BRINGING PEACE TO YOGA STUDIOS

a new bill by state sen. eric schneiderman and assembly member linda rosenthal aims to protect yoga studios from paying heavy fines and fees for licenses. the bill is a reaction to a recent move by the new york state education department to penalize yoga studios if they trained new instructors without a license. training without a license can lead to fines of up to $50,000.

yoga studios received letters last month from the department of education ordering them to stop training their own instructors and not to re-open until they had completed and been approved by a state-run curriculum. the bill proposed by schneiderman and rosenthal would provide exemptions for instruction that is for the purpose of leisure, hobby or personal enrichment.

"yoga studios have been unfairly singled out by overzealous regulators who've completely misinterpreted state law," schneiderman said. "the education department needs to get enlightened."