When most people think of yoga, they envision peaceful yogis stretching, meditating, breathing, and teaching their students how to do the same. Many aspiring yoga teachers also visualize something similar. As peaceful and relaxed as teaching yoga looks, though, teachers should also understand that they are also running a business.
Just like any health and wellness venture such as running a personal trainer service business, there’s always the possibility of customer claims. This is why it’s important for all certified yoga teachers and yoga studios to at least get the most basic business insurance.
As a personal yoga instructor or yoga studio owner, you can purchase a business liability insurance policy for less than what you spend on your afternoon lunch. If you want more protection, then you can also opt to get higher coverage limits or even decide to purchase other business insurance policies.
In today’s article, we’re going to give you a brief overview of yoga insurance, the coverage options, a review of yoga insurance companies, the average cost of premiums, and how to get inexpensive yoga teacher insurance.
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Insurance companies primarily offer yoga teacher liability insurance as a general liability insurance policy. And so, many say that liability insurance and general liability insurance are synonymous. However, this isn’t the case. Liability insurance is actually a broad term for specific insurance policies that will protect you against third-party or employee claims. Liability policies included in yoga instructor insurance are:
General liability insurance
Professional liability insurance
Employer’s liability insurance
An accident might happen in your yoga class and hurt someone. The injured person might hold you liable if the accident caused property damage or personal injuries. Personal injury claims and property damage claims are very costly. Attorney fees are $250 per hour (minimum) and settlements will cost $3,000 - $75,000. But note that, in terms of settlements, costs can quickly scale from $100,000 to $1 million or something even higher if the property damage or personal injury of the aggrieved party is severe.
The job of general liability insurance is to cover most of the cost you’ll need to shoulder to wrap up personal injury claims and property damage claims. In practice, this insurance policy will pay for your defense costs and settlements to the plaintiff.
Personal injury claims and property damage claims aren’t the only exposures general liability insurance covers. It provides more protection against specific exposures if you decide to add these optional policies:
Advertising injury coverage
Rented premises liability coverage
Products and completed operations coverage
Advertising injury coverage is an optional policy in general liability insurance that will take care of defense costs and settlements if someone sues you for slander, copyright infringement, libel, and other forms of reputational harm.
Rented premises liability coverage is the optional policy that will be useful if you’re just renting a studio or any other space to conduct yoga classes. If the space is destroyed or damaged, rented premises liability coverage will get the building repaired on your behalf or reimburse the landlord.
The last optional policy - products and completed operations coverage - will cover personal injury claims and property damage claims filed by past clients. This is useful in a situation where a former student developed injuries after attending your yoga class.
The insurance money you can get from general liability insurance is $1 million - $2 million. This is the amount most insurance companies provide in coverage. But still, a few insurance companies offer general liability insurance having a $200,000 - $500,000 limit.
Studios won’t hire you as a contractual teacher if you don’t have general liability insurance offering $1 million in coverage. General liability insurance is required so that you can add the yoga studio as an additional insured. And once added as an additional insured, any claims filed against the yoga studio will be taken care of by your general liability insurance.
Yoga teacher professional liability insurance (PLI) can protect you, your reputation, and your bank account from customer claims and lawsuits. Also known as professional indemnity insurance (PII), or more widely as errors & omissions (E&O) insurance, this yoga ins coverage type covers the total cost of legal defense against any negligence claim filed by a customer, as well as any damages that are awarded on such a lawsuit.
Professional liability insurance isn’t a common requirement if you’re applying as a contractual worker in yoga studios. But still, purchase this and pair with general liability so that you’ll have absolute protection from customer claims. By the way, the amount of insurance money you’ll get from professional liability insurance is $1 million - $2 million.
Employer’s liability insurance will be useful if you have assistants. Your assistants might get hurt while working and accuse you of being negligent. In connection, employer’s liability insurance will take care of defense costs and settlements.
The exposures in running a yoga studio are more numerous than the exposures when you’re only working as an instructor. Having general liability insurance, professional liability insurance, and employer’s liability insurance won’t be enough. You’ll need other business insurance policies such as:
Commercial property insurance
Business interruption insurance
Abuse and molestation insurance
Workers compensation insurance
Your yoga studio might be destroyed or damaged because of fire, lightning, theft, vandalism, and other covered perils. That’s why you need to protect it with commercial property insurance. If your yoga studio gets destroyed or damaged, commercial property insurance will shoulder the projected reconstruction or repair expenses.
In addition, business equipment and tools coverage is an optional policy in commercial property insurance that will reimburse your losses if speakers, mp3 players, and other items classified as business tools and equipment become damaged because of fire, theft, vandalism, and other covered perils.
Of course, you’ll have to stop operations momentarily to make way for building repair and reconstruction. If you’re worried about the income you would’ve earned to pay employee wages, loans, and other operational costs, get business interruption insurance.
Business interruption insurance gives an allowance to your business for 30 - 360 days. This allowance will be equal to a portion of or the full value of your yoga studio's average revenue. If you have business interruption insurance, you won’t incur losses when paying employee wages, loans, taxes, and other operational costs while the yoga studio isn’t generating income.
Independent yoga teachers and other related professions such as spin instructors can’t purchase business interruption insurance. Business interruption insurance is for full-fledged business only. Nonetheless, insurance companies offer something equivalent to business interruption insurance - loss of income coverage.
Loss of income coverage supplements 60% - 80% of a yoga teacher's lost income if he or she can’t work because of an injury. You’ll receive insurance money from loss of income coverage for 30 days, or maybe even 360 days with an endorsement.
Abuse and molestation insurance will be absolutely valuable if your dance studio enrolls kids. There are many instances of yoga instructors doing something with children, and it’s highly possible for the same scenario to happen in your business. Abuse and molestation insurance will see to it that - in case your business is held responsible after one of the kids is verbally abused, offensively touched, raped, or manhandled - no losses will be incurred when paying for defense costs and settlements.
Though not many know this, yoga can be a very perilous practice, especially for teachers. Here’s a report that proves this point:
At 3:30 p.m. on November 19, 2014, a yoga instructor was conducting a 75-minute hot yoga class where the room temperature was approximately 95 Fahrenheit. The instructor collapsed about 45 minutes after class and was taken by an emergency vehicle to a nearby hospital where she died one hour later. Further examination by a medical official attributed her death to natural causes.
The example only talks about heat exhaustion. However, heat exhaustion isn’t the only peril in the lives of yoga teachers. Others are repetitive motion injuries, overuse injuries, strain injuries, and many more.
Whether a regular, contractual, or seasonal employee, you’ll have to pay for the hospitalization, treatment, and lost income compensation of a yoga teacher. Workers compensation will make sure that you don’t spend a single penny. It will take care of the injured or sick yoga teacher’s needs on your behalf.
Workers compensation insurance is a requirement if you want to operate your yoga studio legally. Not purchasing this will result in fines or imprisonment. If no carrier is willing to cover you with workers compensation insurance, qualify for your state's risk pool. You can also ask the workers compensation department to enroll you in a self-insurance program.
Many yoga teachers started online businesses during the pandemic. However, it is still important to purchase insurance for teaching yoga online. Although the risks are a lot lower than yoga classes that are being done physically in a studio or outdoor, there’s always the chance that you could have a dissatisfied customer who wants to take their anger out on you, and that's exactly what online yoga insurance coverage is for, it is also cheaper in most cases.
Online yoga insurance includes general liability insurance. However, its most important feature is the presence of cyber liability coverage.
If you’re running a website for yoga classes, you’ll greatly appreciate having cyber liability policy included in teaching yoga online insurance. Cyber liability insurance will cover defense costs and settlements after affected parties filed a claim, because your website got breached and sensitive information was leaked.
In general, yoga studio insurance cost will be more expensive than online yoga teacher insurance cost. As a physical studio, there’s more risk involved as your students are in your space, using your equipment.
That said, here's a breakdown of the average premium costs for different tailored yoga business insurance plans:
Type | Cost Per Month | Cost Per Year |
---|---|---|
Yoga teacher insurance | $17 | $200 |
Yoga studio insurance | $46 | $550 |
Online yoga insurance | $13 | $130 |
Outdoor yoga insurance | $46 | $550 |
Aerial Yoga insurance | $29 | $350 |
In addition, we’ve made another table showing the pricing of the best yoga insurance companies:
Cost per Month | Cost per Year | Best for | |
---|---|---|---|
CoverWallet | $8 | $96 | Yoga teacher insurance quotes comparison online |
Thimble | $10.21 | $122.52 | On-demand yoga insurance by the hour, weeks, days, or months |
NEXT | $11.62 | $139.44 | Yoga insurance with certificate of insurance you can send as a text message, email, or share as social media post |
Hiscox | $16.21 | $194.52 | Liability insurance for yoga studios |
State Farm | $19 | $228 | Large yoga studios |
Yoga Alliance | $20 | $240 | Great for personal yoga instructors and studio instructors alike |
Beyogi Yoga | $22 | $264 | Personal teachers and online yoga instructors |
Alliant Yoga | $25 | $300 | Individuals who’ve been certified through Yoga Alliance |
Yoga Journal | $26 | $312 | Full-time and part-time yoga instructors |
Philadelphia | $30 | $360 | Online yoga teachers and part-time instructors |
NACAMS Yoga | $33 | $396 | Group yoga instructors and studio teachers |
Alternative Balance | $36 | $432 | Business owners who want to own their own studio |
Get all the best quotes from leading providers in a click of a button!
Whether you’re looking for teaching yoga insurance online, cheap yoga insurance, or you’re just wondering what yoga teacher insurance costs, we’ve got you covered! Check out our list of the best yoga teacher insurance for USA-based instructors and businesses.
Yoga general liability insurance comes with products and completed operations coverage
Cancel your policy anytime
Offers a custom plan
Has an online quotes comparison platform for you to see the offers and pricing of different insurance companies
Doesn’t underwrite its own yoga teacher insurance
CoverWallet yoga ins covers you if you’re a yoga teacher. Go for this company if you’re looking for the best yoga teacher insurance usa. You have four insurance options with this company - general liability with products and completed operations coverage, general liability and commercial property insurance, business owner’s policy with workers comp, and a custom plan.
Best for: Yoga teacher insurance quotes comparison online
Average cost: $8 per month
Our rating: 10/10
Short term yoga insurance
Claims can only be filed via the Thimble app
Thimble’s yoga insurance includes general liability and professional liability insurance. Get insured by this company if you only want to get covered for only hours, days, weeks, or months.
Best for: On-demand yoga insurance by the hour, weeks, days, or months
Average cost: $10.21 per month
Our rating: 9/10
Buy two or more policies and get a 10% discount
Intuitive certificate of insurance
Available in all states
Rates aren’t stable
NEXT’s yoga insurance includes general liability, commercial property, and workers compensation insurance. Work with NEXT if you’re looking for an insurance company that offers a very intuitive certificate of insurance for customers.
Best for: Yoga insurance with certificate of insurance you can send as a text message, email, or share as social media post
Average cost: $11.62 per month
Our rating: 8/10
Has a lot of tailored insurance products useful for yoga studios
Liability policies have a coverage limit more than $2 million
Not so enticing in terms of customer service
Your yoga studio can get liability policies with more than $2 million coverage from Hiscox. Additionally, Hiscox also offers tailored insurance plans such as commercial fleet insurance, cyber insurance with business income protection, and commercial property insurance with optional policies.
Best for: Liability insurance for yoga studios
Average cost: $16.21 per month
Our rating: 7/10
Large insurer with lots of locations and top reputation
Easy-to-use State Farm app to handle claims and billing
Great customer service and reputation
More expensive than policies geared specifically towards the health and wellness industry
State Farm is one of the oldest insurers in the United States and they have an excellent reputation for customer service. Another great benefit of State Farm is that they have offices around the country, so you’ll never have trouble getting in touch with an agent. Although they don’t offer coverage specifically for yoga teachers, they do offer affordable business liability insurance plans. These plans can also be bundled with any additional State Farm policies you may have such as home or auto insurance.
Best for: Large yoga studios
Average cost: $19 per month
Our rating: 7/10
Special rates for Yoga Alliance members
Personal and studio insurance
Expensive for non-members
Yoga Alliance is one of the premier platforms for training and certifying yoga instructors. They’ve partnered with Alliant Insurance Group to give their graduate students amazing rates. Yoga Alliance liability insurance is designed for part-time or personal yoga instructors, while the Yoga Alliance Professionals insurance is geared towards those who want their own yoga studios or group classes.
Best for: Great for personal yoga instructors and studio instructors alike
Average cost: $20 per month
Our rating: 6/10
500 modalities covered
Low monthly premium
Discounts for 2-year policy terms
Offer insurance for part-time and full-time teachers
Some customers can’t get their proof of insurance from this company
If you’re looking for an all-inclusive yoga liability insurance policy, then you can’t go wrong with Beyogi insurance plus. Their coverage covers almost 500 modalities including yoga, massage, pilates, and other wellness solutions! Beyogi yoga insurance prices are affordable and everything is easy to access with their online platform.
Best for: Personal teachers and online yoga instructors
Average cost: $22 per month
Our rating: 5/10
Works directly with Yoga Alliance
Low-cost insurance premiums
Policies for teachers and studios
Based in the U.K. However, they have US offices
Alliant Yoga Insurance is part of Yoga Alliance and is the intermediary that allows Yoga Alliance members to access insurance through Lloyd’s of London- a 300-year-old insurance agency that provides low-cost business insurance around the world and in the United States. Yoga Alliance/Alliant members get special pricing.
Best for: Individuals who’ve been certified through Yoga Alliance
Average cost: $25 per month
Our rating: 4/10
Low-cost yoga teacher liability insurance
Affordable yoga studio insurance
Access to Yoga Journal teacher resources
The underwriting insurer is based out of the U.S
If you’re looking for super-low-cost yoga studio or teacher insurance, then you should definitely check out yoga journal liability insurance. One of the best reasons to go with this provider is that they also provide their policyholders with a membership to Yoga Journal, where you can access hundreds of invaluable resources and network with other teachers. Like Alliant/Yoga Alliance, Yoga Journal insurance is also underwritten by Lloyds of London.
Best for: Full-time and part-time yoga instructors
Average cost: $26 per month
Our rating: 4/10
US-based insurer
Variable plans to fit your needs
Offers risk management services
No access to additional resources
Philadelphia insurance is a reputable provider of small business insurance in the United States. They specialize in health and wellness-related businesses such as fitness coaching and insuring yoga instructors. Their rates vary from one state to another, depending on how much coverage you need, but overall, they have low costs.
Best for: Online yoga teachers and part-time instructors
Average cost: $30 per month
Our rating: 3/10
Covers all styles of yoga
US-based insurer
Part-time and full-time policies available
Unclear pricing for various coverage options
NACAMS covers over 350 different styles of yoga and provides a professional insurance policy for individuals who are looking to open up their own small studios or personal yoga instruction businesses. They pride themselves on their customer service and offer a number of teacher resources.
Best for: Group yoga instructors and studio teachers
Average cost: $33 per month
Our rating: 3/10
Customized plans for all yoga businesses
Business management resources for yoga studio instructors
Instant coverage upon application
Designed for full-scale studios
No options for small, part-time instructors
If you own or are trying to start a large yoga studio, then Alternative Balance is able to provide instant coverage, no matter what your situation is. They provide a wide range of policy plans that cover everything from general liability to personal indemnity insurance. Additionally, they also provide their policyholders with lots of teaching and business management resources in order to set you up for success.
Best for: Business owners who want to own their own studio
Average cost: $36 per month
Our rating: 2/10
Get all the best quotes from leading providers in a click of a button!
Kasey Arey Insuranker
Policy Type: Business Insurance
Company name: Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies
This company gives you a price that was in place for a year and when you have to use it there is fine print were they can go back and charge you more. Would not recommend them to any one. Crooks
Insuranker
Policy Type: Business Insurance
Company name: Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies
Had general liability and workers comp with amguard. Paid high premiums and yet still got audited every year and had to pay more. Was able to prove less risk the first two audits and disputed price down but none the less had to pay more just so I could renew coverage. Third time the audit ( based on what I paid my premium on ) was ridiculous and tried to prove that there was no increase in risk from what I paid for my premium. However they would not believe it and required I paid full audit amount in order to have redline removed. Basically you do what they say and pay whatever outlandish bill they come up with or they will make sure you can’t run your business anymore. ????
Felicia Broadus Insuranker
Policy Type: Business Insurance
Company name: Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies
Avoid these SCAM ARTISTS! They don’t pay claims!!! Save yourself the trouble and money!
Felicia Broadus Insuranker
Policy Type: Business Insurance
Company name: Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies
They are the worst, my truck was hit in January 23 and the claim adjuster has not been out to this very day! They have every excuse in the book as to why. They have not been to the collision shop. PLEASE AVOID THESE SCAM ARTIST!
Dave Phillips Insuranker
Policy Type: Business Insurance
Company name: CoverWallet Business Insurance
Excellent platform for business insurance quote comparison online