How is one to make sense of a new move by state governments to regulate yoga teacher training? I have been a student of yoga for over fifteen years, and for the past ten years, have been leading weekend workshops on Calming the Inner Critic at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, in Stockbridge, MA. So when reading about a new trend toward cracking down on the self-determined, free spirited nature of training yoga instructors, in favor of licensing rules with fees, forms and inspections requirements, I wondered how this might set some up at an advantage and others at a disadvantage.

It all seems to have started when a volunteer registry was created by the Yoga Alliance, a nonprofit group interested in establishing teaching standards and having a say over regulating the instruction of yoga classes. The New York Times reported that the Alliance now believes that licensing of the business end of yoga  might be inevitable.  Those in favor argue that yoga training is like other training schools and therefore should be forced to adhere to standards. Patrick Sweeney, a Wisconsin licensing official is quoted arguing in favor of regulation saying that “if you’re going to start a school and take people’s money, you should play by a set of rules.”

To the mental health practitioner part of me, accustomed to the existence of regulatory standards in psychotherapy training, such a move makes sense. But to the yoga student part of me, I have my doubts. I fear for what this means in small towns and for the small businesses providing yoga instruction. I fear for how this might negatively impact the spiritual essence of yoga practice. And I fear for how the effort to regulate yoga might set the yoga industry up to be like so many other industries - controlled by the biggest and richest.

When asked about the issue, Sophie Simpson, owner of Blue Banyan Yoga in Philadelphia, said “Teachers and students of yoga in the modern West, are at somewhat at of a disadvantage because we don’t part take in the traditional Guru/ student relationship where the sacred teachings get passed on.  Therefore some sort of self- governing body could be helpful to ensure a foundation in the eight limbs of yoga, and learning of the sacred texts, Sanskrit, and study of both subtle (eastern) as well as gross (western) anatomy. Ideally this regulation would be founded in the yoga community.”

In New York State, teachers recently formed a coalition to deal with this issue. Backed by state senator Eric Schneiderman of Manhattan, they succeeded in getting the State Education Department to suspend licensing efforts and instead lobby for legislation to make yoga exempt from regulation. While states like New York might reap economic profits from regulating instruction, there seems to be recognition that the art aspect of teaching yoga stands to suffer. It is heartwarming to see that officials in New York recognize this.

At this moment in time, there doesn’t seem to be unanimous support to regulate or to not regulate. Clearly there are pros and cons for both sides that need to be further evaluated and perhaps policy will grow from that process. Whatever happens, I hope that the quality and variation of yoga instruction is encouraged and promoted. I would hate to dilute the creativity inherent in yoga instruction and its training as a result of   standardized and homogenized requirements.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-shure/palin-leaves-the-pool_b_225982.html

Soon we will discover if Sarah Palin’s shocking move to abruptly resign as governor of Alaska was for political or personal gain. Regardless of the answer, we can confirm that this decision is one of self-interest, not the dominion of a leader concerned with supporting and sustaining the people she represents.

In clinical language we refer to Palin’s move as narcissistic - self-promoting regardless of her impact on others. Like a true narcissist, Palin once again acted with a grandiose sense of self-importance, claiming that while she “promised efficiencies and effectiveness… that’s not how I’m wired. I’m not wired to operate under the same old politics as usual.”  Correct, she’s not. She, like most other narcissists, are above the standard for reasonable behavior, important enough that she gets to make her own rules - rules that serve her, in spite of how they affect others. Palin categorizes herself as a maverick, thereby framing any of her actions in a positive light. But that needs to be questioned rather than merely accepted.

It is quintessential for a narcissist to be self-assured, and full of herself, and for that fullness to be filled with hot air, compensating for a deeper sense of shame. Yes, I know that it may seem difficult to comprehend how someone who seems so arrogantly confident can have an internal structure of insecurity and fear of being inadequate, but that’s the way it is for those whose personas are built on distortion and illusion, on smoke and mirror. 

It is worth noting that Sarah delivered her news at the end of a week in which a Vanity Fair article reported about how several Republican advisors to Senator John McCain questioned her competency. Todd Purdum, author of the Vanity Fair article, reports that “several told him independently of one another that they had consulted the definition of ‘narcissistic personality disorder’ in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DMS IV) – ‘a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy’- and thought it fit her perfectly.”

“The persona that many narcissists present to the world often comes across to others as a “superiority complex,” describes Sandy Hotchkiss, author of Why Is It Always About You?  A mask of arrogance disguises the narcissist’s deep sense of worthlessness. Often bossy, judgmental, perfectionistic, and power hungry, they strive to secure a status that will protect them against their personal defects. In asserting her plan to leave the governorship now, rather than wait out her term, Palin reaffirms her feeling of superiority, again under the auspices of being a maverick who gets to make her own rules. It doesn’t matter that she is giving three weeks notice, what matters is that she is moving on - to the beat of her own drummer - maverick style.

What competent leader abandons the people who rely upon her? What kind of leader gives three weeks’ notice before leaving a job at the top post? Palin said that she would “fight for all our children’s future from outside the governor’s office,” while abandoning the children of Alaska without planning for her departure. As Hotchkiss so well describes, endemic to narcissists is “the motto that ‘my feelings and thoughts are all that matter, and whatever I want, I should get.’ Mutuality and reciprocity are entirely alien concepts, because others exist only to agree, obey, flatter, and comfort – in short, to anticipate and meet my every need.” The conviction of entitlement holds it all in place.

In the long run, Sarah Palin may secure her political base with hard-core conservatives who see her as a standard-bearer for their values, and she may even make an enormous amount of money as a talk show host or a public speaker. Regardless of her professional future, we need to be cautious and interpret her actions so that the public doesn’t mistake them for authentic leadership.