Namaste and Stay: Yogi's Guide to Building a Loyal Yoga Community

A Comprehensive Guide

I learned early on in my yoga business that client retention is more than providing good classes.

Don't misunderstand. Good to great classes are the number one factor. Students have options where to unroll their yoga mats these days and client expectations are probably at an all-time high. We need to deliver!

But while providing high-quality classes is crucial, it's not the only factor that affects student commitment. In this guide, we will discuss the various elements that impact client retention and provide practical tips on how to improve them.

(This week's blog focuses on the teacher's perspective to keep classes full. I have an upcoming blog that views this topic from a yoga student point of view because we've all been known to skip practice.)

Every student who walks into your yoga class leaves it feeling either encouraged or discouraged.

Every yogi on the mat wants the teacher to succeed, the class to be awesome, and to experience an amazing transformation that day! We all feel that unique combination of excitement mixed with apprehension every time we unroll the mat for practice.

Look at your client retention system. Does it leave new students feeling encouraged or discouraged? Most people find their first yoga class uncomfortable and challenging.

Sitting quietly can be hard. Maybe the deliberate breathing is uncomfortable and they start to harshly judge their ability. Same thing with the postures. While most people enjoy a challenge, too much at the beginning can discourage them before they even begin.

Regular students need just as much care or they may start to feel stagnant or ignored. Do you help these committed clients recognize their accomplishments? How do you encourage them to grow? Never take a student's commitment for granted. Be aware of the ever shifting balance on the fine line between feeling encouraged and discouraged.

Here are 3 deliberate actions to ensure clients feel encouraged instead of discouraged after their yoga experience with you.

#1 Create a Space for a Community

Years ago, a group of nuns regularly attended my yoga classes. They were all between the ages of 70 and 83. They drove an hour to get to the studio. It was wonderful. (And since everyone asks, no, they didn't wear habits or cover their heads, they simply dressed modestly in all black.)

One of them recently had hip surgery and could neither stand for a long period of time nor sit on the floor. She had a chair on her mat and did what she could seated in the chair. Actually she did very little. She spent about 90% of her time in class doing what looked like nothing but sitting in her chair. No stretching, no extra movements, no measured breathing. Just sitting, open eyed, looking around, through a 90 minute class.

Then one day after class she said to me,

I'm smiling as I remember this because she was so sincere. Her yoga was all about community! She felt included, nurtured, and left class feeling better that when she arrived. The postures were secondary for her.

Create a space where students can find their own transformation. You are the guide, yes, but we never know for sure what the student's heart seeks from the class, the teacher, or the experience.

PRO-TIP: Rethink a Quiet Studio and the No Talking Rule

Many studios don't allow talking in the yoga room. While this creates a quiet sanctuary for students to enjoy to enhance their yoga experience, be aware that it does nothing to encourage community. If you have a no talking rule, find other ways for clients to connect.

In our first studio, we didn't have a comfortable lobby. Most people came early to class and went directly into the yoga room. The sound of talking was deafening! I tried for a short time to implement a no talking rule and guess what happened - client retention dropped. That's right. I checked my numbers and that was the one contributing factor I could directly pinpoint to a decline in our numbers. I was shocked.

After that, I hired a "yogi concierge" (aka, my husband, Yanni, who loves to talk!) whose purpose was to socialize the yoga room before class. He talked to everyone, learned everyone's name, and introduced neighbors on the mat. Attendance and client retention immediately improved. We maintained a strict no talking rule after class for final savasana, but not before class. This compromise made everyone happy.

Another example comes from a studio owner I mentored who did not have a lobby or any place outside the practice room for students to congregate. He said people were always talking before class because they had nowhere else to go. He got lots of complaints about it and wanted advice on the best way to handle it.

We invented a compromise that addressed everyone's needs: he allowed talking until 5 minutes before class start. At that time, he rang a bell to signify quiet time was in effect and class would be starting soon. It worked like a charm. Students could come early for chit chat and community, yet still get in the zone with a quiet atmosphere before class.

Don't underestimate the importance of deliberately creating space for friendship and forging new connections. People are lonely and isolated, seeking connection through a common interest like yoga. Balance this with your studio needs for creating quiet in the room and setting the atmosphere.

#2 Create Boundaries

The second way to increase client commitment to your classes is through creating boundaries that allow you to embody your leadership role.

I know, for example, that I was not considered "fun" in my studio for a long time, maybe never. I knew my roles as "owner" and "yoga teacher" were not synonymous with "friend." I intentionally created boundary lines and learned not to step across them. I recommend the same to you.

Instead, embrace your leadership role. Students don't want another friend, they want a teacher. Your yoga students are seeking guidance through yoga and you are the expert. Deliver on their expectations. Be trustworthy, honest, and a good communicator. Live by example.

You don't have to be perfect, or have all the answers to their questions, and of course we all have our own issues to work through. But students attend yoga classes for a safe place to exorcise their own demons without being possessed by yours. Set your boundaries and stick to them.

I credit clearly defined boundaries for allowing me to forge strong, deeply meaningful connections with my students, relationships that nourished all of us at the soul level. Everyone felt safe because our individual roles and expectations were universally understood and respected.

I had a few rules in place for myself, staff, and students that made this possible:

• No gossip. I hope this speaks for itself and needs no more explanation.

• No complaining. Don't let your students get sucked into a vortex of misery and don't feed that addiction by complaining to them or with them. Your yoga space isn't a place where misery loves company. Deliberately create a space filled with positivity where yoga is everyone's common purpose.

• Redirect conversations back to yoga. Reinforce that you are so glad students have found yoga as a way to let go of the difficult day, that fight with a coworker, or navigate another setback in their personal lives. Yoga doesn't fix everything; the practice helps us play the hand we are dealt. A yoga studio provides a place that exists outside of problems. Students get a breath of fresh air that brings a fresh perspective.

• Don't discuss your own problems at the studio. Check all of your troubles at the door each time you walk into the space. If you are vibrating with anxiety, anger, grief, etc., the space will too and your students will feel that. When necessary, take time away from the studio to process your own personal feelings. Give your teachers this space as well. Yes, it's almost impossible to take a "personal day" when you are a studio owner. I discovered that being in service helped many of my own problems diminish. Being present for my students took me out of my own head and stopped the incessant looping of negative thoughts. Be mindful of how your energy affects the space and find a way to process your feelings.

• No bad language. I liked to keep the conversation and the playlists clean. I felt that students were seeking a Zen experience. Profanity creates the opposite of that to me.

• No cliques. Students will naturally connect more with certain people than others and so will yoga teachers. But as the leaders, we must welcome everyone and show equal respect to all of our members. I expected our members to show equal respect to our staff and other students in return.

#3 Reinvest

The final factor with a strong determining influence over how committed your yoga student are, is how committed you are. Your student commitment level directly reflects your own commitment level. So as membership grows and revenue increases, use part of those funds to reinvest in yourself, the studio, and the students.

When you reinvest in your own yoga education, your students benefit too. Spend a portion of your income on trainings of some kind. These can be business trainings or yoga teacher trainings. Over the years, in addition to racking up yoga, qigong, and meditation teacher training certificates to improve my teaching craft, Yanni and I took courses in marketing, networking, publicity, social media, leadership, software trainings, and writing to improve our business skills so that our day-to-day administrative jobs were easier. No one benefits from a failing studio, mediocre yoga instruction, or inexperienced, uneducated leaders.

Renovations are also a great way to reinvest back into your community. A new coat of paint doesn't cost that much and goes a long way in making clients feel special. Caring for the space reinforces your commitment to them which gets reflected back in their commitment to you.

In Closing

When we stop growing ourselves, as yoga teachers, our students growth, a reflection of us, is cut short. Continuously reinvest in your own yoga practice, understanding, and development so you can equally guide all levels of your student body through transformation.

If you aren't sure how to help either a brand new or a more advanced yogi continue to advance, make deepening your own teaching ability a priority, so that you can equally address the new student all the way through to your most advanced. Otherwise, your student body will drop where your own teaching skills end.

Retaining clients in your yoga classes requires a combination of high-quality classes and a supportive environment. When you focus on encouraging new members, building community, and providing all levels of students a transformative yoga experience, your classes will stay full of encouraged, eager, happy yogis! People really will namaste and stay!

Thanks for reading!

Namaste,

Lara