A student waiver form provides you with four very important things — health information, contact information, a signed waiver and email consent (which is required in Canada since the Anti-Spam law was passed in 2014). Click here for more information about this law.
- The health information that you will gain from the student waiver form is invaluable. It helps to determine how you will serve each individual student. It is important to read the form when it is first handed to you and if you work at a studio where forms are filed out of site – it is great to check back and/or check in verbally with students on a regular basis to see if they have any concerns, conditions or recent injuries.
- The contact information is great for when you need to get information to your students via phone, email or snail mail. Feel free to change the (editable) student waiver form that I have shared below. For instance you might not be sending anything via snail mail and so you may decide that more important is a cell phone number or you might change phone number to cell phone number.
- A signed waiver is a great way to let students know that they can move at their own pace and that they are responsible for their yoga practice. Even more important than the waiver – I recommend that all yoga teachers have their own liability insurance and that then make sure that the studio or space that they are teaching at also has insurance. My favourite Canadian company for yoga insurance is hands down Lackner McLennan. They are friendly, helpful and very professional. You can easily email or call them to add another yoga certification or modality.
- The email consent is now law (since 2014) and it is a great way to protect Canadians from spam emails. Your students get to decide if they want to sign up for your emails right from this form. Just remember to check the forms before sending out an email or entering them into an online email marketing service (examples are: MailChimp, iContact, AWeber, Constant Contact and Mad Mimi).
Feel free to share and use these students waiver forms with the studios and teachers that you know. If you edit it to suit your needs – send me your updated version. It can only get better.
