Namaste Nichole,
I know I do not live in the USA and most probably my perspective might not add anything, but for what it is worth I would like to share with you some of my experiences from a South African pov.
When I started teaching yoga I made inquiries about insurance. It was quite a shocker. Sport insurance in SA is very expensive and i would have to more than double my monthly fee per person just to afford the insurance. Then I haven’t paid rent for the hall yet and I didn’t put petrol in my car to get to the hall as well. This would have put many people off as I would have priced myself completely out of the market.
I do not own a studio, I rent a hall and teach a few times a week yoga to people who are drawn to me, my classes are not very big, so income from yoga is low. Furthermore, seeing that I rent a hall there was all sorts of problems with the insurance in terms of this and they had so many conditions attached to this and penalties which add to the cost eventually as well. Some companies didn’t want to insure me if I didn’t own the property as a business owner.
Where did this leave me. As with so many yoga teachers in SA, yoga is for many of us not a business venture, we do it mostly becasue we feel called to do it and because we love yoga and to share yoga.
This has also forced me and many teachers to give ample of consideration to safe practice. My feeling is that when you know that you have the back-up of an insurance you might neglect the safety aspects.
On the other hand we are still fortunate enough in SA that people don’t run to a lawyer for everything you might say or do wrong according to them and the blame-complex haven’t hit us yet here. Sorry to be so blunt here, but this is the unfortunate reality of America today and please feel free to correct me if my impressions are misguided here.
So, no I don’t have insurance I teach without it and make double sure my series of asanas are safe and that people don’t do dumb things to their bodies. I have done yoga all my life without any teacher having insurance, this didn’t bother me at all as all them was very safe in their practices and this wouldn’t be a deciding factor in selecting a teacher for me as well. We do not select a teacher for the good insurance cover, but for the spiritual and yoga value they add to your life. (And I know the reality is different for many.)
Just a few of my views. ![:slight_smile: :slight_smile:](//yogaforums.com/images/emoji/twitter/slight_smile.png?v=5)