Ultimate A
THE VAIL ATHLETIC CLUB TRANSFORMED ITS YOGA PROGRAM FROM ‘AVERAGE’ TO ‘EXEMPLARY’
“YOGA IS BOTH AN INDULGENCE AND A PENANCE. IT WILL TONE YOUR THIGHS, AND IT MIGHT JUST CRACK OPEN YOUR REALITY.” —Stefanie Syman, The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America
n ancient discipline that’s now practiced worldwide, yoga was once regarded, here in the U.S., as one of the hallmarks of the counterculture, the province of chanting swamis and bohemian hippies. Those days,
and those misunderstandings, have long since passed, and, today, yoga is practiced by everyone (from children, to soccer moms, to octogenarians) and everywhere (from public parks, to church halls, to state-of-the-art health clubs). In 1976, there were some 5 million practitioners in the U.S.,
but, now, there are more than 16 million. Yoga’s steady rise in popularity and its ubiquitous presence
are due, in part, to the benefits that author Syman identifies— its ability to transform one’s health and physical fitness, as well as one’s perspective on life. Through the ages, yoga has clearly demonstrated both its efficacy and adaptability, enabling it to deal, today, with challenges such as increasingly sedentary and stressful lifestyles. Yoga, Syman strongly suggests, may be the ultimate mind/
body panacea. Shannon Smith, the manager and membership director of
the Vail Athletic Club (VAC) in Vail, Colorado, is inclined to agree. An 18,000-square-foot full-service health and wellness center that’s part of the Vail Mountain Lodge and Spa, VAC introduced yoga to its lineup of group-fitness classes in 1991, but, initially, it was lost among the club’s many offerings. Other options on the program schedule include Pilates,
Gyrotonic, group cycling, rock climbing, summer conditioning, ski clinics, Mountain Divas (outdoor sports for women), and Generational Functional Training (for older adults).
> By Patricia Glynn www.
ihrsa.org | MAY 2011 | Club Business Internat ional 37
MindBODY
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