YYC is a commnuity !!! I received a phone message from the owner of One Cycle spin studio today. It was troubling. And it gave me pause for some reflection. I am in the Yoga and soon to be in the Spin Cycle business. Her phone message prompted me to remember the deeper meaning behind why we are in the yoga and fitness business. The thought that resonates with me most, as to why we do this, is we want to make the world a better place, and allow people to be connected through whatever form and level of fitness they aspire to.
This morning my fiancé and I thought it would be prudent to get a feel for our community standard for spin cycle classes, so we set out to visit some studios. We were excited to visit a different spin studio in Kensington. The moment we entered the Kensington studio we felt an amazing energy. The owners of the studio greeted us, welcomed us, even while they knowingly said "aren't you are the owners of the new spin and yoga studio opening in the Fall". Words are hard to find to express the welcoming feeling and spirit of community that greeting evoked. Their kind reception harkens back to, why do we do this? "To make the world a better place, and allow people to be connected through whatever form and level of fitness they aspire to..." What else can be said of the other spin studio in Kensington but that you have to love their studio and the spirit of their studio. It is no surprise they are such an incredible success.
But with much regret, but there is purpose in repeating that we had the opposite experience later the same day in the phone message from One Cycle. Before getting the phone message our first thoughts on One Cycle were, "beautiful premises and friendly people working at the front desk". The class was led by an amazing instructor with great energy and apparent experience and training. He is a truly amazing young man. We loved his energy, his spirit, and enjoyed his class very much. And knowing from experience that very very rarely is an instructor is hired for a 40 hour full time week, and most instructors work a number of studios, I gave him my contact information. In about 2 hours I recieved the following message:
"Hi this is [_______] calling the owner of One Cycle, ummm, I realize that today you took a class and you approached MY instructor [______], to come and work for you and that is very disrespectful and unprofessional, so please do not come into my space, and ummm try and recruit my staff, because ummm, that is just not how, ummm you treat each other, if you have any questions you can give me a call, its [___________] and once again its [_______] the owner of One Cycle, and ummm, yeah thanks, bye".
It saddens me to observe the emotions behind this message which perhaps include fear and anger and an even deeper solitary focus on profit, greed and competition. Those things have for too long had such a stifeling effect on the growth of community spirit in the fitness business in Calgary. Recently we went to see some spin studios in San Francisco, and after expressing to them why we were there, we received a warm greeting and a full invitation to view all their facilities. It is truly a shame One Cycle has no apparent interest outside profit and competition. It is hoped that at some point One Cycle will develop the ability to work together with other members in the fitness community for the sake of building that community and for a few brief moments leave aside their focus on profit. Hope one day we all cen celebrate YYC beautiful spirit together ,Comepassion and love energy to the owner of One Cycle . read more