According to a study published by Yoga Journal in December 2012, there are more than 20 million yogis in the USA.
As a result that industry accounts for $10.
3 billion per year in the country.
Even better, 44% of yogis surveyed for the study call themselves "aspirational yogis" so there's enough room for expansion in future.
These figures don't seem shabby and it's great to hear that more and more people are becoming interested in yoga.
But here's a more interesting tidbit that attracted my eyes:

Top five reasons for starting yoga practice are desire of flexibility (78.
3 percent), general conditioning (62.
2 percent), stress relief (59.
6 percent), improved overall health (58.
5 percent) and improved physical fitness (55.
1 percent).

It's great to hear the reasons for which people decide to practice yoga.
It's also tell us that what people do think about yoga outside the yoga community.
It seems like we're doing a great job of touting yoga as a flexibility increaser, health booster and stress killer.
But at the same time it seems as if we're forgetting (or ignoring) the other less told but deeper benefits of yoga in our communications? Nearly all of us know that the benefits of yoga are endless.
There is a lot more than flexibility to practice in yoga.
There are several benefits more important than the physical benefits.
From increased self-confidence to better relationships to increase focus and so on.
But how many people join a yoga class for strengthening their relationships? Or how many join it for becoming more emotionally stable? I think very few, if any.
However, there's also one other part of the story that I'm talking about - even if yoga would've been advertised in this way, I doubt that very few non-yogis would believe it.
Do you know why? Because it sounds far-fetched.
If I would've titled this article that a series of yoga poses can change your whole life then would you be reading this piece right now? Most probably not.
Until you experience that transformation yourself you're less likely to trust it.
And it's the best part of yoga's magic-new students join the class to stretch their hamstrings, and surprisingly they find a beautiful philosophy and supportive community too.
So here's the bottom line - it doesn't matter what's the reason behind joining a yoga class, what matters is achieving the result that you expected.