My love-hate relationship with yoga

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I've practiced yoga on and off for the last 6 years.



On when I have money and yoga studios have promotions.



Off when I run out of money, or the stream of "new student" promotions runs dry.



Yoga, an amazing form of disciplined meditation and physical practice, has become really commercialized. Studios are everywhere and nobody talks about the traditions of yoga, or the philosophy that should underlie the class anymore. I won't banter about the commercialization of yoga because I wouldn't have discovered it had it not been for one of these commercialized promos around Toronto. But unfortunately the fees that are charged make this a hobby that few students can properly justify purchasing.


Yoga runs around $90-130/month if you purchase it on an unlimited monthly basis. The average prices have come down a lot since 2011, when it used to cost $130-170/month, but is still too much for a student.

Let's pull some of the prices for some of my favorite studios around Toronto [all prices below are for unlimited, auto-renewal, long-term contracts]:

The Yoga Sanctuary (I love this place to death, they really stay true to the roots of yoga and don't distill it down to a pilates-like beach workout): $89/month
YYoga (a lot more corporate, but with the best smelling shampoos ever): $120/month
Yoga Lounge (I've never been but my former roommate teaches there!: $119/month
YogaTree (good quality studio): I can't even get onto their fee site.
Downward Dog Yoga (excellent Ashtanga studio, which is IMO the best type of yoga as it actually gets you moving!!): $130/month


I would definitely purchase an unlimited pass, because if I go, I do it in bursts of daily practice for a couple weeks, and then taper off as my schedule is so unpredictable.



So I can't sign up for long-term monthly contracts anyways, but if I did, I would definitely get the unlimited ones.



So far, the "new member" passes have worked out fine for me. The most I spend is $40/month for a month of membership, do a ton of yoga that month and get Real Ab Muscles, and then at the end of the month, politely decline to renew my membership. Such are the realities of student life. :)



Maybe once I get settled in one place and know I'll be able to commit to long-term membership I'll do it. But marketers have shown that we tend to drop-off our use of subscriptions after 3 months anyways, so maybe I'm onto something.

Until next time!