As some of you may have realized, teaching yoga is not an easy full-time job. It can be a right struggle finding enough work to pull in the cash to cover monthly expenses. We mentioned in our “Recession-Resilience: Yoga and the McDonald’s Happy Meal” post that this economy is taking a toll on peoples’ wallets and stress levels, which doesn’t seem to be affecting the large gyms and studios membership wise, just yet. That’s good news for the yogis out there hoping to keep their classes, but we know from experience that teaching private sessions is the real bread and butter to the roving yoga teacher, and unfortunately that’s where the budgets are cut. The very definition of disposable income has changed dramatically and private yoga sessions tend to fall under that woeful umbrella with botox and other vanity expenses. This doesn’t exactly apply to the high profile gurus (although they’re surely affected in some way), but more for the lower tier, budding teachers looking to gain experience, and cash, teaching private clients.
So how much does a hopeful yoga teacher charge for private sessions? We checked on Craigslist for the NYC region and here’s what we found:
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/spa/991277405.html $100/hr
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/edu/989865079.html $85/hr plus tutoring, nannying and babysitting tossed in
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/spa/983265198.html $60/hr
We don’t know if either have gotten any takers, but we can imagine FREE is the magic word this year. Or pay by donation, which won’t exactly land you in The Palace.
What have been your experiences so far?
Currently teaching for modest pay in the studio environment and pro bono in some instances just to continued experience and exposure.