‘Is it ethical to charge money for yoga?’

This is such a layered, complex question. And honestly one hard to answer in post.

It’s something we talk about at length in our teacher training and during mentorships calls for yoga teachers.

But, I do have some ideas about it I’d like to share.

You see, I used to teach for free.

First of all because I was afraid to charge anything: I thought I first had to be really super extremely experienced to be able to charge any money.

I also thought yoga wasn’t in my Dutch roots, so who was I to charge for it (being afraid to culturally appropriate).

Lastly, I felt bad that yoga was so exclusive and wanted to make my classes free to create inclusivity and accessibility.

In essence these are all really valid points we should all consider.

Only, teaching for free wasn’t sustainable for my own energy at all. So I would end up either not sharing yoga or charging some money for it.

Also: barely anyone joined when my classes were free. People joined when I charged a (fair) price.

So here’s what I’d like you to ask yourself:

• why are you not charging any money for your classes?

  • might it be because you think you’re not good enough?

  • is it because you feel you’re not allowed as you are not from India?

  • is it because you think students only want free classes?

• why would yoga teachers not be allowed to charge for their classes and massage therapists / psychologists / school teachers / Ayurvedic Practitioners are?

• what would happen if you would continue to offer all your classes for free forever, how would that make you feel?

Here’s the thing: everything is an exchange of energy.
Sharing yoga is too.

When the output of you sharing yoga isn’t met with any input, you will burn out.

And yes I know you might think ‘but I love yoga so much I’m already getting enough back’.

That, in my experience, will only last for a while. I’ve seen it over and over in new teachers: they end up stopping because it doesn’t feel good anymore and they are left with empty inner batteries, or are afraid to actually start charging money as their students are used to free classes.

Unfortunately, the current method of exchange of energy in this world is money.

To quote my husband in my early teaching days: ‘well, we can’t pay our rent from your students being so happy with your classes.’ ; )

Does this mean we need to charge a crazy amount and make yoga inaccessible?

No.

I feel that those closest to the roots of yoga, who have been embodying the practice for lifetimes (like one of my teachers Indu Arora) should earn the most.

But for the rest of us, there are many ways to charge for your classes, but still create accessibility:

• equity pricing / sliding scale prices where those who can pay more, pay more, those who can’t, pay less

• scholarships for those not able to join your course / retreat

• create offerings like private classes that are more expensive and group classes with a lower price to create a balanced income

• having a donation based class on your schedule next to regular paid classes

How do you feel about this? Are you afraid to charge anything for your classes? I’d love to hear.

If you’d like to dive deeper, have a look at my mentorships.