The Burnout Behind the Breath: How America’s Wellness Teachers Are Running on Empty

By Leslii Stevens ERYT500, YACEP, Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher

They guide us through downward dogs, cue deep inhales, and remind us of the transformative power of rest. Yet beyond the calm postures and serene voices lies an exhausting reality: yoga and fitness teachers rarely rest themselves.

Perpetual Hustle, No Safety Net

Many teachers today operate as independent contractors, hopping between studios, gyms, corporate wellness events...even outdoor parks. Without a home base, they juggle travel, inconsistent pay, and uncertain schedules. Driving up to two hours between gigs is not unusual. They rarely enjoy weekends off, much less two days in a row.

What Being an Independent Contractor Really Means 

Let’s pause and talk about what being an independent contractor actually is because most yoga and group fitness instructors don’t realize the magnitude of it until they’re drowning in it.

If you're a true 1099 contractor, you are not just a teacher. You are a business. You are responsible for all income coming in, meaning you must track payments, send invoices to studios, gyms, and venus and often chase down money that’s overdue. You're the one purchasing your own props, mats, blankets, bolsters, blocks, resistance bands, oils, towels, sound bowls, weights, cleaning supplies and don’t forget all the paperwork you will need for your clients...In-take forms  and all the legal stuff you need your clients to fill out.  In many studios, you’re not allowed to use their equipment at all(Breakdown of what the cost of owning your own equipment here) . You walk in, teach your class, and walk out, on your own terms. That also means no guaranteed schedule, no paycheck, and no marketing support. 

You're not operating under their policies and procedures, you're creating your own. You choose your music. If you teach sweaty yoga with Metallica and drop a few F-bombs, that’s your prerogative. It’s not their class. It’s yours. But that freedom comes at a cost: you must build and uphold your brand. That means you need a business name (even if it's your own name), an EIN number from the IRS, and a business certificate from your town. Welcome to entrepreneurship. 

And here's the kicker: you’ve just added a second job to your plate. Now you’re not only teaching wellness, you’re your own admin, marketer, content creator, financial officer, and brand strategist. Expect to spend at least one or two full days a week on backend tasks: emails, social media, newsletters, class schedule graphics, bookkeeping, and more. The more visible and “successful” you are, the heavier that digital workload becomes. 

What they lack is infrastructure: no health insurance, no workers’ compensation, no paid sick days, nothing that many standard W‑2 jobs provide. A 1099 arrangement may sound flexible, but more often it means:

Mismanaged invoices

Late or missing payments

Studios that may cancel sessions without warning

Little clarity around rights or regulations

These teachers show clients the importance of balance while living on the edge of burnout.


The Yoga Journal Spotlight: Boston’s Bold Move


This imbalance compelled a Boston-area studio Down Under School of Yoga to defy industry norms. In June 2025, Down Under announced it would convert all its teachers into W‑2 employees, even those teaching just one class per week.


Justine Wiltshire Cohen, the studio’s founder and a former human‑rights lawyer, declared:

“If you teach one class for me you are an employee … Yoga’s dirty little secret is the vast majority of studios are still calling employees independent contractors, so they don’t have to give security and benefits.”

Down Under now offers sick days, retirement contributions, and health coverage for full-time staff initiatives no small feat given slim profit margins across the industry. In Massachusetts, state law already leans toward classifying most regular yoga teachers as employees rather than contractors .

What This Means for Teachers

For the many educators hustling between studios, personal training gigs, corporate wellness events, and online classes sometimes as a side‑gig, sometimes hoping to go full‑time the current model is unsustainable. Physical exhaustion, emotional strain, and financial instability become the norm. For those wanting to make fitness teaching their real career, the path is hazardous.

Meanwhile, they spend their careers telling others to slow down, breathe, and care for themselves.

Burning Out to Burn Bright

The contradiction is poignant: teachers of calm and presence are often cranking out class after class sometimes as many as 30 per week. As Cohen puts it, “No human being on earth could do that 30 times a week … teachers can’t keep it up longer than a couple of years. Then they give up, go back to their ‘real’ job.”

The very tools they teach breathwork, restorative yoga, mindfulness become impossible to embody without rest. Most independent instructors lack benefits like disability or unemployment insurance: if they get sick, they lose pay entirely.

A Model Worth Replicating?

Down Under is hardly the only studio in Boston, but it may be the first to fundamentally rethink teacher compensation and workplace protections. Their model came after three and a half years of planning, and more than $100,000 in investment, yet they have kept class rates the same for students .

As of early 2025, the studio operated six locations with over 100 teachers and 20 managerial staff, and it plans a seventh in Wellesley later this year.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts’ Attorney General’s independent contractor law reinforces that most studio‑teacher relationships tip toward employee status especially when studios schedule, control or largely direct teachers’ work.

A Call for Industry-Wide Change

The misclassification crisis is not unique to yoga; gig-economy platforms like ride-share, translation services, and caddying have all faced major legal pushback for treating core workers as contractors. Often, those workers win back pay, benefits, or legal penalties amounting to thousands or millions of dollars.

Yoga and group-fitness teachers deserve the same protections. If the guiding principles of self-care, wellness, and sustainability truly mattered, the industry would reflect that in its labor patterns.

To the Teachers Still Standing

You who shuttle between studios, juggle client lists, plan playlists, cue deep breaths and do it without insurance or paid rest days you’re the real keepers of wellness culture. You model resilience under pressure. Yet you're running a marathon with no finish line, carrying everyone else’s load.

What if wellness classrooms were built for teachers as well as students? What if benefits, scheduling protections, and fair pay were the baseline? That vision feels radical, but in Boston, it’s already unfolding.

Down Under offers a blueprint: one where teachers are employees, not invisible contractors. Where a gig feels like a job. Where burnout isn’t the cost of doing business and rest isn’t a luxury.


Can the rest of the wellness world catch up, before the burnout takes them too?

Here’s a breakdown of what you will need to begin your Independent Contractor gig:

Independent Contractor Yoga/Fitness Teacher: What You Actually Need

• Legal & Liability Protections

• Professional Liability Insurance (also called “yoga teacher insurance” or “fitness instructor insurance”)

• Covers injury claims, accidents, etc.—essential if you're not covered by a studio's policy.

• General Liability Insurance (if working in public or renting space)

• Some locations require proof of this before you can teach.

• Photo & Video Release Form: If you're recording or photographing classes for marketing, get this signed every single time.

• Waiver of Liability / Informed Consent Form: To protect you legally in case someone gets injured during your class.

• Emergency Contact Form: Particularly if you're doing private sessions or retreats.

• Independent Contractor Agreement (studio should provide it, but keep your own template) Clearly states you're not an employee and outlines your terms.


Business Essentials 

• Business Certificate (from your city/town hall) Makes your business legally recognized for taxes and legitimacy.

• EIN Number (free from the IRS)

• Useful for opening a business bank account, separating your finances, and issuing 1099s if needed.

• Bank Account for Business (even if just a checking account in your name). Keeps income/expenses separate from personal funds.

• Invoicing System (e.g., Wave, QuickBooks, or even Canva invoices + Google Sheets). Track your pay. Studios will not do this for you.

• Basic Bookkeeping or Accountant, Especially for quarterly taxes or tracking write-offs.

• Policy & Procedure Document. A one-pager that outlines your refund/cancellation policy, rescheduling rules, code of conduct, etc.


Client & Class Management

• Client Intake Form (for privates or therapeutic classes)

• Include physical limitations, goals, prior injuries, and medications.

  Confidentiality Agreement (if working with trauma-sensitive populations). Good ethical practice if you're trauma-informed or working in vulnerable communities.

• Attendance Tracker / Roster System. For your own liability and business tracking.

• Cancellation / No-Show Policy. Put it in writing and reinforce it regularly.

  
  


Marketing + Branding Tools

• Professional Website or landing page (even a single-page portfolio site)

• Host your schedule, classes, contact info, and blog if you have one.

• Business Name or Brand Identity (can be your name or something else like “CoyDog Botanicals & Yoga”)

• Stick with it consistently across platforms.

• Social Media Presence (Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok—wherever your people are)

• You’re your own marketing department.

• Email List / Newsletter Platform (Mailchimp, Flodesk, ConvertKit)

• Don’t rely on studio promotions. Build your own audience.

• Canva Account (Pro is great!)

• For creating flyers, class announcements, Instagram posts, and promo materials.


Teaching Equipment & Supplies

• Bluetooth Speaker or Sound System

• Don’t count on gyms or studios to have good sound.

• Microphone (for large outdoor classes or hybrid classes). Optional but helpful.

• Yoga Props (blocks, straps, bolsters, etc.)

• Some venues won’t supply these, especially if you’re mobile.

• Sanitizing Supplies. For mats and props if you're bringing your own.

• Phone Tripod / Ring Light. If recording for social media, YouTube, or virtual sessions.

• Class Plan Binder or Digital Library. Keep your sequences, playlists, breathwork plans, and theming ideas organized.


Time Management Tools

• Calendar App (Google Calendar or Acuity). To track gigs, private clients, marketing days, and rest days.

• Scheduling / Booking Tool (Calendly, Square, Wix Bookings) For private clients or workshops.

• Task Manager or Planner (Trello, Notion, Asana, or good old notebooks)

• Because you’re running everything—marketing, admin, scheduling, teaching.

Here’s a rough cost breakdown of what it takes to legally and professionally operate as an independent contractor yoga or fitness teacher in the U.S., especially if you're doing this across multiple locations or starting to scale.

These are ballpark figures and can vary by state, provider, and personal preferences—but this gives you a realistic, eyes-wide-open estimate of the startup and annual costs.

💸 Estimated Startup & Annual Costs for an Independent Contractor Yoga/Fitness Teacher 

Item	Estimated Cost	Frequency
Business Certificate (city/town hall)	$25–$100	Annual or every few years (depends on municipality)
EIN (Employer Identification Number)	Free	One-time
Liability Insurance (professional & general)	$150–$400	Annual
Website domain & hosting (e.g., Squarespace, Wix, WordPress)	$120–$300	Annual
Booking/scheduling software (Calendly, Square, Acuity)	$0–$180	Annual (or monthly $10–$15)
Email marketing platform (Mailchimp, Flodesk, ConvertKit)	$0–$240	Annual
Canva Pro	$120	Annual
Accounting/bookkeeping software (Wave, QuickBooks, or a CPA)	$0–$400	Annual
Props & gear (blocks, bolsters, straps, speaker, mat bag, etc.)	$200–$600	One-time (start-up)
Marketing materials (business cards, flyers, logo design)	$50–$200	As needed
Photography or branding shoot (if not DIY)	$150–$600	One-time or every few years
Music licensing (if teaching online or publicly)	$100–$200	Annual (e.g., ASCAP/BMI if required)
Office supplies or admin tools	$50–$150	Annual
Waiver forms, intake, contracts (if DIY or purchased legally)	$50–$200	One-time
Optional: Tripod, ring light, mic	$100–$300	One-time

✅ TOTAL ESTIMATED STARTUP COST: 

~$800 to $2,500+ 

• This assumes you're starting from scratch, outfitting yourself with equipment, setting up a professional online presence, and protecting yourself legally.

🔁 ANNUAL MAINTENANCE COST: 

~$500 to $1,200+ 

• This includes insurance renewals, website hosting, admin tools, marketing platforms, and general upkeep.

💡 Real Talk

• If you're teaching one class per week at $35/class, you're making ~$140/month before expenses. You’ll lose money unless this is a side-gig or passion project.

• If you're teaching 10–15+ classes/week, you’re more likely to break even and grow—but only if you also build your brand, private offerings, or retreats. 


References: 


Down Under decided in June 2025 to reclassify all teachers as employees, giving access to benefits and rest days .


CEO Justine Wiltshire Cohen highlighted the exploitative nature of typical contractor models and emphasized Down Under’s ethical, costly pivot to employee status .


Massachusetts law tends to classify most yoga teachers as employees under its Independent Contractor Law .


Misclassification lawsuits across industries are on the rise, and often result in significant payouts .