Alma Studio founder and yoga teacher Danielle Harper taking a class.
The promise of a six-pack of abs in 28 days or learning to do a handstand in three weeks through online fitness programmes are setting people up for failure, a Hawke’s Bay yoga teacher says.
Danielle Harper, founder of Alma Studio in Havelock North, says it’s concerning to see programmes overpromising what can be achieved.
“These goals are wildly unachievable, and will make the participant feel like a failure, when there was zero chance of success to begin with,” Danielle said.
Danielle, who is from Los Angeles, moved to New Zealand six years ago with her Kiwi husband.
Two years ago they moved to Havelock North and bought a house. “I said to my husband ‘where’s the studio?’ There wasn’t one so that’s how Alma Studio started.
“My goal was to create a space with an ashram atmosphere. We have two beautiful studio rooms, the Pilates Reformer Studio and the Yoga Studio plus space to sit and have an organic tea, talk to like-minded people or pick up one of the books and have some time to yourself. It’s called the Chill Room.”
Spanish is LA’s second language and Alma means soul in Spanish and in Latin it means nourish.
“That was tick, and tick for me when I was searching for a name.”
Danielle was an active young person competing in dance, ballet and cheerleading.
At just 10 years old she was diagnosed with scoliosis, which is a curvature of the spine.
“I lived with a lot of pain through my teenage years trying to find a solution.
“Finally I found yoga. I fell in love with it and have dedicated my life to it. It’s not just about the movement, it’s the meditation, the breathing. It just grew and grew into a passion and I’m now pain-free.
“Yoga and Pilates helps with all sorts of aches and pains because it builds your core strength. It helps you get up off the floor without using both arms and legs.
“On a deeper level, it helps with your serenity and calmness. You start to feel at one with the universe, you have more compassion and any negativity is addressed.”
She says the feedback from the community has been amazing. “I have had people say ‘you have changed my life because of Alma’ and ‘I love the fun classes’.
With more than 20 years’ experience teaching yoga, Danielle says “human-centred businesses need the right people”.
“I am concerned that people are not receiving quality feedback on their postural, alignment, form or technique, which are all really important pieces of feedback as you learn a new skill.
“I find it interesting that people would never consider learning how to play the piano by watching YouTube videos or online courses, but feel that it is somehow possible to learn a completely new skill without a teacher in the room.
“The danger of falling into compensatory patterns that are created by old injuries, or a bias towards one side of the body is real, and if you are not in front of an instructor and merely learning from a screen, you will not be getting your money’s worth, in fact, you likely will be doing a lot of damage to your body and make it harder to learn Pilates or yoga properly later down the line.
“I am a true believer of being in the room with a teacher, that is why I do not have an online portion of my business.
“We have a fantastic team of teachers. We don’t have contracts. We want our clients to be here because they want to not because they have a direct debit making them come.”
She loves living in Hawke’s Bay.
“I love the slower pace of life, it’s much more natural and there are a lot of health benefits that come out of that. People also care about each other in the community. I do miss my family and friends in LA but I love living in the fruit bowl of New Zealand, I love the scenery, the low population, I don’t have to go around the block to get a park, it doesn’t take half an hour to drive four blocks.”
Alma Studio has a range of classes including hot yoga, non-heated classes and Pilates.
For more information go to almastudio.co.nz