Yoga Journal - What It Is And What It Does
Yoga Journal is a major media player. They publish a magazine, have a website, DVDs, and host several major conferences a year with the top yoga teachers, with topics of yoga, health and nutrition, fitness, fashions, etc.
How It Came To Be
"Yoga Journal" began in May 1975, by the Holistic Life Foundation. (It was later renamed as "The Feathered Pipe Foundation" in association with the California Yoga Teachers Association.) Janis Paulsen Silver and William Staniger were the two founding editors. Their goal was to make a magazine that would bring together the growing yoga community, and provide "material that combines the essence of classical yoga with the latest understanding of modern science."
By about twenty years later, the mid-1990's, yoga had gotten much greater popularity in America. The circulation for the magazine reached 66,000. In the fall of 1998, the magazine was bought by John Abbott, who was an avid yogi. He brought in a new editor-in-chief, and in January 2000, they totally redesigned and relaunched the magazine. Since they came on the scene, the circulation has grown from 90,000 to 350,000. Currently, the reader base is over a million.
Yoga Journal has won five consecutive awards through Western Publications Association - the Maggie Awards for "Best Health and Fitness Magazine." In 2007, they won the Awards "Best Overall Consumer Publication" - which is their top honor. Additionally, Yoga Journal has won four Folio Editorial Excellence Awards for "Best Health and Fitness Magazine" in the country.
In September 2006, Yoga Journal was bought by the publisher Active Interest Media. They publish other consumer enthusiast titles such as Vegetarian Times, Black Belt Magazine, and Southwest Art Magazine.
Forbes magazine says that Yoga Journal's website is "The Web's most expansive and impressive Yoga site".
Each issue of Yoga Journal features several in-depth stories on the themes of wellness,
fitness, fashion and beauty, food and nutrition, and, of course, yoga. There are also several recurring columns: "Basics" - about the basics of yoga, "Eating Wisely" - about the connections between food, health, and spirit. "Home Practice" - about doing yoga at home. "Master Class" - with in-depth information for the advanced yogi. "Media" - reviews and discusses the latest and most noteworthy of all media offerings. "Om" - about trends, news, fashion, etc. "Wellness" - about herbal remedies, bodywork, Ayurvedic medicine, nutrition, and other national healing modes. "Wisdom" - about how yoga philosophy can enrich one's life. "Travel" - writers exploring themselves while traveling the world.
"Yoga Journal" is now published around the world. Editions are published in China, Italy, Spain, Russia, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Brazil.
