Senate Passes Bill To Protect Yoga Studios From Burdensome Regulations
Sen. Schneiderman and Assm. Rosenthal’s Legislation Brings Tranquility To State’s Yoga Community
ALBANY – By a unanimous vote today, the state Senate passed legislation that permanently protects New York’s yoga studios from burdensome regulations that threaten their livelihood. Last year, the New York State Education Department accused yoga studios of violating the law by training new instructors without a license, despite the fact that such licenses have never been required before. The state also attempted to slap the studios with fines as high as $50,000.
“This is a victory for the yoga community of New York State. We can all breathe easier now that yoga studios will be free from the onerous regulations that threatened to shut down their businesses. This common sense bill ensures that yoga studios from Buffalo to Brookhaven can operate in peace once again,” said Senator Eric Schneiderman (D-Manhattan/Bronx), the lead sponsor of the bill. [click to continue…]
Is it the full moon or what? All the kooky yoga videos are coming out of the woodwork! It’s not an oddball ad for Scrabble, but it certainly rates high on what- in-the-what scale. Meet The Yoganator! A high-prana’ed foul-mouthed yogi teacher with conviction, and satire. We’ve seen mocking tongue-in-cheek vids from the likes of aspiring yogi filmakers (Savasana: The Movie), Arj Barker (Sickest Buddhist) and even Jason Mraz (Yoga-to-Go), but are we ready for the yoga action film?
And then there’s Homeless Yoga, from the filmmaker and producer Linda Matarasso, with the tagline “What would yo do if you lost it all?”…of which the answer, of course, is Yoga. We have yet to come to a verdict on this one until we see the whole shebang, though it’s borderline obnoxious for sure (but so are we! we won’t judge. yet.)
Needless to say, Hindu scholar and part-time movie critic, Rajan Zed is not pleased (he hates Eat, Pray, Love). His previous thoughts on the topic directed at Yoga Journal, “When did lampooning become a medium to honor a 5,000-year-old tradition,” Rajan Zed asked.
Um. hm. Thanks to elephantjournal who alerted us to this completely kooked out yoga video. Turns out it’s part of a French ad campaign called “a Beautiful word” for Scrabble of all things!
somewhat NSFW, and somewhat racially offensive if you ask us.
Check out the other oddball vids from the “a Beautiful word” campaign and the whole story behind the ads at jawbone.tv .
Aw booo…this icy white fluff got you down? We have word that dancing your heart out will warm your spirits right up! Lucky for you (NYers*) there’s an event for that this weekend and it even helps charity! read on…
The folks at flavorpill who brought you YoGA at MoMA (and maybe something bigger) are hosting a Get Your Dance On party tomorrow night at YogaWorks SoHo..
What: GYDO - Get Your Dance On party with dance spins from DJ Dhundee, live musicians, chocolate, wine, kombucha, free use of the studio saunas…good times.
When: Saturday, February 27th 7-10pm
Where: YogaWorks Soho 459 Broadway New York, NY 10013
(212) 965-0801
Cost: Tickets are $20 and include a free week of yoga at YogaWorks (it’s $10 for members). All profits will be donated to Housing Works. Call YogaWorks to reserve 212-965-0801.
Snow or no you can still dance! Maybe we’ll see you there cuttin’ the yoga mats! or most likely luxuriating in chocolate
Bikram’s Yoga Asana Championships are really picking up steam - we may even see it (competitive yoga) in the Olympics! Of course, lotsa yogadorks are wondering if this is a serious push and just how close they are to persuading the International Olympic Committee to come to the sweaty side. Answer? We don’t know! However, we do know the Bikram camp isn’t the only unsuspecting group with gold medals in their eyes. Thanks to yoganonymous we found some other Olympic hopefuls rallying to get their “sport” into the Games. Ladies and gents, the USA Pole Dancing Team!
KT Coates, a prominent pole dancer in England and director of Vertical Dance, is leading the Olympic push.
“After a great deal of feedback from the pole-dance community, many of us have decided that it’s about time pole fitness is recognized as a competitive sport, and what better way for recognition than to be part of the 2012 Olympics held in London,” she said in a petition she’s preparing for organizers of the London Olympics.
Asana and pole dancing, maybe they should join forces! Good luck to all the able-bodied half-nekkid acrobatic physical maneuverists in their pursuit of the Olympic dream. Hey! what do you think? Cast your vote in the YD poll…
Brief update on the “Graspin’ Aspen” case for those following at home. The judge has rejected a plea a week before the case would go to trial…
Steven Jon Roger, 48, was poised to plead no contest to two misdemeanor charges and avoid going to a jury trial next week in Pitkin County Court.
But Judge Erin Fernandez-Ely said she could not accept the plea deal that stipulated Roger get a two-year deferred judgment, and spend two years on unsupervised probation and the state’s sex offender registry. The deal had been reached between prosecutor Richard Nedlin and Tamas Viski-Hanka, Roger’s Denver-based attorney.
Now the trial is on hold so that Viski-Hanka can entertain the judge’s recommendation that Roger undergo a pre-sentence investigation and a psycho-sexual evaluation. The judge also said she was open to other ideas to settle the case, and added she wants to see the alleged victims feel justice has been served with whatever disposition is reached, provided the case settles.
Fernandez-Ely was partially persuaded to reject the plea agreement after she received a letter Monday from one of the alleged victims, who wants Roger registered on the sex offender list for the rest of his life. The judge read aloud the letter from the alleged victim, who wrote that she “will be haunted by [Roger's] memories for years to come.”
We don’t know what happened and who’s guilty here, and obviously Mr. Roger is none too pleased about his association to “sex offender”, but we have a feeling he’s not getting off the hook so easily. Sure the limelight sucks when it’s shameful and damning, but for rest of us this case brings up a topic needing discussion!
If you feel you are a victim of sexual harassment or sexual assault by a yoga teacher or fellow student, speak up! It’s wrong and no one should have to put up with it.
And yoga teachers should know better. If you need a refresher, don’t dothis.
Whoa, Bikram gets friendly with CA politico top dog Jerry Brown - pays him the big bucks! From LATimesblogs:
Brown’s gubernatorial campaign exploratory committee received a $25,900 donation from the L.A-based Bikram’s Yoga College of India earlier this month — the maximum allowable donation under California law.
The LA Times cites an interview with yogi Brown from 2005, in LA Yoga Magazine, where he hardly confirms nor denies his sole commitment to Bikram (once a politician…):
“Certainly if we had some of our more aggressive politicians doing yoga or meditating it would be definitely helpful,” he said. “I do think we’re in a very distracted world, 24-hour television, very frightening. So anything that contributes to wholeness, integrity or contemplation would be a very good corrective to the novelty obsession that characterizes our culture.”
About his yoga practice:
“I’ve done yoga in different places, Forrest Yoga in Santa Monica. I had yoga in my building and I did yoga in San Francisco in the Bikram-type studio, although the temperature was only in the low 90s, so it was only a deviant form of Bikram, a more comfortable form, I might add.”
We’re not sure how long Mr. Brown’s been practicing yoga, but his political career spans decades: he’s served as California Secretary of State (1971–1975), as Governor of California (1975–1983), as chair of the California Democratic Party (1989–1991), the Mayor of Oakland (1998–2006), and the Attorney General of California (2007–present). (wikipedia) We caught wind of him back in Feb ‘09 when JB and Arnie wanted to crush the dreams of a $8 billion “gold-plated utopian hospital plan” for CA prisons replete with “yoga rooms”. So inmates don’t get fancy studios, but is Bikram hoping to sweat something out of this?
It’s no secret Bikram Choudhury has loads of celebriyogi namedroppings (Madonna not so much) and is currently bending over backwards trying to get his asana sports into the Olympics. We’re curious, what’s his golden interest in CA politics? And why is it worth 25,000 smackeroos?? (which is only about 2.5 sweaty students’ tuition by the way).
UPDATE 3/11/10: VA Gov. Robert F. McDonnell signed the bill Tuesday night…(WashingtonPost)
Hear ye! Hear ye! We just got word from Suzanne Leitner-Wise…the Senate bill has passed! Based on the constitutional right to freedom of speech VA yoga teachers beat the gov for exemption from regulation and from falling under the terms of “vocation” in VA State. In the same way NY yogis have been fighting to stay out from under the government’s thumb, VA has been struggling with a similar battle for control and independence.
This case seeks to vindicate the right of all Virginians to speak and earn an honest living. That is why, on December 1, 2009, yoga-teacher trainers Julia Kalish, Suzanne Leitner-Wise, and Beverly Brown teamed up with the Institute for Justice to challenge the constitutionality of Virginias vocational-school law as applied to yoga-teacher trainers.
Anyone in Virginia can do yoga, and anyone can teach yoga. But, incredibly, it is illegal to teach people to teach yoga. Yoga-teacher training is just the latest target of vocational school licensing laws that require countless entrepreneurs to ask the government’s permission before opening their mouths.
Vocational-school licensing burdens both economic liberty and freedom of speech. The cost of compliance is typically thousands of dollars and over a week of full-time administrative work. For owners of small schools, these costs can make the difference between viability and closing down.
(see more about it in the video below)
Earlier in February, both the House bill (HB 703) and the separate Senate bill, SB 598, passed on their own. Today we can announce that the combined legislature got the final vote and passed! Congrats to VA yoga teachers who fought hard for the win!
Q: What does the yogadork gallery think? Is yoga a vocation or avocation? Is yoga teacher training job prep that should be regulated?
If you’ve been following the Dahn Yoga cult scandal then you know it’s been a massive uproar involving brainwashing allegations and serious accusations of abuse. If you haven’t, the story is finally reaching mass media news outlets and is spilling over from the active online discussions and comments of support from former members. With CNN Special Investigation coverage in January and now Rolling Stone magazine’s own take on the “Yoga Cult” this is your yououghtaknow alert:
The Yoga Cult
How a Korean guru has created a fanatical following on college campuses that is part Moonies, part New Age boot camp and pure profit
We know that Dahn is not the yoga we’ve come to know and love…but when the media picks this up as a “Yoga Cult”, does it do damage to public opinion of what yoga is? We don’t need to give Gabourey Sidibe another reason to hate, hate yoga.
Could it chafe Bikram’s chances of the Olympic dream? Or has the culture of yoga permeated popular culture enough these days that this will hardly cause a tremble?
We just got word… Yoga bill has passed through the Senate just moments ago! Developing…
