Teaching Yoga in Tokyo: Getting Paid

Article by Dylan Robertson.

Your Investment to Date

Your yoga instructor training course likely cost you the equivalent of at least a couple of thousand (US) dollars. And, then there’s all the money you’ve spent learning yoga before and since your formal teacher training.

In addition to the money you’ve spent, your yoga education has taken many hundreds of hours training, studying and practicing. So, when you choose to be a yoga instructor, it’s natural for you to think about what you should charge that is fair to the student and to you.

In this post, I’ll try to explain some basics about the yoga industry in Tokyo from the instructors’ point of view.

Standard Fees for Students

To get a perspective, it’s useful to know the cost of a standard 60-minute drop-in yoga class in central Tokyo.

People attending classes at a municipal community hall are generally prepared to pay 1,000~2,000 yen per class. In comparison, the same class held at a yoga studio or a fitness club would cost 2,500~3,500 yen.

Classes at yoga studios or a fitness clubs are more expensive because they often offer yoga mats and other accessories for practice such as blocks, straps, bolsters and blankets. They also tend to have a much trendier image and offer a nicer practice environment in general. Some may have nicely fitted-out change rooms equipped with showers – a rare luxury in crowded central Tokyo where real estate costs are high and landlords are inflexible about installing showers in case of legal liability cases arising from water leakage causing damage to the next tenant underneath.

It is appropriate to add a word here about payment via donation here. In the US and some other countries, it is popular and fashionable to offer classes on a donation basis whereby people are told a suggested amount and they pay what they can. I tried this here in Tokyo and it just didn’t work. I had people with high paying jobs who would just walk out without paying. Confused, I asked several Japanese friends and instructors, they told me that Japanese people are just not used to the system. They are used to being given a set price up-front and expect to pay it.

Working at a Yoga Studio or Fitness Club

If somebody else provides a venue, does all the organizing and marketing, then all you have to do is show up and teach. If you’re invited for a yoga workshop or given a regular teaching job at a studio, you’ll be paid in either of these two ways:

1. A Set Fee

The standard going rate in Tokyo for a qualified yoga instructor is around 5,000 yen per 60-minute class. This may or may not include the cost of commuting to and from the instructor’s home. This suits a lot of yoga instructors because they know what they’ll get, regardless of how many students actually show up. The disadvantage is that if your class is a wild success, your earnings will still be limited to the agreed amount. Your employer may be open to re-negotiation, however, running a yoga studio in Tokyo is generally a very low profit margin business with high cost overheads, so don’t expect too much.

2. Percentage of Takings

Splitting the earnings of your class or workshop gives you an incentive to play a part in marketing your classes or workshops too. Generally, the market standard is the yoga instructor gets 40% of the takings. Senior instructors may get 50% or more, depending on how well-known they are. It all depends on the power balance, that is, which is bringing more value. For a small or newly-opened studio, a big name instructor may be good PR for them. If you’re a newbie instructor, then the studio may be doing you a favor by offering you a teaching spot at all, and so you can’t ask for as much.

3. Additional Benefits

Depending on the studio, they might offer you additional benefits such as being able to attend classes of other instructors for a discount, or even for free. This is definitely attractive if the studio is in a location that is convenient for you to visit several times per week. They may also offer discounts on workshops, events and courses.

Teaching Yoga at a Municipal Community Hall

Until you gain experience and build an impressive track record as a yoga instructor, it may be difficult to land a contract with a yoga studio. You can work around this by renting space for your classes.

You could choose from a wide range of spaces available throughout Tokyo for hourly rent, but most of the commercial ones are quite expensive. Many independent instructors use local community halls which are owned and run by the local municipal government. The cost of room hire here tends to be less than half that of a commercial space. Community halls are not only for inexperienced instructors seeking to get experience and build a student following, they are also used by experienced and established teachers who prefer to operate independently.

As a benchmark, the cost of a room that will fit 10 students in Ebisu Community Hall, where I used to teach, cost 2,800 yen to use between 17:30 and 21:45 in the evening. That’s only 700 yen per hour. In my case, I just used that time for 2 hours. But it would be possible to team up with another instructor and use that time to hold 2 or 3 classes.

Technically, the rate is supposed to double if you are using the room for commercial purposes. However, the staff usually turns a blind eye to this and regards the fee you collect as contributions from the students to cover your costs. Since the payments are in cash, the tax authorities cannot track them. So, issuing receipts to the students and doing the appropriate paperwork to submit to the authorities at tax return time is up to you (but many instructors don’t do this).

The obvious advantage of organizing your own classes is the independence. You can teach whatever style you want, offer classes in any format you wish and change things as often as you like. You also get to sidestep administration procedures and various rules that might be present in a yoga studio or fitness club. The downside, of course, is that everything, from organizing to marketing your classes, is up to you. Also, these rooms are much in demand and you will need to book as far ahead as two months.

Many of the best yoga instructors are very “right-brained” and simply not capable of organizing these things all by themselves. For these people, just turning up on time to teach a class might be a major achievement. But, if they fiercely desire to operate independently rather than work for a yoga studio or fitness club, then they will need to partner with someone who can do all the organizing for them.

Community halls vary widely in appearance, newness, facilities offered, charges, and policies. You’ll need to go inspect the ones nearest to you (or in the area you wish to offer lessons) to decide if they are right for you.

In terms of payment, you can collect cash from the students when they come each time. However, some teachers prefer to offer a course whereby the students pay up-front for a specified number of lessons. Upfront payments could be collected in person, via PayPal, or via bank transfer. PayPal is unlikely to be popular with students here, many of whom don’t use PCs much and are still wary of using credit cards over the Internet.

Giving Private Yoga Lessons

Private lessons from a qualified English-speaking yoga instructor in Tokyo range from 5,000~15,000 yen per hour including transportation fee, depending on the instructor and whether the student comes to a venue designated by the instructor or the instructor travels to the student’s place.

The advantage of this is you can give higher quality instruction catering to the student’s specific needs. Many wealthy people, including celebrities, simply don’t have the time or inclination to go to a studio or fitness club and hence prefer private lessons.

If you are teaching at either your or the student’s home, you need to set clear rules. For example, one very attractive young female instructor, who teaches private lessons in her home, avoids awkward situations by insisting that all male students be accompanied by a female.

Please Share Your Perspective

I’d be interested to hear from other instructors who have taught in Tokyo about their experiences. Also, if any yoga studio managers would like to comment and give their perspective, that would be great too.