Yoga Instructor Wants to Extend Her Practice

After five years of 60-hour workweeks, Heather Onori is ready to focus on her long-held dream: teaching yoga full time and, eventually, operating her own yoga studio.

For guidance about this intimidating new path, she consulted world-renowned alternative health expert Deepak Chopra, founder of the Chopra Center for Well Being in La Jolla, Calif.

Chopra commended Onori for committing herself to a business goal that she thinks will bring her more contentment than does her current regimen.

“It’s important for you to stay focused on your goal,” Chopra said, “and to keep developing it as you progress.”

Onori, a 47-year-old Santa Monica resident, hasn’t had this luxury in the past. Since 1995 she’s been holding down two jobs: She manages a Westside law firm and, in the afternoons and evenings and on weekends, oversees the Forrest Yoga Circle in Santa Monica, where she also teaches yoga.

She’s done so to support herself and her daughter, Brianna, 18, who last month graduated from high school and is now on her own.

“Raising Brianna has been the most rewarding experience of my life,” Onori said. But “now it’s my time. . . . I have to focus on my own future.”

Chopra and Onori discussed ways she could make the transition to full-time teaching and better serve her students. They agreed that the more knowledgeable Onori becomes about alternative health therapies, the more valuable she will be--as both a teacher and a resource.

Chopra suggested that Onori consider learning more about ayurveda, a 5,000-year-old Hindu healing system consisting of yoga, meditation, nutrition and herbal massage. He further encouraged her to explore adjunct alternative therapies, such as aromatherapy, sound therapy and music therapy, which might further increase her students’ well-being.

“If you could combine those with your teaching, then you would truly be a mind-body-spirit expert,” Chopra said.

Chopra and other experts offered Onori this additional advice:

Building a full-time yoga practice in the yoga-friendly Los Angeles area should not be too difficult for Onori, who has solid training in hatha yoga (which emphasizes breath work and body postures) and business management experience.

Local yoga instructors blessed with flexibility and marketing savvy can make the transition from part-time teachers to full-time “yogis” within a year’s time, insiders say, if they adhere to “composite teaching schedules”’ (mixes of private and group sessions) and regularly book 12 or more classes a week. Incomes of $50,000 annually, what Onori earns at her two jobs, are not uncommon for popular L.A. yoga teachers. A few superstars earn more than $150,000 a year and charge their private clients $250 a session.

Private Practice Focus

Onori should first develop a solid private client base, several local yoga instructors said. Teaching privately is more lucrative than leading small group classes, which typically bring in $15 a student. Private clients in Los Angeles pay $60 to $150 a session for yoga classes, and many will book two or three sessions a week.

But because individuals who can afford such services often travel on business, take extended vacations and occasionally make last-minute cancellations, Onori should balance her private teaching with group classes and corporate “stress reduction” gigs, said Larry Payne, author of “The Business of Teaching Yoga” (Samata International, 2000) and the founder of Samata Yoga Center in Mar Vista.

To keep income flowing, Onori may request that students purchase their class series in advance or submit to automatic billing, said Jay Abraham, a Palos Verdes marketing expert and author of “Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform and Out-Earn the Competition” (St. Martin’s Press, 2000).

Onori also should carefully craft a marketing plan for her business. Many yoga studio owners and teachers warn that fliers, mailers, free coupons and newspaper ads don’t generate much response. Word-of-mouth referrals account for the lion’s share of their new business, they say. Onori can take advantage of “referral marketing” by offering incentives and discounts to her present students who refer friends and family members to her, Abraham said.

Getting the Word Out

She also can target alternative health clinics, health food stores, acupuncturists, naturopaths and osteopaths--businesses and professionals that tend to be supportive of yoga as a therapeutic practice--and ask them to distribute coupons for free or discounted yoga lessons to their clients, Abraham said. To further interest the owners of these businesses, she could give them professional-quality brochures about her yoga philosophy and instruction, Chopra said.

“In effect, you’re asking them to put their reputation behind your organization,” Abraham said.

Additionally, Onori can expand her local reputation by teaching classes at health clubs, spas, universities, adult schools and community centers, Payne said. She can give demonstrations at health fairs, do cable access and radio shows, conduct yoga workshops and retreats and take students on yoga-based vacations. And she can advertise her services in the Yellow Pages, Yoga Journal and other publications.

Eventually, she may wish to make a yoga video, but she’ll probably need financial backing, because professionally shot and edited yoga videos typically run more than $60,000, Payne said.

Many yoga teachers say that they’ve gained students by setting up professionally designed Web sites and listing them with popular search engines, as well as by registering with online yoga teacher directories such as https://www.yogasite.com. If Onori decides to put up her own Web site, she should first explore competitors’ sites to review design and content, Abraham said.

Once Onori has amassed a large enough student base, she can consider opening her own studio. It need not be large--800 square feet is ample. But even with her management experience, Onori would benefit from securing the advice of an accountant and a lawyer about her studio’s potential costs and legal requirements.

She’d need to get a business license, a seller’s permit and a sign permit, as well as purchase yoga props and office equipment. She might want to sell yoga merchandise and books too, as a “slow but steady source of income that will sustain you through the harder times,” noted Sandy Blaine, owner of the Alameda Yoga Station in Alameda, Calif.

Chopra encouraged Onori to follow through with her aspirations, but reminded her to make time for personal meditation and de-stressing--which Onori promised she’ll do.

“You must never compromise quality or overextend yourself,” he said.

“Every day, I’m becoming more excited at the possibilities for my future,” Onori said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Time for a Change

* Name: Heather Onori, 47

* Occupation: Law firm manager and yoga instructor

* Desired occupation: Yoga instructor and counselor

* Quote: “My law firm job pays my bills steadily and offers flexible hours so I can teach my yoga. ... [But] my dream is to have my own yoga studio ... and show people how to reconnect with themselves.”

*

Meet the Coach

Deepak Chopra is an internationally recognized leader in the field of mind-body medicine. He is founder of the Chopra Center for Well Being in La Jolla and the author of more than 25 books, including “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams” (Amber-Allen, 1995) and “Creating Affluence: The A to Z Steps to a Richer Life” (Amber-Allen, 1998).

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