Remember the yoga studio licensing issue which we’ve discussed several times here on our blog? The gist is that in some states, governments are attempting to register, license, and collect fees from yoga studios which host teacher training programs. These governments’ justification is that yoga – like massage therapy, auto repair, and hair styling – is a vocation which earns its participants money, and as such it should be subject to licensing. New York state has taken the most drastic action of all, which has prompted swift and animated action on the part of the yoga studios affected. In response to the (scary!) cease-and-desist letters that New York’s government sent in May to eighty-one yoga studios threatening them with $50,000 fines, yoga studios throughout the state banded together to form the Yoga Association of New York which has worked to resist the licensing move and has achieved some success, at least temporarily.
The Yoga Association of New York just launched their official website, complete with a nicely-designed “Yoga for NY” logo, photos, and links for visitors to use in order to make donations to the organization. A website often has the effect of making an organization feel “established” and “real”, and with the creation of this online identity, the association has done just that. Their mission statement is clearly displayed on the front page of their site:
Your local studio could be fined up to $50,000 for training yoga teachers. Help us get government under control and keep yoga free.
This new website is very well-designed in visual terms – we’re impressed! However, after visiting the site we must report that we’re a little unclear on the specific name of this yoga organization. Is it Yoga Association of New York (which we’ve been calling it in this blog post), or is it Yoga for New York? The website’s logo reads “Yoga for NY” and its url is www.yogaforny.org, but the main title of the website is “Yoga Association of New York”, and the name of their Facebook fan page is Yoga Association of New York. Do you see how we might become a little confused on this point? If you have an answer to this burning name question, feel free to enlighten us in the comments section. Bye now!
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