Why I Left Baptiste Yoga

 

Baron Baptiste and Sean Reyes
  (Fmr. Utah Attorney General, 2020 Election Denier, Trump supporter)
on a private jet together, Feb 2023

Why I left Baptiste Yoga

Last year, a friend asked me if I would recommend taking a Baptiste Yoga training course. I was not ready to give her an answer until I forced myself to examine the content Baron was publishing on YouTube. He'd been posting many questionable videos with garish clickbait graphics on topics wholly unrelated to yoga.

Surviving ANDREW TATE’S MATRIX
Raw VEGAN DIES of STARVATION
I Was Wrong & I'm Sorry (this one cites a NewsMax article as inspiration)
The UNFORTUNATE story of TWO SISTERS (this one is about California governor Gavin Newsom's wife)
MANIPULATIVE people and their CANCEL CULTURE (this one is about toxic femininity and overly feminine men)

As I watched a few of his videos, I was horrified to hear him referencing articles from NewsMax (a far-right digital media company), opining on toxic feminism, and referring to the Patriarchy with air quotes, as if the 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, the 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 YouTube video in case the original gets deleted. 

For me, this was the last straw. I am aware of the privilege I've had to attend Baptiste Institute trainings and be unaffected by the trauma bonding and toxic power battles between studio owners and their employees, which I witnessed on many occasions. I witnessed many red flags over the years, and they'd all led up to this breaking point for me.

At the Global Summit (March 2020), Baron announced he was partnering with David Masters. At that time, I anticipated that the trajectory of the Baptiste Institute would soon be very different from my personal ideals. Cue the pandemic. 

During the pandemic, lots of issues were raised about Baron. Rumors of sex with trainees, psychological manipulation at yoga teacher trainings, gaslighting, the lack of diversity, and the inability to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. The list goes on and on. 

Back to David Masters and why did Baron partner with him? David Masters formerly worked with The Landmark Forum and is the son of Right-Wing Radio mogul Roy Masters. The Landmark Forum has a long history of cult-like tendencies and has made the news more than once. His father, Roy Masters, launched the first conservative talk-radio show and owned the New Dimensions (anti LGBTQIA) magazine.

In my opinion, the public partnership between Baron Baptiste and David Masters indicates that Baron has pivoted to creating content with an odious dog-whistle, right-wing slant. Based on the subject matter of the videos he posts, I suspect that Baron hopes to achieve Joe Rogan levels of fame. Even the Baptiste Yoga YouTube page has been re-branded as @TheBaronBaptisteShow, with a shift away from recorded videos of yoga classes.

I do not associate myself with Baron Baptiste or the Baptiste Institute.

I do not agree with the ideologies of Baron Baptiste or David Masters. I'm shocked at the number of people who are still aligned with Baron Baptise. Perhaps they don't know or care, or worse, they do know, and they share Baron's beliefs.

Separating myself from Baron Baptiste and the Baptiste Institute gave me the opportunity to create a new lexicon to lead from that is untainted and clean. I have yet to find an original source of yoga that has not been abusive sexually, mentally, emotionally, or physically to other human beings. I acknowledge that yoga is an ancient practice. I also acknowledge that nearly every yoga leader who has come before has proven themselves to be loathsome. I honor the practice of yoga, the physical and spiritual aspects, but I do not honor the men who have defined yoga lineages.

Yoga is powerful; it does not need to be tied to a man.

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 for a yoga sequence called Pilgrimage To Power.

It is not my goal to turn Pilgrimage To Power into a business. I trademarked the phrase so that I could use it without fear of litigation. If you want to separate yourself from Baptiste Yoga but aren't sure where to begin, I offer Pilgrimage To Power as an alternative. I have self-published a few written works that support yoga teachers to offer hands-on assists, work with props, and a book of daily quotes and class themes. The book prices are intentionally low, and the sales I've had were by word of mouth.

Pilgrimage To Power offers power yoga leaders an open-source alternative to trademarked systems—a sequence free from capitalistic, politicized corporate structures and patriarchal yoga school lineages. 

This asana sequence provides an energetic framework, with each portion carrying a specific intention. The alliterative simplicity of "Pilgrimage To Power" reflects its deeper meaning: a journey to a sacred place that catalyzes personal transformation before returning to daily life.

Pilgrimage To Power leaders lead with clear, essential language, allowing for silence during practice. They speak to what is happening in the room in real time, carry their bodies with open body language, and move through the practice space with purpose.

Within this structure, you can lead power yoga classes using a liberated lexicon. Each section title represents its unique energetic quality, with timing notated as Class Length/Section Duration to help you structure your leading.

COHESION:  noun; the action or fact of forming a united whole.
Intention: Quickly transition your clients from the experience of their day/week into what’s happening on their mat.
Timing: 2-3 minutes
Why It Matters: Your clients arrive to class up in their heads, they need you to speak to the physicalness of this practice to get them grounded, present and then move them through Pilgrimage To Power. 
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.
Intention: Wake your clients up, raise their heart rate, organize their movements into a vinyasa flow.
Leader’s Note: Simply call the poses, in a 60-minute class, do not hold any poses in Sun Salutation B.
Timing: 45/6 60/8      75/10 90/12
Why It Matters: The repetitions in this sequence warms the body up in preparation for VIGOR.
VIGOR: noun; physical strength and good health, effort, energy, and enthusiasm.
Intention: Strengthen the body with an emphasis on twisting postures
Timing: 45/4 60/5 75/8 90/10
Why It Matters: Holding poses in VIGOR is a recovery interval for your clients after the speed of KINDLING.
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.
Intention: Mental calmness, composure
Timing: 45/4 60/5 75/5 90/8
Why It Matters: Standing, balancing postures build strength, reduce risk of injury, increase proprioception skills, and increase memory and spatial cognition.
PERSISTENCE: noun; firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition, the continued or prolonged existence of something.
Intention: Stability, focus
Timing: 45/4 60/5 75/8 90/8
Why It Matters: Ground your clients by re-establishing Ujjayi & their feet and legs.
AGNI (fire): Agni, the god of fire, sacrifice, and divine knowledge.
Intention: The energetic peak of Pilgrimage To Power
Timing: 45/6 60/8 75/8 90/10
Why It Matters: Wheel is the peak pose. Your clients’ heart rates will be at the highest point of their practice.
VALOR: noun; great courage in the face of danger, especially in battle.
Intention: Stability, Strength
Timing: 45/2 60/3 75/5 90/5
Why It Matters: Give a clear indication of the time allocated for each of the VALOR sequences. This allows clients to determine how hard they’ll work in each pose. 
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.
Intention: Yielding, Opening
Timing: 45/4 60/8 75/10 90/10
Why It Matters: Hip opening poses take time. Your clients’ minds might start racing in these poses. Give your clients silence.
LIBERATION: noun; the act or process of freeing someone or something from another's control: the act of liberating someone or something.
Intention: Release
Timing: 45/4 60/5 75/5 90/5
Why It Matters: This is the restorative part of the practice. The physical practice cool-down begins here. 
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.
Intention: Restoration
Timing: 45/4 60/5 75/8 90/10
Why It Matters: This is the cool-down portion of the physical practice. Give your clients time to slow their heart rate.
REPOSE: noun; a state of rest, sleep, or tranquility. verb; be lying, situated, or kept in a particular place.
Intention: Rest
Timing: 45/5 60/6 75/8 90/10
Why It Matters: Silence decreases stress and lowers blood pressure. Give your clients this time of healing. If you play a song, leave a minimum of two minutes of silence for your clients in savansana.




New and Improved - Becoming a Registered Yoga School 2025

 


The first time I wrote about becoming a registered yoga school with Yoga Alliance, it was me writing the content and creating the curriculum, but I was not in charge of filling out the online application with Yoga Alliance. I am now going through the process of becoming my own registered yoga school and as a result, I have new information on how the process works and how I can make the process easier for you in your journey towards becoming a registered yoga school.

The first step is to ensure that your total number of hours is 200. The Yoga Alliance outline omits 15 hours from its calculations (as you can see below from its guidelines). I assume they're leaving this block of time for you to put toward your Elective subject? I can't say for sure.

Yoga Alliance Core Curriculum Competencies

TECHNIQUES, TRAINING, PRACTICE – 75 HOURS  

  • Asana: Historical context
  • Asana: Poses specific to RYS's lineage—must include sukhasana and savasana
  • Asana: Complete sequencing (asana, pranayama, meditation) to achieve particular effect safely
  • Asana: Shared anatomical and alignment principles plus contraindications
  • Pranayama & Subtle Body: Historical Context
  • Pranayama & Subtle Body: Effects of pranayama on anatomy and subtle body
  • Pranayama & Subtle Body: Complete sequencing of pranayama safely, including alternatives and adaptations
  • Pranayama & Subtle Body: Ujjayi, Nadi Shodhana, Kapalabhati, among others
  • Pranayama & Subtle Body: Koshas, kleshas, chakras, nadis and prana vayus
  • Meditation: Key Meditation terms
  • Meditation: Meditation methods by lineage
  • Meditation: Ability to practice school's chosen meditation practice
  • Meditation: Chanting, mantras, and mudras
  • Elective

ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY – 30 HOURS (20 of which can be online)

  • Anatomy: Major Bones
  • Anatomy: Types of Joints
  • Anatomy: Major muscles involved in asana
  • Anatomy: Types of contraction
  • Physiology: Nervous system, incl. ‘fight, flight, freeze’ stress response, vagal theory, overall mind-body connection
  • Physiology: Cardiovascular/circulatory, endocrine, digestive systems as they relate to yoga practice
  • Physiology: Respiratory system, incl. muscles that affect breathing, involuntary vs voluntary breath, how air enters and leaves body
  • Biomechanics: Types of joint movement
  • Biomechanics: Joint stabilization
  • Biomechanics: Safe movement as it pertains to balancing, stretching, awareness, and physical limitations
  • Biomechanics: Contraindications, misalignment, adaptations
  • Elective

YOGA HUMANITIES – 30 HOURS (20 of which can be online)

  • History: Term 'yoga'
  • History: School's lineage, style and methodology
  • History: Dates and key ideas such as the Vedas, Vedanta, Hatha, Colonial, Modern
  • Philosophy: Definition of yoga and key terms
  • Philosophy: Relationship between asana, pranayama, meditation per school’s approach
  • Philosophy: Familiarity w/ major yogic texts (i.e., Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Hatha Yoga Pradipika)
  • Philosophy: Self-reflection on how philosophy relates to practice
  • Ethics: Awareness of Yoga Sutras or similar yogic ethical precepts
  • Ethics: Relationship to Yoga Alliance’s Ethical Commitment
  • Ethics: Comprehension of and responsibility to increase equity in yoga
  • Ethics: Accountability measures
  • Ethics: Self-reflection on how yoga ethics relate to practice and teaching
  • Elective

PROFESSIONAL ESSENTIALS – 50 HOURS

  • Professional Essentials
  • Teaching Methodology: Sequencing
  • Teaching Methodology: Pace
  • Teaching Methodology: Environment
  • Teaching Methodology: Cueing (verbal, visual, physical)
  • Teaching Methodology: Class management
  • Professional Development: Yoga-related professional organizations, including the Yoga Alliance Credentialing Process
  • Professional Development: Ethical Commitment, including Scope of Practice, Code of Conduct, and Equity Position Statement
  • Professional Development: Lifetime of learning and continuing education
  • Professional Development: General professionalism, including timeliness, consistency, cleanliness
  • Professional Development: Marketing and promotion
  • Professional Development: Liability insurance, waivers, invoicing
  • Practicum (Practice Teaching): Knowledge, skills, experience across 12 key competencies
  • Practicum (Practice Teaching): Mentorship component, incl. apprenticeship, feedback
  • Elective

I added 10 hours to TECHNIQUES, TRAINING, PRACTICE and 5 hours to PROFESSIONAL ESSENTIALS to get a total of 200 hours.

TECHNIQUES, TRAINING, PRACTICE – 85 HOURS  
ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY – 30 HOURS (20 of which can be online)
YOGA HUMANITIES – 30 HOURS (20 of which can be online)
PROFESSIONAL ESSENTIALS – 55 HOURS 

Then I took the content Yoga Alliance indicates can be done online (remotely) and used that block of time to create a video conferencing schedule during the week, totaling 40 hours over the course of the YTT, and then worked out the Saturday & Sunday start/end times to get to a total of 200 hours of training.

For the coursework to be done online via video conferencing, Yoga Alliance requires this content to be led by the trainer. This means giving your students a YouTube video playlist does not meet this requirement. I plan to use the time as an open discussion to cover these topics:

ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY – 20 hours online

  • Physiology: Nervous system, incl. ‘fight, flight, freeze’ stress response, vagal theory, overall mind-body connection
  • Physiology: Cardiovascular/circulatory, endocrine, digestive systems as they relate to yoga practice
  • Physiology: Respiratory system, incl. muscles that affect breathing, involuntary vs voluntary breath, how air enters and leaves body
  • Biomechanics: Types of joint movement
  • Biomechanics: Joint stabilization
  • Biomechanics: Safe movement as it pertains to balancing, stretching, awareness, and physical limitations
  • Biomechanics: Contraindications, misalignment, adaptations

YOGA HUMANITIES – 20 hours online

  • History: Term 'yoga'
  • History: School's lineage, style and methodology
  • History: Dates and key ideas such as the Vedas, Vedanta, Hatha, Colonial, Modern
  • Philosophy: Definition of yoga and key terms
  • Philosophy: Relationship between asana, pranayama, meditation per school’s approach
  • Philosophy: Familiarity w/ major yogic texts (i.e., Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Hatha Yoga Pradipika)
  • Philosophy: Self-reflection on how philosophy relates to practice
I will be structuring the training around the Pilgrimage To Power asana sequence and as such, I will be focusing on the sequence in sections, building the training layer by layer of the sequence.  Practice teaching, feedback and mentorship is a large portion of the training I'm outlining. The students will have ample practice leading Pilgrimage To Power, learning how to offer hands-on assists and how to lead specialized classes like the "Block Class", "The Blindfold Class" and how to lead a physical focused class like "The Drishti Class."

The most challenging part of filling out the online Yoga Alliance form is having all your data in one place so that you can copy/paste it in quickly and easily and know that your hours add up before you begin the application process.

Make a copy of this Google sheet and begin filling out the explanation for your RYS. How will you deliver the core competency information to your students? What is the content you're covering? 


For example: Core Competency Poses specific to RYS’s lineage—must include sukhasana and savasana. What poses specific to your lineage (in addition to sukhasana and savasana) will you cover? How will you cover these poses?

I took the list of all the poses in Pilgrimage To Power, removed the redundant ones, and created a comma-separated list of the poses that will be taught as part of my YTT.

We will cover the following poses by practicing the shape of the poses, discussing the anatomical alignment of the poses and training the students on how to offer hands-on assists during the yoga practice. List of poses: Child’s Pose, Ragdoll, Extended Mountain, Forward fold, Half Lift, High Plank, Low Plank, Upward Facing Dog, Downward Facing Dog, Chair, Warrior 1, Flip Dog/Side Plank, Eagle, Standing Leg Raise, Airplane, Standing Splits, Half moon, Dancer, Tree, Triangle, Side Facing Wide Leg Forward Fold, Goddess Squat, Skandasana, Tripod Headstand, Pyramid, Twisting Triangle, Revolved Half Moon, Locust, Floor Bow, Half Bow, Upward Facing Dog, Camel, Half Camel, Bridge, Wheel, Reclined Butterfly, Happy Baby, Scissor Legs, 60/30 Lift, Abdominal Twists, Boat, Half Pigeon, Lizard, King Pigeon, Mermaid, Double Pigeon, Easy Seat, Seated Figure Four, Frog, Half Frog, Seated Single Leg Extension, Seated Forward Fold, Reverse Table Top, Reverse Plank, Fish, Waterfall, Headstand, Shoulder Stand, Plow, Ear Pinning Pose, Supine Twist, Reclined Butterfly, Savasana.

For each of the files in the YA RYS Application Template 2023, fill it out with an explanation for your RYS. You can copy this information and paste it into your online application as you fill it out.

When you create your online application, you will need to upload the following documentation: Save yourself time by creating it ahead of time and having it ready to upload. The Guidebook to RYS Application PDF has samples to pull from.

Anti-Harassment Policy.pdf

Anti Retaliation Policy.pdf

Attendance Policy.pdf

Code of Conduct.pdf

Grievance Policy.pdf

Sample YTT CERTIFICATE.png

Required Reading List YTT.pdf

Tuition and Refunds.pdf

Yoga Alliance Letter of Intent.pdf


As you build your RYS online, you add Training Areas for each of the four major Core Curriculum Competencies. I recommend titling each Training Area with the Title of the Core Curriculum Competency. I see no reason to name it anything other than the competency being conveyed. I think the Training Area Title is redundant, and the YA should just have you select which core competency you're inputting the "how and why" instead.


Fun fact: The formatting for the amount of time you're submitting for each Core Competency is in HOURS DECIMAL. There is a minimum requirement of .50 hours for any/all Core Competency subcategories

You will also need to write up an explanation of how you intend to verify that your trainees have learned what you've taught:

Please select the assessment method(s) used to test trainees’ competency in this Educational Category. Check all that apply. 
Written Assessment
Oral Assessment
Final Project
Other (Please Explain Below)

Describe how you assess trainees' competency in this Educational Category.

I created a plain text document (Notepad [Windows] / TextEdit [Mac]) and had it populated with all of the written content (the explanation of my RYS, how I will verify the information has been learned) and simply copied and pasted this content into the online Yoga Alliance form. 

I pulled the HOURS DECIMAL time from my spreadsheet, uploaded my pre-made policies, letters, and sample certificates, and was able to complete the Yoga Alliance online RYS application in about 40 minutes from start to finish.





Choosing The Best Yoga Scheduling Software

 


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

 


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)

 

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)