Yoga teachers chafe at Virginia licensing rules

For the first time in her 10 years of teaching yoga, Ann Richardson paid a $2,500 fee, went to Richmond for a meeting and did hours of paperwork - just so she could continue to train yoga teachers.

A new state requirement mandates that any program that trains yoga teachers must be certified. And that's led to some less-than-serene moments among the state's yoga instructors.

A group of instructors filed a federal lawsuit this week in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, saying the regulation unfairly hinders their vocation and is unconstitutional.

Richardson, who owns Studio Bamboo Institute of Yoga in Virginia Beach, wasn't thrilled about the extra work. But she said she supports the new state requirement.

"They are trying to make sure the training programs... are legitimate, and the people who are facilitating these programs are legitimate," she said.

Opposition to the regulation has prompted the state to put the plan on hold until at least the end of March in case the General Assembly decides to take action.

"We are already overseen by a governing body that standardizes the education in yoga, and the state should not regulate and interfere," said Arianna Gallagher, owner of Chesapeake Hot Yoga.

The regulation was added in 2005 to the state code governing vocational schools. It does not cover yoga instruction, just the training of teachers.

The state council oversees and certifies other vocational training, such as bartending and massage therapy.

"We consider this an important consumer safety measure," said Kirsten Nelson, a spokeswoman for the council. "It's a vocational program.... And you need to meet basic industry standards."

The state gave teachers a year to meet certification and allowed them to pay the $2,500 fee in installments, Nelson said. But many teachers, including Gallagher, still oppose the regulation.

The lawsuit was filed by Julia Kalish, a yoga instructor in Leesburg, and Suzanne Leitner-Wise and Beverly Brown, instructors in Alexandria. They argue that the certification allows government bureaucrats with no expertise in yoga to approve their curricula and is prior restraint on free speech.

Kalish said in the lawsuit that the only way to recoup the costs of fees would be "to charge her students significantly higher tuition, but that in turn would likely reduce the number of students who choose to enroll in her course."

Yoga instructors who train teachers can voluntarily register their program for endorsement by the Yoga Alliance, an Arlington-based organization that sets minimum educational standards for teacher training.

Jimmy Yax, a co-owner of Hot House Yoga in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, said that should be enough.

"We would prefer not to have the regulation there," he said. "We feel like the Yoga Alliance is enough and that the industry can self-regulate without having to get the state involved."

If the regulation stands, he said, there would be a benefit.

"We'll use that to say, 'Hey, we're accredited by the state.' "

Patrick Wilson, (757) 446-2957, patrick.wilson@pilotonline.com