Staying calm is yogi’s mantra

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/03/2020 (2051 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Reid Davies had a successful career in software sales, and as a yoga enthusiast, he always had it in the back of his mind that when he retired he wanted to be a yoga teacher.

He was a longtime member of Modo Yoga, formerly called Moksha Yoga, and as part of the studio’s “energy exchange” became its handyman in lieu of membership fees.

Last summer, he started talking about buying into the business, which has two locations. In January, he acquired a controlling interest.

He quit his software sales job in mid-March.

A week later, he had to shut down the businesses he had just bought.

“My big piece of life advice now is… don’t buy a yoga studio right before a pandemic hits,” says Davies.

Normally, Modo Yoga is a busy enterprise with 50 employees, thousands of members and 140 classes per week.

Davies is determined to show that if any retail service business is pandemic-proof, it’s Modo Yoga.

Yoga puts people in a better state of mind and maybe allows participants — including the ones responsible to pay the bills and keep the lights and heat on (Modo Yoga is hot yoga) — to be better able to deal with the anxiety of a government-mandated shutdown for an indeterminate amount of time.

“We have a great group of people,” he said. “I am a little stressed but I’m very optimistic about what is at the end of this. It is not going to last forever.”

Modo Yoga is offering on-line classes via Instagram. Most of the studio’s monthly members are continuing to pay their fees, and a larger international community is very active via an online portal that was set up by Davies’ partner, Ryann Doucette (from whom Davies acquired controlling interest in the Winnipeg studios).

Davies has the kind of energy that comes with embarking on a new challenge, which just happens to be a business whose mission is to promote the healthy practice of yoga worldwide.

“My wife and kids ask me how things are going. I am still excited about it,” he said. “It’s a bit of a bump in the road but I am super-excited about the next 10 years.”

Meanwhile he is trying to be prudent, figuring out where the business can cut costs while keeping his community — both employees and members — together.

Davies said he would pay the staff for two weeks after the studios closed before he knew what was going to happen. Meanwhile, he’s holding regular meetings with staff via the Zoom videoconferencing app.

“When the Canadian government emergency-response benefits kick in, it will help the staff out immensely,” he said. “I can’t tell you how happy I am about that. These aren’t big earners. They are in the yoga business because they love it.”

Davies has invested a “significant portion” of his net worth in the business and doesn’t want to speculate on just how long he will be able to survive with the business closed. It does sound like he is making all the right moves.

He is waiting to hear back from his suppliers and landlords after making payment proposals.

Davies gets emotional talking about the loyalty of Modo Yoga members.

“What is really helping us right now is our members,” he said. “They are being very supportive of us. We understand some have been hit hard by this (the shutdown of normal life caused by the pandemic). We are so grateful for the people who are continuing to support us.”

There is no business manual to guide anyone through these uncertain economic times — never mind the frightening public health scenario.

Davies has the benefit of a supportive client base and the kind of energy that hot yoga can generate, but he also has the attitude that many others might be able to learn from.

Another thing going for him is that, when the crisis ends, yogis will clamour to get back in to the studio to sweat it out. 

“This is definitely a tough time, but I am looking at it as a time to figure out what I can do while we are closed to make our business stronger for when we reopen,” he said.

“We are trying to be defensive but thinking about how do we reopen with a bang.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca