Yoga enthusiasts were aghast when state officials in both Idaho and Washington suggested that those training yoga teachers should be regulated just like for-profit vocational schools that train students in truck driving, power line repair or welding.

“Yoga teacher training is really where people would go to deepen their practice in a group setting,” said Barb Dobberthien, executive director of the Yoga Alliance, a group that represents 80,000 members around the world, most of them in the United States. “It’s really about taking their practice of yoga farther – very few people make a real living, earning a living wage, at teaching yoga.”

Despite its members’ calm mien, the yoga group is vigilant about regulatory incursions into their search for balance, flexibility and relaxation. The alliance has hired lobbyists in both states, and legislation is advancing in both states’ legislatures to exempt yoga instruction from the type of state registration requirements applied to “proprietary schools” like the Pooch Parlor Pet Grooming Academy in Ponderay or the Sage Technical Services Truck Driving School in Coeur d’Alene.

Dobberthien said most of the people running yoga businesses aren’t really about business. “They love yoga, and they want to share yoga with people,” she said. You can read my full story here at spokesman.com.