Dear RVC and Rego Park Yoga Communities,
We hope this letter finds you all happy and healthy. We have some very important news to share with you all and wanted to communicate it to you directly. Please be sure to read this letter in full.
As of March 22, 2013 Bikram Yoga RVC and Bikram Yoga Rego Park studios will now
be called Hot Yoga 4 You RVC and Hot Yoga 4 You Rego Park. After many, many months of careful contemplation, we are pleased to announce this shift and to share our thought process with you.
We both became teachers of the Bikram Yoga method over a decade ago when Bikram Yoga was just a budding name, not yet even close to the household name it is today. It was our sincerest intent to become yoga teachers first, to open a studio when it felt right, and to continue to share the benefits of steady yoga practice with communities of people who were thirsty for a wholistic life approach.
For the opportunity to do that, we will forever be grateful.
However, just as the leaves change with the seasons and the tides turn with the moon, so did the larger yoga community that we once knew. With Bikram Yoga becoming more popular and more sensationalized, the quality of a training we once respected started to fall. The business practices and behaviors of a man we once trusted, ceased to hold the integrity we had once leaned upon. With the most recent lawsuit citing accusations against him that we’d rather not dive into, we have made the decision to cut ties with Bikram Headquarters and continue forward, protecting ourselves and our yoga communities from constant aggressive threats and unlawful business tactics. We simply cannot stand for what has become of the less than quality leadership and administration of Bikram, the man, and Headquarters, his operation. These recent allegations will not and should not be tolerated, and we are making sure of that in our RVC and Rego Park studios. For lack of better words, this was and is the proverbial “last straw.” Let us be clear, we are moving forward peacefully, without any ill will towards the community we came from, in its previous and best form, almost 12 years ago. That being said, it is time for us to move forward and we won’t be looking back.
With this shift come many exciting opportunities for growth and expansion. After many years of denying your very well-intentioned suggestions for a 60-minute class, we are pleased to finally be able to say YES! Having researched and tested her 60-minute choreographed class for over 2 years, Diana Bisso, who has been teaching Bikram Yoga for over a decade and studying and instructing movement for over 2 decades, will be training all of our teachers how to instruct this highly effective and anatomically sound spin on the classic sequence. The 60-minute heated class will be a perfect addition to our classic 90-minute sequence and a great option for those busy-bodies who are crunched for time (but deserve yoga just as much as the rest of us!).
Aside from the addition of our 60-minute classes, we are looking forward to opportunities in yoga education and guest teachers/lecturers in the fields of philosophy, nutrition, and anatomy.
It will take some time for these shifts to make themselves visible, as brochures and marketing materials, along with signage and advertisements will have to be reprinted. However, we wanted to let you know straight out of the gate! Be sure to join our current Facebook on-line community so you can stay abreast of all shifts as they take place, including the transferring of our on-line social pages and website to our new business name.
Rest assured, the staff of teachers and work/study that you know and love will remain in tact. We would like to take a moment to thank them all for their support and enthusiasm around this decision. We are grateful and blessed to have such a positive, supportive team.
Lastly, we would like to thank you, the students, for almost 10 years of incredible community building and business. We are excited to move in a direction that will allow us to offer you more than what we’ve been allowed to in the past. As time moves forward, we will only become clearer as to what those offerings will be, but for now, you can look forward to 60-minute class options coming late Spring/early Summer sprinkled throughout our already beloved class schedule.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, for being a part of our journey, and for allowing us to be a part of yours. We thank you in advance for your support in this decision and your trust and understanding in our process and in how we arrived at such a decision. We invite you to continue growing with us and your friends at Hot Yoga 4 You RVC and Rego Park studios, and we look forward to the future together!
Yours truly,
John and Yolanda Nash
