FM
“In some parts of
Australia’s eastern
shores, there is a studio
for every 30 people and
yearly industry revenues
are estimated to reach
A$1.1 billion by 2021.”W
orldwide, the rising
tide of stress and the
corresponding appeal
of a slower life have
elevated the practice
of yoga asana to an unprecedented level.
According to the UN, two billion people now
practice some form of yoga. Studios have
cropped up on every corner, while yoga
apparel brands emerge out of the woodwork
at a pace difficult to follow. Yoga festivals are
global affairs where yogis come to connect
with a community of like-minded souls in a
liberating atmosphere of asana, hula hoops
and soft beats. For those too busy to come
to the studio, a plethora of platforms offer
online videos at attractive prices for home
practice. From Vancouver to Denpasar and
every town and cellular tower in between,
yoga is alive and breathing.
One place where yoga has become big
business is the land Down Under. In some
parts of Australia’s eastern shores, there
is a studio for every 30 people and yearly
industry revenues are estimated to reach
A$1.1 billion by 2021. It’s a growth market.Early days
Back before the craze, however, was an
Australian called Duncan Peak sporting a
huge smile, tattoos and shoulders largerthan life. In the early 90s, Peak was a
teenage boy getting into heaps of trouble -
at home, at school, on the streets. At 14, a
friend’s dad took him in and introduced him
to Raja Yoga, or what Peak now describes as
“five poses and a lot of meditation”.
It wasn’t love at first sight, rather a subtle
introduction to the idea that there is, as he
puts it, “more to life than what goes on in
the mind.”
Over a decade later and Peak was
pioneering a new style of yoga in Australia,
a modified version of the primary Ashtanga
series which he began teaching to a bunch
of muscle guys in a Sydney beach club,
forking over the proceeds to the local
cancer foundation.
A studio approached him with an offer to
teach and within weeks, he was redefining
the expression, ‘studio capacity’.Let’s PLAY
In time, the studio owners also came to
notice his business acumen and asked
him to manage the space, then assist in
a business expansion, a plan he thought
was too risky. When the chain went
bankrupt, he got a call to help re-start
one of the branches.
The story repeated itself: Peak’s brand of
conscious power vinyasa drew the crowds in
lesser time than it takes to say yoga. Power
Living (for Power Living Australia Yoga or
PLAY) (powerliving.com.au) started the day
he bought that studio - with help from his
mum and brother. The first location at Bondi
Junction expanded to several studios across
the country, and even one in Wellington,
New Zealand. PLAY now runs world-
renowned teacher training courses and has
just launched Yogaholics, its own in-house
portal of online classes.Power to the people
At its core, PLAY’s success rests on how
it has consistently intertwined yoga with
people. If Duncan Peak can be counted
amongst the pioneers of modern day yoga,
it’s largely because of how he modelled yoga
around people, rather than perpetuating
yoga for the elite or teaching a rigid delivery
of yoga asana. Starting from a place ofPhotos: leeroyt.com