http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/nyregion/11yoga.html?_r=1&hpsucks, perhaps not quite as bad as various cities' wars on hair braiders. (the most fucking absurd thing i could think of off the top of my head)
on the other hand, i'm willing to bet most of the chai-slurping bastards are waaaaaaaay into regulation of all sorts of stuff, and will probably be largely oblivious to the excellent example of regulatory capture being displayed here:
“It’s the perpetuation of the species,” said S. J. Khalsa, who operates Kundalini Yoga East in Manhattan, a school that offers teacher training courses. “We’re not in it to make tons of money,” he said. “We’re trying to create a place where we change your consciousness.”
However, Sybil Killian, general manager for the OM Yoga Center, also in Manhattan, questioned whether yoga could fairly claim to be a spiritual — rather than a business — pursuit in an era when, according to an industry estimate, it earns $6 billion a year in the United States.
“People buy $1,000 pants to sweat in because while they’re getting enlightened they need to look good,” Ms. Killian wrote in an e-mail message to other New York yoga teachers. “Make no mistake, ladies and gentlemen, yoga is an industry. One need only leaf through the advertising section of Yoga Journal to know that.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capturethis is a neat graf too:
Regulators said that licensing the schools would allow states to enforce basic training standards and protect customers who usually spend $2,000 to $5,000 on training courses, not to mention provide revenue for cash-starved governments.
it's for the yoga children!
