I was back at Teacher Training over the weekend after taking a break during July to focus on some theatre projects. I have to say I was a little nervous returning to training, as I’d let my home practice slip, but I needn’t have worried. It’s important to find time for regular practice but sometimes life just gets in the way and you can’t beat yourself up about it. All you can do is dive back in without judgement or negativity, reconnect with your practice and inspire yourself to get back on the yoga mat daily.

The Business of Yoga

We have started to learn about the business of yoga and to think of how we will market ourselves to potential yoga students or studios we hope to work for.

This part of the course is presenting some really interesting (if unexpected) challenges for me. As an actress I am used to presenting myself as a business and self-promoting via social media, but in the yoga world this requires me to clearly articulate what yoga means to me; including the essence, values and ethos of the business I wish to create. I thought this would be much easier, but struggled to write something genuine which encapsulates all I want to share about my love of yoga.

After several late-night attempts at writing a Mission Statement on Saturday night, I decided to go back to basics. I simply thought of the qualities I could bring as a teacher and the essence of the class I wish to teach. Suddenly everything just clicked and I guess the lesson I’ve learned is not to try and impress anyone with flowery language and ‘sales’ techniques; just be honest, genuine and passionate about the class you’re offering.

Market Research

In the spirit of business plans, I decided to do a bit of ‘Market Research’ and gather some information about the type of class students would be interested in attending. This will help me to determine which students would be most suited to my classes, as well as appropriate pricing and class style.

I plan to start a weekly class for drama students at The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama when I start studying there in October, as well as monthly ‘Pay-What-You-Can’ Community Yoga classes in my local area. I also hope to develop a specialised Yoga for Performers workshop to offer to actors and creatives, combining my two loves: yoga and theatre.

If you’d like to take the survey and help me deliver the best possible yoga classes, please follow the link below; it’ll only take 5 minutes of your time. Thank you!

Market Research Survey