Colorado Yogis Called to Action During Community Meet-Up

Yoga Alliance® hosted Community Meet-Ups on February 7 and 8, 2015 in Boulder and Denver, Colorado to discuss the latest activities in our efforts against Colorado yoga school regulation as well as changes we have made in the recent years. Yoga Alliance spokesperson Andrew Tanner and COO Barbara Dobberthien met with over 60 yogis over the weekend, over 50 of whom are yoga studio owners.

In Boulder, Andrew gave a presentation on government regulation and our work to oppose it. A member of the lobbying team from Squire, Patton and Boggs, the legal team representing YA in Colorado, also spoke to attendees about their anti-regulation efforts. The lively discussion left attendees motivated to continue the fight to protect yoga schools. We are thrilled to hear that members like Gina Caputo, E-RYT 500, and the staff at Yoga Pod, RYS 200, felt a strong call to action after attending the meet-up.

Our Denver Meet-Up was opened and closed in true yogi style, with grounding “om” chants led by Patrick Harrington of Kindness Collective, an organization of four Denver yoga studios. Patrick also set a group intention that the Meet-Up may act as a catalyst for more advocacy work in the yoga community. Andrew repeated his presentation on government regulation and spoke with attendees to answer questions.

We would like to thank all those who attended for helping advocate; these two events were essential to our progress in protecting Colorado’s yoga teachers and schools. We hope that Colorado lawmakers will see the negative impact regulation would have on the entire state’s yoga community. 

These Meet-Ups also served as an opportunity to further educate Colorado yogis on Social Credentialing and explain how it works and how it benefits the community. Andrew and Barbara were also glad to speak one-on-one with yoga teachers and studio owners to answer specific questions about Social Credentialing. 

Compelling questions were posed as to how YA will ensure safety in Registered Yoga School (RYS®) programs and how the yoga community can appropriately self-regulate without government intervention; like these members, we care deeply about the safety of yoga practitioners and are committed to supporting the integrity of yoga. 

We continue to make progress in Colorado as we have introduced a bipartisan bill that will protect yoga teacher training courses, programs and schools from the burdensome requirements of the DPOS. We urge all Coloradoans to continue contacting lawmakers and spreading the word about how regulation would impact the yoga community. You can find letters to send to your legislators here.