We're always making constant improvements to Tula - some small, some big, some unseen and some that are obvious. Today we just released a small new feature that you can use to store waivers or any other important documents you want to associate with your students.
Simply visit the profile page of one of your students, and drag any file into the document section. Like everything we build, it's super easy, super fast and super flexible. Check out the animated gif below to see it in action.
I came across this article in my twitter feed today about a company that has built an entire city catering to baby-boomers, and I had the thought: 'more yoga instructors should be teaching more yoga to more baby boomers.'
It's pretty well known that there's a bit of a supply and demand imbalance for yoga instructors, and in some cities even amazing yoga instructors struggle to find studios to teach in. The solution then is to generate demand.
Here's a business idea for any yoga instructor having trouble finding a place to teach:
Of course, adjust and modify the specifics above as appropriate for you and your community. Everything is hard and this wouldn't be easy. But I think the theme applies. More and more people are retiring every day, and moving into communities that must cater in a better way to the health and well being of retirees.
As yoga instructors, you have the ability to provide a service that gives you the opportunity to enhance people's lives through yoga, while also giving other businesses a service that will help them stay competitive as they look to attract new customers.
Take it for what it's worth - I think a yoga business focused on serving baby boomers would do extraordinarily well.
Today, we're announcing our biggest update ever to Tula. It's in production now and ready for you to use immediately!
In this release, we've re-written both our payment form and calendar widgets, and we're introducing a new widget we're calling the 'Student Widget', bringing to life a whole new set of features to our customers that we're calling: Student Access.
Like our other widgets, the student widget is designed to be placed inside your own website.
If a student is managing the credit cards they have on file, they can do this on your site. If they're unregistering for a class, they do it in the context of being on your site. And when they're logged in they can register for a class with two presses of a button.
But we didn't stop there.
We also modified our invitations system so that as you open access up to your students, they can request an invitation to Tula - all the while remaining on your site.
We hope you love Student Access as much as we do, and you can check out this brief screencast below to see all the specifics of how the new widgets work.
Check out what some of our awesome United States customers have lined up for workshops and special events. If you're in one of these towns, mix up your practice and sign up for an event!
Tula Yoga Chicago
Chicago, IL
The 6 Healing Sounds: Meridian Based Yoga/Meditation Series
Last Saturday, March 29, 2014 – Saturday, August 30, 2014 - 5:00 pm- 7:00 pm
The 6 healing sounds are a Qi Gong exercise that combine vocalizations with a gestured movement, and a meditation centered around each major organ. They are designed to replenish and strengthen the energies present in the body’s organs. They are a fun way to engage in a different type of meditation practice, and have a powerful effect on the body.
Each class will have a brief lecture on the meridian(s) we are working with and the organ system as understood in the Chinese medical sense. We will then do a restorative yoga practice that will stimulate specific meridian(s), followed by initiation into the healing sound for that organ and the corresponding meditation
For more info and to purchase, click here: http://tulayoga.net/special-events/2013/12/6/the-6-healing-sounds-meridian-based-yogameditation-series
Yoga in Yosemite! Retreat
Monday, May 12, 2014 – Saturday, May 17, 2014
Disconnect from all the gadgets and truly connect with the earth in one of the most spectacular places on earth - Yosemite National Forest. This is not your typical retreat, the star-filled sky will be our ceiling and the soft ground will be our beds. Join us for this 5.5 day stay in Yosemite’s backcountry and reconnect, rejuvenate and relax.
There are only 4 spots remaining so sign up soon!
http://tulayoga.net/special-events/2014/5/12/yosemite-yogabackpacking-retreat
Jai Rhythm
Ventura, CA
Radiant Heart Fire with Rob Hess & Live Music
Saturday, March 29 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Liberate and ignite the fire of your heart with Live Music
As we feel the shift in the season and the flow of life it is good to hear the call of the heart, and answer it. This workshop will connect to the scared power that flows through us and unites us at the core and to the great prana shakti (the life force). Our bodies are sacred vessels and our energetic heart is the fire alter for our highest realization and the most practical guide for living yoga. Rob will take you on this journey through the Prana Flow sequences that will liberate and ignite the fire of ones heart, nourish the soul and give you practical tools to deepen your Flow yoga experience. A regular yoga practice is recommended but not required.
http://www.jairhythm.com/workshops/
Giggling Lotus
San Francisco, CA
Yoga Mala to Benefit Muttville
Sunday, April 27 - 2:00 pm
We will do 108 sun salutations to benefit and honor the senior dogs at Muttville and all of their helpful programs. Intention is what counts here…do as many as you can! All levels are welcome to join in for this important cause.
$35 suggested donation or whatever one can afford.
http://www.gigglinglotus.com/events.html
Indigo Yoga
Beavercreek, OH
Vino and Vinyasa
Friday, March 28 - 5:30 pm
Happy Hour anyone? Join Amy for a wine tasting and an all levels yoga class with wine from our friends at Caesar Creek Vineyards in Xenia. From the ground to the glass, Caesar Creek Vineyards will provide the perfect beginning and perfect ending to this vinyasa flow class suitable for all. Nurture your mind, body, and spirit, just as the earth has nurtured the grapevines to bear fruit for this amazing wine. Awaken your senses, relax, stretch, laugh, and start your weekend with your community of friends.
http://indigoyogadayton.com/blog/vino-and-vinyasa-friday-march-28th-at-530-pm/
Eastern Groove Yoga
Chicago, IL
Accelerated ATS (American Tribal Style) with Grace of Eastern Fire
Sunday, April 13 – 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Do you dance Raqs Sharqi and would like to try something a little different? Are you a Tribal Fusion dancer looking to know more about the roots of tribal belly dance? Are you just ATS® curious; wondering what's this cueing, vocabulary thing all about? You can find out in just one afternoon that American Tribal Style isn't a strange cousin it's a style sister. Once you know the cues and a few basic moves, you will be able to connect with fellow dancers and dance, with little worry about what to do next. This workshop is for those with previous belly dance experience. It is designed to quickly familiarize you with this interesting style and to show ATS® in relation to Tribal Fusion and Raqs Sharqi. Come to learn and play!
http://www.easterngroove.com/workshops.html
Open Space Studios
St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Beat Yoga
First & Last Friday of every month – 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
1 hour. 1 beat. 1 love.
Bounce, move and groove in this non-traditional yoga class where we turn up the music and flow to the beat. This class is all about the tunes as you are guided through an open level Vinyasa Flow class where you can feel free to put a little dancing in your poses. Smile, laugh and even sing if the feeling strikes you! Set the tone for your weekend in this fun, free spirited class. There will be a different "beat" each week.
http://www.openspacestudiosvi.com/beat-yoga.html
Yoga East
Cape Girardeau, MO
Stress Less Massage Clinic
Saturday, April 4 - 12:30 pm – 4:30 pm
This is a community based Thai Yoga Massage Therapy Clinic. It serves our mission to help people in our community live more stress less and makes therapeutic massage affordable to all. Clients receive Thai Massage,or energy work, in a semi-private setting, fully clothed, with one of our licensed massage therapists. You choose the sliding scale fee, you can afford to pay, cash only. We offer these community massage clinics several times a month. You may contact us to schedule a massage clinic appointment time in advance as the number of clients we are able to serve is limited. Walk -ins are always welcomed also. Bring a friend and come on in. You can start to live more stress less today!
Sliding scale pay as you can rates: 25 minute sessions $15-$25
http://yogaeast.abmp.com/special-events-workshops
Invisible Bee Yoga
Minneapolis, MN
Kiss My Asana Yogathon
April 1 – 30
We've put together a team of teachers and students who are participating in Mind Body Solution's "Kiss My Asana Yogathon" during the month of April.
The Yogathon was created to raise funds to maintain the current Adaptive Yoga programs at Mind Body Solutions. MBS is also planning to build new programs for anyone who could use yoga to help experience the sense of wholeness they deserve.
If you would like to join the Invisible Bee Yoga team please visit our special Yogathon page here, or you are welcome to join as an individual. Our studio goal is to raise $500.
We will be offering a number of special donation classes during April to help raise proceeds for the event. Everyone is welcome to attend these classes!
http://www.invisiblebeeyoga.com/new-special-events
Mel O Yoga
Palm Bay, FL
SUP Paddleboard Yoga at Ballard Park
Saturday, April 12 – 10:00 am
Bring yourself, water and a towel to Ballard Park to learn all about SUP Yoga!
http://www.meloyoga.com/prices/
Yoga Sol
Croton-on-Hudson, NY
Yoga Sol Kids Series
Thursdays April 3 – June 12 – 6:15 pm
Boys Yoga (8-12yrs) 6:15pm – 7:15pm THURSDAYS Apr 3 – Jun 12 no class Apr 17 Many professional male athletes enthusiastically practice yoga. It helps get their game on while increasing strength, flexibility, focus, and agility. Classes are for boys only. 10 weeks/$180
Teen Yoga (13-17 yrs) 7:30pm – 8:45pm Yoga offers tools to guide students in self-exploration, provide ways to handle stress, anger, anxiety, depression and other challenges facing teens while developing a positive influence of teens and their bodies for the rest of their lives. 10 weeks/$180
http://myyogasol.com/yoga-sol-kids-classes/
As the founder of a company that focuses on providing software for yoga studios, I had always assumed that Yoga Journal would be a natural place for our company to advertise, as well as participate at their conferences. We viewed them as an industry leader that helps spot new trends in the world of yoga, and an organization we could work with to spread the word about our product.
As it turns out, we were wrong.
Tula Software has recently been informed that we will not be allowed to participate at the New York yoga journal conference because MINDBODY, an existing corporate sponsor currently valued at $450 million - fresh off a $50 million fundraising round - has been able to create a blockade from any other software company presenting at their shows.
When I questioned why a mutual competitor of ours was able to participate at the San Francisco trade show, (a show I went to in order to prepare for the New York show that I thought we'd be able to go to) I was informed that this was a mistake for which someone within Yoga Journal organization had been reprimanded.
Is this what Yoga Journal has become? Beholden to the sponsors that can throw the most cash at them? And if so, does this really bode well for the yoga community at large?
Where should it stop? Should celebrity yogis be able to keep new, upcoming yogis from gracing the Yoga Journal stages for fear of competition? Should world renowned retreat centers be able to elbow out smaller, more intimate retreat locales by throwing in tens of thousands of dollars in sponsorships? Should Teeki pants be kept out of the show because Tara Stiles will be on stage in New York and she sponsors for Reebok?
Where does it end? How fair is this to the people who pay upwards of $1,000 for an event ticket, presumably because they think they're getting access to the best that yoga industry has to offer.
And by the way, why can our ads show up on the Yoga Journal website but our table cannot appear at their conference?
Now, I understand business and appreciate the concept of exclusive partnerships. But this is not McDonalds having a deal to only sell Coca Cola. Yoga Journal is a news outlet of sorts. What they DO, supposedly, is share information about the yoga community, with the yoga community.
Well, apparently as long as you're not competing with one of their platinum sponsors anyway.
This is an anti-competitive practice and is akin to Yoga Journal allowing only Lululemon to sell yoga pants at their conferences.
On Yoga Journal's website they say:
20.4 million people in the United States now practice yoga, while practitioner spending has grown to $10.3 billion a year. And while more people are practicing yoga than ever before, the real reason for Yoga Journal's continued success is remaining true to its original mission: give readers thoughtful, well-researched articles on yoga, filled with the most current scientific information available, while honoring the 5,000-year-old tradition on which it is based.
May I ask a few questions? Is computer science not science? Is software not transforming the yoga industry like it is transforming every other industry? Does Yoga Journal really believe that a TEN BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY can be served by one single software maker?
Really?
Because if they don't, then they are actively doing something that they know not to be in the best interest of the community they serve.
Is actively preventing new organizations from sharing their latest technology with the Yoga Journal community not in direct opposition to their stated mission?
I think it's fair to ask: Is Yoga Journal, as an organization, practicing the values they preach? Are these values not openness, fairness and accessibility to everything that the yoga community offers?
Our company has helped independent yoga studios around the world grow their businesses.
We were born when my wife opened her yoga studio, and our small team has made a software product that now helps countless studios run their businesses, stay in business and spread the love of yoga.
We're the only software on the market made exclusively for yoga studios and we've done this through organic growth without raising a single dime of outside funding.
And yet apparently, for Yoga Journal, none of this is enough to make us worthy of participating at their shows.
We had hoped Yoga Journal might be the great equalizer that would allow us to go head to head in the same place with industry titans. We thought they would welcome us, and all of our competitors too, because technology has so much to offer the yoga community.
But we were wrong. They've turned out to be an industry gatekeeper, not an industry conduit.
And it's certainly worth asking the question, if they're doing this to us, who else are they doing this to?
NOTE: If you or someone you know runs a yoga publication or event looking for sponsors, please get in touch.