This month we spoke to Lucy Alice Yoga in Bristol about her journey on Yuup.
Lucy firmly believes yoga can be enjoyed by everyone! Her events include cute puppy yoga classes and Flow & Feed, held in collaboration with many of Bristol's wonderful independent pubs & restaurants.
Read on to find out more!
Lucy Alice Yoga
Can you tell us about how you started hosting yoga events and your journey since offering classes?
Lucy: I was working fulltime in hospitality and just teaching a couple of yoga classes a week on the side. I launched my first event which was just a little yoga and drinks meetup in collaboration with a bar I was working at the time. I think the first one was only attended by 4 people and 2 of them were my friends. I was really nervous and thought it would be rubbish since it was so small but we ended up having such a good time! From then I knew I wanted to host events where I could bring people together.
About 9 months passed and I was still working full time, teaching on the side and hosting one of these yoga meetups a month. I’d seen puppy yoga was becoming a thing in London and couldn’t believe no one had brought it to Bristol yet. After asking basically everyone I’d ever met, taught yoga to, sat next to on the bus, if they knew anyone who might be having puppies I found someone and after a couple of chats in person he decided it sounded like a lovely way to socialise his pups and he’d be up for bringing them along to the sessions.
At this point I contacted Yuup who were already doing the tickets for my small yoga drinks meetup and within 5 days I’d sold I think about 60 tickets for my first weekend. And it just grew from there, I started doing more events, with and without puppies, picked up more studio classes, dropped down to part time hours at my job and then eventually fully self employed. I now run multiple events each month, have a pretty busy class timetable and have started hosting my own yoga retreats as well. It honestly feels a bit surreal but I’m so incredibly grateful everyday for what I do.
What obstacles did you encounter in bringing your yoga business from idea to reality?
Lucy: I didn’t really plan for this to become my full time job - when I did my yoga teacher training it was only because I loved the practice and wanted to learn more, I didn’t think I’d end up actually teaching.
I guess the hardest part was initially finding someone to trust me with their puppies for the puppy yoga classes! I made sure I really did my due diligence, I completed a canine first aid course, spoke with various vets and veterinary nurses who helped craft my welfare policies, phoned about 50 different insurance companies trying to find someone to insure what was obviously quite a niche type of activity.
Once I’d worked with the first litter I could say right I’ve done this, I definitely know what I’m doing, and from there it became easier to convince people to work with me. I’m super lucky now that most the time owners of litters reach out to me. I always go and meet the owner and the mum of the pups and spend a bit of time with the litter so they have a familiar face, well more like familiar smell, in the room when they first come to the sessions!
What led to the choice of the business name?
Lucy: It’s just my name haha, I’m not the most creative person. Alice is my middle name so Lucy Alice Yoga felt pretty easy.
You have such a diverse offering on Yuup, can you share how these collaborations have helped you?
Lucy: Combining yoga and movement with other cool activities I think has been such a good way to get people to try yoga who might not otherwise be up for giving it a go. If people are at a class with puppies but they don’t happen to have a pup snoozing on them at that moment they might start to follow along with what I’m doing at the front and maybe enjoy it more than they expected. It makes my heart happy when people come up to me at the end and say, "hey I came here to hang out with the puppies and had no intention of doing any of the movement but I actually loved the movement and can I come to your regular classes?"
The same with the Flow & Feed events, there might be one friend who loves yoga but in order to convince a friend who isn’t that keen on yoga for whatever reason to join, there’s a nice brunch on offer - it’s a way to get people to try this type of movement that can sometimes feel intimidating and then realise that maybe this is for them. The events are also a lovely way to make friends, sometimes yoga and barre can be quite solo activities, maybe there’s a 5 minute chat at the end of class before you run home, but having the space and time to really connect with people after class I think is such a nice thing.
I really do believe yoga can offer something to everyone who gives it a go and I love that a huge part of my job is to facilitate that.
How do you use social media to highlight your events? – Do you have a specific style that you go for? – Is there a preferred atheistic you use?
Lucy: I mainly use Instagram although I’m honestly a bit rubbish at it. I used to try and stick to certain colour schemes but I found this became an excuse to just post nothing because it wasn’t ‘the right vibe’. Sometimes I think it’s good to get content out there and don’t worry about being perfect. I post quite a lot of stories of me running all over Bristol, pre and post class, meeting with other businesses I’m planning to collaborate with, meetings with puppies, what I’m having for breakfast.
On my feed I generally post whatever I fancy, lots of videos of puppies which tends to help with engagement! I am actually going to train to be a chef at the start of next year for a couple of months in the South of France and so I want to get into posting foodie and recipe videos. It’s another thing currently sat on my very long to-do list.
How does Yuup's focus on unique experiences align with your yoga offerings, and what advantages does this partnership offer both parties?
Lucy: I love working with Yuup, they’ve been so supportive of me right from the start. Over the last few years I’ve had several other companies try to convince me to host with them instead and I’ve never felt any of them could come close to offering the service that Yuup does. Any issues that need sorting they get back to you straight away, even on weekends.
The back office system is so straightforward to use and the team are really helpful when I have questions about marketing and how to give my experiences a boost.
I love how the experiences Yuup offers feel really carefully selected to ensure they are things people would actually want to do and offer good value for money. If I have friends visiting Bristol or need to buy a gift for someone I often browse on Yuup so me using the platform to advertise my own events feels very authentic.
Do you have any tips for hosts starting with Yuup and marketing their experience online?
Lucy: Reach out and have the initial conversation to check you would be a good fit for each other. Check if your experience is unique (don’t be put off if it’s not, you might just need to focus on a different angle compared to your competitors) and that it aligns with the other types of things offered on Yuup. And then once your listing is live and ready to go, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Help with logistics, linking up with other businesses and hosts, or some ideas for marketing. There’s obviously lots of hosts they are looking after but the team are always super happy to help wherever they can.
What are your future plans, how do you envision your yoga business evolving in the coming years?
Lucy: I love what I currently do so I plan to keep doing it really. I’ve just started running yoga retreats which is my absolute dream job - hosting people off as well as on the mat! I mentioned before I'm running off to the south of France this time next year to do an intensive fine dining chef course. It will be great to offer up some of what I learn on my retreats but I would also love to host yoga supper clubs where the food is next level good - cooking is my biggest passion after movement so it feels like a nice thing to bring in, especially in a city like Bristol full of foodies!
