In 2004, newly single Nettwerk Music Group CEO Terry McBride started doing yoga as a way to meet women.

Four years later, he is now a founding partner of YYoga, what will soon be a chain of yoga studios throughout southern British Columbia and across the country.

Yoga studio as pick-up joint may seem a little out of step with the ancient practice, but as it moves further into the mainstream, one thing is clear: it sure ain't Gandhi's yoga anymore.

Julia Roberts was once famously quoted as saying that she took up the practice because she was envious of the "yoga butt" sported by her yoga-devoted friends.

Padma, YYoga's director of meditation and yogic studies, says that's just part of the mindset of the modern-day yogi.

"Any excuse is fine. And whatever you get out of it is fabulous," Padma said.

"It's totally up to you to choose what suits you. If you want a beautiful butt then you just come and get that butt."

"But if you also want to have fabulously happy mind, we can give you some skills for that as well. So you can have a fabulous butt and a fabulous mind."

YYoga is just the newest of a new crop of yoga studios that are more akin to wellness centres for the variety of services they offer.

They are led by devotees who have a little more business savvy than your average yogi. These yoga centres appeal to thepractitioner who's squeezing Ashtanga classes between work, the kids' dance recitals and getting the housework done.

"We see YYoga studios as being third spaces where like-minded people gather, very much like a local community centre," McBride said.

"This can be to practice yoga, have a massage or just for tea. It's important that the mantra of Pure Freedom be realized in our studios. It's about respecting yoga's many lineages versus being constrained by them."

Business background a new twist

McBride, whose record label is home to musicians such as Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne and the Barenaked Ladies, figures that his business background has allowed him to create a studio that will appeal to the part-time yogi.

He started YYoga based on, "The belief that more people would do yoga (thus making the world a better place) if the facilities, customer service and sense of community were better realized."

In fact, Padma believes that yoga studios that include instruction in the many other facets of yoga -- including breath work, meditation and philosophy -- are not only in keeping with the varied scope of the practice, but also perfectly suited to 21st century life.

"Our culture is becoming more and more stressed and pressured and people just don't function well under high stress," Padma, who has been practicing yoga since 1982, said.

"The exercise itself is complementary to almost every other sport as far as I can tell as far as strength, stretch, flexibility, core strength, all those things. And the meditation and philosophy, that translates into everything: your relationships, your business world, your personal happiness. It's not an isolated practice. It is a cultivating practice that helps everything else that you might do in your life."

Athletes who are diversifying their careers by opening gyms or fitness studios are certainly tapping this trend. At Vancouver's Steve Nash Sports Club, the entire third floor is devoted to a wide array of yoga and pilates classes.

And in Vaughan, Ont., just north of Toronto, former WWE wrestler Trish Stratus has just opened a yoga studio called Stratusphere Yoga. Stratus became a yoga devotee after it dramatically improved a back injury that she suffered in the ring.

It's also no coincidence that these studios are being built according to environmentally friendly standards, ensuring that they meet the current consumer demand for all things green.

Padma believes that offering people what they are looking for is only in keeping with the true spirit of yoga.

"If you look at the whole umbrella program of all yoga has to offer, from physical exercise to philosophy and meditation and the subtler arts, there's such a spectrum of skills and tools and information that at any time in your life, no matter what you're going through, there's something there to draw on. And so the more we have to offer people, the better."