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Get your yoga on all over Vancouver with the Passport to Prana
By Claire Minns
Health-conscious Vancouverites are well aware of yoga's benefits, whether it's relaxing through hatha yoga, sweating out toxins during hot yoga, or testing the body's limitations over an intense session of power yoga.
Toronto-based Passport to Prana, which was created by former yoga teachers, studio owners and avid practitioners, is dedicated to promoting yoga in all its forms across Canada – including Vancouver and Victoria.
When you buy a Passport to Prana card you are entitled to one yoga class at each of the participating studios. It's designed to introduce you to the many excellent yoga studios and teachers in the city while giving you the opportunity to sample a variety of classes and styles.
For those hesitant to commit to a single studio, the Passport to Prana offers the opportunity to dabble in various classes before choosing a studio. Meanwhile, experienced yogis have the opportunity to try a few new studios and teachers at an affordable price.
The standard yoga membership costs between $100-$150 per month, while a drop-in class normally costs between $15-$20. These prices can be discouraging, and after a quick calculation of return airfare to India, we're left with few affordable options.
The Passport to Prana costs $30 and offers 40 different yoga studios. Keep in mind you can only go to each studio once since the idea is to explore different studios. But even if you only make it to, say, three of the 40 studios, you’ve already beaten the price of the equivalent drop-in fees.
There is an expiry date of July 30/2011 for Vancouver's Passport, but the card has been available since last year. We're hoping this round is a success so the program will start again after expiry.
The sooner you purchase the pass the more classes you're likely to attend. If you do the math and you attend each of the studios once, you'll be paying less than $1 per class... that's cheap yoga by any standards.
The pass is accepted at studios all over the Lower Mainland. If you’re in Vancouver proper you’ll find a selection of studios ranging from well-known chains like YYoga, Semperviva, Bikrams and Moksha, as well as many other respected studios with quality facilities and excellent teachers.
- Photo credit: Emily Cooper for KP Athletic Wear
