In a crap economy, traders turn to yoga

On the front page of today’s Wall Street Journal, Cassell Bryan-Low reports on the increasing demand of yoga by financiers.  While many financial institutions are offering yoga classes during the work day, some aren’t so keen on it…

“At Karsch Capital, about a third of the 33 employees take yoga classes at the company’s 26th-floor Manhattan offices each week. Still, hard-core yoga on the job is a bit much for the boss. Since he’s at the office, Mr. Karsch wears socks during class instead of going barefoot. And he omits some poses. “I still feel like doing handstands during work is a little inappropriate,” Mr. Karsch says.”

The article also mentions Namaste New York (mentioned in Yoga phone).  Says here that Namaste New York caters specifically to financiers.  Possibly because it’s private and so damn expensive.

[Namaste New York] caters to the financial crowd. It offers private yoga lessons and group classes at the office, often scheduled for before or after market close. Cellphones and BlackBerry devices are forbidden in class, though assistants occasionally interrupt a session. The largely female network of teachers are instructed to not wear anything too clingy. And, no chanting.

Namaste has about 20 corporations as clients, which pay as much as $65,000 annually, as well as roughly 60 individual clients paying about $150 to $225 per session.

With a sinking economy…looks like yoga’s floating fine – KARMA!?

Read more here: Yoga Bears

-Eliza

Read Full Post »

Yoga Phone

I just read today that Namaste New York, a service that provides custom wellness programs to corporations and individuals (including yoga, pilates, personal training and more) is now offering yoga services over the phone. Sounds odd to me as I maintain a home practice without the use of DVDs or CDs let along a yoga instructor on speaker guiding me through a sequence- but to each their own I suppose!

The service isn’t mentioned specifically on their website but they claim to create customized solutions to fit everyone’s needs. So clearly there’s a demand for this service. There was coverage in the NY Daily News by Christina Boyle.

Some New Yorkers have found a new way to get their yoga fix when their lives make it impossible to get to a studio.

“A lot of our clients travel quite a bit, and are often in remote places or where they’re not able to access yoga,” said Julie Wald, who owns Namaste New York

-Eliza

Read Full Post »