Tough times fail to stop students from stretching their dollars for Bikram yoga

Above a bustling gourmet grocery store in the trendy Town Square shopping center is a room filled with paintings, scented candles and soothing music, a sanctuary where you can take off your shoes and blow all your frustrations out in gasping breaths and hissing sighs.

On a recent Wednesday, six people form a circle facing each other, slowly and rhythmically moving into poses with names such as downward-facing dog and lion's breath. At one point, instructor Dre Quinones tells the small group to reach their arms to the sky and they do. Jaime Tam stands with perfect form, fingers flexing and arms ramrod straight; she has had a lot of practice in reaching for the sky lately.

This very room is proof of that.

Tam, a yoga practitioner for the past 10 years, hopes that -- even though the country is in the midst of a recession and locals are losing their jobs and cutting their spending -- she can turn this small room that she opened earlier this month into a successful yoga studio.

As unlikely as that may sound, Tam just might. Even though the valley is experiencing one of its biggest slumps and experts don't expect things to improve anytime soon, yoga teachers and studio owners say business is good. In fact, some say it's better than ever.

As the economy tanked over the past few months, "it seemed some classes became even busier," says Sherry Goldstein, co-owner of Yoga Sanctuary, 7915 W. Sahara Ave. "People are looking for an outlet. Yoga does provide one."

Goldstein, who has taught yoga in the valley since 1997, says the number of out-of-town students has dropped off. But local students, "if anything, they seem to need their classes even more now," she says. "My friends in New York and California are experiencing the same thing. People will come in and say, 'Thank God for my yoga class, it's the only thing that saves me.' "

Yoga saw an explosion in popularity during the past five years, local practitioners say. A 2008 survey conducted by the Yoga Journal found that Americans spend $5.7 billion a year on yoga classes and products, an 87 percent increase over spending in 2004.

Nearly 16 million people in the United States practice yoga, according to the survey. But yoga is a middle class pursuit; 71.4 percent of people who do yoga have a college education, while 44 percent have household incomes of $75,000 or more.

People are putting their health above financial issues, agrees Mark Balfe-Taylor, studio manager for Bikram Yoga Southwest, 5875 S. Rainbow Blvd.

Of all styles of yoga, Bikram, or hot yoga, is, well, hot. The 90-minute classes are conducted in temperatures that range between 105 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

Balfe-Taylor says classes are so popular, the studio recently moved to a larger building. Before, the studio averaged about 45 people in a room that could hold only 40. Now, class sizes average 60 in a studio built for 80.

They also are opening a new studio in the southeast called Moksha Yoga. It's still hot yoga, but with a milder temperature and shorter classes, Balfe-Taylor says.

Bikram isn't the cheapest form of yoga, Balfe-Taylor says, but they have managed to maintain class levels by lowering prices. The Moksha studio is offering an annual pass for $499, down from the regular price of $799. Members of both studios will be able to use either location at no additional cost. They also will offer a free week of yoga to celebrate the new studio's grand opening June 1.

Hot yoga has been so popular in the valley that two former students of Bikram are branching out and opening their own hot yoga studios, Balfe-Taylor says.

The competition is welcome, because it helps to attract new yoga enthusiasts, he adds.

Brenda Prinzavalli is a member of one of those offshoots, Hot Yoga by Patrice. Prinzavalli has been doing Bikram yoga for a year and a half and has found it to be so beneficial to her well-being that she promotes it to others. She is a true devotee, driving from Green Valley to the Southwest part of the valley three times a week for classes. She uses an unlimited pass and the cost, to her, is worth it.

Yoga can help reduce stress, something that many people need right now, says yoga instructor Shelley Kenny. She opened a private yoga practice, Luv Yoga Now, in May. A couple of years ago, Kenny says she looked for space where she could open a large studio, going so far as to contact a Realtor. But the economy scared her off.

She taught at local gyms and recreation centers but couldn't get the idea of a private practice out of her head. Then people started contacting her, asking for private lessons, so she took that as a sign.

Private instruction is more expensive than a studio class, Kenny says, but there are opportunities for anyone who wants to take yoga.

Kenny's client, Angela Roussos, 84, did 20 private sessions with her, but now takes her classes at a recreation center. Roussos' HMO even picks up the cost, Roussos says.

Yoga can have a positive impact on an individual's health, something that Western medicine has just begun to realize, says Dr. Timothy McCall, a physician and author of the book "Yoga as Medicine."

Medical research has found that yoga can improve balance and flexibility, help lower cholesterol, strengthen the immune system and reduce stress, McCall says.

"When I started, it was a real benefit to having in-house treatment," says Roussos, who has had a hip and two knee replacements in recent years. She now takes one class a week from Kenny. "If you were to look into it, you could find inexpensive classes all over town."

Right now, Tam is taking the low-cost approach, offering classes in her Barefoot Sanctuary for $10 in cash.

To get there, you have to meet Tam or another yoga instructor at the coffee bar in Whole Foods Market. There, you sign a waiver that says you know yoga could hurt and you won't sue if it does. Then you walk down the canned fish and condiment aisle, up the stairs to the store's employees only area and into Tam's Barefoot Sanctuary, a conference room turned yoga studio.

She admits it's an unusual place to have a studio, but Whole Foods officials thought it would fit in with the company's overall philosophy. Tam says she's proud to be the first yoga studio in a Whole Foods Market.

Ultimately, it will allow her to practice the kind of yoga she believes in, the kind that connects people to each other and to their communities. And to help others feel better and look better.

"Yoga is an opportunitiy to get in touch with your body, yourself and your spirit," Tam says.

Contact reporter Sonya Padgett at spadgett@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4564.