Episode 42 - The State of The Yoga Union: A Conversation with Emily Stewart, founder of GFI-U

As a yoga teacher, it is likely you have experienced the perils of working in the yoga industry. Whether it be wage theft, devaluation, shady hiring practices, or something else…you deserve better. Emily Stewart, founder of Group Fitness Instructors United and The Kaivalya Yoga Method Academy lead mentor, is creating a groundswell of support for her union that helps to protect yoga teachers and raise their level of work to a legitimized and protected career path.

If you’ve been a yoga teacher for any length of time, then you know that it can be hard work. But sometimes that hard work is made even more challenging, when we’re not treated well by the industry that we work in. Throughout my many decades of yoga teaching, I’ve heard so many stories, but also lived through so much challenge, with not great hiring practices, even worse firing practices, not having paid time off, being undervalued, asking to teach for free. And I’m not alone.

If I wanted to live my life the way I wanted to, to offer my gifts to people and to help them the most that they needed I wanted to be able to work in any way I needed.

In today’s podcast, I want to introduce you to Emily Stewart. Not only is she a lead mentor on the Kaivalya Yoga Method Academy, she’s also the founder of Group Fitness Instructors United, a union bringing together fitness instructors and yoga teachers to help elevate our careers into the level of professionals that we know ourselves to be.