Online Startup Tailors Yoga To Match Busy Schedules

When Ramesh Padala injured his back in a snowboarding accident a few years ago, he went to the chiropractor and tried acupuncture, but nothing seemed to work—until he rediscovered yoga.

Padala started practicing yoga on a regular basis, and now his back is in fantastic shape. To bring this life-changing discovery to other busy people like himself, Padala started YogaTailor.com, a website aimed to give busy folks an easy way to fit yoga into their day.

“It's hard to find a yoga studio when you want to do your yoga,” especially while traveling, said Padala, a Palo Alto resident who has traveled frequently for his work in the high tech industry for the past 16 years.

With YogaTailor, home practitioners can skip the drive to the gym and pull up their own customizable yoga routine right on their computer (or iPad or iPhone). “It's like Pandora,” Padala said, referring to the online radio website which learns users' music preferences through user behavior. “It starts adapting, learning that this is how you've been progressing.”

To begin, users denote specific criteria for their yoga, such as level of expertise, amount of time available and whether or not they have back pain or are pregnant. YogaTailor's software then designs a a practice fit for each individual user, combining “asanas,” or sequences, from a video library of 300. “You don't get bored, it's not like a DVD that you watch again and again,” said Padala.

The first 15 days function as a free trial for users, who can then pay $8 per month to continue their subscription with the San Francisco-based YogaTailor.

“As a long time yogi who fell out of practice for a year, it is good to be able to have a customized program without the stress of attending class or the apprehension that comes with being out of shape or no longer being able to do poses that were once so simple,” said one YogaTailor user, Roxanne.

Padala, who does angel investing in Palo Alto, graduated with a Masters in Computer Science from Stanford in 2000. In May 2010, he created the website, which went live in September. The site gets a few tens of thousands of visitors every month. “To be honest, I started it for fun and it got much more traffic than I originally expected,” said Padala, pointing out that the bulk comes from busy moms.

Blogs such as ParentConnect.com, Wired.co.uk, and Savvy Mom Canada have professed the YogaTailor gospel, encouraging frazzled moms and computer-strapped workaholics to take a break and practice some yoga in the comfort of their own home—pajamas welcome.

“The scriptures say you need to do yoga every day. For most of us, that's not possible,” says Padala, who recommends practicing three to four times a week, for as little as 10 minutes a day.

Padala thinks doing yoga regularly, even if for short periods of time, is more advantageous than one hour, once a week. “It's like charging your battery of your cell phone," he said. "I take only 10 to 15 minutes, but I feel much more energetic the whole day.”

In short term, yoga can reset your body and mind, said YogaTailor instructor Chikako Takeuchi. "It is sort of like hitting Ctrl, Alt, Del on your computer. Just by doing yoga, it brings you back to peaceful relaxed body and mind."

Takeuchi is one of the instructors who guides users through asanas in the instructional videos. "Yoga is one way to keep body and mind in alignment for life," she said. "Yoga is one of the few sports which there is no age limit... Even at an old age people can practice many postures at their comfortable level."

Padala recommends that those new to yoga begin by taking a half a dozen classes at a studio, where an instructor can correct form. “I wouldn't recommend coming to YogaTailor to learn until you get the hang of yoga," said Padala. "It's like golf—when you start learning things bad, it's very hard to correct it.”

Each YogaTailor video includes asanas of roughly three minutes each, including a breathing exercise (called Pranayama), warmup, the core yoga routines and relaxation. “The relaxation is very important,” said Padala. “When you do yoga, your body is giving out a lot of toxins. Most people think it's very easy, but it changes your immunity, your cardio system at a very basic level. You want that few minutes of rest for your body to process that.”

Padala emphasized the importance of the customizable factor for a yoga practice. “You can often go to YouTube or Vimeo and look for [yoga] videos, but sometimes it takes half an hour to find a video...and you have the liability factor—anyone can say anything,” he said.

Next up for YogaTailor: more instructors and TV streaming. Imagine choosing the YogaTailor channel on your TV, like Netflix—the bigger the screen, the more you can see how to do that envied crow pose, right?