Finding the right yoga teacher can make an enormous difference to your experience of yoga. You might attend a class that other people seem to love, yet leave feeling uncomfortable, overwhelmed or simply unmoved. That does not necessarily mean yoga is not for you. It may simply mean that particular teacher, style or environment was not the right fit. Every yoga teacher brings something different into the room.

Yoga classes can sometimes seem expensive compared with fitness classes, but the hour spent together is only the visible part of the work. Behind each class are years of training and personal practice, ongoing study, careful planning, venue hire, insurance, equipment and administration. This article explores the hidden work behind yoga teaching, and how yoga philosophy can help us think about fair exchange, value and sustainability.

Yoga can look deceptively simple from the outside. A room, a mat, a few shapes, perhaps some breathing and a quiet rest at the end. But beneath all of that, something deeper is taking place. As a yoga teacher, I am never looking for the most flexible person in the room, the neatest posture or the student who can follow every instruction perfectly. What matters to me is that you feel safe enough to listen to yourself, curious enough to explore, and welcome enough to retu