A Conversation with Heather Haxo Phillips

Heather Haxo Phillips is a Level 3 Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher and has served as the director and owner of Adeline Yoga in Oakland, California since 2012. You can also find Heather and Adeline Yoga on Instagram @adelineyogastudio.

We reached out to Heather to share her wisdom, skills, and experience in the business of yoga—particularly in the realms of marketing and building community. In this interview she shares her rich experience in creating a vibrant, successful yoga studio. 

Q: Can you speak to creating a sense of cohesion and community within your yoga studio? Why do you think you have been successful in that regard?

Heather: I set aside a fair amount of time, energy, and resources to think about the wellbeing of my studio. I think about this every day: what are the processes and procedures that I need to put in place to make this a healthy, nourishing place?

All of our teachers are employees and this has allowed for a structure and container of support. We put time and energy into the administration of the studio.

Q: What are some steps that you have taken to create a more diverse and inclusive space for teachers and students?

Heather: I invested personal energy in developing relationships with the people I want to work with.  Collaborating with others on projects, volunteering my time, and showing up to support other people is important. It has helped me get to know other people and give others an opportunity to get to know me. Together we are able to develop trusting relationships.  

As our studio has expanded, I have been able to approach the teachers that I thought would enjoy being a part of the Adeline Yoga team, people that would appreciate and support our existing diversity and inclusion commitments. For the admin positions, I specifically wrote hiring and job descriptions that would be appealing to people of color, that emphasize our commitments. Once someone is in the job, I do everything I can to support their career trajectory. That includes training opportunities, a can-do attitude, and plenty of encouragement.

For students, of course you need scholarships. But the scholarship program has to be so low-key and extensive that anyone can get support at any time for any reason.

If you are truly committed to diversity and inclusion, you need to talk about your values on your website and social media, in your meetings, and in your programming. All of that has to be done.

As employees, the teachers and staff see that they have a role to play in the success of our community. Everyone is fulfilling their duties, their dharma. Everybody has a sense of curiosity and willingness to do their duty—that is something unique. That had to be cultivated.

Q: How does pricing and fee structure play a role in shaping the community?

Heather: You have to have a membership model where people are paying for their classes on auto-pay so that every month they are recommitting to the studio. That is really important. Class passes do not create community; it creates a financial transaction. Your promotions and your pricing have to reflect the commitment that you make to each other. Even an annual membership is not enough. It has to be a monthly membership—with a lot of perks!

It begins with pricing, your new student specials, and it comes full circle when you get into, “are we dealing with the hard stuff? Are we committed to each other?”

Your fee structure is foundational to everything. It is not just what your prices are, but how you organize them. What you visualize you create. 

Q: How do you consider the aesthetic or image of Iyengar Yoga in your marketing efforts? For instance, in terms of the images you use—what do people see first?

Heather: They see our actual students and our actual teachers doing poses that are beautiful from the inside out. Our students have smiles on their faces because they genuinely enjoy being in class.

I consider Guruji and his poses and look and feel to be iconic, and so whenever I can bring Guruji, Geetaji, Prashantji, and Abhijata into our work I do. And yet, we deliberately do not have pictures of BKS Iyengar everywhere because they can be a little frightening to some students—and we want students to be in their bodies, not thinking about someone else’s body. We are a studio for serious students, but we need to give students time to become serious students.

Q: Why do you think your studio has been successful in growing while many other studios are contracting or even closing?

Heather: I specifically hire for a person’s interest in building community. Every person on staff has to be willing to participate in all the wonderful things and hard things that make a community strong.

Iyengar Yoga is perfect for Zoom. We can see, we can correct, we have great use of words. Across the country, we are good at community. It’s not just Adeline Yoga. In 2021, we are all really good at community. It is the perfect time for Iyengar Yoga to grow.

Q: What platforms do you find to be most useful in marketing?

Heather: The best platform is talking to your students. I put a lot of emphasis on email communication. Social media is good and helpful, but regular email communication is the most important. We could not have survived COVID if we had not increased our email communication. Teachers have to develop relationships with their studio owners in order for the studio to be strong. This takes real commitment for everyone involved.

Q: How do new students typically find Adeline?

Heather: Word of mouth or Google in these covid days. So everyone: remember to have an up-to-date Google profile with relevant photos! We have also put a lot of emphasis on signage around our physical space. Tenacity and creativity are required when it comes to marketing.

Q: Any other thoughts you would like to share pertaining to marketing, outreach, and communications?

Heather: You have to envision what kind of students you want, who they are, and what is the ideal path you want for them. We want students to get a new student special, experience several of our teachers, and then become a member. So our signage, our emails, our website direct them that way. We have a staff person who is in charge of welcoming new students, finding out about their interests and helping them select the right classes. This helps new students feel comfortable and confident practicing with us.

There has to be a process for new students to feel comfortable and confident in their process as beginners. We put a really heavy emphasis on our fundamentals programming and our new student specials. We do A LOT for beginners—not just plopping them in class—to help them learn more about what we do, how we do it, and why we do it so that they can participate fully from the beginning. I want new students to feel comfortable—you don’t have to be good at Iyengar Yoga to do Iyengar Yoga. How would you treat a guest in your home? We keep in very close contact until they feel comfortable enough that they can walk in the door themselves. We make an effort to really connect.

Interview conducted by Greta Kent-Stoll, CIYT and Co-Owner, Iyengar Yoga Asheville