05/10/2021
Worth another share ♡♡
The cost of Yoga.
This topic has recently come up to me quite a few times in different ways so I thought I would put my thoughts down on ‘paper’ and see what you guys think...
Recently I have heard a lot of people complaining about the price of yoga, whether it is for a public class, a private group class or a one on one session with your teacher. I even had a lady say to me the other day, after I offered her a discount on a private session, that it was still too much and how could anyone expect someone to pay that for an hour of yoga.
So from these past few encounters, I thought I’d try and show you what it is like from a teacher’s perspective.
To begin with, yoga is a holistic practise which many people – including doctors, healers and practitioners alike, firmly believe to have very positive benefits for those who practise it. Yoga has been proven to help with injuries in the body, to calm the mind, assist with expansion of the lungs and thereby increase the longevity of life, to improve circulation and flow of energy within stagnated and tight joints and muscles, to improve muscle tone and muscle flexibility, to bring strength to muscles, tendons, ligaments and even improve bone density, to maintain metabolism, and depending on the style of yoga can even assist with weightloss.
Many people are advised to try yoga as a means to bringing health and wellness to their lives and are often referred by doctors, psychologists and other medical professionals to yoga teachers to assist in trying to resolve whatever might be the problem.
Baring this in mind, think about the cost of medication these days, the cost to even see a GP for less than 15 minutes, let alone to be referred to and have to pay for a specialist. As yoga is an alternative type of ‘remedy’, it is often not the immediate go-to when sick or injured but it is definitely the referred-to remedy after everything else. And yet in my personal opinion, yoga has often had more positive effects on people and their ailments or illnesses than many other types of modern medicine and prescription drugs. How many specialists would you need to see if you suffered from all of the ailments I have listed above?
Placing this aside, a properly qualified yoga teacher would have had to start with the minimum of a 200 hour yoga teacher training. Yes – again these are popping up all over the place, at very discounted rates, but to complete an internationally recognised and certified training certificate costs a yoga teacher a fair amount of money. After they have completed this training, they usually have to complete a certain number of actual attendance hours in classes – again a cost to the teacher – when I was doing my 200 hour training, I had to complete 150 hours of yoga – actual physical yoga classes where the teacher would sign off on my attendance. 150 classes at however much $$ per class? All adds up. Not to mention the time it takes to complete this?
Besides the 200 hour yoga teacher training, many yoga teachers then want to complete more training to be able to better educate themselves to deal with the many different ailments, different body types, different styles of yoga on demand. Many go on to complete their 300 hour advanced yoga teacher training, making them 500 hour qualified. They complete different modules ranging from 50 hours to 150 hours all additional to the basic qualification required to even take a beginner yoga class. They can even go further than that and look into something like yoga therapy. Should a yoga teacher wish to register with Yoga Alliance International which is a voluntary organisation promoting the regulation and standards of yoga teaching, they too have to pay many $$ to even register.
Now putting ALL of the above aside...teaching yoga is not always a full-time job – how could it be? Most teachers teach when they can, where they can and set up classes and schedules with clients which are not always 100% set in stone. They are often self-employed and not paid by a studio unless it is a set salary, the gyms pay a certain amount per hour regardless of the number of students attending and very often teachers rely on unconfirmed numbers of students attending their classes as their main source of income. Sometimes, a teacher may even drive a distance to get to a class, costing them fuel and maintenance on their cars, only to have 1 or 2 students arrive...often having to pay a rental fee to the studio they’re teaching from and sometimes all of this can actually end up costing the teacher at the end of the day.
As yoga teaching is not a regular job, teachers only earn when they teach. If they have to cancel when sick or take time off for a holiday, exams, their other job – whatever it may be, if they don’t teach – they don’t earn. There is no sick leave, annual leave or bonus at the end of the year. There are no benefits like a company car, medical aid, pension, or retirement fund. What a yoga teacher earns is literally for the work they do – nothing more, and very often less. And yet they are required to have the same skills as a CEO running their own business.
Yes, times aren’t easy at the moment. Economies are up and down and life is expensive, but next time you’re keen to go to a class or start up a private session with a teacher you enjoy, maybe think twice before you ask to negotiate their rate? Yoga is beautiful, it’s for everyone and can drastically improve your well-being and your outlook on life – sometimes you have to sacrifice elsewhere to be able to afford the things you want.
Have a beautiful day and yoga on!
