RELAXATION — Ruthless Relaxation

COMPETITION GETTING INTENSE AMONG VALLEY YOGA, MASSAGE PARLORS Nancy Corcoran remembers when the only people who practiced yoga were, in her words, “weirdos.” Stanley Grod recalls a time when most of his massage therapy clients were the idle rich. The good news for Corcoran, who owns Yoga for Every Body in Sherman Oaks, and Grod, the proprietor of Massage Masters Day Spa also in Sherman Oaks, is that their businesses are no longer the exclusive domain of a select clientele. Practices like yoga and massage have gone mainstream. The bad news for them is, now that they have, competition is proliferating. “There has been a lot more competition out there,” said Grod, who has been in the business for nearly 30 years. “We’ve got people up and down the boulevard charging $39 for a one-hour treatment.” A short ride down any stretch of Ventura Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley will reveal dozens of salons and day spas offering everything from shiatsu massage to reflexology, and nearly as many yoga studios. On the surface, the two businesses may appear entirely different, but they share one key element: Both promise relief from the stress and strain of modern-day life. And, along with herbal remedies and nutritional supplements, aromatherapy, acupuncture and Tai Chi, they have emerged from behind the fringes of the ’60s hippie culture and onto the front porch of Middle America. “We are now quite willing, as our society internationalizes, to view remedies other than the standard Western ways of doing things as OK,” said Alfred Osborne, director of the Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Anderson School at UCLA. “Look at what’s happening with alternative medicine. Other societies have found ways to deal with these things that have been adopted in America.” In the 1950s, hard work was seen as its own reward. By the 1980s, living well was the best revenge. But in the new millennium, the preferred tender for payback on our efforts seems to be relaxation. “There is a theme that has tended to get picked up by a variety of industries that basically says, ‘You work hard, you deserve a reward,'” said David Stewart, professor of marketing at USC’s Marshall School of Business. “There have always been companies that have reinforced these ideas, but I think it’s become more prevalent. The reason is, we have a much larger number of professionals who have a need for relaxation and relief of stress.” And the trend is not limited to doctors, lawyers and investment bankers, either. John Tayloe, for example, got so stressed out from running his animal training and exercise service that he went to see a doctor for his achy shoulders. Upon being told by the doctor that his soreness was stress-related, Tayloe turned to yoga. Once he started attending classes at Lifestyle Renaissance Yoga Studio in Studio City about a year ago, the sixty-something Tayloe said, he began to relax. “For years I had not really been breathing.” Now, Tayloe says, he uses the breathing techniques when he is sitting in traffic, before he goes to bed and at other times when he wants to relax. He has even quit smoking cold turkey. “It’s a very positive type of influence, and I feel like I’ll live longer,” Tayloe said. Cross-generational trend The exploding popularity of yoga, massage and other such practices cuts across virtually all demographic groups. Baby boomers, who have grown more introspective as they have aged, are driving some of the increased interest, but even younger people are embracing the trend. “This is a case where Generation X and the baby boomers may have some common values, but they grow out of different life experiences,” said Stewart. “Generation X grew up with (notions like) ‘red meat is bad for you,’ ‘you shouldn’t smoke,’ and other health messages that have been enforced in a variety of ways.” Consider a recent new enrollee at Lifestyle Renaissance Yoga Studio, a twentysomething show-business executive who came seeking a solution to a wicked case of road rage. “We’ve doubled our students in a year,” said owner Scott Alsop. “The two notable differences are very young people in their 20s, and men who wouldn’t touch yoga when we started two years ago. They (used to) think it was for women, and it’s not much of a workout, or they thought we all have dots on our foreheads and white flowing gowns.” The popularity of yoga has also been fueled by a growing number of celebrities who have embraced the discipline. “It’s a huge boost,” said Corcoran, who opened her studio about one-and-a-half years ago. “If a celebrity does it, everyone thinks its a good thing, even if it’s heroin.” Statistics are hard to come by, but most yoga studios in the Valley report seeing their student numbers increase by 15 percent or more a year. Many studios have doubled the number of classes as well as the class sizes over the past five years. Annie’s Yoga Studio in Sherman Oaks has been growing at an average rate of 30 percent to 40 percent a year for the past five years, said Dario Velasquez, the studio’s manager. It offers classes specifically geared to people with injuries, as well as more standard fare. “It became a fad, but also there are people looking for ways to relieve stress and this is the best thing,” Velasquez said. At Angel City Yoga in Studio City, one of the oldest studios in the Valley, the number of classes has doubled over the past five years to about 60 a week, according to Vice President Shosha Bottoms. “I’ve had a Hatha Yoga class on the schedule since 1989. Fifteen (students) used to be a big group. Now there are 40 students.” From luxury to necessity The American Massage Therapy Association reports 27 percent of American adults have visited a massage therapist in the past five years, up from 22 percent in 1998 and 17 percent in 1997. Though the rates for a massage can average from $50 to $60 an hour, therapists say many of their clients no longer view the service as a luxury. “We’re seeing an increase in business from people of all types,” said Grod. “They’re not waiting until they have more money. It’s more of a necessity.” Grod said the increased competition for massage therapy services was “very scary at first.” But as his business continues to grow by 15 percent to 20 percent a year, he has learned to live with the rival salons and spas. He regularly visits other massage salons as a client to make sure his facilities, services and prices are competitive. “You might call it spa spying,” Grod jokes. And last month he began offering prizes to clients who send the greatest number of referrals to the spa. Like many of his counterparts, Grod said he has come to conclude that the “bargain” spas offering massages at $39 are no match for the service and expertise provided at higher-end salons. Besides, as Suzanne Cohen, owner of Massage Therapy Center at the Sun Lounge in Encino put it, “There’s enough business to go around.”