“I was fascinated by the idea of owning a franchise that delivered the benefits of yoga to children in this unique, multi-sensory, creative way”

Children Inspired by Yoga’s Anna Gagliano is having a positive impact in her local community and living life with a higher purpose

“I gave up my job on April 30, 2019 and started living the dream,” says Anna Gagliano, one of the latest talented individuals to join Children Inspired by Yoga.

“My first class was on the International Day of Yoga,” she adds, which proved a great start to what has already become a hugely successful franchise based in Rochester and covering the surrounding areas.

Interest piqued

Anna’s interest in the brand was piqued by an article written by Sue Heron, a paediatric physiotherapist and head of training for Children Inspired by Yoga, which was published in Yoga Alliance Professionals magazine.

She was fascinated by the idea of owning a franchise that delivered the benefits of yoga to children in the unique multi-sensory and creative way that’s been pioneered by Children Inspired by Yoga and delivered over the last 15 years – making it the UK’s longest-running children’s yoga company.

A call to Tatty headquarters (Tatty is an affectionate reference to Tatty Bumpkin, a lovable bendy doll who each week orchestrates yoga-inspired classes for over 8,000 children) in December 2018 resulted in Anna being invited to join company founder Sam Petter at a discovery day in London. Anna purchased her first territory in March.

“It was my intention to continue working in London, however by April I was ready to fully embrace my new career,” says Anna, who prior to purchasing the franchise worked in property development for eight years, spent four years as a head of global knowledge and was at the Royal Institute of British Architects for five years. Anna has an MBA, a degree in architecture and town planning and an MSc in information management.

Lucrative business

These days, Anna is building her own lucrative business: “I continue to work hard promoting the business locally. There is a huge need for what we offer and this grows day by day.

“I feel passionate about personally engaging key people at nurseries, preschools and schools, so they are enthused by the virtues of our classes. I take care to explain our programme is aligned to the national curriculum and show them the documentation that demonstrates this.

“I offer classes across all four Children Inspired by Yoga programmes, which include Baby Bumpkin for 0-2 years, Tatty Bumpkin for 2-7 years, Tatty Guroo for 7-12 years and Yoga Guroo for 12-16 years - the latter two recently added to the business due to the exponential increase in popularity of yoga-inspired classes for children.

“I employ two teachers, who are both trained and fully accredited through the business. I run nearly 30 sessions weekly, which means a lot of bendy, giggly yoga for strong bodies and clever minds.

“I’m having a positive impact in the local community, living life with higher purpose, doing something I love and changing lives for the better.”

At a glance Children Inspired by Yoga

Established:

2004

Number of franchised outlets:

35

Location of outlets:

Edinburgh to Somerset, plus Qatar, Dubai and the Channel Islands

Investment range:

£10,500

Minimum capital required:

can support funding of up to 75 per cent through NatWest

Contact:

01732 812212 childreninspiredbyyoga.com