Archive for 2024

Choosing The Best Yoga Scheduling Software

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Over the past few weeks, I've been comparing and contrasting the features and pricing of the plethora of yoga scheduling software solutions. I have an opportunity to take the time to pick the best yoga scheduling software for Heights Yoga Collective. 

My list of things I need from a scheduling app is: 

  1. low monthly price
  2. Five admin users/teachers
  3. Class calendar for student self-registration
  4. Email notifications for class registrations and cancellations. 
If the app integrates with an email marketing platform like MailChimp or does SMS messaging, those things are bonuses but not deal-breakers.

A lot of yoga studios are using Mindbody because it's the scheduling app they used at a previous yoga studio. Mindbody is expensive, IMO, starting at $169 a month. It is often buggy, down for hours at a time, and studio owners have to spend lots of time on the phone with tech support to get problems solved. There is no way I'm going with Mind-Body just because I've used it before at other studios.

I started out using Square to take payments for pop-up classes because that feature is free, and I've used Square to sell things at night markets. Square also integrates with ClassPass which may be deemed a positive thing, but that's debatable. ClassPass pays a yoga studio $6 per student, regardless of the studio pricing. Nobody knows how ClassPass sets the point value for a studio's classes either. 

Back to Square: creating a class calendar requires the $ 29-a-month Square Appointments feature. I enabled the free trial period to see how Square Appointments worked. It was obvious that Square Appointments is tailored to support hair salons, massage therapists, and tattoo parlors. The user interface was confusing and hard to navigate to the same place quickly. The interface was not intuitive. I called tech support during my trial period to figure out why I could not fully customize our site location and remove verbiage for Appointments when I only wanted to display Classes. I was on the phone with a very helpful person (Adriana) for an hour and a half. She helped me figure out where the Liability Wavier should be stored, among other things. When I had to cancel a class, I could not use the Square app or the Square Appointments app to cancel the class; I had to pull up a web browser on my phone and log in to access the ability to cancel a class. This was extremely frustrating given that Square has two different apps that should be able to handle this function. I was also unable to quickly see a list of students registered for a class or a list of people who had purchased tickets to a pop-up yoga event. I also had some confusion around the difference between classes and services with regard to how Square defines each of these terms. I cannot see our group using this interface and being happy with it and able to handle our own problem-solving.

I took part in a demonstration of Mariana Tek's software. They're a full-service, white-glove application partner who will design your website, input the verbiage for your yoga classes, and create the recurring class schedule—basically do everything for you. This comes at a high price. The additional setup fees are $1250 to set up your studio in the Mariana Tek platform, plus 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, and a 3-year term is required. Mariana Tek Starter pricing in 2024 is $349 a month. For this price, you get their Biz App, Kiosk Check-in app, insights, waivers, and transactional email function. This does not include SMS messaging, landing pages, standard forms, or email marketing automation. That's another $200 a month.

Recess.tv also kept their pricing hidden until I participated in a demo of their platform. Similar to Mariana Tek, they want to do it all for you, again at a high price. The difference with Recess.tv is that they pass along the cost of their services to your customers. Sort of like how Ticketmaster has all those service fees that you don't quite know what they're for, and you can't opt out of them, and you have to pay if you want to see the show. Recess.tv has a sliding scale based on the dollar amount of the transaction that they use to charge your customer for their functionality. If your business transactions are low priced items, your customers will be paying 13.5% + $0.75 per transaction. That may not sound like a lot, but it will add up quick. I know I wouldn't be pleased with such a high percentage fee being blended into the price of a class pack.

Recess.tv Fee Scale (percentage + cost per transaction)
$1 - $49 13.5% + .75
$50 - $99 9.55% + .30
$100 - $199 7.75% + .30
$200 - $1000 4.25% + .30

Now, to my favorite yoga scheduling software. I found Zenamu mentioned when I was digging through Reddit threads looking for users who recommended their favorite group fitness scheduling apps. Zenamu has transparent pricing listed and if you only need one teacher's account? The application is free and will do 99% of what you would need a scheduling app to do for you. You just don't get tech support which should be obvious because it's free. I want five staff accounts, so that puts me in the Expert/Studio price bracket, which is only $39 a month if paid by the year or $42 a month if paid monthly. 

I exchanged several emails with Zenamu's co-founder before our demo and complimented her on the excellent documentation wiki, Zenamu's ease of use, and robust feature set for a reasonable price point. I had many questions about 'Can Zenamu do this' or 'Can Zenamu do that'. She answered each one and provided links to documentation and screen captures of where to click and what to look for. 

Features of Zenamu I got excited about:

  • Recurring classes can be scheduled to repeat every week for X number of times or until a given date.
  • Students are automatically emailed if a substitute teacher is assigned.
  • Buddy passes can be allocated to a student's account manually.
  • Emails are sent automatically at class registration, class cancellation, and waitlist changes.
  • Zenamu integrates with MailChimp, SmartEmailing and Ecomail
  • Students can easily book guest users, who can then be added to Zenamu when they show up for class.
  • Promotional codes will be added to the platform this winter.
  • For donation-based classes, if you want to indicate the suggested donation, put it in the class description.
  • Liability waiver verbiage is currently blended into the Terms and Conditions that students accept when they register for class, but making the Liability Waiver more visible has been added to the Zenamu backlog of things to come.
  • It is possible to create automatic discounts for cash payments.
  • Payroll functionality allows exporting teachers' data to an Excel spreadsheet for use in third-party payroll applications.
  • Payments supported: credit card, ApplePay, Google Payments, cash
  • Email reminders to students integrate with Google Calendar, Apple iCal, and Outlook
  • Unlimited monthly memberships can be created manually by adding an "impossible" amount of credit packs or entry passes to a client's profile.
  • Recurring memberships are coming in Q2 of 2025
Things I would like to see implemented in Zenamu:
(these items have been added to their backlog of product feature requests)
  • Import clients via CSV (this would be a starting point to make migrating off another booking platform possible) 
  • Recurring Classes
    • Pick the day or days of the week the class reoccurs (M Tu We Th Fr Sa Su)
  • Pop Up Liability Wavier, or emailed liability waiver after the client has completed signing the waiver.
  • Icons or tags on student profiles to quickly show birthday months, new clients, allergies, or injuries
  • Automated guest pass functionality (where unlimited studio members get X number of buddy passes per month as part of their membership) (this can be done manually right now)
  • Automated monthly unlimited recurring memberships get discounts on workshops automatically (this can be done manually right now)
  • Automated SMS notifications
  • Dashboards:
    • Studio Health
      • Memberships expiring
      • Low count on class packs or entry passes
      • Credit card data expiring
      • Failed transactions
    • Teachers
      • Class occupancy over time
      • anonymized feedback/reviews for teachers
    • Clients
      • attendance milestones
      • birthdays
      • new clients
      • clients we haven't seen in a while
Here's a list of some studios that use Zenamu for their booking platform:
and of course, here's our link:

If you need a simple, intuitive user interface and are comfortable with creating some online content (Class titles and descriptions), creating a calendar schedule and writing your own emails from MailChimp, you should give Zenamu a try. Your Zenamu calendar can be integrated into any website, but if you don't need a website or a specially branded app, Zenamu fits just about every need you could have for booking group fitness classes.

If you want to book a live demo with Barbara, you can do that HERE, but be advised that the booking timezone is Prague. Do the math so you can attend the demo at the proper time in your time zone.

Please note that class times are listed in the Europe/Prague time zone. Your time zone (America/New_York) differs by -6h.

This is the full list of apps I looked into based on various Reddit threads. Most I didn't research past their high price point. Some are more geared toward CrossFit gyms or Personal Trainers, but all basically do the same thing in different ways and for various prices. 

App NamePricing per month
Bookwhen$29.00
Square Appointments$29.00
Square$29.00
Square Payroll$288/yr
Bewe$40.00
Timp$43.00
Zenamu$49.00
Momoyoga$59.00
PTminder$61.00
Makesweat$64.00
Vibefam$76.00
Instabook$88.00
Gymmaster$89.00
Wellnessliving$99.00
Zenplanner$99.00
Offeringtree$100.00
Evini$100.00
TeamUp$104.00
Pike13$129.00
Studiogrowth$139.00
PushPress$159.00
Hapana$185.00
Bookee$199.00
Cowtinker$199 + 99/mo
Mariana Tek$349
Recess.TV% of transactions
AimharderDEMO REQUIRED
CodexfitDEMO REQUIRED
Dibs booking softwareDEMO REQUIRED
GloFoxDEMO REQUIRED
Momenceavoid

Nobody on Reddit had anything good to say about Momence. The feedback was simply to avoid it.



Yoga Alchemy: Turning Props Into Power

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Following on the Hands On Assisting book I wrote, I have compiled all of the uses for props that I have learned into a single spiral bound book that you can purchase from Lulu.com or you can buy it from my Square shopping site. 

This book includes easy-to-understand drawings of over 70 different ways to use props in over 36 poses, accompanied by easy-to-understand explanations of how to use the props in the poses.

The front cover shows what you can expect to see inside the rest of the book. I will post more photos of the finished print on demand book when the copies I ordered arrive.

Print on demand from Lulu.com: https://bit.ly/PropsIntoPowerBook

Square shopping site: https://jentechyoga.square.site/
















Pilgrimage To Power Yoga Sequence (all poses and transitions)

2:55 PM 0 Comments A+ a-

 

PILGRIMAGE TO POWER YOGA SEQUENCE 
 
COHESION
Child’s Pose
Downward Facing Dog
Ragdoll
Extended Mountain
Anjali Mudra
3 Oms

KINDLING
Sun Salutation A (x5)
Sun Salutation A:
Extended Mountain
Forward fold
Half Lift
High Plank
Low Plank
Upward Facing Dog
Downward Facing Dog
Step or hop to the front of the mat
[repeat 5x]
Sun Salutation B (x5)
Sun Salutation B:
Chair
Forward Fold
Half lift
High Plank
Low Plank
Upward Facing Dog
Downward Facing Dog
Right Foot Warrior 1
High Plank
Low Plank
Upward Facing Dog
Downward Facing Dog
Left Foot Warrior 1
High Plank
Low Plank
Upward Facing Dog
Downward Facing Dog
[repeat 5x]
Flip Dog/Side Plank
Vinyasa into other side
Flip dog /side plank [on last down dog of last Sun B]
Flip dog on Right side
Transition to side plank on left side
Vinyasa into other side
High Plank
Low Plank
Upward Facing Dog
Downward Facing Dog
Flip dog on Left side
transition to side plank on right side
High Plank
Low Plank
Upward Facing Dog
Downward Facing Dog

VIGOR
Crescent Lunge
Revolving Crescent Lunge
Warrior Two
Reverse Warrior
Extended Side Angle
Vinyasa into other side
Chair Prayer Twist
Option: Open Arms, Side Crow
Fingers to Toes Forward Fold
Palms to Toes Forward Fold
Crow
Optional: Forearm Plank, Dolphin

SISU (DETERMINATION)
Eagle (x2)
Standing Leg Raise
Airplane
Optional: Standing Splits
Half moon
Dancer (x2)
Tree

PERSISTENCE
Triangle
Side Facing Wide Leg Forward Fold
Optional: Goddess Squat, Skandasana, Tripod Headstand
Pyramid
Optional: Twisting Triangle, Revolved Half Moon
Vinyasa into other side

AGNI (FIRE) 
Locust (x2)
Floor Bow (x2)
Optional: Half Bow
Upward Facing Dog
Camel (x2)
Optional: Half Camel
Bridge
Wheel (x6)
Reclined Butterfly
Happy Baby

VALOR
Scissor Legs
60/30 Lift
Abdominal Twists
Boat

YIELDING
Half Pigeon
Optional: Lizard, King Pigeon, Mermaid
Double Pigeon
Optional: Easy Seat, Seated Figure Four
Frog
Optional: Half Frog

LIBERATION
Seated Single Leg Extension
Seated Forward Fold
Reverse Table Top
Optional: Reverse Plank
Fish

RESTORATION
Waterfall
Optional: Headstand, Shoulder Stand, Plow, Ear Pinning Pose

REPOSE
Supine Twist
Reclined Butterfly
Savasana
3 Oms
 
This asana sequence was developed for power yoga teachers who wish to lead power yoga classes without using the trademarked name of a yoga asana sequence or trademarked terminology relating to the energetic feel of each portion of the yoga sequence. The story behind why I've created new names and a new title for this sequence is here: Pilgrimage To Power (Forking My Yoga Repository)

When a Yoga Studio Collapses Under the Weight of Bullshit

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When a Yoga Studio Collapses Under the Weight of Bullshit 

Or: Waking up to the reality that your friendship was a mirage and you've been exploited and tossed aside like inconvenient baggage. 

I've been doing a lot of soul-searching these past few weeks, realizing a few things about myself and getting really clear on why I am dedicated to leading yoga.

For the last four years, I have been with a studio in Seminole Heights. I was there from its inception, and I was personally committed to the studio's financial success because I believe in the power of yoga to heal. I wanted to contribute to a space where people could experience the power of themselves in a supportive environment [1].

My sole focus was on creating an environment to support the human beings who entered this studio to practice yoga. My singular goal was to do whatever I could to keep the studio doors open to serve the community. But who am I to artificially prop up a business that could not live under its own merit? If I had not done this, the studio would not have survived the Pandemic. I would not have experienced the pain of realizing my generosity had been intentionally exploited. I would not have $6500 in back pay owed to me. I would not have spent nearly $7000 of my money on studio furnishings and supplies. I would not have spent countless hours designing and creating bespoke studio merchandise, sewing eye pillows, and yin yoga sandbags. I would not be experiencing the heartache of betrayal. I would not have had to file a Civil Court case against the owner as my only option was to demand repayment of the debts she is abundantly aware of.

Red Flags I Shouldn't Have Ignored

The studio opened mere weeks before the entire country shut down operations due to Covid-19. All of the classes were held online and the studio interior was largely unimportant. It was my understanding that the studio revenue was not large enough to fund the payroll of all the teachers on staff. My desire to keep the studio financially afloat led to me begin accruing "wages owed" instead of wages paid. Another less diplomatic way of phrasing this is that the other teachers at the studio needed their paychecks to pay rent or car payments whereas I have another full-time job. By not taking a paycheck, I allowed the other teachers to receive their paychecks for several years.

At first, my accrual of wage debt was slow as I was not teaching a large number of hours a month. This changed when the owner had a medical leave, and I covered all of her classes without pay to keep the studio servicing the students' needs. This changed again when the owners took a long vacation to Europe in 2022, and again, I covered all of her classes without pay to keep the studio servicing the students' needs and paying the paychecks of the other yoga teachers.

As the studio reopened to in-person classes in 2020, the studio environment became important. I purchased yoga straps and wall heaters to replace the ones she'd purchased that had broken after only 8 months of light use. I purchased and installed Sonos speakers, a disco ball and spotlights, and LED flame candles. I sewed for hours to make eye pillows for Nidra classes and for days to make three dozen yin sandbags.

The Truth Is In The Taxes

Each year, I'd meet with my accountant to file taxes, and we'd go over the 1099 from the studio and discuss my purchases for the studio. It was hard for me to discuss these purchases with him because I was uncomfortable acknowledging that I was spending my money to support someone else's business entity and that didn't make any sense. As the receipts were given to the studio’s owner for her tax filing purposes, it can’t be argued that they were gifts. I'd wave off my discomfort by explaining that I was more interested in the students being able to practice there than what it was costing me.

An Inequitable Split

The owner of the studio wanted to lead a yoga teacher training (YTT), which is always a yoga studio's biggest money maker. I agreed to take part in this with her and another teacher at the studio. To prepare for leading this YTT, I bought a YTT manual template for $500 and spent six months of my time tearing apart the template to make it unique to this studio, writing content that matched the ethos of this studio, organizing the planning the YTT daily schedule and creating all of the Yoga Alliance templates and content. When it came to this studio becoming a Yoga Alliance-certified studio, the owner had all of the content she needed to simply copy/paste the data into the Yoga Alliance website. She paid herself one-third of the YTT monies and I witnessed her level of effort and presence during the YTT program was far less than one-third. I was also not paid for the $650 I paid to have the YTT manuals printed and shipped to the studio, but I digress.

The Desire to Believe That What You're Seeing Isn't True

Why would I keep allowing myself to be preyed upon? I hoped she would make good on what she owed me. I wanted to believe that she wasn't intentionally exploiting me. I wanted to believe that she cared about the human beings who came to the studio as much as I did. I wanted to believe that the unnecessary new golf cart she bought wasn't paid for by the debts she had with me. I wanted to believe what I was told; that they moved out of state because of harsh new Florida Laws about gender and driver’s licenses that targeted transgender people like her wife. I wanted to believe they were still paying the studio bills. I wanted to believe that they really had a plan for selling the yoga studio. I wanted to believe that they weren't already planning to bankrupt the studio in an attempt to walk away from their debts. I wanted to believe that the studio would stay open. I wanted to believe that there was any other way out than what we have at hand. I have been avoiding opening my eyes for the last four years.

Boundaries: Basically the Hardest Things In Life

I signed up for a consultation with an attorney and as part of their intake form, I had to write up a description of the reason I was inquiring with the law firm, gather the relevant factual events, and articulate the current and suspected damages likely to be alleged by either party. The attorney's advice was simple. Do not wait to file a wage theft report and do not wait to file a Civil lawsuit. I followed her advice, filed a lawsuit, and hired a process server to have the papers served.

Things I Could Have Done But Did Not Do
  • Lock the owners out of any and all accounts I had access to. [2]
  • Remove every tangible asset I had purchased for use at the studio.
  • Spiteful acts borne of anger.

Things I Did That I Didn't Want To Do, But Saw No Other Option.
  • Create and enforce a boundary of what I was and was not willing to accept around the debts owed to me.
  • Make a video of all the things at the studio I purchased which the owner had invoices and receipts for.
  • File a Civil Court Case [3]
  • I left the assets I'd bought and invoiced the owner for at the studio and only removed things I was not listing as debts owed.
  • Told my regular practitioners that our last class together was going to be a lot sooner than we'd thought.

Red Flags I Now Recognize
Or: Listen to the little voice in your head warning that you're careening off a cliff.
  • If a person sucks the wind out of the room in a group conversation and then asks if you have any questions once you're exhausted, this is a red flag.
  • If a person has individual conversations with people who should be addressed as a group, each person is likely being manipulated one-on-one, this is a red flag.
  • If you are engaged in business dealings with someone and they rarely put things in writing with you, this is a red flag.
  • If you are uncomfortable discussing a troublesome situation you are in, this is a red flag.
  • If a person says they're trying to sell their business but they never provide their bookkeeping, this is a red flag.
  • If a person moves out of state saying they can't wait for you to visit but doesn't give you their new address, this is a red flag.
  • If someone you've considered a friend suddenly "doesn't want to be involved", this is a red flag.
Where Do We Go From Here?

Someone recently told me that if they successfully file for bankruptcy, they will walk away from their debts, and that's what they wanted all along. They win.

(She's said what she really wanted was to be free of the debts from the studio.)

I can see what they mean about them winning, but I think that is a petty, shitty "win". I am striving for wins with far-reaching positive impacts. Winning spirits, winning ideas, winning relationships, winning principles. The studio owner’s “win” is a loss for the yoga community and the students who valued their camaraderie and meaningful relationships established there. Perhaps the studio could’ve been sold for what was owed to me and then flourished under new and thoughtful ownership, but instead, we have a lose-lose situation with no true winners.

The Future Is Indeed Bright

I am now free to create a new future. I am choosing to mentally walk away from my desire to see the items I've made be put to their best use. I will plead my case with the court system, and whatever happens will happen. Many former practitioners of the studio have told me that the space I held for them was beneficial, and I have been told that the work I did was good. This is enough.

I will continue to lead yoga classes and other yoga teacher training cohorts, compile manuals, organize retreats, and strive to create a space free from drama and exploitation where people can come to experience themselves on their mat.


Jennifer









Footnotes:

[1] My purchases were endorsed and encouraged by the owners and I have the text message threads and emails to back up this statement. I purchased wall-mounted heaters, surround sound speakers, spotlights and a disco ball, LED candles, merchandise, eye pillows, yoga straps, and yin sandbags to list just a few things. Each year the owner would ask me for receipts for her accountant for the purchases I'd made for the studio. I was reluctant to list every single thing I'd purchased because I was apprehensive that I might never be paid back for the things I'd bought so why should I bother to document every single item? I turned in receipts that included the larger dollar items, ignoring the smaller purchases I'd made that were less than $50 each.

[2] I had full access to Mindbodyonline, Canva, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Zoom, Gmail, GDocs, GSheets, Square, Spotify, Hue, Tapo and Sonos. I did not abuse or misuse my access at any time.

[3] Case number 24-CC-032732



Perhaps you’ve read my story “When a Yoga Studio Collapses Under the Weight of Bullshit.” What I haven’t discussed until now is how I was treated by the hairdressers on the block.

I taught my last class on the morning of June 15th and many students showed up for class (as I expected) and were unaware the class wasn’t actually on the schedule. The owner deleted the class late the night before in retaliation, but people need yoga. I showed up because I knew students were going to show up. Fifteen people showed up.

When I unlocked the studio door at the end of class, the two hairdressers walked into the studio lobby of dispersing yoga students and tried to act like it was normal that they were there at that hour of the morning. One of them was on her cell phone, relaying the details of the studio lobby presumably to the studio owner at her new home in Philly.

I said my goodbyes to the students who were there, slid my studio keys off my keychain, and went over to the hairdresser who was not on the phone, and told her “You’re probably here for these keys, so here they are.” She said “She’s going to have the locks changed anyway.” to which I said, well she probably should.”

Both hairdressers stepped out onto the porch, facing toward the studio lobby, where I had the front door open. One was still relaying everything I was saying to the departing students to the person on the other end of the call. The one I gave the keys to told me, “You just need to call her and talk with her.” I said, “I don’t need to call her; she just needs to write me a check for the money she owes me, and this can be all over.”

They both sneered and laughed at me.

I said “I fail to see what is funny or humorous about a valid debt that is owed that is not being paid.”

The person not on the phone said, “I don’t want to get involved in the middle of this.” To which I said, “Well, it’s interesting that you know so much about a situation you don’t want to be involved in, yet here you are both standing in it.”

Later the next week I heard the word “bankruptcy” was being tossed around and this gave me no choice but to hire an attorney. I’d left all the tangible assets I’d purchased in the studio - the ones I’d invoiced the owner for, but with the mention of bankruptcy proceedings, I had to lawyer up and get a judge to sign off on an emergency Writ of Replevin to reclaim possession of the itemized assets. If I hadn’t done this, the future of these items was uncertain. Would the landlord size the studio assets? Would they be sold to the lowest bidder? Tossed in the dumpster? I had to intervene legally.

My attorney arranged with the yoga studio owner’s attorney that Friday, June 28th was the day I would remove the invoiced assets from the studio space. When I arrived, I asked my husband to get the key from the hairdressers as I couldn’t bear to look at them so early in the morning. When I entered the studio space a few things stood out to me.

The studio iPads on their stands had been removed along with the cash in the studio tip jar.

As if I might take something that wasn’t mine. As if.

If I’d wanted to take something that wasn’t mine, the owners left town on May 3rd. 56 days had passed since the owners split town but the hairdressers were now seemingly concerned that I might be a thief.

The problem was that some of my things were no longer in the space. I went to the hairdresser's and asked for my things back.

If they’re going to be petty about removing the small bills in the tip jar, I’ve got no alternative but to be petty about the $40 in merchandise display stands and iPad stands that were on the invoice.

Thinking back over my previous interactions with the hairdressers, I wonder if they remember back in early April of 2020 when I was sewing facemasks and donating them free of charge to their business in batches of 50 at a time. If they do remember, I sure couldn’t tell it by how shitty they’ve acted towards me. Obviously convinced that I am in the wrong about pursuing litigation for unpaid wages, suspicious that I might also be a thief.

Pilgrimage To Power (Forking My Yoga Repository)

11:16 AM 0 Comments A+ a-

 


I've forked my yoga repository. 

A fork is a new repository that shares code and visibility settings with the original “upstream” repository.

Last year a friend asked me if I would recommend taking a training course with the leader of the yoga school I'd trained in. I'd seen some questionable content in his podcast channel on YouTube, as well as being wary of those he's recently aligned himself with professionally (ex-Landmark Forum personnel). Initially, I couldn't quite put my finger on what was off, but I'm going to gather some links here so I can find them in the future. Link Link Link Link Link || Link Link Link Link Link. 

As I watched a few of his videos, I was dismayed to hear him referencing articles on NewsMax (a far-right digital media company), opining on toxic feminism, and referring to the Patriarchy with air quotes, as if Patriarchy is a myth.

"the toxic feminism that's like imbued our culture that wants to tear down men, strong men, good men, this toxic femininity, a part of it is it gossips about you, it dresses itself up as a victim, it's got to tear down men, tear down the, you know, the patriarch, it's patriarchy, it's patriarchy. [ed- He's using his hands here to make air quotes]"

The transcript of the last few minutes of that video is here. If you want to see the whole video, I've archived it as an unlisted YT video in case the original gets deleted.

As I composed my email reply with my thoughts, it was clear to me that after I sent the email, I would have to create a split between myself and the school of yoga I was trained in. This split was something I'd been avoiding. There have been many red flags in the past few years.  His words and actions were not aligned with my personal ethos or my worldview. It took several hours to edit the artwork for my website, podcast and social media presence and remove all the verbiage that I'd used to associate myself with that yoga school.

I then started the slow process of figuring out what words I wanted to use to describe the name of the yoga sequence and the concepts around how I teach yoga. After giving it a lot of thought and trying a few different phrases out, I settled upon Pilgrimage To Power. I like the alliteration and the simplicity of the phrase. I like that one way to define a pilgrimage is 'a journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life.'

Words are powerful, and I needed a way to teach yoga without the trappings of trademarked words and phrases. I submitted for a Wordmark on the phrase "Pilgrimage To Power" to have a phrase that was mine and not subject to litigation. The cost of the Wordmark application was $250, and the process takes 8-14 months to complete on average. Wordmarking the phrase "Pilgrimage To Power" is largely symbolic for me as I do not intend to generate revenue with this terminology. I see it as a turn of the phrase that I can use in my teaching and not fear being sued over it.

Stripping out the Trademarked verbiage from my documentation, my speech and my writing has been an arduous task. What should I call each section of the asana sequence if I am going to refer to it, if I am to teach students how to teach it? Which poses should I add in or take out now that I am at liberty to prune or graft to this yoga tree? I left a majority of the sequence in place as the structure is good, but. I needed new words to use. I noted where poses can be swapped in or left out as needed. 

It is well documented that yoga poses or sequences cannot be trademarked (thanks, Bikram!). 'Only the selection, coordination, and arrangement of photographs, drawings, or writings that depict the exercises may be entitled to copyright protection, but not a compilation of physical exercises itself. Yoga sequence is rather construed as a functional system, procedure, or process under 17 U.S.C §102 (b).'

Therefore, I devised new terminology to represent the energetic qualities of the yoga sequence I'll refer to as Pilgrimage To Power.

Cohesion: 
  • noun; the action or fact of forming a united whole.
Kindling:
  • gerund or present participle: kindling; light or set on fire.
  • arouse or inspire (an emotion or feeling).
  • (of an emotion) be aroused.
  • become impassioned or excited.
Vigor:
  • noun; physical strength and good health.
  • effort, energy, and enthusiasm.

Sisu (determination):
  • Sisu is a unique Finnish concept. It is a Finnish term that can be roughly translated into English as strength of will, determination, perseverance, and acting rationally in the face of adversity. Sisu is not momentary courage but the ability to sustain that courage. It is a word that cannot be fully translated.
Persistence:
  • noun; firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.
  • the continued or prolonged existence of something.

Agni (fire):
  • Agni, the god of fire, sacrifice, and divine knowledge.
Valor:
  • noun; great courage in the face of danger, especially in battle.
Yielding:
  • adjective; 1. (of a substance or object) giving way under pressure; not hard or rigid. 2. giving a product or generating a financial return of a specified amount.
Liberation:
  • noun; the act or process of freeing someone or something from another's control: the act of liberating someone or something.
Restoration:
  • noun; 1. the action of returning something to a former owner, place, or condition. 2. the return of a hereditary monarch to a throne, a head of state to government, or a regime to power.
Repose:
  • noun; a state of rest, sleep, or tranquility. verb; be lying, situated, or kept in a particular place.

Just for fun, I made a Github for Pilgrimage To Power since Github can store other things than just code.








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