Yoga for state's top lawman

Yoga for state's top lawman

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State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is a big yoga fan.

ALBANY State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman wants to change an unjust world through yoga.

The states top lawyer and corruption fighter devoted office time to speak with California-based yoga activists who are looking to ignite grassroots social change through yogas spiritual power.

Schneidermans on-the-clock chat with the left coast yogis was noted on his official schedule, copies of whi ch were obtained by the Daily News.

The yoga-loving attorney general also
had a dinner meeting with another yoga enthusiast,
Sharon Salzberg, who wants to duplicate the social activism of Schneidermans synagogue, Bnai Jeshuran.

There are growing efforts in the meditation and yoga communities to become more active in causes like environmental justice, criminal justice, etc., Salzberg wrote in an email to the Daily News. She bills herself as One of Americas leading spiritual teachers and authors and an expert on Buddhist meditation.

Because his synagogue . . . is so well known for that work they call it their defining characteristic I asked him to take me there, and I also picked his brain about his being a member of an activist Jewish community, Salzbergs email added.

She described Schneiderman as a friend of a friend.

Schneidermans schedules also list two conference calls he had during business hours with Marianne Manilov o f the Engage Network and Kerri Kelly of an Engage partner organization called, Off the Mat and Into the World.

We see yogis everywhere taking their yoga off the mat and into the world, states the Off the Mat website, which also includes the motto: Why stretch when you can reach?

Salzberg, according to the AGs schedule, was included in one of the calls.

A Schneiderman spokesman downplayed the conversations which were set up through a conference call service as private and between friends.

He will occasionally make private calls during the day, Schneiderman spokesman Danny Kanner said. Because these conversations with friends took place during business hours, we erred on the side of overdisclosure.

Schneiderman has made no secret of his fondness for yoga.

While a state senator in 2010, the Democrat pushed legislation that blocked the state from regulating yoga instructors. It passed.

Its a personal-enrichment and spiritual practice, Schneiderman said at the time. It is not something that really cries out for more regulation.

gblain@nydailynews.com