Our Team
Hayley Johns
(She/Her)
Chair
I felt adrift in the wellness business for a good long while, there’s an incongruity to what is presented/sold to the lived experience of those who’s labour the industry relies upon. As a full time gig this way of working has felt unsustainable to me for many years. I’ve been politically active at a local level for a time, and when the avenue for organising, aligned with the deep principles of care, anti-racism, against oppression, and in solidarity with ALL precarious workers appeared in the form of the Yoga Teachers Union, IWGB I felt compelled to add my voice to the many challenging those power structures on which exploitation thrives.
Lynette Greenaway
(She/Her)
Vice Chair
I joined the Yoga Teachers Union because I have grown so tired of yoga teachers' labour being systematically undervalued. I want yoga teachers to recognize that they are not alone and they can speak up without fear, performative tranquility is not part of the job. I joined the union for support, protection and collective voices.
Clair Yates
(She/Her)
Secretary
For a while I’d felt surrounded by those who seemed to accept the devaluing of the work of teaching yoga, the hours of experience and training we’ve received and paid for and the transformative effect of yoga itself. Inspired by the work of the Artists’ Union and their example of how self-employed workers can organise around pay and value and in opposition to the devaluing that I saw around me, it seemed like a natural step to join the YTU. Our work is member led and it’s uplifting to be part of an organisation actively fighting to value yoga, to value our work and to value us as full human beings.
LOUISE CASHIN
(She/Her)
Treasurer
I was inspired to join the Union initially from a conversation me and another long-time teacher were having about pay and value, shocked to realise we are being paid almost the same per hour [so effectively less] than when we started all those years ago and we felt that cannot be right! It seems years of training and experience just don’t appear to be of value in our ‘industry’ , something I'd like to see change, as well as so many other things that I feel are unfair practices too.
Femke Gow
(SHE/HER)
Women’s & Non-binary officer
I joined the union to mobilise against sexual exploitation in the yoga industry, and the wider gig sector. We need to support each other and regulate this space so we can enjoy the freedom that self-employment brings. As your Women & Non-Binary Officer, I’m your first point of call. A set of open ears. Tell me what you need, and I'll help you get there.
