Just as we were declaring the death of the $20 yoga class … A new studio called Yoga by Donation has opened in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. And guess what? There are NO set fees, 20 classes per week taught by a staff of 6 instructors, and the best part in our opinion, FREE mats! Holy crap! Oh and free mat storage. And it’s above a health food store. Awesome.
The fine gentleman who thought of this genius idea is Bob Vaccaro, a Harvard Business School grad and an experienced studio owner and veteran yoga teacher of 15 years, whom we assume must be independently wealthy.
From his daughter’s blog:
Donations will cover $2000/month of set overhead studio fees and the rest will be divided amongst the teachers per class taught. If there is no surplus of donations, my father will cover the cost and teachers will not be paid.
Wow. Wonder what rent is like in Portsmouth, we expect better than NYC! We’re moving!
Yoga classes by donation have been around for a little while, we mentioned Yoga to the People yesterday in our Recession Economy post. So is this the new yoga business model for a rocky 2009? It will be interesting to watch that’s for sure!
Yoga by Donation
147 Congress Street, Suite C
Portsmouth, NH 03801
http://www.yogabydonation.org/
Yoga to the People – suggested donation $10
Please Donate & Support a Dork!
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Wow! This is great. I hope we see this spread across the US quickly.