Yoga Teachers In Knots Over New Regulations For Certification

washingtonpost.com:

Some of Virginia's most flexible residents say the Old Dominion is forcing them to bend over backward. And not in a good way.

The tussle has pitted yoga enthusiasts against bureaucrats. At issue: Are yoga teacher training programs akin to vocational classes that should be regulated by the state? Or is Big Brother stretching too far into a centuries-old spiritual practice?

The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia recently declared that studios offering yoga teacher instruction must be certified. That involves a $2,500 fee, audits, annual charges of at least $500 and a pile of paperwork.

Read the whole story: washingtonpost.com

Comments

[fiji987]

In Virginia, training schools that make a lot of money do very well when it comes to the annual recertification "fees" charged by the state. The fee for a school that grosses anywhere over $150,000 is $2500. So if a school grosses twenty million dollars annually, it only has to pay $2500 annually. In contrast, a school that makes $50,000 has to pay $500; a school that makes $50 has to pay $500. So rich schools, in effect, get a huge discount and pay a nominal fee, while very small schools have to pay a much higher percentage of their gross income. See page 28 at http://www.schev.edu/AdminFaculty/iApproval/final%20regs%208-24-06.pdf for more info on this remarkably unfair fee structure.

The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) has an extensive list of regulations and required forms/paperwork that are mostly based on a one-size, one-kind fits all type of policy intended for large schools--colleges and universities. A number of these requirements make little sense and are an undue burden for small and tiny schools. In 2007, SCHEV conducted on-site audits of 31 proprietary schools (including schools against which there had been no complaints) and claimed that schools had committed 177 violations of these regulations. They charged the schools a $1000.00 “adminstrative fee” for each violation--a profit of $177,000.00. See http://www.schev.edu/SCHEV/AgendaBooks/2008Jan/AgendaBookJan08.pdf on pages 20 and 21.

[fiji987]

The quote below is from a July 10 New York Times article on Yoga Teachers and state regulation (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/nyregion/11yoga.html). This is another good example of what SCHEV (State Council of Higher Education for Virginia) really wants (and has been getting) from small and even tiny proprietary schools:

"The conflict started in January when a Virginia [SCHEV] official directed regulators from more than a dozen states to an online national registry of schools that teach yoga and, in the words of a Kansas official, earn a 'handsome income.'"

[fiji987]

It's about the money! It's about the money! SCHEV (State Council of Higher Education for Virginia) currently requires that any proprietary school that grosses anywhere from $0 (that's zero) to $50,000 pay an annual "fee" of $500. That means any training school, not just Yoga teachers, has to pay the State of Virginia $500 every year, even if they gross only $300. In addition, teachers have to pay for a surety bond. It's about the money! (It's not as bad as it used to be. When SCHEV first took over supervision of proprietary schools a few years ago they were demanding a $1500 annual "fee.")

It's about the money!

http://schev.edu/schev/formsIndex.asp#pope for more info regarding state requirements. (lots of forms).

[mountainweb]

Welcome to socialism, this is why the current heath care plan is REALLY bad. Not only does it not solve the real issues, it will bankrupt the country and is CLEARLY leading to socialism and socialistic concepts like this where the gov has NO business trying to regulate Yoga....

[norepublicanleftbehind]

Perhaps politicians should be charged a regulatory fee and their claims made in their speeches compared and measured for results throughout the first part of their terms. REGULATE THE POLITICIANS

[norepublicanleftbehind]

Greedy political nannies just wrecking everything in the name of cash. Sick--Just sick.

Leave the yogis alone.

[RightWingMarine]

this is another example of the state getting in the way of free enterprise and harming the people they claim to be helping. This puts an additional cost of the yogis which gets passed on to those that take their classes. The state certification only means that yogi paid the fee and filed the paperwork. To state that this certification can be used in advertising would only mislead the people the state is trying to protect, worthless yogis can claim their state cert means state endorsement.
The internet has been around for a couple of years now and most people can navigate a little. For those that can't word-of-mouth still exists. Yogis that are inept are discovered and unhappy students tell others. Yogis that do a good job get good reviews and their class size increases. We don't need the state in every area of our lives.

[csavage]

It's called protecting the public safety. Pharmacists, Doctors, Dentists, Nurses, Teachers, Paramedics, Cosmetologists all have to be certified. I promise you a yogi probably makes more than a paramedic or a cosmetologist

[Fabini]

After reading the article, I side with the state on this one. Doing yoga is one thing, training people (for a fee) to teach yoga is something else. It is well within state rights to regulate the teaching.

[Fabini]

Addendum: There is the spiritual, and the secular. Most yoga practitioners and trainers fall into the latter category.

[alieninvader]

I'm torn on this one. The cost seems pretty prohibitive, especially since very few yoga instructors make much money.

However, there are a lot of yoga instructors that are making a lot of mistakes. People are getting pushed beyond their capabilities. Some are getting injured. There are challenges that weren't around even a couple of generations ago, like the morbidly obese.

Personal trainers have to be licensed, why not yoga instructors?

[tanya1111]

I live in VA and I have to get a permit to take a C R A P.

[quindy]

If centuries old spiritual practice was offered for free I would say keep the govt. out of it. However, yogis charge for their sessions, so, yes they should be regulated given the fact that there are many charlatans among them. These days you can get yoga teacher degree online so it's time to regulate this business.

[MacManLB]

24 Hour Fitness Baby! Yoga classes with the membership.

[grailknight]

Yogis aren't making claims to the supernatural, which is what a charlatan does. Haven't ever learned yoga, have you?