The FINANCIAL — The majority of Georgians who start practicing yoga do it to help with back pain caused by their modern-day sedentary lifestyles. The popularity of yoga classes has been growing in Georgia on a yearly basis. However, many people still enrol in yoga lessons just because it is considered fashionable. For the last three years, the founder of Ananda, the leading yoga studio in Georgia, has been focusing on teaching the true meaning of yoga to people.
“In Europe and Moscow there is a trend of lunchtime yoga. Instead of eating during their lunch breaks, more and more people are doing yoga. Morning and evening yoga will be another option. This is our new offer for corporate clients this year,” Edita Dilanyan, Founder of yoga clubs Ananda, told The FINANCIAL.
In order to promote healthy lifestyle among Georgians, Ananda issued new offer for its potential customers. Bring a friend and pay just GEL 89 per each ticket for a month of unlimited lessons. In case of purchasing three cards consumer will be offered the fourth one with 50% discount. While purchasing five cards, the sixth will be issued for free. Those who will bring three friends will accept a subscription for a month of unlimited lessons with 50% discount. Those who want to be served free of charge can invite five friends. The first visit at both centres of Ananda is free of charge. The offer will be valid till the end of January.
Together with individual offers, Ananda also provides corporate packages. “The leading Georgian companies of various industries are cooperating with us. We are still trying to develop this offer. It is very important for those people who find it hard to go out to do yoga. We are prepared to arrange for our instructors to visit and teach those companies that have space for such trainings,” said Dilanyan.
“If we think of the daily schedule of the average office worker, they tend to spend 80% of their day in front of a computer screen. For such people the health of their back is the main focus of their attention. Accordingly, there are two main demands among our customers: the first is to work on backache and the second – weight loss. Backache is a big problem everywhere, not just in Georgia. It is a global problem of modern people who are becoming used to moving less. Yoga is the optimal method for maintaining a toned body, keeping flexible and mobile. Doing yoga two or three times per week is the best solution for those people who are living a less active lifestyle,” Dilanyan said.
Dilanyan, who was born in Georgia, runs the yoga studio Ananda in Moscow. Three years ago she established a branch in Georgia. Dilanyan was born in Tbilisi. Her family moved to Moscow in 1993 when it was a period of transition in Georgia. As she says, all of the best memories from her youth are connected to Tbilisi. She received higher education in Moscow. Dilanyan first started working at the age of 19 for an oil company. Then she started working with businessman Levan Vasadze at an investment bank. From job to job she was getting promoted and moving forwards on the career ladder. She was an adviser for the president of a leading telecommunication company in Russia.“The president of the corporation left for India. During his trip he met with a yoga guru and started practicing it. He was suitably impressed, so within the frame of the company the president of the corporation invited a yoga teacher to Moscow to teach local staff and partners. A month later there was a queue of ministers, their spouses and everyone that had ever practiced yoga before, lining up to take classes. Thus, a boom of yoga started in Moscow. These teachers still live in Russia and train those in the higher echelons of the government as well as other VIPs,” said Dilanyan.
After her maternity leave her husband suggested establishing a yoga centre and combining something enjoyable with something practical. As a result she founded her new yoga club in Moscow. The project turned out to be a big success. With the help of her personal contacts her main segment of customers was comprised of politicians and businessmen.
Q. How would you evaluate your business in Georgia?
A. Establishing yoga classes in Georgia was risky. When I heard that many Georgians did not even know what yoga meant, I decided to try my hand here. It was a kind of experimental project.
It has partially been a success and yet partially not. I am glad that I have managed to introduce this trend here in Georgia. Many people have started practicing yoga as a result, and this is a welcome fact. What makes me sad though is that people still consider yoga to be a type of sport. They do not properly understand what yoga is about. People associate yoga with fitness clubs. “How are we going to lose weight?”- is a question that I have constantly heard being asked for the last three years. It requires a lot of time to explain to people that 15 kilos that was gained over the course of years is almost impossible to lose in a month. Yoga is first of all about having a healthy way of life. When you practice yoga, your organism starts to dictate your food intake. Our teachers are vegetarians.This is not because they do not like meat. It is just because they need to feel light and at ease while exercising. Heaviness hampers one on a physiological as well as physical level. So, when a person starts practicing yoga they do not need to keep to any special diet. They just need to listen to their organism.
Q. Why do members of the business segment choose yoga?
A. People in the business sector choose yoga because it combines physical and psycho-analytical activities. They find it the best way to release stress and maintain a harmony of good mood and energy levels. Yoga recharges people. That is why many famous people practise it. In Georgia many politicians as well as businessmen are also involved with it, however I will not state their names due to reasons of confidentiality.
Businessmen mostly choose to go for our individual lessons. For those who have a very tough schedule or just want to maintain anonymity we provide services whereby we visit them at their location. This is our VIP service. We also offer the option of individual lessons at our centres. Our teachers can find an individual approach for each person. This is really convenient as in group lessons teachers are focused on finding an acceptable approach for the whole group.
The sorts of people who run big companies tend to have very busy and packed schedules. So, for them yoga provides a form of release and a way to unwind. This is very important for people in order for them to be able to generate new and fresh ideas. Recharging one’s energy levels, getting a release from stress and refreshing the mind are the main benefits of yoga.
Q. Church influence is strong in Georgia. Has this hampered the development of yoga clubs here?
A. In the past there were more cases of people saying that they could not attend yoga classes as their priests forbade it. Now such cases are rarer.
We never touch the subject of religion during our exercises. We are just doing breathing exercises which are focused on recovery processes. These practices are very useful so we do not ignore them. Meditation brings a lot of benefits to the brain. Meanwhile, demand for it is quite high. We create groups with special programmes in line with consumer demands.
Faith is inside people, in people’s minds, hearts, and actions. Having faith in something bright is the most important thing. The key issue is to charge people with positive energy.
Q. Georgians still view yoga as a way to achieve weight loss. How are you working to change this understanding?
A. We have managed to raise awareness of yoga among Georgians. However, what we have seen is that many people view it as fashionable. Attending yoga has become trendy in Georgia. After three years I saw that it was a right time to move away from the expression of yoga as a form of fitness. Accordingly, we saw it as the right time to move to another stage. We hired new teachers. Each of our five teachers has individual methods. Besides their individual style we have our own programmes for individual groups. We offer classes for beginners, intermediate level, yoga therapy, relief from back pain, yoga Pilates, classic yoga, kid’s yoga, yoga stretching, yoga for weight loss and yoga Nidra. It is interesting that our classes are attended by people of a wide range of ages. People over 50 are quite active. We offer yoga lessons for children too. They find it very entertaining and enjoy it a lot.
Q. How do you select your teachers?
A. As I have been involved in yoga for more than ten years I have quite an impressive base of contacts. During the selection process I take into account recommendations, and later interview candidates. Their backgrounds are very important for me. I never consider a candidate that does not have a diploma. Our new teachers are from Rishikesh. It is a small village in India where everything is saturated with yoga. The teachers are positive. All our customers love them.
Currently we are seeing the opening of new yoga centres in Tbilisi almost monthly. On the one hand it is good. It means that yoga is developing in Georgia. However, people need to pay attention to the professionalism of the teachers. I want to advise everyone who is going to yoga centres to pay attention to whether their teachers have diplomas or not. Unfortunately, Georgians do not tend to pay attention to this. When I opened our first centre here I scanned all our certificates and hung them on the wall for customers to see. However, I found that no one paid any attention to these unfortunately, which is very bad.
Q. What about Russians, what is the main reason that they enrol in yoga classes?
A. The level of understanding of yoga among Russians is equal to that of Westerners. Moscow is a big metropolis, with over 12 million citizens. The everyday rhythm of Russians is crazy. It is a city of vampires that devours one’s whole energy. Therefore, refreshing and restoring one’s energy and mind is the main reason they choose yoga. Even their approach is different. If Russians have scheduled a lesson then they will attend it come rain or shine.
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