Transparency and Sustainability in Yoga Teaching

Facts and figures

In about 1999, I remember a yoga teacher (who now runs a successful yoga teaching business) saying to a friend who had asked this person to cover their class: “I wouldn’t get out of bed for £30 per hour”. I started teaching yoga two years later (autumn 2001) and I did get out of bed for £30 per hour – that was a standard rate of pay for yoga teachers in most gyms/studios.

Now, 22 years later, that standard hourly rate for teaching yoga is still about the same: £30. A few places less, such as Virgin Active, where the average hourly rate is about £28, and other places I know of that pay £25 per hour. Some places pay more, such as The Arc in north London (£40/hour) and Third Space (where there are several different pay rates, including £60 for a one-hour class).

To give this some context, let’s look at some examples for then (2001) / and now (2023).
• Cost of buying a house in the UK (avg): £90,000 / £290,000
• Litre of petrol: £0.80 / £1.40
• First class stamp: £0.27 / £1.10
• Loaf of bread (avg): £0.50 / £1.30
• Pint of beer: £2.04 / £4.23

Numerous costs have gone up substantially in these last 20 plus years. However, pay rates for yoga teachers (plus plenty of other people) have stayed about the same. One teacher told me that it was “financial suicide” teaching yoga. I like the succinctness of that statement.

Strange hybrids

Yoga teaching is a strange hybrid of doing work that we love, particular lifestyles, spiritual practices, earning money and unequal power relationships. Though yoga might be written on the packet, there certainly are sharks, crooks and businesses with dubious ethics swimming in these yogic seas. Yogaland is a mix of corporatisation, independent yoga teachers with classes in community centres, YouTube yoga (the biggest being Yoga With Adriene; she has 12 million subscribers and is estimated to make more than $2 million a year from her YouTube channel), online streaming services, yoga in prisons, yoga in schools and much more.

In words from Jess Glenny: “this is the rich compost of yoga teaching”. A wide spectrum that goes from yoga celebrity stars making considerable amounts of money to impoverished teachers who are barely managing to experienced teachers who are choosing to stop teaching because of poor pay rates. A wide spectrum that includes attitudes such as it is ‘unspiritual’ to talk about money, somewhat optimistic views like ‘the universe will provide’ and collaborative co-operating.

It is estimated that there are about 10,000 people teaching yoga in the UK. Some areas have significant concentrations, such as Brighton with about 800 teachers. In my experience, I would say that at least 90% of this 10,000 are freelance/self-employed. It is estimated there are about 25,000 yoga classes a week and more than 500,000 people regularly practice yoga in the UK.

An approximation is that in the last 10 years, perhaps about 15,000 people in the UK have trained as yoga teachers; this figure is based on the fact that just two training organisations (YogaLondon and Yogacampus) qualified over 5000 people as teachers since 2013. Plus there are all the trainings by British Wheel of Yoga teachers, Sivananda Yoga, Triyoga, MoreYoga, Indaba, the numerous independent yoga schools…it does add up.

Transparency

Transparency of pay rates for yoga teachers is essential. When pay rates are shrouded in secrecy, it means questioning and challenging is much harder, particularly for newer teachers. In plenty of other occupations, pay rates are public information.

Two large yoga studios have recently opened in London: Love Supreme Project and Mission. Both these studios have lots of yoga equipment and excellent facilities. Both have publicly stated that their yoga teachers’ pay rates are amongst the highest. I wrote to both studios, requesting details on their pay rates; Love Supreme Project replied that they split the pay 50/50 with their teachers and all teachers receive a guaranteed minimum payment of £50 per class, with the average pay exceeding £100 per class. Despite writing twice, I received no response from Mission.

A teacher at Mission told me that they had to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) which prevented them from discussing how much they were being paid. These agreements are well-known as ways for people in positions of power to control the workers and workplace. Actress Ruth Wilson stated: “I don’t think there should be any NDAs. If there’s a problem, there’s a problem. It needs to be dealt with, not put under NDA so you can’t speak about it.” NDAs are about protecting the powerful by restricting the flow of information and being an obstacle to people speaking up.

Love Supreme Project and Mission are to be congratulated for increasing yoga teachers’ pay rates. From what I have been told, Mission has variable pay rates (which include £50 per hour) plus a per head rate (£1.50 1 to 15 students; £1.75 16 to 25 students). A teacher at Mission on that rate of £50 would receive £65 for a one-hour class with ten students. This is an excellent rate of pay which needs to be widely celebrated.

However, it is disappointing that some studios refuse to publicly say exactly how much they are paying. Being transparent is more than saying: “I want to be very open about teachers’ pay rates…it is all very transparent” (interview with Genny Wilkinson, co-founder of Mission, on J Brown’s podcast, March 2023).

Sometimes getting blood out of a stone is easier than getting information out of some yoga studios on their pay rates. Why is there this secrecy, why the aversion to making this data public? In my view, it comes down to power and control – when surely yoga practices are about empowering practitioners and transforming lives?

Extra work

At large studios such as Mission and Triyoga, teachers are expected to post on social media before each class they teach. In the words of a Triyoga manager writing to teachers on (13 January 2023): “We would appreciate you to support triyoga on social platforms”. All this extra work adds up. All the extra work involved in addition to teaching time ― class preparation, arriving early to the studio, answering questions from students, the admin of being self-employed and more ― means that a more accurate figure for the hourly rate for teaching is only one-third of what is stated. So if the hourly rate is £30, it is actually only about £10 per hour.

Like nearly all working people, what we as yoga teachers are paid is intrinsically connected to our sustainability. Being able to sustain ourselves means that we can have the potential to become better teachers (you cannot train experience, you can only experience the actual reality of teaching, that understanding of rubber on road). Being able to sustain ourselves means that rather than rushing around teaching too many classes and thus becoming burnt-out and broken, we actually walk our own talk: of self-care and looking after our own health. The current pay model means that often yoga teaching is restricted to those in privileged positions (for example, with financial security from elsewhere). A teacher with 15-years’ experience who has taught in ten studios across London recently wrote to me: “I’ve yet to ever receive a pay rise in any studio.”

It is vital to raise our aspirations as yoga teachers. We need to work together and ensure that support is more than a word and that transparency means being fully open about the finances of teaching yoga. This works in all directions. For example, it is only responsible and ethical that yoga teachers who run yoga TTs inform applicants about the financial realities of yoga teaching, unsexy and grim as it may be. Yoga teachers could collectively negotiate pay rates and they could withdraw their labour. Yoga teachers could be transparent to students about the disconnect between value of yoga and pay of teachers. Often, yoga students are shocked by the low pay rates. Consciously cultivating a sustainable work environment could mean that inclusivity becomes more than a mere slogan.

Support and solidarity

One large London centre states to its teachers: “You as teachers at London’s top yoga studios are the soul of the centres.” Sounds good. Sounds even better if these words are backed up by fair pay and pay rises that keep pace with inflation. Undoubtedly, many yoga studios struggle to survive with increasing energy costs and greater competition from a variety of different offerings (such as online and free content). Many yoga studios are run by yoga teachers and many yoga teachers are dependent on getting work through these studios. A person who ran a yoga studio for five years wrote to me: “I am a hard worker, but running my own studio was simply the hardest thing I ever did…There were sometimes simply too many challenges and not enough funds.” It is crucial that there is dialogue and open disclosure of circumstances as a way for all of us to be best supporting each other.

Many teachers know feelings of overwork and overwhelm, of crisis firefighting, the strain to just keep going. Contrary to some assumptions, teaching yoga is not all angels and flowers and rainbows and dancing pixies. Teaching yoga is frequently sold as a seeming freedom. However, the actual circumstances of teaching yoga is that behind the images of freedom are often challenging conditions. And it is not just about how much experience you have. Someone who has been teaching for 25 years told me about a retreat they had just taught: “It was hard work.”

Other models

Other models of working are possible, such as those found at Edinburgh Community Yoga, The Arc Centre and Highland Yoga Collective. One founding member of Highland Yoga Collective wrote to me: “Our yoga studio is a social enterprise, we don’t have shareholders so we use our profits to improve physical and mental health by offering wellbeing sessions that overcome barriers to participation (mental/physical/financial/societal and geographical). We offer ‘wellbeing with a social impact.’” One source of support for them has been the School for Social Entrepreneurs. It is good to look for ways of being actively supported.

This challenges and changes the current cultures of being disempowered and being disregarded – instead, prioritising inclusion, sustainability and equality. Individual disclosure of income and working methods by more successful yoga teachers is another way of modelling this. Small moves towards encouraging transparency and hopefully helping to both encourage realism and raise aspirations.

I know that some teachers worry about rocking the boat and can be frightened to speak up. Plenty of teachers are just grateful to be teaching. Yet some boats are sinking and the fact is we can neither eat gratitude nor will gratitude on its own sustain us. Someone who has taught for many years wrote to me: “It is so easy to forget the value of the work that we do when we don't see it valued by the industry…I feel very sad that one day I may need to bow out of this line of work because it is simply not financially sustainable.” The unfortunate reality is that often it is teachers’ interests that are being most neglected in yoga teaching equations.

So make sure your work and your creativity is valued; know that doing it together is more sustainable and more viable than doing it alone. Make sure you charge appropriately if you are teaching corporates or privates. I know teachers who charge £100 for a one-hour corporate class. Make sure to speak with other yoga teachers – support and solidarity are crucial for us to survive in this highly individualised culture. Make sure you support bodies that stand up for our interests as teachers, such as the Yoga Teachers Union. Breaking silences and building bridges are vital practices in yoga teaching.

Norman Blair
1 June 2023


Thank you to the ten other yoga teachers I showed this article to. I appreciate their feedback and their advice – a good example of hive mind and collective working.