About YogaFit®

Bringing Yoga to the Fitness Industry

The YogaFit® Story:
YogaFit (“Yoga for the Fitness Industry”™), was developed in 1994 by Beth Shaw. After practicing yoga since 1989 and taking several “Yoga Certifications” Beth began teaching at fitness clubs in Los Angeles. She soon discovered that while traditional certifications taught a lot about the history and philosophy of Yoga, they did not address the nuts and bolts issues of teaching yoga in a health club. Knowing the many challenges of teaching yoga in a health club: bright lights, cold rooms, bodies of all types and fitness/ flexibility levels, she created her own style of yoga that combined fitness moves such as push ups, sit ups and squats with traditional yoga postures linked together in a flowing fitness format. To make the practice “user-friendly” she eliminated the Sanskrit names of the postures and avoided the oming and chanting sometimes associated with traditional yoga practices. YogaFit was born. Beth’s classes were packed and students wanted more!

Yoga Studio in Fitness Clubs:
In late 1994 the Owner of SportCenter Fitness in Redondo Beach approached Beth to create what would be the first “yoga center within a health club”. Together in a pioneer program, they converted a former golf room into a “yoga center” It was a success. Beth ran and staffed the entire yoga program.

YogaFit TV:
Deciding that she wanted to share her passion for yoga with the masses, Beth produced her own local cable show “YogaFit” which won the South Bay Producers Guild Award for Programming Excellence in 1995 and went on to air in New York and other key markets.

YogaFit Training Systems:
In 1996 Beth started writing articles for fitness trade magazines about bringing yoga to the fitness industry. In a trade for a “homemade” ad , Beth's article appeared in Recreation Resources Magazine and got 250 responses. From those responses, YogaFit, now a real incorporated company, got their first training in Fargo, North Dakota training 26 fitness instructors from four different YMCA’s. The YogaFit Training Program was born. Specifically designed for presentation in health clubs, fitness facilities or other group exercise locations, YogaFit allows a facility to offer a complement to their existing group exercise program which improves performance in all sports.

The company and training program have expanded over the years, and now feature internationally renowned programs for training fitness professionals in the YogaFit style. YogaFit has Teacher Trainings Level One, Two, Three, Four and Five in addition to specialties. YogaFit offers both a 200- hour and 500-hour RYT program.

The YogaFit Style:
YogaFit is designed to improve the health, performance, and mental acuity of athletes or individuals interested in improving their level of fitness. Based on the ancient fitness science of hatha yoga, it blends balance, strength, flexibility and power in a fitness format. YogaFit overcomes the mystery of yoga by delivering a practical, user-friendly style, which is accessible, understandable, and doable by individuals at any level of fitness.

The YogaFit style reduces the risk of injury and augments recovery for ailments including stress, lower back pain and tension.

Taught by YogaFit-trained staff with in-depth experience and skills in both yoga and fitness, the YogaFit method is the only nationally recognized CEC partner for ACE, and has been a member of IHRSA since 1997. It is also the only yoga instruction recognized by TSI NYSC WCS BCS PSC - Fitness Clubs. Team YogaFit has 50 National trainers currently.

YogaFit has trained over 75,000 fitness professionals and yoga instructors at facilities in the U.S. and internationally, and has been integral in the practice of yoga becoming an primary part of health club, gym and spa programs throughout the world. YogaFit has and continues to bring yoga to the fitness industry.

YogaFit Clothing:
Needing clothing for the show, Beth had the YogaFit Proud Warrior Logo put on sweatshirts and bodysuits. The clothing line was so popular that Yoga Journal featured the apparel in 1994. Beth started by selling her wares out of her trunk at the end of classes. The YogaFit clothing line was born. The extensive line of YogaFit merchandise now includes yoga apparel, DVDs, CDs, MP3 downloads, books, and accessories.

Mind/Body/Fitness Conferences:
Yogafit runs nine MBF's per year nationwide. YogaFit's Corporate Headquarters is located in Torrance, Ca. There are YogaFit Studio Partners across the world. YogaFit has trained instructors in every continent and continues to expand the horizons of fitness professionals and the masses around the globe.


YogaFit’s Community Service Mission:
The mission of YogaFit is to bring Yoga to the masses. When only 10% of the U.S. population belongs to a health club, our need to get people moving is necessary. Yoga is a gift for the body and the mind. YogaFit began by offering Yoga classes for donation only. We believe that if everyone in the world gave one hour per week of community service work, the world be a better place. That is why we require every YogaFit Level One trainee to perform 8 hours of practice teaching in a community service setting before receiving a Certificate of Completion. Our trainees have brought the practice and benefits of Yoga to seniors in long term care homes, stressed-out corporate executives, cancer patients and survivors, disabled persons, incarcerated persons, terminally ill persons, children, mentally challenged individuals and military servants, just to name a few.

The Community Service Program gives our trainees the opportunity to practice their new teaching skills in a less stressful environment with an appreciative audience. As the thousands of letters we receive in our corporate office, state, volunteering time and energy has proven to be the most rewarding experience for many of our Trainees. YogaFit is dedicated to this work as it promotes the essence of giving and sharing freely.

YogaFit encourages and supports the philosophy of “Conscious Business”. In this Millennium we believe the companies that are socially responsible will prosper from good will and good karma. Together we are changing the paradigm of what it means to do good business… really good business.