Discover how to find a FREE VENUE for your yoga classes and 15 paying students in 5 easy steps
End Outcome
Send an email to your local rugby club (or any other sporting club in your local area), and say you’ll set up a yoga program for their players.
Overview
Think outside the box when selecting a venue for your yoga class. Most yoga teachers will call up local village halls, church halls, and dance centers. That’s not the smartest way to go about finding a venue.
“If you asked 10 sporting club venues in your area, at least one will say yes.”
Step 1
Google
Google to find a rugby club, or other sporting clubs in your local area (e.g. golf clubs, or football clubs, rugby clubs, athletic clubs, etc).
Here’s a list of 100+ different kinds of sporting clubs to choose from.
Step 2
Contact Info
Find the appropriate name and email address.
Step 3
Send An Email
Email the decision-maker, letting them know the benefits of a yoga program for their players (see email template below).
START OF EMAIL TEMPLATE
“Hi Frank (Rugby Club Manager),
I’m a local yoga teacher based in XYZ. Most rugby teams have some kind of yoga program including the England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland national rugby teams. If you haven’t already got a yoga program for your rugby players and would like to find out how to start one, please call me on [TEL NUMBER] or email me at [EMAIL ADDRESS].
Below are seven benefits your rugby players will receive from a yoga practice:
Benefit 1: Mobility
Yoga increases a rugby player’s mobility by increasing range of motion and lengthening muscle tissue.
Benefit 2: Core Strength
Yoga builds a rugby player’s core strength.
Benefit 3: Body Awareness
By developing a greater awareness of what the body is doing, a rugby player is able to make technical changes with greater ease.
Benefit 4: Ease Of Movement
Yogic breathing will allow a rugby player to perform with effort whilst at the same time moving with ease. Learning to breathe in coordination with movement allows a rugby player to perform in a relaxed, peak performance state.
Benefit 5: Recovery
Tightness is a common issue with rugby players. This tightness restricts mobility. Yoga will ease the tightness, aches, and pains after a game.
Benefit 6: Injury Prevention
By developing mobility, strength, and body awareness through regular yoga sessions, rugby players can help to significantly reduce their risk of injury.
Benefit 7: Mental Game
With an increasing emphasis on the mental aspect of rugby, the ability of players to learn to control their emotions before a game is a huge bonus of regular yoga sessions.
END OF EMAIL
Step 4
Phone Script
When you get a call, use the phone script below for ideas on what to say.
START OF PHONE SCRIPT
“Hi Frank, thanks for calling. If you have enough players interested, we can do the yoga sessions at your rugby club. If there are only one or two interested, they can either have one to one sessions with me or join one of my local yoga classes. All your players will get a personalized yoga folder. The folder will contain yoga routines designed specifically for rugby players, which they will be able to use for their Home Yoga Practice. I will be available by email and phone for support. For example, if someone has a specific injury, I will put together a bespoke yoga routine in a visual, easy-to-follow lesson plan. Plus, I will be available to give the person a one to one yoga session (covering the routine in the handout).”
END OF PHONE SCRIPT
Step 5
Yoga For Rugby Lesson Plans
Save time by copying and editing any of the “Yoga For Rugby” lesson plans within the Drag & Drop Yoga Genie Lesson Planner.
Step 6
Keep Looking
Keep looking for a potential free venue for your yoga classes. Repeat steps 1 to 4 to find other free venues in your area (e.g. golf clubs, football clubs, athletic clubs, etc).
See below for other venues you could use…
Local Golf Course: I was able to get a room for free at my local golf club and the golf pro even put up flyers, sent an email to every member letting them know about the class, and even came to the class. All this for free! I positioned it to the pro as a way for the golf club to retain more of its members (member rates always drop when the economy is struggling). Most golfers have back problems and are over 40 years old which are prime prospects for a yoga class.
Sporting Venues: You can apply the same strategy to athletic clubs, football (soccer) clubs, running clubs. Basically, any sporting venue that has a venue and members who would love to join your class.
Local Businesses: You can even go to a local business and give a discount to their staff in exchange for using the venue. Providing a yoga class for their staff makes brilliant business sense. Employees get fitter which means fewer days off work sick. And employees get to know each other better (bonding) especially if you add a bit of partner yoga. You are doing the business a favour by having the class at their business location (therefore you don’t need to pay them).
Empty Venue: If you know a venue that has been empty for a long time, you could find out the owner and ask to use the space for a yoga class (while he/she is trying to sell it). There’s a place where I live that has a huge venue that used to sell kitchens. It’s on a second floor overlooking a busy roundabout and is glass fronted (meaning everyone driving past the roundabout will see us practicing yoga (which means no need to advertise much). It’s been empty for more than three years. That means the business owner may be open to a maverick yoga teacher approaching them with a request to use the venue for yoga. The worst-case scenario is that the business sells the venue in a few months time, but by that time my class would probably be pretty full and I can simply pick up the phone and find another free venue.
Your Students: And don’t forget your current students. My mum is a yoga teacher and a student at her class offered a huge room in her house as a yoga venue when the one she was using suddenly became too expensive. The student who offered the room got free yoga for life and my mum got a free venue.
Final Thoughts
If you teach 100 classes per year and pay £15 per class for the venue, you’ll save £1,500. That means simply by sending an email to ten sporting clubs in your area, you save £1,500 and don’t have to fork out any money to advertise. The sporting club will have players and staff who’ll come to your yoga sessions.
Go in peace, my fellow yoga teacher, and bring yoga to the world.
