A catch and a half. (Time Out New York)

Look at this: Time Out New York finally put faces on those Craigslist personals section, in its new "Single Men Willing to Be Photographed" slide show. We know you've had a tough time finding men recently, but we really think you'll like this Williamsburg lawyer, Aaron. He is a very busy man, what with his bike training (it is what he does "all the time," which makes us wonder when he does his lawyer work), so make sure you have your own "similar hobby/career/problem." Because as they say, "similarities attract."

Also, he seems to have some judgmental attitudes toward his mother's yoga practice, but that is definitely something you two can work through, right?

Aaron, 32; lawyer; Williamsburg, Brooklyn

His ideal date: “I race bicycles in my spare time (all the time), so I end up spending a lot of my time (all the time) training. It would be great if you had a similar hobby/career/problem. My ideal date would be doing something active that I’ve never done before. Anyone up for cave diving? We can communicate via chalkboard and glow sticks! I’m also down for the coffee-then-a-yoga-class date. Just not the moaning, ohm-ing, ahh-ing, hmm-ing, froufrou, chanty yoga. My mom likes that stuff. You can hang out with her for those things.”

We know, it's kind of confusing what kind of yoga he's talking about, but to cover all bases for you, we have emailed Aaron and are waiting for a response to find out if his mother is available to go for a Bikram session on Thursday. It's never too early to start in on the future in-laws!

Namaste (IFC)

Yoga class, of course.

Namaste, indeed. This season better have a running narrative about doulas, or we'll be really pissed.

*Unless you find out the truth about Portlandia by taking hallucinogens at its premiere party, at which point you pretty much are a Girls episode.

"She used to wash her clothes and face with the same soap, said a 2008 Vogue article, and seldom wore makeup, much less luxuriated in the perks of privilege — like the private yoga classes with her friends Kathy Freston and Arianna Huffington — she indulges in today. At Yale, she would stake out Filene’s Basement to procure designer gowns on the cheap. Today, she is regularly photographed wearing Rodarte and Prada."

Ms. Huffington and Ms. Deng recently co-hosted the book party for Ms. Freston's diet book, The Lean. (Ms. Freston is the recently separated wife of ex-Viacom chief Tom.) They served guests Martha Stewart, Joel Klein and Harvey Weinstein vegan hors d'oeuvres made with tofu, quinoa and kale.

Ms. Huffington recalled a toast Mrs. Murdoch gave.

“She said, ‘I grew up so poor in China that one day I aspired to have meat regularly,’ ” Mrs. Huffington told the Times. “ ‘Now that I can have meat three times a day, Kathy tells us we can’t have any meat at all.’ ”

Yes, New York is coming after it's beloved yogis, and all the supposedly blissed-out folks who practice the ancient leg-bendy ritual fitness of choice.

Last year, after New York State's Education Department attempted to subject Yoga Studios to licensing regulations—in which fees are pulled from making yoga instructors become "teachers," thus generating revenue for the state—the "Yoga Bill" was passed exempting yoga and martial arts studios from state educational certification.

Now, the state's trying a new tactic to tax Yoga studios: auditing them under the claim that they should be subject to the same kinds of tax (4.5%) and regulations as a fitness studio, as opposed to a dance or movement studio, which yoga studios lay claim to being more akin to. They're also gunning to get yoga studios to treat their teachers—currently independent contractors—as employees. Finally, they're trying to subject them to the idea that they are indeed fitness studios, which would require licensing fees for the spaces they are housed in.

The nonprofit that lobbied to get the original Yoga Bill passed last year—Yoga for NY—fights off these claims:

Yoga classes are not specifically listed among the services and classes that are taxable. The matter is therefore open to interpretation. But this could mean adding close to $1.00 to a $20 class, a cost that gets passed on to the student...One studio is being sued for three years of back taxes...While every yoga studio should look out for the welfare of its teachers, almost no studio but the very largest could easily survive when burdened with the thousands of dollars in extra cost that [turning independent contractors into employees and certifications] would represent.

To be fair, this is all true: Yoga could theoretically become—like cigarettes, and soda—much more expensive to this city. That said, Yoga looks like a pretty exceptional way to make a living avoiding some of the more foreboding taxes of New York City businesses even remotely like it have to face. Or it did. Until now.

What will New York's Yogis do? With any luck: Let slip the downward dogs of war with the tax man! For more information, the fight lives "om" here.

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

Gwyneth Paltrow at the Bent on Learning gala. (Patrick McMullan)

Early Wednesday evening found The Observer at in a dusty backroom of Urban Zen, Donna Karan's newest venue, in the West Village, awaiting the arrival of celebrities, especially the ever-elusive and chronically overexposed (somehow, she's both at once!) Gwyneth Paltrow at Bent on Learning's gala.

The event celebrated Russell Simmons and Ms. Paltrow for their support in establishing yoga as a means for physical fitness and teaching emotional wellbeing and preservation in schools throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.
The press was entirely focused on Ms. Paltrow--everyone wanted to know about the Goopstress’s latest career news. The Observer perched on an ottoman. Suddenly, without announcement, an ice-blonde woman in a silver dress draped over her frame entered the cocktail area, flanked on all sides by burly men who looked like they were serious. She was whisked past the press line, a thin hand in front of her face, muttering “no press, no press, sorry…no interviews tonight…” And with that, she disappeared into the masses, leaving behind her echoes of her name from dejected journalists.

Tika Sumpter, of Gossip Girl semifame, addressed the gossip surrounding her costar Blake Lively’s rumored relationship with Leonardo DiCaprio. “Blake is gorgeous and she’s a smart girl! Leo’s really lucky!” said Ms. Sumpter.  Kelly Rutherford, a Gossip Girl regular also in attendance, expressed her ignorance of the fledgling relationship. “I’m just hearing about it now. We’re not shooting right now, I’m so out of the loop!”

Actress Sanaa Lathan sang the praises of the likes of Ms. Paltrow and Eddie Stern, a famed yogi.   “Yoga is a wonderful tool, and it’s something that they learn and they can always remember and go back on and feel good.”

Russell Simmons, another recipient, assured The Observer that he loved the press, unlike the Shakespeare in Love diva. “I’m here to work,” said Simmons. He divulged the nature of his practice: “In a yoga session with me, we take a lot of snack breaks and have plenty of conversation about the significance of yoga,” said Simmons. When asked the significance of learning yoga, he pondered the question for a moment before responding: “Life has become difficult. And you can smile and breathe in every pose. Learning to do that is a very important part of life, to be able to take life as it comes with a smile, and yoga is just the physical practice, manifestation of that.”

ddaddario@observer.com :: @DPD_