Not long ago I was collecting my little boy from school when another parent asked what I did for work. When I told them I was a yoga teacher their response was: “Oh that’s a nice little side hustle.”

I smiled. But this post is my real answer.

I have been a full time, self employed yoga teacher in London for eighteen years. Yoga is not my side hustle. It is my profession and the main source of income for my family. So if you are wondering whether you can actually make a living from yoga teaching — here is an honest answer from someone who has done it.

My starting point was different — and yours might be too

I did not come to yoga teaching from a regular job with a salary and a pension. I trained as a dancer and went straight from dance college into teaching dance. I have been self employed my entire working life. For me, making an income from what I love was never the dream — it was just the only way I knew how to work.

Most people say that becoming a yoga teacher is a step backwards financially. For me, at my age and at that point in my life, it was actually a significant step forward.

It also helped that the timing was right. When I started teaching yoga eighteen years ago, yoga was only just coming into fashion in the UK. There were not millions of yoga teachers as there are now. Every gym and studio was looking to add yoga to their timetable and there was real demand and not enough supply. That is a very different landscape from the one new yoga teachers are entering today — and I want to be honest about that.

That said — here is how I did it.

How I built a full time yoga income from scratch

When I started teaching yoga I began working in local gyms — GLL, now known as Better Gyms, Virgin Active and various other local centres. I also worked for an agency offering yoga to corporate clients in London. Gym classes would pay around £20-£30 per session — and unfortunately that rate has barely increased in eighteen years, which tells you everything you need to know about why building your own offerings matters so much.

Right from the start I began building my mailing list — collecting emails from students who wanted to practice more. That mailing list became one of the most valuable things I ever built.

My sister and I then hired the athletic track in Finsbury Park and set up Mindful Movements — our own yoga classes, built from nothing. (You can read the full story of how we did that HERE.) Once the park classes were going well we hired other local spaces nearby and ran evening classes almost every day of the week. Having classes in close proximity meant they all supported and helped to fill each other. We received some funding to hire a large room in the Redmond Community Centre which allowed us to offer low cost classes — and that class was booming, with around 30 to 50 students every week.

We did everything we could to get the word out. I learned as much as I could about SEO and getting found on Google in our local area. We put up banners, flyered everywhere, threw everything at it. In my twenties with no children and not many other responsibilities, I had the time and energy to make it work.

At some point I made the decision to stop working for anyone else and focus only on my own classes. I expanded into longer beginners courses, workshops and retreats — and this massively increased my income. I also built up a number of private clients along the way, which gave me real stability.

The pedalling at the beginning takes an enormous amount of energy. But once you get momentum, it grows a life of its own.

What nobody tells you — it’s not just about teaching

Something I want to be honest about, because I rarely see it mentioned anywhere: making a living as a yoga teacher involves so much more than teaching yoga.

To fill and run my classes, courses, workshops and retreats I had to become my own administrator, marketing manager, social media manager, bookkeeper and website manager all at once. Chasing payments, writing emails, updating booking systems, managing enquiries, creating content — all of that sits alongside the teaching itself. In the early days especially, the hours spent on the business side of things far outweighed the hours spent actually on the mat.

This is not said to put you off. It is said because the teachers who succeed are the ones who understand this from the beginning and embrace it rather than being blindsided by it. The teaching is the heart of it — but the business is what keeps it alive.

I also did a lot of work on my money mindset, which played a huge role in helping me with pricing and boundaries — but that is a whole other post.

The mortgage moment

At that point in my life all I wanted was to buy a house in London and have a family. It was my number one focus. My mum — in the way that only mums of her generation can — suggested I meet a rich man. It was a joke. Half a joke. But there was no rich man and I wasn’t waiting for one.

There came a point where I was living in a room in a shared flat in London, looking at London house prices and having a moment of pure dread. And then — motivation. There must be a way. Somehow.

Making my yoga business work meant the world to me. And it did work. I am the sole income earner in my family. I am a mum. I got a mortgage in London as a self employed yoga teacher with no other income behind me. It’s not a house in Hampstead — but it’s mine, in a neighbourhood I have grown to love, bought on my own terms. Most people would say that beats all the odds. And maybe it does. But I want you to know it is possible.

As the Bhagavad Gita says — no effort in yoga is ever wasted. Whether I taught three people or thirty, my effort and attention was always the same. And it always paid off, in ways that went far beyond the financial. The community of yoga students that grew around me over the years has been one of the greatest joys of my life. There were empty classes, retreats that weren’t quite full enough, things that didn’t always go as I hoped. But I kept going.

Everything changed the moment I decided to throw everything at it. That this was the way.

What I have learned on the way has been enormous. I have had to work on myself, my mindset, my blocks and my limiting beliefs — and I still do, to this day, to keep moving forwards. Business might not seem yogic. But the inner work it has demanded of me has been the most yogic thing of all.

If I were starting from scratch today — here is what I would do

First, a reality check. The average rate for a yoga class in London in 2026 is between £20 and £40 per session. Think about how many classes you would need to teach every week to create a full time income — and you will quickly see why building your own offerings is not optional. It is essential.

The landscape has also changed since I started. There are more yoga teachers now and more competition. But the fundamentals are the same — and if I were starting again today, this is exactly what I would do.

Treat your yoga teaching as a business from day one Yoga teaching is a profession. It may be a hobby for some people and that is fine — but if you want to make a living from it, you need to treat it like a business from the very beginning. Charge a proper rate. Value your time. Do not undercharge because you feel guilty or because you think nobody will pay.

Build your mailing list from day one Start with family and friends. Then every class you teach, every new person you meet — ask them to join your list. Your mailing list is absolutely critical. Social media platforms come and go. Your mailing list belongs to you.

Create your own offerings as soon as you can If you are teaching at studios and gyms, start thinking about how you can branch out alongside that. Private classes are a reliable, low risk way to build income. Longer workshops and retreats can bring in significantly more. Eight to ten week beginners courses always worked brilliantly for me — and when hiring a space, they reduce the financial risk because students book and pay in advance.

Branch out into specialist settings Yoga is now so well known and widely respected that it is being brought into all kinds of settings beyond the studio — care homes, schools, prisons, community centres, and it is even being recommended by the NHS. In many cases a short specialist course in a specific area can open doors you never expected and bring yoga to people who would never otherwise find it. These kinds of specialist classes almost always pay more than the average gym class — and the contribution they make to the wider community is extraordinary.

I have taught yoga in schools, worked with homeless people through St Mungo’s and specialised in pre and postnatal yoga — every one of those experiences brought fresh inspiration back to everything else I teach. It is also worth knowing that there are many funding opportunities available in the UK and in London specifically for this kind of community work. It is absolutely worth looking into what is available in your area.

Work on your SEO and get listed on Google Maps Make sure your website is findable in your local area. Get listed on Google Maps. This is one of the most effective and free things you can do to bring new students to you.

Always teach at your absolute best Yoga teaching can get tiring when you are teaching a lot of classes. But the more you give, the more comes back — it is the law of the universe. Always bring your enthusiasm, your full attention and your care to every class, whether there are three people in the room or thirty.

Work on your money mindset Set specific financial goals and do your best to meet them. Get honest about your relationship with money, pricing and what you believe you deserve to earn. This work made a bigger difference to my income than almost anything else I did — and I will be writing a whole post on this soon.

So — can you make a full time income as a yoga teacher in London?

Yes. But I will not pretend it is easy or that it happens overnight. It takes commitment, creativity and a willingness to keep going when things are quiet. It takes treating your teaching as a business and backing yourself completely.

It also takes time. The yoga community you build around you — the students who come back week after week, year after year — that does not happen instantly. But when it does, it is one of the most rewarding things imaginable.

One more thing I want to say — and this is important. There are many qualified yoga teachers out there who never end up teaching at all, or who start teaching and give up because the income doesn’t come quickly enough. If that is you — if you are already qualified but feel stuck, underpaid or unsure how to build something sustainable — my yoga teacher mentorship might be exactly what you need. It is there specifically to help qualified teachers build a teaching life they love and an income they can actually live on.

Whether you are just starting out or already qualified and looking for support, I would love to hear from you. Find out more about my BWY Level 4 yoga teacher training HERE, my yoga teacher mentorship HERE

Hana Saotome has been teaching yoga for over 17 years and runs a BWY Level 4 yoga teacher training in London and online, as well as a yoga teacher mentorship programme for qualified teachers.