Yoga Yoga Everywhere
Big changes coming to local donation-based yoga studio Black Swan
If you're a fan of donation-based Black Swan Yoga, expect to see some changes to the studio over the next few months. Onnit, an Austin-based lifestyle and fitness company, announced on Tuesday that it has acquired the beloved studio with hopes to expand its unique, community-oriented practice.
According to a press release, Onnit does not plan to change the structure of the studio, which offers yoga classes based on a donation model. Instead it will add additional fitness classes, supplements and food, and athletic apparel.
"The goal of this acquisition is not to change Black Swan Yoga," said Onnit CEO Aubrey Marcus in a press release. "The goal is to support it with what we do best at Onnit, and bring it to a bigger stage."
In addition to infusing Black Swan studios with Onnit gear, the yoga shop will also play host to Onnit fitness classes. The method, which was developed by Marcus here in Austin, incorporates "unconventional fitness tools and methodologies, incorporating kettlebells, sandbags, maces, steel clubs and more" into the training. (The studio already has "BSY Fit" which is a boot camp-style class followed by a 15-minute yoga practice.) Black Swan classes will also be taught at Onnit's Academy Gym, which is set to open in South Austin later this month.
Black Swan's founder and president Michael Grey hinted that this partnership could mean even bigger things for the studio, which currently has its own online channel along with four locations in Austin and one in Houston.
"We believe that there is more to life than just yoga and if anything yoga only helps make everything in life that much better," Grey said. "The team at Onnit have built an amazing foundation for the teachers at Black Swan to succeed and share this practice with the people of this amazing planet."