Stuart Harrison on Yoga as an Institution

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Stuart Harrison and his wife Danielle left rewarding careers in corporate training and development to chase a lifelong vision of a wellbeing centre that helps people transform their lives through yoga and fitness. They opened the Western Wellness Centre in 2009 on shaky early footing, then about two weeks in they stepped out to get married, came back, and have worked seven days a week since.

Fifteen years on, the numbers stack up to over 20,000 yoga classes delivered to public and private students, alongside a long stream of teacher trainings, public workshops, prenatal and children’s yoga, and a fair number of sound spas. COVID arrived as the lowest point of the run, and Stuart describes the period as an ending which turned out to be a rebirth. They closed when everyone else closed and used the time to rebrand the studio, slightly rename it, change the logo, and bring in new functional fitness classes that would set up what they think of as the next fifteen-year chapter.

Western Wellness, like yoga, is an institution. Stuart sets that against the fads, the mindful movements, and the viral content on social media that comes and goes, and his counter is a robust system focused on delivering for the customer, every single day, every single week, every single month, every single year. He grants the answer sounds plain, and reckons it is what has made the business successful.

The next fifteen years involve a new franchise system he and Danielle have built off the back of the first stretch. In Stuart’s reading, the recipe for success is a credible brand, a proven operating system, and what he calls a “real undying enthusiasm” for helping people change their lives. The people he wants to speak to about the franchise are those carrying the same passion for the work.