The Science of Yoga

patients to discover new kinds of natural cures and therapies. Without yoga, he said, “I’d lack the most interesting, least expensive, and most helpful and versatile form of treatment that I have.”
    I asked if he had ever had surgery on his left rotator cuff. No, he answered. The yoga solution, he added, had been working just fine for seven years now.
    He held his left arm high over his head and smiled.
    To become a physician, Fishman had to undergo an ordeal of schooling and formal assessment that, in the end, gave him admission to an elite club. The first big evaluation was the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination, a series of tests taken during medical school and residency. He then earned a medical license from the State of New York and its board of medical examiners. To stay in good standing, his license required that he do fifty hours of continuing education each year. He also earned professional certifications from the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board, and such professional bodies as the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
    So, too, the physical therapists who work for Fishman are licensed through the state and the American Physical Therapy Association. These organizations require graduate degrees in physical therapy, as well as continuing education. At first the degree tended to be a master’s, but the field of late has moved rapidly toward requiring a doctorate. The course work for such a diploma is heavy in embryology and histology, anatomy and physiology, pathology and pharmacology, kinesthesiology and imaging techniques. Many states require the dissection of cadavers.
    The goal of mandatory licensure is to form groups whose members have met certain minimal requirements that—among other things—are meant to protect the public from harm. The highly regulated world of medicine is typically backed by the force of law and seeks to deter and penalize interlopers. In NewYork State, where I live, practicing medicine without a license is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison.
    What Fishman underwent to become a yoga therapist bears no resemblance. He received no formal training, earned no license, faces no requirements for continuing education, and will never confront any oversight panel or threat of reprimand and penalization. His complete freedom of activity arises not because of any deficiency on his part but because the United States has no regulatory body for yoga therapy. None. Zip. Nada. Few countries do. The field is, on the whole, completely unlicensed and unregulated.
    Even so, the yoga community has managed to foster the illusion that the United States has a system in place for the accreditation of yoga therapists. That New Age fiction is helping to promote the field’s growth. Unfortunately, it is also deceiving people, some desperate for healing because of serious illnesses and injuries.
    Yoga teachers who aspire to the role of contemporary healer often put after their names the initials RYT—short for Registered Yoga Therapist. They do it on books, brochures, and Internet sites. The practice may seem innocuously similar to how physicians use MD and dentists DDS. But the situation is entirely different.
    Since the RYT terminology is unfamiliar to many people, yogis, yoginis, and yoga groups often spell it out. For instance, Yoga Journal regularly uses the phrase “registered yoga therapist” to describe its experts and authors. So, too, a Google search produces many hundreds of hits for the phrase, identifying local healers from coast to coast.
    In 2006, the Montgomery County Department of Recreation, in the Washington, DC, suburbs, advertised classes featuring a registered yoga therapist “sensitive to individual needs.” Authors and booksellers love the accolade. Publicity materials for Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause , by Suza Francina, a popular yoga writer, call her “a registered yoga therapist with 30 years’ experience.”
    And why not? The phrase sounds authoritative. The dictionary defines “therapist” as “a person trained in methods of treatment other than the use of drugs or surgery” and defines “registered” as “qualified formally or officially.” A Registered Yoga Therapist would, presumably, have undergone extensive training and passed the rigorous examinations of a national body of health-care specialists.
    Wrong. In fact, thereis no such thing as a Registered Yoga