To wonder if yoga is becoming less popular now?

[GardenDreams]

I have been practicing for 8 years. We had one local class, a kind of fast ashtanga with a pretty dire teacher for a few years, which I stopped attending after 6 months.
Around 2019 our local class count grew to around 5, mostly nameless types which just endlessly went through sun salutations for an hour.

The popularity seemed to grow rapidly through lockdowns and has now petered out altogether. The original class finally shut it's doors a few weeks ago. No one here seems to be bothered anymore.

Has anyone else noticed this?
I know a lot of these things are prone to fashion and fads, but I do sense a general drop in interest all around in the past year or so. Online spaces that chat about yoga seem less lively too.

I am wondering if there is a new thing people are getting in to, perhaps?
I asked two people that I am familiar with why they stopped going to classes, and one said she had a small knee injury that grew worse with her teacher's instruction to ease it.
The other said she felt more at home with pilates.

Anyone else noticed it?

I stopped going to classes when I found Charlie Follows and Kassandra on youtube

Silly coment.

Well I want to stay steady on my feet as I age, so strength and flexibility are important to me, wherever I get them!

Also, new age chanting, incense and chakras are not 'spirituality'.
I'd say spirituality is a personal relationship to the self and greater surroundings and is nothing to be ashamed of. It doesn't have to have anything to do with organised religion or prancing around like a tit.

That said, I do lean towards the more scientific side of yoga, it really fascinates me. The best book by far is Intelligent Yoga by Peter Blackaby. Definitely check this out if faux chanting irritates you but you still seek a deeper connection with the self via yoga. Excellent stuff!

Risks that poor teachers won't pick up on include:

Yoga butt ie. Hamstring tendinitis from people over stretching in down dog, hanumanasana, forward fold etc especially by not warming up sufficiently. You can get groin strain from frog etc if done cold, likewise. A good teacher will warm you up well before these poses, and remind you to ease into down dog the first few times (knees bent, pedal the feet, etc).

Hypermobile people can be seriously injured if not instructed e.g. to keep elbows slightly bent. Often people don't know they have jypermobility in certain joints until a teacher tells them so

Headstands etc should never be attempted until someone has the core strength to keep everything correctly stacked as well as the shoulder strength to make sure the Wright isn't going into the head

People need to be reminded not to turn their neck in plough pose, not to force their knee into 90° in pigeon if it doesn't naturally turn that way, to use props to bring the floor closer to them etc etc or they can hurt themselves

Also a good teacher will correct your alignment so you aren't further entrenching yoyr anterior pelvic tilt every time you do goddess, or hunching your shoulders in tadasana.

Breathing reminders which are crucial for being able to advance in your practice

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Are those who say Pilates is much better than yoga able to explain why? Genuinely curious.
I do both yoga and reformer Pilates, is it pointless doing both?

Why did you start a whole new thread asking the same things?...weird.

They're both different, it depends on what you want to achieve, there's no right answer here.

My gym has 14 yoga classes a week, 10 pilates and another 9 that are a mix of the two. So clearly not waning in popularity here!

this thread got bitchaaay fast, lol.

Definitely a downturn in my area( South East)
I think that reformer Pilates has grown in popularity and so people are ditching yoga.
The reformer classes at my gym ( Virgin Active) are always fully booked
Also, there are free yoga videos on YouTube so people are less inclined to go to classes

Nope.. still popular here

Not here. It's thriving. North Leeds.

I would say its the cost and online availability.

If you've trained a lot you can practise on your own more. I'm just getting back into it. I love Hatha and Restorative Yoga. I actually think it might have a resurgence for its mental health benefits. It was very trendy for the fast flow Astanga and Hot Yoga style. We just need a celeb to suddenly re-embrace it lol.

I also think strength training is taking up some of it. Its more efficient.

No, reformer is resistance training and should strengthen your local muscles around your joints so you are less likely to get injured from yoga, which is a very different way of moving

I've switched to tai chi and functional movements.