A conference in Hollywood will show the nation what many South Floridians already know: South Florida is experiencing a yoga boom.

Even during the recession, new yoga studios were opening up; at least 12 opened in Broward and Palm Beach counties in 2009 and 2010 alone. Most are flourishing, with an assortment of styles and levels of challenge offered for every age group: hot yoga, paddleboard yoga, yoga at school, acrobatic yoga, chair yoga for seniors with limited mobility and lunchtime yoga at corporate headquarters.

"Yoga studios are popping up everywhere," said Leslie Glickman, 48, owner of Yoga Journey in Boca Raton. "Our market is exploding, like Los Angeles and New York."

Along with many of South Florida's yoga instructors and students, Glickman will attend the Yoga Journal Florida Conference at the Westin Diplomat Hotel and Spa in Hollywood, a four-day convention beginning Oct. 31 that brings some of the country's most famous instructors and offers a taste of trends that are making it big nationally. Hiking yoga, anyone? How about yoga and chocolate?

"South Florida is up and coming, an emerging yoga market," said Elana Maggal, Yoga Journal's event director. "There has been a lot of interest. Enrollment is strong."

Yoga Journal offered South Florida conventions in 2008 and 2010, but the recession and scheduling problems kept enrollment under 1,000, Maggal said. The magazine kept monitoring the market, observed the opening of numerous new yoga studios and decided to restart its South Florida conventions, booking the Diplomat annually through 2016. Maggal said 1,300 to 1,500 participants are expected; 69 percent are from South Florida.

A 2012 study by Yoga Journal found 20.4 million Americans practice yoga, up 29 percent from 2008. And they seem to have money: Yogis spend $10.3 billion a year on classes and gear, up from $5.7 billion in 2008.

Most practitioners are women, 82 percent, and the majority are youthful: 62.8 percent are ages 18 to 44.

Yoga Journal's conference is attracting famous names from the yoga world, including Rodney Yee, Seane Corn and Ana Forrest. Several South Florida instructors also will get a chance to show their styles to a national audience, including Rina Jakubowicz and Cat Haayen of Miami, Emily Large of West Palm Beach, and Kino Macgregor of Miami Beach.

Ernesto Bustamante, 44, a Fort Lauderdale instructor, will be at the convention to assist his beloved teacher, Aadil Palkhivala, who teaches Purna Yoga, a mixture of postures, meditation, breathing exercises and nutrition guidance.

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National conference showcases South Florida yoga boom