"In these economic times people either go to yoga studios or bars," ABC News quoted Gina Norman, the co-owner of Kaia Yoga in the posh Connecticut suburb of Westport, as saying.
"It's mostly about the stress reduction," she added.
Ever since it opened in 2005, Kaia Yoga has been doing brisk business.
Its enrolment has surged each year during the economic meltdown, even as students have cut down expenditure in other areas of their lives. Many of the new students are men trying to bust stress.
The popularity of yoga has soared in the past three years; nearly 14 million people now attend yoga classes compared with just 11 million in 2007, claims market research firm GfK-MRI.
Yoga Journal reported in 2008 that Americans spent 5.7 billion dollars on yoga classes and equipment (including clothing, DVDs and mats), almost double the amount they spent in 2004.
Bill Harper, Yoga Journal's publisher, said: "When we get into shaky financial times and people are feeling bad about themselves, they seem to turn to yoga for a bit of solace." (MORE)
Source: Sify News
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