Yoga teacher insurance

What Type of Yoga Teacher Insurance Do I Need?

Do Yoga Teachers Need Insurance?

At first glance, it may seem like yoga teachers aren’t in a very risky line of work. You’re not operating heavy equipment. You’re not scaling trees or working with high voltage. So, is there really a need for insurance?

Yes, there is. While you might expect an insurance broker to promote yoga insurance coverage, don’t necessarily take our word for it. Instead, consider this.

As a yoga instructor, you probably learned that yoga can be an effective way of helping people recover from physical injuries. At the same time, yoga also can cause injuries. Even with the best instruction and proper form, a client could get hurt and you could potentially be involved in a lawsuit.

And it’s not just medical claims you may have to worry about. The legal costs of defending yourself can be enough to break your tranquility and bank account.

That’s where yoga insurance can help. It’s a type of insurance coverage that bundles different policies to protect your business.

It also may be required by studios, gyms, or other businesses that may hire you.

What type of insurance do yoga teachers need?

Yoga teacher insurance can include different policies, depending on how you run your business. There are a few core policies that we recommend for yoga instructor liability insurance:

General Liability for Yoga Instructors

Commercial general liability (GL) insurance for yoga instructors covers costs associated with third-party accidents, damages to property, and bodily injury to a third party. General liability coverage can also protect some of your equipment, such as props, in case it gets damaged while you’re doing your work.

If you’re not covered with general liability insurance, that could mean risking a lot of potential income (or money you have saved). The average claim for an accident or property damage for small businesses amounts to $30,000, which can be detrimental to anyone’s financial stability.

Just think of how yoga instructor liability insurance could save you: say a student hires you as a private teacher to come to their home. Your student is working on their handstand. You’re happy for them, because they’re able to stick a few seconds in the air before coming out of the handstand, which you’ve taught them to do safely.

Unfortunately, the student comes out of the handstand suddenly and kicks a wall in the living room where they’re practicing. Their foot puts a huge hole in the wall and you can see through to the living room. Luckily, the student is unharmed, but the wall is a mess. Your student files a claim to fix and patch up the hole in the wall. Because it can be seen from two rooms, the repairs aren’t going to be an easy fix.

Without yoga teacher insurance, the money to pay for the repairs would have to come out of your own pocket. Luckily, with yoga liability insurance, your policy typically would cover any medical expenses your student expects you to pay and also any legal expenses incurred.

So what exactly could general liability insurance cover? Here’s a quick summary:

• Bodily injury to another person
• Third-party property damage
• Personal and advertising injury
• Medical expenses
• And more

Now check out what general liability insurance usually doesn’t cover:

• Damage to your own property
• Professional services
• Workers compensation or injury to your employees
• Damage to your work
• Automobiles while in business use
• Expected or intentional injury or damage
• And more

Yoga Instructor Professional Liability Insurance

Yoga instructor professional liability insurance covers you, your employees, and your business if your client claims that someone was negligent when providing your services. Let’s take a look at how PL insurance works in action.

Say a student comes to a class who is working on inversions. Over the past six months, they’ve achieved headstand, forearm stand, and shoulder stand — you’re so excited for them! Unfortunately, the student’s shoulder starts hurting and they blame you for the return of an old rotator cuff injury. The student files a claim, expecting you to pay for any related medical expenses.

Considering the cost of physical therapy, and any legal fees that may be incurred contesting the claim, without professional liability insurance, this claim could amount to a chunk of money.

The yoga instructor professional liability insurance can protect you and your business’s finances from being in jeopardy. Here’s a brief recap of what PL may protect you from:

Professional liability can cover:

• Negligence or alleged negligence
• Legal defense costs
• Omissions or alleged omissions
• Claims and damages
• And more

Keep in mind that PL insurance usually doesn’t cover:

• Intentional acts and omissions
• Property damage
• Medical expenses
• Bodily injury
• And more

Workers Compensation for Yoga Instructors

If you have any employees, whether they work for you part-time, full-time, or even on an ad-hoc basis (we all know how important substitute teachers are), then your state probably requires you to have workers compensation insurance. This insurance usually covers employees who have gotten sick, injured, or hurt while working for you.

Workers compensation insurance for yoga instructors can cover:

• Medical payments
• Lost wages
• Rehabilitation expenses
• Death benefits

How will yoga teacher insurance impact my business?

When you are initially certified as a yoga teacher, it’s such a great moment. You’ve worked so hard to learn the 8 limbs of yoga, and now you’re finally ready to begin sharing them with the world and your students. The last thing you want to think about is purchasing business insurance! But when you think about how prevalent injuries and accidents are in the yoga community, it won’t seem like such a far-fetched investment.

The rate of injury rose from 9.5 per 100,000 students in 2001, to 17 per 100,000 students in 2014, amounting to nearly 30,000 yoga-related injuries reported from emergency departments during that period. And as a teacher, it’s easy to see how the types of injury may vary, from sprains and pulled muscles, to wrist and lower back issues.

Of course, we know that it isn’t always the teacher’s fault when a student gets hurt. Sometimes injuries can be pre-existing, but there’s always the chance (even if it’s small) that a student can claim negligence. For example, if you’re teaching handstands to a classroom of 30 students, it’s impossible for you to watch each one closely. If a student was to make a claim against you as a teacher, the average claim could amount to a number that you’re unprepared to risk (remember, the average small business claim is $30,000). That kind of cost could potentially sink a business.

When it comes to gaining employment as a yoga teacher, there are many options. Maybe you want to work at a studio or at a gym, or perhaps you’d like to teach yoga in corporate environments or at events. Regardless of where you’d like to teach, many institutions will require you to have yoga teacher insurance. Even if a studio has their own insurance, it’s a good idea to have insurance. If a student makes a claim, it could be against the studio itself or against you as a teacher.

Attaining yoga instructor liability insurance is one of the first steps in getting a teacher placement, alongside your resume, of course. When you purchase yoga teacher insurance with Simply Business, we provide a certificate of insurance (COI) so you can prove you’re insured from the start.