This month’s mentor:
Anji Gopal, 49, BackCare Foundation, London (backcarefoundation.com)
Starting out: Does teacher training really set you up for running your own yoga business?
No, I don’t think so. Like many others, I embarked on teacher training as a way to find out more about yoga. I wasn’t anticipating teaching at all. Even when I started teaching classes (for money), the business wasn’t the foremost concern – I just wanted to share yoga! In a way, it’s been similar to osteopathy – most osteopathic students are at university because they want to help people, not because they think of it as a ‘business’.
However, I think this aspect of yoga needs to be emphasised more on trainings, even if the business training is optional. Essentially, once you are a yoga teacher, you are running a small business (like it or not!) even if the only employee is you! But it’s
