 "Photo: Ramona Flume")
Throughout its 19-year history, the University Yoga Club, which offers free classes, has managed to coexist with fee-supported exercise programs on campus.
A TeXercise Pass, which allows students to take any of the 120 classes that UT RecSports offers weekly, costs $70.
"As far as I can tell, the club does not interfere with sales at Gregory [Gymnasium]," said neuroscience graduate student Chris Palmer, the club's vice president. The yoga club, though, offers a way for students discouraged by the price of RecSports' TeXercise Pass to participate in classes.
The club's classes, open to all at the University, focus on meditation and stretching. Palmer said seasoned athlete Peter Fleury has been leading classes and volunteering with the club since the late 1980s.
"He has done quite a service for the people of UT," Palmer said.
Palmer estimated that between 10 and 25 people attend each class.
Jennifer Speer, RecSports associate director, said classes at the gym normally reach their 40-person capacity at the beginning of the semester and then level off to about 25 per session.
Jenny Boyd, a 2007 graduate, said she attends the yoga club's sessions because they are free. Boyd has been attending since her freshman year and said she would rather attend the club's classes than others she has tried off campus.
"These yoga sessions are more relaxing and spiritual as opposed to being just about exercising," Boyd said.
Speer said she has not seen problems develop between the club and RecSports regarding the club's free classes.
"We are not worried about it. This campus is big enough for both. What the University Yoga Club does is great for the community," she said.
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