Airport opens yoga room

Travellers in Northern California can now find their inner calm in the Yoga Room at San Francisco International Airport. The quiet, dimly lit studio officially opened last week in a former storage room just past the security checkpoint at SFO's Terminal 2. Airport officials believe the 150-square-foot room with mirrored walls is the world's first airport yoga studio, said spokesman Mike McCarron. Article continues below The room, open to all ticketed passengers, contains a few chairs and yoga mats but no instructors or televisions. No shoes, food, drinks or cell phones are allowed. "Silence is appreciated," says a sign spelling out "Yoga Room Etiquette." The Yoga Room is just the latest example of how airports are trying to improve the passenger experience and showcase their regional culture, noting the ancient practice's popularity in the San Francisco Bay area, said Debby McElroy, executive vice president of Airports Council International-North America. In recent years, airports have upgraded their food and shopping venues and added massage parlours, nail salons, dry cleaners and pet hotels, McElroy said, but SFO is the first to add a yoga room in North America and probably the world. "I expect other airports will be looking at whether a yoga room at their airport makes sense," McElroy said. SFO officials say the idea came from a passenger who checked out the newly remodelled terminal last year and told Airport Director John Martin it was lacking one thing: a yoga room. Martin, a long-time yoga practitioner, agreed. Airport managers spent $15,000 to $20,000 (Dh55,050 to Dh73,500) to turn the storage space into the yoga studio.