If you are a yoga instructor operating your business in the state of California, it is imperative that you procure yoga teacher insurance in order to shield your business from potential liability lawsuits. The majority of other health professions consider liability insurance to be an absolute requirement, and yoga instructors would do well to adopt the same mindset. In today’s not-so-stellar economic climate, it has become an unfortunate reality that many people are actually looking for someone to sue. Obtaining liability insurance for your yoga practice is necessary in order to offset the potential risk you’re exposing yourself to should someone decide to take legal action against you.

Although the threat of a liability lawsuit stemming from an injury in a yoga class may be relatively small, it is nonetheless real. Some of the common injuries reported by claimants include back injuries, joint or bone damage (i.e. bruises or fractures), strained or torn muscles, etc. Oftentimes a claimant will name the yoga instructor as responsible for their injury, citing improper teaching techniques, overtraining, etc., as the cause of the injury. This is known as professional liability, and is often referred to as malpractice. Others have filed claims due to injuries stemming from some type of negligence regarding physical hazards (i.e., a student slips and falls on a slick floor). These types of scenarios can be covered by general liability (a.k.a. “trip and fall”) insurance. Yoga insurance usually covers product liability as well; for example, if you sell yoga mats and someone slips and falls as a result of using the mat, they could declare you liable for their injury. As a yoga instructor, having the right type of liability insurance will protect you from all of these various types of legal actions and damages incurred by claimants. In order to preserve your peace of mind and protect your investment, you simply cannot afford to be without the proper liability insurance.

Although the state of California does not legally require yoga instructors to have liability insurance in order for them to be able to teach, the risk of being named in a lawsuit is significant enough to warrant California yoga insurance. If you choose to forgo obtaining yoga insurance, you are implicitly assuming total responsibility for any legal action taken against you. If you are willing to consider this level of risk as acceptable, then you can choose to remain uninsured. But as we all know, defending yourself can be very expensive, and you wouldn’t want to jeopardize your career and livelihood when affordable liability insurance is so readily available.

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