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| I'm thinking about dropping my gym membership in an effort to try and save a bit of cash. I figure if I'm only going to the yoga classes, and with the new class schedule can only get to one of them, I should really think about volunteering at a local studio as a trade for that one class, since there's a studio in town with a free class on Saturday and Sundays. That's 3 classes a week, and I can throw in a practice here and there at home to round it out. The only thing is, I'm kind of set on making that class Ashtanga...but....aparently Tuesday (my free day) is outlawed in some kind of Chicago-based ashtanga ban! It makes no sense! Either the studios don't offer ashtanga 1 classes, or they're at, oh 2:30 on a Wedneday afternoon! I've been practicing for nearly a year straight through, with intermittent practice prior to that. I've made it through an ashtanga class before, but still want to stick with the level 1. All Im' trying to do is be a responsible student but I have to either jump to a level I'm not ready for, or not do it! What's the deal with this, people??? Ok, feeling a little better having vented. Thanks!   |
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| Schedules are the bane of yoga I'm convinced. I'm starting a war dance locally for them to become customer-focused. If owners had business sense, I'd be a lot happier yogi-in-training. When I offer advice, marketing suggestions, and things of that ilk, I get doe-eyed stares or a muttered Om or something. It is SO frustrating trying to communicate that classes MUST be on time and that you HAVE to be responsive to the customer-based needs or the typical western mind set will consider you a fly-by night business not worthy of respect or getting their money. Take that ersatz mythical yoga attitude and check it at the door if you want your business to be successful. OK, I'm done complaining too. |
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| Lora,
The yoga studio schedules are exactly the reason that I HAVEN'T given up my gym membership. Our Ashtanga studio has a preliminary series called the rocket. Well they teach that twice a week, once at 9 AM, and the other at Noon. They of course offer a Rocket 2 in the evenings. On Saturday's they do their non-astanga class. So much as I would like, I just can't make it to their studio.
One studio that I really liked had the instructor leave. The one who took over moved but didn't leave a phone number or address. A little PR would be nice.
My gym classes on the otherhand stagger their schedules so that I can attend two classes an evening with different styles. Like tonight I have a gentle hatha yoga class first then if I want I can slip down to another gym 5 miles away and do a power yoga class.
Plus with the gym class you don't have to pay if you want to do an extra class.
Take a clue studios.
OK, Off the soapbox.
Ray |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
  
Location: A Blue State | Schedules SUCK! Take Ashtanga. I can make exactly one Ashtanga class per week.
The others are either in places where driving/parking are a nightmare at class time,
or they are at noon (it's really hard to go to yoga at noon on a weekday...), or they
are at 6 am at a location 15 miles from my bed. I could of course go to some other
vinyasa yoga class ("just like Ashtanga") but if I'm doing vinyasa, I want Ashtanga.
Other styles have the same problem, although Bikram studios (which only have one
kind of class) are less susceptible scheduling problems. Home practice has made my life so
much easier in terms of scheduling (nobody kicks me out of the studio before I'm done,
either)....but it's fun to practice with people, which I can't do at home.
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
 
| Griping accepted but now I am going to gripe about how hard it is to make up those schedules, ok? a) many of us teachers also have "real" jobs, and would like to have some sort of a life outside of the studio b) if we are not teaching in a dedicated studio space, it is sometimes not possible to rent during prime time and if we are in a dedicated studio space, we can only run one class at a time there. We advanced yogis have learned to levitate and shape shift, but haven't yet learned how to be in two places at once  c) rent is expensive! We can't keep running classes that don't pay for themselves so if classes don't fill, we gotta cancel them d) we have to go to class, too and that will probably take up one night of the week - probably the one you want for your class e) students get so attached to a time or a teacher and we can't always accomodate that.
The list could go on and on...
One thing that we brought in when we opened our studio was one late and one early evening class for each level. So people who can't get to class for 6 pm can come at 7:30 or 8:00 on a different night. Of course, when they change levels they need to change nights and that is often perceived as a big problem but it usually works out in the long run. We try to keep our schedule pretty reliable so people can plan ahead. We run registered classes by terms - no drop-ins. Although drop-in is very much requested, it makes it just about impossible to know who will be at class and when. With registered classes, the space and teacher is paid for up front so if opnly a few people show up one or two weeks, we can still keep running the class and that helps keep the schedule stable.
In general though, scheduling is a gigantic pain... |
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| There isn't even an Ashtanga class to be found in Birmingham...
Amy |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Bruce - one of the things I like about Iyengar is the down-to-earth, no la-la-land approach. Anyone coming to our classes looking for incense and sitar music to snooze to is in for an eye opener We absolutely cater to our students needs and requests as much as humanly possible. When one of our teacher was away this fall we found subs for every one of her classes so none had to be cancelled. and we don't do punch cards but if we did, the expiration date would be reasonable and in LARGE PRINT!  |
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| Good for you Glenda. You know of course I wasn't referring to you or anybody on this forum. Just the folks here in my vicinity who are just so clueless. |
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| Glenda, if you have learned to levitate and shape-shift, surely bilocation couldn't be THAT hard, right? 
I like that idea of having both and early and a later class of both levels. Part of the problem too is that I have school two nights a week - the only two nights that there are beginning ashtanga classes! But the studios aren't going to change their night just for me, nor is my school going to offer the classes at any other time....So for now I'm out of luck. But I'm also a bit hard to convince that 2:30 on a Wedneday is the best time for a beginning class! After all, Chicago is "the city that works!". |
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| Lora, don't feel bad - when I first started taking yoga classes I was the total Yoga Diva (Paul Grilley (I think) wrote an article in Yoga International last year about being a Yoga Diva): I wouldn't pay more than $10.00 per class, I couldn't study in a place that burns incense, class had to be on a Monday or a Wed., start at 10 am and end in time for me to pick up my dd at preschool at noon. Looking back, I can't believe I ever found a class at all - never mind that the one I found was so perfect for me!
Fortunately, dd is full time in school now... and now I might have to get a job to support my yoga habit... sigh... ofcourse that makes no sense b/c how can I get a job tailored around all my yoga and dd's school schedule??? (just kidding)
you'll find something, don't you worry! |
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Minor gripe...
