practise of the South Asian and Hindu culture. Of course, when such interesting additions are made to attract new clients (based on the new features) this will involve not only animals but other supplies and professionals to facilitate the programme, which will increase the cost of providing the service.
2. In Australia and the western culture, yoga is a resource to be exploited and is promoted to the rich, sophisticated, fashionable, and upper-class white women. These women are mature and middle aged often earning more than US$65,000 per year. Such a group often requires a sophisticated experience and capable of paying a higher price for exclusive programmes. Yoga as we know in Australia and in the western culture is a money-making venture to many and these businesses and individuals will charge as much as possible because the clients can afford and willing to pay for it.
3. Yoga studios are often located in popular high traffic areas which attract the type of clients mentioned in the above point. The studio space in such locations tend to be expensive. Further additional costs such as spa, luxurious shower and toilets, juice bars and hang out areas further increase the cost of rent. For example, in Australia we see many large fitness companies such as Virgin renting space in very expensive areas to attract a different type of clientele who are willing to pay the high price.
4. Apart from the prohibitive cost of rent mentioned previously there is the high cost of outgoings for electricity, water, telephone, Internet, cleaning and laundry.
5. You may think that the cost of yoga programmes when online should be lower compared to real time (in studio) programmes. However, many yoga studios and teachers are moving towards an online practise and there are many initial costs involved such as the cost of setting up for the class which will include lighting and camera, a website that can handle scheduling, various pricing methods and the ability to accept online payments. Most yoga teachers are not tech savvy, so they are forced to seek help from website developers and IT professionals who can charge a high set up cost and ongoing maintenance and monitoring fees. Compelled to recover these costs yoga studios will pass it on to their clients.
6. Some programmes are offered as mobile services where the studio or the teacher travels to the location to provide the class. This may be a private class for an individual, small groups or even large groups in a corporate setting or in the case of my practise at the Sydney Yoga School visiting childcare centres and age care facilities. Travelling to the location during peak hours, means lost opportunity cost, to be recouped in the price that is to be paid for the class. Even tradespersons are charging for on-call fee for the time spent to travel to the customers location. This time saving is a privilege that has to be paid for by the customer.
7. Teacher qualification and experience can play a role in why the cost can be high. A professionally trained yoga teacher with wide experience can charge a premium price because the practise will yield greater benefits. Such yoga teachers are in high demand and because there is only so much time during the day for them to earn a living, they will be charging more and increasing their prices based on demand and their availability. You may note certain fitness clubs that offer yoga programmes amongst hundred of other programmes almost charge nothing to attend their yoga classes. Unfortunately, these classes tend to be ineffective because they are conducted by physical exercise and gym instructors who have just taken, a one-to-three-day course in gym yoga. To teach simple techniques in yoga correctly, requires at least 20 years of practise by the teacher and not just 1-3 days.
8. Yoga studios and teachers sometimes compare their services with other healthcare providers such as physiotherapists, chiropractors, massage therapists and acupuncturists. These professionals charge high rates mostly because their customers do not pay for it, but their insurance and healthcare programmes do. Unfortunately, this is not the case with the yoga class that has to be paid by the customer directly out of their pocket.
9. As mentioned before to provide a proper yoga lesson the teacher must be highly qualified with at least 20 years’ experience. When this is lacking, the practise itself can be risky to the customer. There have been cases where the customers physical ailments had worsened and upon medical intervention was forced to drop the yoga classes and file for public liability insurance against the yoga studio. Because there is high risk to the often-ill qualified yoga teacher, these teachers believe that they can come out on the top from a cost point of view after paying their insurance premiums. The more insurance claims higher the cost of premiums. So, it is interesting to note that a bad yoga teacher can still charge you a high fee to cover their lack of competence.
10. Yoga is blended with other practises to provide new features to attract a particular type of ignorant customer. This will include things like dancing, vibrations, music, pilates, chakra meditation, crystal healing and various other nonsensical features. Such additions will of course increase the cost of provision which tends to be paid by the final customer.
11. Some yoga studios have gone big such as vibration yoga clubs that are becoming a new rage in the state of Victoria in Australia. We know of Bikram yoga being franchised to many new yoga teachers. Bikram yoga teachers are trained at the head office. Though the training is intense, it does not provide a full understanding of yoga to create the truly qualified and experienced teacher. These franchisees have to pay a franchise fee to the franchisor and obviously this cost has to be passed to the customer.
What are the Factors That Keep the Cost of Yoga Programmes Low?
Now let us look at how yoga studios can keep their costs low and pass these benefits to their final customers. Care needs to be taken by the customer when evaluating such programmes because sometimes a lower cost can come with lower quality and a higher risk. What is essential to understand here is that the costs should come down only because certain features and benefits that are purely added to the programme to make money are cut off so that you are getting a pure and traditional yoga practise that will provide all the benefits which are far greater than any other physical or sports programmes that you may be comparing against yoga.
1. When yoga is provided in its pure and authentic form there is no need for additional equipment such as weights, gym equipment or pilates machines. This will reduce the cost of having to recover the financial costs (leasing, interest and bank charges) of providing these machines and accessories.
2. Going to community-based classes which sometimes tend to have large groups will reduce the cost of a yoga class. Unfortunately, these community classes tend to attract large groups due to their low cost or no cost(free). This means you may not get the benefit of individual attention (essential for new yoga practitioners because if you do not understand the coordination of the physical movements with breathwork, mindfulness and focus the true benefit of yoga cannot be derived and can sometimes be more harmful then beneficial).
3. Avoid going to highly marketed programmes by celebrities who have written popular books like the Deepak Chopra retreats. In such retreats there is very basic yoga exercises taught with hours and hours of book knowledge given at the feet of Deepak Chopra (who is recycling what is out there) and gourmet meals and 5-star hotel accommodation. True yogis did not derive the benefits of yoga by going to such retreats. It is a purely personal practise with almost no cost and hence going for retreats that have no true value should be avoided if you wish to keep the cost of your yoga programme low.
4. Look for programmes that are conducted by charitable organisations such as Steet Yoga and Yoga4You in the United States of America. I do not know of any charity in Australia that provides a similar service. However, if you are in America you can participate in a Street Yoga or Yoga4You class. Volunteer yoga teachers conduct these classes who’ve been trained by the charity. Whilst I'm not sure about the quality of the teaching or the yoga teachers knowledge and their experiences (similar to training volunteers to take calls from suicidal individuals). The intention of such charities should be applauded because their intention is to democratise yoga and make it available for everybody irrespective of their social and economic status.
5. Classes conducted by younger teachers who lack experience can be low. A young teacher does not mean they lack experience, nor should you assume incorrectly that an older person teaching yoga as having more experience. You need to find the right yoga teacher who may be young and lacking experience not in the practise but in teaching. This person may be able to provide a quality yoga programme at a lower cost, who want to enter the market and make a name for themselves.
6. If the yoga studio is in a downtown location or provides a mobile service such as visiting your home or office or choosing outdoors such as a park or sanctuary for the practise will incur little to no expenses for rent and outgoings. The benefit of this approach may be transferred to the customer who will end up paying a lower fee for the class.
7. Apart from the downtown location, if the studio lacks fancy interior decorations (large popular city centre yoga studios tend to pay popular architects and interior decoration firms’ premium price to have their studio built and finished). You only need a quiet, clean and well-ventilated space to practise yoga. It does not require fancy external decorations, vibrations or music. It should be remembered that many yoga studios in the West and even in Australia include statues and other objects that are considered sacred to the Hindu and South Asian culture that are used as mere interior decorating items that are not venerated. This can actually be harmful to the aspiring yoga practitioner.
8. A qualified teacher (not just a 200-500-hours certificate in yoga teacher training), with over 20 years’ experience in practising and studying yoga and who originally comes from the Hindu culture where yoga is considered as a spiritual practise is capable of providing a personally designed programme that has all the hallmarks of a proper and great yoga practise. Such teachers tend to be expensive but relative to the cost that you pay for franchise programmes like Bikram yoga or hot yoga the cost is much lower, and the quality is far higher. You should look for such programmes developed and provided by personal yoga teachers.
9. How many yoga teachers understand the true value of yoga and how it should be imparted? I hail from the Hindu culture and kriya yoga practise thus believe yoga is a God given system and wisdom that has to be passed down freely. This means a person who hails from the culture is not motivated by the business side of yoga or see it as a money-making venture. They will tend to charge less just to make a comfortable living, but the higher intention is always to spread the knowledge of yoga to as many people as possible. You should seek out such teachers for the benefit you gain would be much higher and long term which will make you more grounded and spiritually focused which should be the primary reason for the yoga practise.
Personal Actions You Can Take to Reduce the Cost of Your Yoga Practise
I will discuss what the individual practitioner can do to reduce the cost of their yoga practise in the long term.
1. When you are starting out to learn and practise yoga you should consider a class that teaches you the basics step by step. Yoga is like learning to drive where many components had to be coordinated correctly to derive the full and true benefits of yoga and to reduce the costs of incorrect practise. Similar to driving where you need at least one hundred hours of initial practise to get your licence you will need at least a step by step, gradually increasing levels of competence built into your yoga programme or course. If you undertake a programme such as a comprehensive 50-hour class, you are capable of learning everything properly and thereafter you can practise on your own. You will not only derive the major benefit of not having to pay for future classes but also save on other things like availability of more time to practise yoga at home simply because you do not have to travel to a location. I strongly suggest a 50-hour class that teaches you step by step all the basics and fundamentals of yoga rather than going for classes that are conducted for groups. These group classes will always have newcomers joining so the practise will not progress far because the teacher or facilitator is compelled to keep going back to the basics and teach the same basic asanas and pranayama’s again and again to bring the new student up to speed with the older students. Yes, some new asanas will be taught but true progress will never be achieved in teaching you yoga fundamentals correctly, precisely and to the point in a step by step manner so that you have all the tools and skills to practise not only at home but to gradually enhance it by incorporating new asanas, breathwork and meditation.
2. Once you have received the fundamentals you do not have to spend further on any class which will provide savings on a long-term basis. You will save time and money as you do not have to spend on travel.
3. Once you complete the 50-hour class and have learned all the basics you can continue to learn and practise yoga not only by yourself but by including your family and children. This not only saves your cost but if you have family members coming in for these group classes you will save much more money as a family.
4. Many yoga teachers use props, blocks, mats, pillows and cushions. Even though I personally do not recommend using such products in the practise, if you have learnt using them try not to buy them from expensive yoga brands but look for them in the second-hand markets such as the Facebook marketplace, thrift stores and garage sales.
5. Try to negotiate an hourly rate to teach a small group of about 10 students. Most teachers will be accommodative if its during their slack hours. It is something like going to a restaurant and splitting the bill during happy hour.
6. yoga clothing should be simple, clean and loose enough to facilitate the movement. You do not need to buy fashionable clothing which is often the hallmark of certain yoga studios or new age spiritualists who want to take yoga as their fashion venture. When you avoid buying fashion clothing from certain brands and companies such as Lulu Lemon you are upholding the traditions of a true spiritual practise which has nothing to do with commercialism or cultural appropriation.
7. Avoid studios and programmes which up-sell to you uniforms, towels, coursework books, subscriptions, and meals (such as the secret yoga club). These studios simply show that they are here to make money and not concerned about the welfare of their students or clients.
8. Consider only practising yoga and meditation as your holistic health and wellness system and avoid spending money on gymnasiums or other sports activities. There are marked benefits offered by a yoga practise compared to weightlifting or sports activities which only concentrate on certain body parts and movements(tennis).
9. If you still prefer to go for classes, try to limit the number of classes or do not attend classes at all. When you have mastered all the fundamentals that are required to correctly perform your practise you can do it yourself with little to no supervision. However please be aware that if you do have medical conditions, you should always consult your medical professional.
10. You can always choose studios which have a lower cost or provide annual and family passes compared to the more expensive options out there. class prices differ widely, and you should do your research well before deciding where you want to go.
