Hello there! My name is Hope and I am ⅓ of the group H.A.X. We are working with Austin Prenatal Yoga and their problem is that in their prenatal yoga classes they lack ethnic diversity. Our guiding questions are Why do certain demographic groups participate more in prenatal yoga than others? AND How can we increase the awareness of and appeal about prenatal yoga to increase diversity of class participants?
H.A.X. recently asked our contact Ms. Young the founder of Austin Prenatal Yoga to list the different ethnic groups that attend her yoga classes. Ms. Young responded with the following: Percentage of ethnic groups currently attending Caucasian 81%, Indian 8%, Hispanic 7%, Asian 2%, African-American 1%, Arab 1%, and Other 1%. We were shocked to say the least. How is it that in a big diverse city such as Austin with a population of over 931,830 there is still a lack in the ethnic diversity in things such as Prenatal Yoga classes? Why was there so little representation of the other ethnicities/races? Since learning of this H.A.X. has become very eager to help Austin Prenatal Yoga gain more ethnic diversity.
We have through long and hard on how to help Ms. Young solve this problem that is occurring in her yoga studio. We have learned that the first step in solving any problem is not to start coming up with solutions right off the bat, but it is to understand the problem itself and figure out why the problem itself is happening. We (H.A.X) have come up with many possibilities as to why there is a lack of ethnic diversity in prenatal yoga classes and we came up with the following: there is not enough awareness about APY, their location may not be convenient, classes might not correspond with mother’s schedule, etc.
H.A.X. has been coming up with ideas to help Austin Prenatal Yoga get more ethnic diversity in their classes and we have come up with our main solutions. Our main solution to help APY is to advertise; to spread the word about Austin Prenatal Yoga and encourage more ethnic diversity through making informational posters, and using the many social media platforms. Currently Ms. Young uses Yelp and Google reviews. Austin Prenatal Yoga has a Facebook page and we will make more social media accounts such as Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. We will update and modernize their Facebook profile and post more about why women should attend prenatal yoga classes at APY, and the benefits yoga has on their overall pregnancy .H.A.X. plans to target areas where there is a higher population of minorities such as East and South Austin. In these areas we plan to put up our posters that will include facts and information about Austin Prenatal Yoga. We will place these posters in areas pregnant women frequently go such as the grocery stores, clinics, Ob Gyn, WIC, Planned Parenthood, etc. We will translate these informational posters into other languages such as Spanish so we can target more of the Hispanic community in Austin.
We hope that we can measure our success by having Ms. Young fill out another survey after we have done our advertising. She will record if Austin Prenatal Yoga has more participants and how many of the women who attended are not Caucasian. We will also survey the new mothers who attended the APY classes and find out how they initially found out about the classes and see if any of our advertising methods have had any impact. On social media we can check our success by seeing if there has been more people who have checked out our pages or even followed or liked the pages and compare these numbers before and after advertising.
From working on this project I myself have become very interested with the idea of prenatal yoga. I like that APY is giving women these type of opportunities to practice something that could help them so much with their pregnancy in terms of an easier, more comfortable and less painful labor. I would definitely recommend Austin Prenatal Yoga to mothers who want to have a more comfortable labor and who also want to become healthier physically and mentally. When I am older and if I plan to have children I would be totally interested in taking up prenatal yoga classes now that I know the benefits it has on both the mother’s mind and body. I was first introduced to Yoga when I was in the 6th grade and my feelings about yoga have changed drastically over the course of the years. At first I had very strong feelings against yoga, I thought it was a complete waste of time and it wouldn’t help me. But when school started to get overwhelming I decided to participate to see if it would help relieve any of my stress and it turns out yoga did so much more. Whenever I had a rough day or lots of homework I would look forward to yoga to help me relax my mind and body; focus on my breathing and to take a break from reality. Overall yoga has helped me so much become in tune with both my mind and body, and I am just a student. Imagine how much stress a pregnant women might be going through carrying around her baby in her large stomach, having constant body aches and pains, and even strange cravings. I believe that every pregnant women should have the opportunity to take prenatal yoga classes to better their pregnancy, relieve stress and tension, stay in shape, and connect with their baby. I am glad that there is a place like Austin Prenatal Yoga where they give women a chance to do exactly that.
StarPathDesign 
Hello Hope! I really enjoyed reading your blog post. After you stated the percentages of the ethnic diversity in Prenatal yoga, I was also really surprised. I can’t wait to see what your group, H.A.X, will come up and make a change by having more diversity in classes. I think its a good idea to hang up posters around Austin. This will help more mothers go to Prenatal Yoga and encourage more diversity in class. Your blog post is filled with information and I learned a lot about how you feel about yoga and this project. Your group is working on something very important and I know you will be successful in creating more diversity! Good Job!
– Ashwara P.
Hey Hope! Great job on your blog post, I really liked how you jumped right into who you were working with and what the problem is. I also really like how you put in some statistics, like the ethnic diversity percentages I thought it was a good idea to put that so the reader can actually see a piece of the problem. I can’t wait to see some of your groups advertisements and the whole outcome!
– Elie T.
Woah, nice job Hope!
I really enjoyed reading your post, as well the progress you have made. The fact that you included the information you learned is very helpful to me as a reader. The numbers are a bit staggering though, so I’m glad your group is taking on this problem.I think your project is very relevant because mothers of different ethnicities and cultures should reap the benefits of prenatal yoga. This was a very well-written account. It’s so cool to see what you guys have in mind, and I’m excited to see what you guys have in store in the weeks to come! Good luck
Great Job Hope! After reading your post, I felt really informed about your project. Considering the fact that your blog provided a lot of great information, it made your problem seem like something that really needs to be solved. Throughout your post, you provided evidence given to you by Ms. Young as well as your personal experiences to explain why this problem is important which helps create a strong sense of passion on your behalf. I also really enjoyed how you explained how you will know if your solutions helped solve the problem. After reading your post, I have a few question that I hope you could answer. First, what percentage of the current ethnic groups are first time participants and how does this affect their participation in any future enrollment? All in all, I would like to say that I really enjoyed your blog post. Great job!
-Yoselin R.
After taking the time to read your blog post, I was able to tell the main problem and the solution you are wanting to provide. Personally, I felt like your blog post was very informational and you provided brief explanations of your plan and your progress. Same as you, those percentages of diversity were surprising to me, and by providing the statistics you emphasized your point. Overall, your blog post was very good and I can’t wait to see the outcome of your project.
Crystal R.