Or…Why YogaGlo Can Go F*ck Themselves!

We invite YogaGlo or anyone to post a respectful rebuttal, as always. ~ ed.

For me, yoga is based on one founding principle: inclusivity for all, and then, as an offshoot of that, abundance for that same ‘all’.

I would rather tell you how to go find and race and win lots of money with your own thriving, living horse than beat a dead one, and I’m about to, but let me just say this:

YogaGlo: what were you thinking?

Anyone who told you that ‘any press is good press’ wasn’t familiar with the yoga world.

We don’t want to support companies who promote lack-oriented policies, and who go around cease-and-desisting their fellow yogis. I might have missed the memo, but I thought our main priority was to serve humanity to access as much good yoga as possible, not to get all fear-based grabby when someone else wants to do the same.

Yeah, I know: it’s just a camera angle, right?

Well, it’s one of the very few angles that work to show yoga movement when you’re in a room full of people.

How do I know?

Oh yeah—because I was using this angle—for public commerce, and in my own professional online sales business for at least two years before you did.

In fact, I was posting online videos with that exact setup long before Yoga Glo came along.

So sue me.

Or, maybe don’t, because I have quite a case to take that ridiculous patent away from you, and then rip it up so that no other yoga instructor or business ever has to worry again, and we can get back to doing what we supposedly do best: Offer yoga to people, not try and keep it from them.

Ahhhh, that’s better.  Thanks for reading.

OK, moving on—this part’s all about you:

Since the best way to change what we don’t like isn’t to fight against it—but to pour our time, energy and resources into doing the opposite, the best thing I can do for this situation—and for the benefit of others, is to share a great site where we can all become our own yoga subscription channel, or we can support people who are doing it themselves, instead of companies that have shown a blatant disregard for their own community.

Let’s take matters back into our own hands, shall we?

There’s a killer site called PowHow that a Google developer built to give fitness and wellness professionals the ability to create cool online studios and networks where—get this—you can even teach live—and see your students and interact with them while you’re teaching! It’s like Skype on steroids. (If, you know, steroids were healthy and inspiring.)

You can film video classes, workshops or trainings anytime too and upload them without doing them live. Then, create a subscription, or sell your vids a la carte. Totally your call.

(Yeah—I probably just set myself up for direct competition by telling all of you about this site, but in my opinion, the more good yoga, that gets out there, the better.)

This is about the students—not about me.

You don’t have to buy anything—that’s not my intention here, but you can check out how I and my partner Tyler are doing our channels here:

For a decade, I’ve existed on the cutting edge of social media and I can tell you that sites like this one are the next generation of content providers, where you don’t have to wait for some big company to invite you, or deem you “rockstar” enough to join their club. I was invited, mind you, and still I choose to create awesome content—and maintain my independence from networks who want to take a big cut of my proceeds.

I want this for you, too.

I spend my career teaching other yogis how to use the very tools I have to get their message out to interested yoga students. I want only freedom for all of us—financially and spiritually.

Of course, I still give away a lot of content for free on YouTube and other places, but when it comes to my longer classes and workshops, I feel it’s a good exchange to ask people a mere eight dollars a month for any and all of them, forever.

You see, if you’re financially fair and really abundant, you can create the freedom you want from teaching the practices you love—and your students can offer something each month for the education, fitness and inspiration they get from your energies.

What’s more, whether you’re a yoga teacher or a student, you get to participate in a system that keeps us, as Gandhi urged, invested in being the change we want to see in the world.

And personally, I choose inclusivity for all. As best I can, I choose a collaboration model instead of a competitive one.

So go, start your own network. Tell all your students about it. Blast it out on Facebook, put it on your website. May all beings be happy and free…and find your rockin’ yoga online.

Can’t wait to see you there.

 

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Editor: Bryonie Wise

Photo: courtesy of the author