Government Regulation of Yoga Teacher Training

I want to take a moment to respond to a recent blog post by Darla Magee in the popular yoga blog YogaDork. (Go ahead, read it – It’s short and I’ll wait.) While I often enjoy the light-hearted and occasionally silly posts, this one somewhat irritated me.  It concerns a new initiative by the Texas government to regulate Yoga Teacher Trainings in that state, under the jurisdiction of the Texas Workforce Commission which regulates post-secondary education (post high school, specifically vocational education).  I should note that this government organization specifically exempts dance, physical fitness and martial arts training from their purview, as these are non-vocational – in other words, they are not intending to train you to perform a job.  While clearly teacher trainings can prepare you for working as a teacher trainer, this is not the only reason people undertake them.  Furthermore, not only do many people who go through a training never teach professionally, a significant portion of the training hours usually covers philosophy, spiritual practices, and classic texts which are rarely taught, if ever, in a standard yoga class.

            Magee’s main argument in support of such regulation is that there are yoga teachers out there right now who clearly do not know what they’re doing.  She seems to believe that government regulation will fix this problem, and not only that – she seems to believe that it will help spread yoga to more people.  She writes: “Imagine getting the Federal Government to bring yoga to the military! Imagine getting your health insurance to pay for your classes! Imagine government money and student loans for teacher training! For all of these reasons and so many more, the state’s acknowledgment of yoga opens many doors toward making yoga mainstream, accessible, and affordable to all.”

            Without getting too deeply into the debate about what “yoga” is anyway (is it a spiritual practice and therefore protected from government interference under the Constitution, or is it just Zumba with Indian spice?) I want to point out why Ms. Magee’s view is superficial, economically naïve, and ultimately detrimental to the diversity and spread of yoga. 

            Who really thinks that state bureaucrats are even remotely qualified to regulate yoga?  (Let alone TEXAS state bureaucrats!)  How will they define yoga?  How will they regulate the curriculum?  How can they possibly be in the place to offer any guidance on this ancient tradition? With the abundance of styles, points of emphasis, how is it possible to really regulate such a thing effectively?  Consider meditation alone – is it part of the yoga practice?  If so, how much time should be allocated to it in a 200 hour training?  More importantly, how can a bureaucratic committee, which may not even include a single person with meditation or yoga experience possibly make such a distinction.  It may be fairly argued that the regulations can be kept fluid, much like the Yoga Alliance’s standards, but if that’s the case I don’t see the point of regulation.  After all, the Yoga Alliance has become the de facto industry standard unless laws are passed to make the teaching of yoga illegal without having graduated from a state certified training.  This leads to further complications caused by varying state standards, not to mention the potential embarrassment of the visiting authentic Indian yogis, whose only training may have been at the feet of their (unlicensed) guru, when they are fined for teaching yoga without being “qualified.”  The bag of worms is deep indeed.

            A perhaps more important question is why the State is getting involved anyway?  Have you heard of a spat of recent yoga accidents?  I haven’t.  Sure, there are bad teachers out there, even a few who may be dangerously negligent. But knee-jerk regulation is not the way to go.  Bad teachers, like bad anything else, will soon find themselves moving on to another line of work.  A few bad apples should not require that the government should inspect every apple tree.  Are state bureaucrats such passionate yogis themselves that they really care about making sure that yoga is properly taught?  Clearly not.  But if you look at what regulation of yoga schools actually means, the motivation becomes clear:  it allows the state to charge licensing fees to yoga studios who offer teacher training programs. 

 

            I have to assume that the financial factor is what Ms. Magee meant when she said she was “bowing out and taking my money with me once I got a look at the real motives of those who are most loudly protesting”.  Clearly this writer was absolutely disgusted with the fact that studio owners might protest that their bottom line was adversely affected by the regulation.  Oh, those greedy yoga studios, always out to make a buck! As the owner of a small yoga studio in a small town, let me tell you that a teacher training program is financially a godsend, and in many cases is the difference between subsistence living and being able to pay off the debts incurred by opening the studio to begin with, not to mention the possibility of expansion.  And by expansion I don’t mean lavish new facilities, but the addition of classes, and yes, the hiring of yoga teachers other than the owners.  When New York tried to regulate training programs (and thankfully backed down), what it meant for my small business was that we would not be able to afford licensing (in New York, the proposed application fee was $5,000), and therefore we would not be able to afford to offer a program. I ask Ms. Magee – is it bad to want to be able to pay one’s bills, to make a living doing what one loves, to want to share yoga at the deeper level of a teacher training, and to do so independently?   I can also say that, as a business owner, if I can’t support my family through my business, I can’t hire other yoga teachers either.  That cuts down on the diversity of voices in the community, as well as the ability of individual yoga teachers to support themselves.  Sure, there’s gyms, but any experienced yogi can tell you the differences between a yoga class held at a gym, where philosophy and spirituality is often discouraged by the owners, and a class at a dedicated studio space which offers a different level of freedom to teachers. 

            The costs of regulation on small businesses might also mean that only the largest, big-name studios would be able to afford to train yogis.  Perhaps this is what Magee wants when she writes about wanting yoga to enter the mainstream.  But to me, this means the further branding of yoga, and the consolidation of yoga under certain companies and/or teachers.  As the largest studios are in the cities, it also means that one would have to be near a major city to complete a training.  Of course, the market will eventually adjust, and with the further concentration of revenue in the large studios, franchises offering training (under the same license as the main studio) might appear in small towns.  I would predict that this will make it harder for small businesses like mine, and may even drive up the cost of yoga in some areas. 

            Magee’s main argument in support of regulation is that it is equivalent to the state “recognizing” yoga, as if such a thing is needed.  She wants insurance companies to cover yoga, and student loans for trainings, etc.  A noble goal, certainly, but one which state governments do not have the power (or the interest) to enact.  New York State regulates Massage Therapy more strictly than just about any other state, and there are national standards as well.  Yet most insurance carriers still do not cover massage therapy.  Certainly, massage therapy is “recognized” by the government, and is possibly more accepted by physicians than yoga, but its recognition has done little to change the private sector, although it clearly generates revenue for the state.  This directly affects the cost of training, as the school must pay licensing fees on top of other expenses.  Different standards by state also means that tuition fluctuates wildly.  In Texas, for instance, the price of the 500 hr massage therapy training averages around $5000, while in New York, with its 1000 hr training can be over $20,000.  Ultimately, regulation does not make this practice more accessible, nor does it bring yoga into the light of mainstream awareness – yoga is already mainstream!  What it does do is streamline yoga, reducing diversity and intellectual (and spiritual) freedom by transferring control from the teachers and representatives of the tradition, who have an important stake in the discipline, to the state, which ultimately only cares about yoga for its potential revenue.  Yes, I'm aware that the state is only regulating trainings, not classes, but for a yoga teacher, what experience is more formative than a teacher training?

            I recognize that the Yoga Alliance often seems to have its head up its ass.  Regardless, they have successfully set the standard for 200 and 500 hr trainings, and I believe they are doing good thereby.  Yet even within Yoga Alliance certified trainings there is a tremendous variance of quality.  My studio’s training far exceeds  the minimum standards of the Yoga Alliance in terms of hours, as well as the rigor of the program.  I’ve also heard horror stories of some really, really bad teacher training programs which happen to be certified.  This is clearly a case of “buyer beware.”  Do your research before you throw down your hard-earned cash for a training – I did, and got exactly what I was looking for. 

            Regulation, in order to represent the diversity inherent in the yoga tradition, would substantially be no different than the Yoga Alliance, with the same flaws and problems.  The only difference would be the level of expense and its subsequent impact on small businesses, studio-contracted yoga teachers, and potential teachers looking for an affordable training.  Whatever qualitative problems may exist among yoga teachers, state regulation is clearly not the answer.