Weaver said:
"I just wanted to comment on this from Etherfish, (not saying that you suggested it!) that I think it would be wrong to present AYP to the world with the intent to attract people to AYP, or trying to "sell" AYP, from only the perspective of some of its effects or "scenery" that may appeal to most people, for example to reduce stress, improve your sex life"
I don't see what's wrong with this. Most people will never figure out that God is what they really want. So if you had several commercials, starting with several "hooks", one to reduce stress, one to improve sex life, etc. and every one of them would end describing the true purpose of AYP, it would be honest, but giving them what they THINK they want.
So you are honestly selling them what they are asking for, and much better than the drugs or creams they already spend for. Then as a big bonus you show them what they really want.
Personally I don't like meditating in a group. I may not have experienced it fully yet, but I tried it once and didn't like it. i couldn't go as "deep" as I do by myself. I did like the people though.
nagoyasea said:
"Whether or not to franchise, whether or not to have dedicated centers run in a business manner is a topic to debate. It is a very expensive proposition. There are the setup costs. And trying to provide a family income from such a center in southern California would be very difficult indeed after business expenses are met. The same goes anywhere else the cost of living is very high. To provide the income to run a dedicated center may require steep tuition charges for student"
This is the same environment I live in, here in Denver, Colorado. The best way to run something like this would be on a non-profit basis. The person who owns a non-profit can earn an income from it as long as the business doesn't make a profit. That's how churches are run. I don't know if you can do that as a franchise or not. If not, there are probably other legal words you could use that would accomplish the same thing.
I visited a zen center in Seattle Washington that was used as primarily a meditation center. It was non-profit, and jointly owned by two different zen groups that had different philosophies. It was built out of a house where members had donated labor and materials to remodel it. of course zoning laws had to be checked. They both share in making payments on the house, and they each use it half the time by splitting the schedule.
One person's name is primarily on the loan documents, and they have legal agreements with the others. There is one main room with a shiny wood floor and entirely surrounded by black zabuton cushions with a black zafu cushion on top. The room is usually dark, but with sconce lights around the walls on a dimmer. Each member brings whatever else they need if they don't like what's there. Each member pays $15 a month but they are free to bring a friend for free.
I imagine someone had to come up with a down payment and someone has to take responsibility for the maintenance and bills. i know another non-profit that has maintenance taken care of by members who are short of money.
It might be possible to build AYP centers in areas like ours like this. All it takes is one person with the $20,000 down payment. And some kind of agreement that $1 per member per month or whatever would be sent to Yogani.