Teacher Beware

Last August, I got into a situation that turned out to be some sort of wire-fraud scam targeting, of all people, yoga teachers.

I got an email from "David," who had a Hong Kong email address, about my fall yoga class schedule. At the time, I only taught private classes. In response, he told me he was interested in a semi private class for himself, his wife, and his father while they were in town for an extended visit from Nevada.

OK...strange, but I am listed on the Yoga Alliance website as offering private classes, and the subject line appeared to indicate it was a referral from the YA teacher directory.

Then he mentioned that none of them have any health problems. Now that is strange, because in my experience, most people don't make it to thirty without at least an old sports injury or other lingering remnant of youthful enthusiasm. However, some people are also hesitant to talk about health things with strangers, so whatever.

He was also very keen on sending me a lot of money in advance, which I thought was odd, but hey, I won't complain about getting paid. However, as urgently as he wanted to send me money, he didn't want to call and discuss it, because he said he had a hearing problem. Well, a hearing problem is not necessarily something you can work on with yoga, but it still made me suspicious. Still, we emailed back and forth a few times about  schedule and price and he agrees to send a check, which he does.

Except the check is for nearly double what we agreed. Curiouser and curiouser.

Then, the following email arrives.

"Oh my God, It was a mistake I just asked my wife now how much she sent to you,and she said that she misunderstood me concerning the instruction I gave to her as regards the amount to send to you. she sent you $1,000.00.  I am very sorry for this mistake. Actually i told her to send you $300 being part payment for the sessions so that when we come i will balance up, I also told her to send $700 to our tour guide in Texas for the booking of our hotel  and cab.  she has been waiting for the money so she can start making all the preparation. What I want you to do now is to take  the Money order to your Bank and deposit the payment in your account to get cash out, and just deduct $300 for the session and then let me know when the rest is in your hand so that I can provide you with the information that you will send the remaining amount to by western union."

Riiiight. Here's the thing---a money order is guaranteed funds; it's paid for with cash. A check, on the other hand, is not, and if I were to deposit it and it bounced, I am on the hook. Needless to say, I did not take the check anywhere near my bank. On the off chance this really was some sort of genuine screwup, I mailed the check to the return address on the envelope. Unsurprisingly, it came back with "Not a valid address" stamped on it. I turned over the check and the return envelope to the Postmaster General (via the local P. O.) for wire fraud investigation. I was only out the cost of a certified letter, and it was an interesting experience, so I wrote it off as a wacky one-time thing.

Until today, when I got an email from "Adam", who inquired about "booking of private yoga class for my two sons who are amateur footballers here in Poland" while they were all on a long vacation in the US this fall. Then, he asked me to tell him little more about myself, whether I would be able to provide private classes, and by the way, what was my ZIP code and price range?

That sounds familiar.

Again, on the (admittedly very slight) off chance that this was a legitimate inquiry, I politely declined because of my full schedule and offered to recommend a local studio and wished his sons luck in their tryouts.

So, as strange as it seems, yoga teachers (and, I suspect personal trainers and other, similar, independent service providers) seem to be popular targets for this nutty scam. If you are or know of any other yoga teachers who have had a similar experience, I'd love to compare notes.

Caveat Emptor

I was recently at a yoga teacher training where one of the major topics of discussion was chakra balancing. Without getting into a long discussion of either the science or the merits, there are a couple of key points that are important to know if you choose to use either essential oils or minerals for chakra balancing or aromatherapy, or even making your own jewelry and perfume for fun.

Essential oils. In the U.S., essentials oils are regulated very differently depending upon the "intended use". If the intended use involves treating or preventing any condition or disease, it's regulated as a drug. If not, it is regulated as a cosmetic, and those regulations, as you may imagine, are considerably looser. Consequently, you will almost never see essential oils with a non-cosmetic intended use. Furthermore, organic food standards do not apply to cosmetics. That means that the word "organic," when used in a cosmetics label, doesn't mean the product has met the same standards as organic food, or even any specific standard. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has a handy list of companies that have agreed to certain standards. If you're really hardcore, you can read the entire text of H.R.2359 -- Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011, which was referred to the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections last time I checked. Please note that European, Canadian, and other countries' regulations differ, and individual U. S. States also have various regulations.

Minerals or "gemstones". Read the labels; there are a lot of simulated or look-alike "gems" out there. Reconstituted malachite is common, as is faux turquoise and faux hematite. Real citrine is extremely rare in its natural form, and you're unlikely to find it in a craft store, or possibly even in a jewelry store. Also, it's very common to find dyed quartz and other treated stones offered as low-cost substitutes for the real thing. (Common treatments are heating, dyes, acid baths, irradiation, stabilization, composite, etc.---the Fire Mountain Gems catalog is nice in that it actually lists which of its stones are treated and how; reading it can also give you a feel for what is usually "real" and what isn't). Glass and plastic "simulated" stones are also common. Names can be deceptive, so ask questions. Finally, if you see a stone that's markedly different from the normal color range (i. e., yellow jade), be skeptical.

How Do I Clean My Yoga Mat?

I've tried a couple of different ways to clean yoga mats. For a quick surface cleaning, there are a variety of mat wipes out there; I can't say that I have found any one brand to be better than the other; I usually choose them based on the price and the scent. If you have any kind of sanitizing wipe, I suspect it would do the job. Avoid anything with moisturizers, though, unless you prefer a slippery mat to a sticky mat.

Recently, I mixed up my own yoga mat spray; just a few drops of tea tree oil in water. A good spritz and wipe down with a clean cloth is good for basic cleanup. If you tend to be sensitive to cleaning chemicals, this is also a good choice.

For a deeper cleaning, I have actually put basic sticky mats---one at a time---in the washing machine on the hand-wash cycle with cold water and baking soda in place of detergent. They do soak up a lot of water, and they have to air-dry, so this is best done on warm, dry days.