Social Workout

Regulatory

New York State to Yogis: Bend Over

I often joke that half the women I know are doing yoga teacher training. Well, here's an even worse joke: The New York Dept. of Education has fired off cease-and-desist orders to yoga studios across the state informing them that teacher training without a license is a violation of Section 5001(1) of the Education Law -- one that could run them $50,000 in penalties. Huh? An outraged Bill Hammond of the Daily News is all over the story: "There's only one thing wrong with the state making this charge," Hammond writes. "It's utter nonsense. Not a single yoga studio in the state has ever applied for or received a license before. In fact, the notion of requiring yoga studios to get licenses never even occurred to state officials until a month or so ago."

That's when, apparently, NY discovered that some other states have started to "regulate" teacher training, and decided it might be good business. Now, of course, small New York studios are in a panic.

New York