Friday, January 16, 2004

Is a Yoga Teacher's Business Different From a Massage Therapist's? How different is the business of a yoga instructor compared to a massage therapist? These are the things I ponder late at night! First, the service is different. The yoga instructor wants a group of people at a time for a class, the massage therapist wants one person at a time. But what are they selling?  How does a person feel after a yoga class? Relaxed, meditative, stretched, flexible. And after a massage?  Same, probably. Maybe sore in certain places, maybe a better outlook on life even. Holistic therapies, whether taught in a class or done one-on-one with the hands, are after the same goal - a feeling of wellness. That may mean that the practitioner works on a particular problem area or it may mean that the focus is on gaining a higher level of wellness or even consciousness. I would bet that most massage therapists do not view yoga instructors as their competitors, nor vice versa. But they really are in competition, unless they learn to specialize. If the yoga instructor specializes in overweight teens (as one of my students at Simplicity did) and the massage therapist specializes in injury treatment, then the competitive aspect is gone. Then the yoga instructors competition becomes Weight Watchers programs, psychologists, etc. who specialize in the same thing. This is a lesser form of competition, because different people at different points in their lives are going to be more likely to choose one program over the other, and the big draw will be "is that person a specialist in the problem I have today??" 4:56:31 PM

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