Editorial

At the 2007 Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research opening session, an IAYT member issued a challenge to the speakers on the "What is Yoga Therapy?" panel: Would they commit to beginning a serious conversation on the issues of defining Yoga therapy, creating training standards for Yoga therapists, and deciding whether and how Yoga therapy should be regulated as a profession? This issue marks the beginning of a public conversation. The Perspectives section includes opinion pieces by several members of IAYT and IAYT's Advisory Council, including the founders of three Yoga therapist training programs. To shed some more light on the possibilities and pitfalls of professional regulation, the journal invited an article by legal expert Michael Cohen ("The Search for Regulatory Recognition of Yoga Therapy: Legal and Policy Issues"). This issue also includes interviews on these topics with IAYT's new president, Janice Gates, and the president of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA), Wynn Werner.