Hello everyone! I’m excited to join the yoga community! I’m a seasoned massage therapist hoping to add a yoga studio to my clinic. I want to do this for the community as well as myself as there is nothing really available within a reasonable distance. I am not, nor do I intend to teach yoga…so I am depending on finding some wonderful teachers. I hope my own lack of expertise is not a downfall for me. I’m here to learn and would greatly appreciate any input.
[QUOTE=sheree;32955]I hope my own lack of expertise is not a downfall for me. I’m here to learn and would greatly appreciate any input.[/QUOTE]
Lack of expertise? I can bet with you you’ll find you know a hell of a lot about Yoga due to your current carrier. You’ll find through your development some asanas and exercises you’ve known for years, you’ll find half the stretching you make your patients do to be part of an “average” yoga workout, etc. For some reason, it seems ancient Yogi knew quite a lot about biomechanics and even Kapandji would be surprised.
Believe me you are already way ahead of most beginners in the technique part of Yoga…
Hello Sheree. Welcome to the forum.
Since you are not intending to teach yoga AND you’ve stated that you’re going to be working with skilled teachers, I don’t see a downfall there. Many studio directors are not themselves yoga teachers.
Offering a studio to the local community (where none currently exists) is a wonderful gift. Finding well trained teachers can be challenging even for very seasoned practitioners so I would be interested to hear what criteria you’ll be using for evaluating potential faculty.
I have trained alongside massage therapists, physical therapists, and other body workers. In some cases, when those peers are well trained in A&P and retain that wisdom it can be very helpful in learning that part of the yoga teaching curriculum. However a sound curriculum would be far more comprehensive AND there are certainly moments where an abundance of A&P intellect can interfere with some of the more intuitive learning processes in teacher training.
Hello everyone! I’m excited to join the yoga community! I’m a seasoned massage therapist hoping to add a yoga studio to my clinic. I want to do this for the community as well as myself as there is nothing really available within a reasonable distance. I am not, nor do I intend to teach yoga…so I am depending on finding some wonderful teachers. I hope my own lack of expertise is not a downfall for me. I’m here to learn and would greatly appreciate any input.
My younger brother is a massage therapist and we have talked about the possibility of a joint studio when I am done with my teacher training (which I leave for tomorrow!!!) It is a combination that makes sense to me.
I don’t think you neeed yoga skills to run a studio.It’s like any other kind of business.The main thing would seem to be sourcing quality & sound teachers.
I’ve thought if it myself.Actually i’ve recently thought of opening an ashram/studio/centre etc.I think you’ve got nothing to lose and would encourage you to do it. A very special thing.
Thanks for the encouragement. 
The more research I do, the more eager I am to jump right in and at the same time, I realize I have a whole lot of learning to do.
As for teachers, I would expect the same quality from them as I do the massage therapists in my office. Certified, knowledgeable, passionate, and confident to start with.
My goal right now will be to attend a variety of classes and find out what resonates most with me. I’ll be able to sort through the type of teaching and styles that would be synergistic with massage therapy.
Certification for massage therapy is typically regulated by the State. Certification(s) for yoga teachers typically is not regulated at all (though in my case that is not true). Likely you’ll have to look more deeply at a yoga teacher to determine qualifications and depth of training. With a LMT you can presume some things were already verified by the government.