Hi Madeline,
I connot comment on the YA as I do not live in the US, however I would like to make a general comment about a regulation body for yoga teachers. I speak here purely from a pov in South Africa, so take it as it comes. In SA we have the Yoga Teachers Fellowship who regulates not yoga but their members and in belonging to the YTF potential yogis know that the teacher had a good in depth and effective training and also practical exposure and experience in teaching, giving the yogi the added peace of mind. This also allows yogis to report any poor/bad conduct by the teacher to a legitimate body who will investigate and take the necessary steps to correct the teacher. On the other hand it place a huge onus on teachers to be sensitive to their yogis and not to take chances with the physical well-being of the people in their classes.
I am against a body who wants to regulate yoga per se, but a body who regulates teachers, I am all for it. There are so many yoga cowboys out there at the moment that some regulation is necessary.
For the first time in my teaching career I did something this week which some would say was incompassionate and not right. I refused to take a person who did yoga with somebody whom I know has no training at all, but who teach yoga/pilates. He badly hurt his back in this person’s class, is seeing a chiropractor at the moment and is searching now for another teacher/class. The point is if there was stricter regulation of teachers and more emphasis on the training and experience of teachers, injuries like this one could have been avoided.
