Yogi Warrior Weapons for Cold Season

Before every class, I ask students how they feel. Clearly, from their responses, cold season is upon us. Feel that familiar swelling in the back of the throat that tells you a cold is coming on? Seems like everyone in your family is snorting and sniffling except you....yet? Lost time due to illness is something we all want to avoid. I thought I'd share a few products Focus offers in our boutique that can help.

Thieves  This was a favorite last year. The legend surrounding this essential oil blend focuses on an unruly band of medieval
thieves that would rob plague victims. They wore a special blend of herbs for protection. This essential oil blend contains cinnamon, rosemary, lemon and eucalyptus. A drop on the tongue taken orally at the first sign of illness can be effective.  Drops can be added to hand soap and cleaners for anti-bacterial properties. Gargling with Thieves mixed with water can sooth a sore throat. Put a little in sesame oil and lubricate the insides of the nostrils before boarding a plane. Click here for a list of 101 uses for Thieves compiled by fans. If you are looking for a natural way to fight illness-causing bacterias, consider this oil. A little pricey, but since it's used by the drop, a bottle goes far.

Defense Elixir  This little bottle packs a punch.  Taken at the first sign of a cold, this powerful blend will wake you up and warm you up at the same time. Orange, ginger, cayenne and echinacae, taking small shots throughout the day can help knock out or reduce cold symptoms before they take root. Keep a bottle in your freezer in case an itchy sore throat catches you too far from the studio to stop in.

Now, what about if that cold has already taken hold, and you are struggling with congestion? Here are a couple of remedies to ease the pain.

RC essential oil blend/Eucalyptus essential oils  Mixed with a little sesame oil, these oils can be inserted into the nostrils to lubricate and help open congested airways. When students come into class with congestion, I offer this. Combined with the movement and deep breathing of yoga, they generally leave feeling much more open. Also, a few drops in a pot of hot water makes a steamy inhalant.

Respiratory Tea  In addition to the Defense Elixir, Earth's Healing is supplying Focus with bags of
this tea blend. Our students are enjoying cups of this blend after class, and buying bags to take home. It contains mullein, horehound, Irish moss, and eucalyptus. We've gotten rave reviews from our students.

Focus Yoga Monthly Membership

Recently we put out a survey and got a great response, with ideas of what types of classes and class times would be good additions to our schedule. We added many of them, and hope that you will back up your good requests with your attendance.

However, one or two of the supportive comments really had me thinking. One stated how a couple of other local studios have offered several Groupon and Living Social-type discounts in the past year. I think the suggestion was that we should be following suit.

Let me explain something about these internet promotions: when a business offers a deep, deep discount to customers through one of those promotional companies, the business receives 50% of the total receipts. That means, on our last promotion, we received exactly $2.50 for each class sold on that promotion. Focus pays our instructors more than that to teach our students.

I understand that there is a cost to advertising. And, students that use the coupon to try a business may become loyal customers. But, with abundance of deep discounted classes available, I suspect instead of instilling loyal customers, businesses trying these discount deals as a way of promoting their studio have inadvertently set a new price point for yoga. With a local studio offering a promotion at any given moment, many students simply follow the promotions to determine where they practice.

If studios are expected to continuously offer deep discount promotions to keep students who become used to this new price point, exactly how long will they stay in business?

Now, I understand how tough the economy has been for many people. And, at Focus, it’s never been about the money. We need to stay financially healthy. But, we want students who need yoga to be able to learn and practice, regardless of finances. We’ve worked to find ways for many of our students to continue practicing when facing financial limitations. That’s called community.

So, that brings me to the point. Community. What we really want, more than anything, is for each person who wants to practice with us to become part of our community.

We will continue to create a studio that supports our community, local food producers and grassroots vendors sharing their passion. We will support our students with instructors who really care about each individual that walks through our doors. Our studio will continue to offer creative special classes and workshops each month, for as many age and ability levels as we possibly can, supporting healthy lifestyles for all. And, we will do our best to offer that in a way our students can afford. We do that in the hopes that each student will become an interactive, supportive member of our yoga community.

So, we are raising the curtain on new pricing option, our Focus Yoga Monthly Membership. It won’t be for everyone. If you take class less than 5 times a month, it may not be your cup of herbal tea. That’s okay...we will continue to offer our individual, 5 and 10 class options.

But, if you want a cost-effective way to increase your practice, consider our membership. The base plan is unlimited regular classes for $79/month. That’s our way of helping you manage your yoga budget. It’s that simple. If you practice an average of 1.5 times a week, the monthly membership becomes more cost-effective than a 10 class pass.

And, we plan to have fun with this! Several times a week there will be fun perks announced through our newsletter or Facebook page.  Freebies and special discounts on products and workshops. Ways for you to further benefit from your support to Focus, and for us to show our appreciation to you!

There is one thing this membership asks of you: 3 months commitment at the onset, and an auto-renewal set up. However, after the first three months, you can cancel with one week’s notice. That’s it. But we have high expectations that you won’t want to cancel!!

To join this membership now, click here!