I’m a Paris-based entrepreneur, and I’m endlessly curious. I love anatomy, movement, fascias, and I’m just as happy rewatching Kaamelott or Buffy as I am reading about the body. Before yoga, I was CEO of a communication agency in Avignon. I’ve always been drawn to holistic practices, to working with body and mind together. I started with meditation, and yoga came naturally after that. My first class was in a park, and I fell in love immediately. Very quickly, yoga became a tool for me: to detach from what people think of me and become my own guide, to be more powerful by knowing myself, and to not let anybody else tell me who I am or what to think. Professionally, going from practitioner to teacher to entrepreneur meant learning to build, structure, and run a business while staying true to my voice. It also meant finding the right partners, so I could focus on what I do best as a trainer without getting bogged down in administration, like CPF (specific to France) paperwork.

From Practitioner to Teacher

Teaching quickly became a vocation for me, not a trend or a way to make money. It’s gratitude, generosity, and a real desire to help people. Today I teach in studios, and I created Anne-Julie Yoga, an online platform with 200+ videos, weekly live sessions, and an app, built around one idea: become your own guide. I also train teachers through Chakra Flow®. I also offer a beautiful yoga retreat in Puglia in summer.

Building Anne-Julie Yoga

I started by teaching in studios and doing substitute classes, and within a month I was full-time. Then I built Anne-Julie Yoga, my online platform, during COVID, and it was a great, unexpected success. Teacher training came next.

I grew by multiplying formats rather than doubling down on one. It started with in-person group teacher trainings through Chakra Flow®, then expanded to online programs, studio classes, private sessions, corporate clients, events, and retreats. The online platform, Anne-Julie Yoga, now offers more than 200 videos, weekly live sessions, and a mobile app. My next chapter is a new project built around movement, fascia, mobility, and immersions.

Growing While Staying True to My Values

I learned that I can’t, and shouldn’t, do everything myself. Finding the right partners lets me focus on being a trainer instead of getting lost in management. I also learned to trust my own voice and to build something that reflects it, not what’s trendy. Never go into business with someone you wouldn’t trust with your values, because a bad partner can cost you more than any bad decision.

Instagram is my number one channel. It’s where most people discover me before joining my platform. Word of mouth comes second, followed by my studio classes. I’m also centralizing my communication into one monthly newsletter.

Become Your Own Guide

Choose your partners carefully, and protect the time you spend teaching, because that’s why you started. Build around your own voice instead of copying what works for others. Become aware of your own value, because if you don’t, someone else will decide it for you, and you’ll end up making the wrong partnerships.

My mission is to help people become their own guide. I want them to understand their bodies, practice in a way that fits them instead of forcing themselves into postures, and stop letting others tell them who they are. For me, teaching is a vocation: it comes from gratitude, generosity, and a real desire to help people.

Business Takeaways

  • Choose partners who share your values. Anne-Julie warns that a poor business partnership can cost more than a bad decision. Find people you trust, particularly when you need support with administration and business management.
  • Protect time for the work that matters most. Bringing in the right partners allows her to focus on training and teaching instead of doing every administrative task herself.
  • Grow by offering different formats. Her business developed across studio classes, in-person teacher training, online programs, private sessions, corporate clients, events, and retreats rather than relying on a single offering.
  • Know where your students discover you. Instagram brings most of her platform discoveries; word of mouth and studio classes follow, and she is consolidating communication into a monthly newsletter.
  • Build around your own voice, not trends. Her advice to yoga entrepreneurs is to recognize their value and create a business that reflects their purpose instead of copying someone else’s approach.