All U.S. Pilates instructors will want to read this article in the New York Times about yoga educators' current battle against state licensing regulations around the country.

The article is pro-yoga industry and credits the industry's own registry of schools as the catalyst for state government scrutiny. “We made it very, very easy for them to do what they’re doing right now,” said Leslie Kaminoff, founder of the Breathing Project in New York City, said in the article. “The industry of yoga is a big, juicy target.”

The opinions of commenters in the article seem split between pro- and anti-regulation. What do you think this means for Pilates?

After the PMA won in New Jersey over the proposed Fitness Professionals Licensing Act, I put the issue out of my mind. Clearly there is going to be more coming.

Pilates might not look quite as juicy as yoga, but if yoga goes, they will start looking to Pilates. States like their licensing money. I think we can regulate ourselves and that is happening.

I have had a brush with this recently. I own a studio in Arizona in which I run a VERY small teacher training program. I have been contacted several times by a state employee claiming that I must be licensed to run a teacher training program due to the fact that they are considering me a "vocational school". To me it seems that the state is simply fishing for more money from small businesses. I definitely feel bullied. I am an approved teacher training provider through the PMA and also enroll all of my teacher trainees in the "fostering future professionals" program. To now have to deal with the state and their "vocational secondary school" regulations really upsets me. I feel as though the state is not considering small businesses either and simply want to stick their hands in the VERY small pot.

My opinion may be unpopular, but here it is. If we want to be taken seriously as a profession, we need to abide by local, state and national standards and laws on all levels. This point is made clearly in the PMA Code of Ethics. Post-secondary educational licensing standards are in place primarily to protect the public. The collection of the associated state fees is not a significant source of income for any U.S. state. Post-secondary administrators and boards are obliged by their positions and by law to seek out post-secondary programs that are out of compliance. Educators within the Pilates community have either chosen to ignore these standards or have simply not known about them. This is an area where the PMA could be of tremendous help in educating our community about these standards and in establishing compliance. The licensing process can be time-consuming and relatively expensive. The most expensive aspect is not the license, but rather the associated bond and documentation. I do not believe you are required to complete this process to offer continuing education.