Money is political but only, a dirty word and a nuanced one if you work in yoga. Penny for your thoughts ? Heres mine from my working class mind on wonga and what its worth in yoga.

Why do we often avoid clear terms like price, cost, or fee when talking about money in yoga spaces?

Instead, we hear phrases like energy exchange, offerings, or investments—language that can feel vague, glossed over, pretentious or even performative.

Is it an attempt to spiritualize the transactional or a discomfort with naming money numbers directly? For many, especially those from working-class backgrounds, plain, even blunt speaking is far more welcoming than poetic flowery language that can feel like it masks power or privilege. To be frank, its screams to me that I don’t belong there especially as traditionally only the upper and middle classes feel its vulgar to discuss money whilst the working class need to know whats in their purse.

Money is political and when we avoid naming costs, we may unintentionally exclude those for whom budgeting is a real and daily part of life. And we see that in the blunt straight forward working class slang for money: dosh, dough, cheddar, brass, readies etc. There’s no ‘energy exchange’ or ‘investment’ there…

Shifting to transparent language might seem small but it can create a more inclusive honest space—and that can be transformative for your yoga business. After all , this is what we generally see first on advertising, so the first hurdle. Is it actually coming from a place of lack of worth or not feeling comfortable saying ‘Im worth xyz’? Is it us hiding behind the language?

And why do our pricing models so often reward the already financially affluent, those who can afford to pay more up front?

Bulk discounts and late-stage reductions can leave those who paid early or can only afford a single class at a time, feeling penalized.

What might financial fairness, equality and accessibility really look like when we bring money out into the open in yoga?