1:14 - Introduction of Siv Havik

2:37 - Students mostly pay the donation minimum but a few do pay more as they can.  Norway's good economy and support makes it possible for some to donate more.

6:15: Siv began the studio because she could not afford to go to yoga classes as much as she wanted to and she has a strong desire to provide diversity in her town regarding yoga. She wanted to make it possible for everyone that may be interested in participating in yoga to find a place to do so. They have several 1000 members now.

9:00 Teachers come to Siv to volunteer their time and Siv has not had to recruit teachers. Siv was the original teacher and she taught two classes with a donation-based focus. She rented a space for each class and only had to cover the cost of the rent for each class. As the concept grew, Siv acquired a space for the donation-based studio and teachers began volunteering to give classes in their specialties. So their schedule is very diverse with many different yoga specialties and different times. It remains donation based and the donations are used to maintain the studio. One offering is medical yoga which is more accepted as a modality to help those recovering or for certain illnesses. 

14:30 - As the studio processes were put into place and many things became routine, Siv found she had extra capacity. She decided to start the first Yoga Festival in her town of Stavanger, Norway. All the proceeds go to charities to stop child marriage and sex slavery. There are villages in Nepal that are just brothels and children work in these brothels. Siv and the studio work with charities that provide orphanages for these children or work with very poor villages that sell their children to pimps. The charity provides schools and help for these villages. 

18:30 - Benefits to the community of the donation-based model. It allows a lot of people that wouldn't consider yoga classes because of the cost to access yoga. It creates diversity as many different kinds of yoga are offered by different teachers teaching their specialties. Classes are offered at diverse times. The studio, according to Siv, belongs to the students as much to Siv and the other teachers. 

What are the critical aspects to have a functioning donation-based studio: a) teachers work as volunteers, b) donation-based costs and c) diversity of offerings and class times. Siv also suggests that at the beginning start with a small number of classes and low cost for rent, etc.

33:28 Siv's dream is to have donation-based studios spread to other places and countries. If anyone would like to start a donation-based studio, Siv offers to be a resource to them to help them get started.

Contacts:

email: naanorskkurs@gmail.com

website: www.yogastavanger.no

FB: www.facebook.com/yogastavanger/