Yoga too religious for schools

[CurlyQ284]

I read this article this morning and thought it was interesting.  I know yoga has roots in Hinduism but I completely forget about that since it's so mainstream these days and in US culture it doesn't seem to be tied to religion at all.  Thoughts?

www.cnn.com/2013/08/22/health/yoga-in-schools/index.html?hpt=hp_bn13

(CNN) -- Students gather in the gym at Druid Hills Middle School in Atlanta, lay out their mats and get ready to wind down. With deep breaths they lengthen their spines and start to bend -- into cobra pose, downward-facing dog, and eventually into the lotus position.
Emily Schroeder, 11, says doing yoga during the school day helps her feel refreshed and relaxed. More importantly, she says, the breathing helps her build stamina for the other sports she plays.

"I like the way it helps me learn how to control my emotions and just to have fun in life," says Schroeder.  Many school districts are adding yoga to their physical education curriculum to ensure students are meeting the mandated physical fitness requirements. Yoga doesn't require much, if any, equipment, and kids who are less athletically inclined can benefit without the pressure of playing a team sport.
But some parents are fighting the introduction of yoga in schools, saying the practice's religious ties aren't appropriate for government-funded education.
Competitive yogis show off their bends Yoga standing on the water Man and Chihuahua do yoga together

Earlier this summer the National Center for Law and Policy filed a lawsuit on behalf of Stephen and Jennifer Sedlock, whose children attend school in the Encinatas Union School District near San Diego.
Jennifer Sedlock told CNN that 250 community members signed a petition against the practice of Ashtanga yoga in the district's schools. They were worried, Sedlock said, that the yoga classes were religiously affiliated and that students whose parents didn't want them to participate would miss out on physical education altogether if they opted out.
"The concern isn't whether people like yoga or not, the concern is about religious freedom," Sedlock said.

While yoga itself is not a religion, according to the American Yoga Association, its practice has been incorporated into several different belief systems, most primarily Hinduism. Ashtanga means "eight limbs;" the practice was described by a sage named Patanjali in his book "Yoga Sutras" more than 1,500 years ago. Most modern forms of Ashtanga yoga focus on the third limb -- posture, according to Yoga Journal expert Richard Freeman.
Mary Eady, who has a child in first grade in the Encinatas Union School District, said she observed one of the district's yoga classes. While the names of the poses had been changed, she found the "religious ritual" inappropriate for school. She pulled her son out of the program, telling him that it didn't align with the family's chosen religion of Christianity.
"After I did that, he understood and didn't want to participate either," Eady said.
"We don't deny that people use yoga in a religious practice," superintendent Timothy Baird told CNN. "But (the) majority of Americans don't use it for that."

In July, San Diego Superior Court Judge John Meyer ruled in favor of the school district and the yoga programs. In his ruling, Meyer said that the school district had come up with a curriculum for its yoga classes that didn't emphasize religion.

"This is not the end of the road for this case or the last word regarding the fate of yoga in public education," National Center for Law and Policy president Dean Broyles said in a statement at the time. He told CNN the center plans on appealing the ruling.
Sarah Herrington, author of "Om Schooled" and a yoga instructor for children and teens, says there are ways to teach yoga that don't involve spirituality.
"If you really strip it down to the bare bones, it just relates to your body," she says.
Childhood obesity rates have doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Programs like First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move encourage regular physical fitness activity for kids in hopes of building healthy bones and muscles, controlling their weight, reducing anxiety and increasing self-esteem.

Although it may seem low key, yoga can even provide cardiovascular benefits, says Herrington. The "Sun Salutations" position, for example, cultivates balance and strengthens muscles while working the entire body.
"Little ones as small as age 4 are able to strengthen their motor skills, increase their flexibility and become aware of the difference between their right and left hand," she says. "Anyone can participate in yoga and the exercises can be tweaked so you get a little cardio in there."

With yoga, children learn to self-regulate -- they learn to check in with their bodies, identify their feelings and then learn to give themselves what they need in healthy ways, Herrington says. Many kids snack out of boredom, sadness or tiredness, she notes; when they learn to self-regulate they can make more conscious choices regarding what foods they eat and when.
Children, much like adults, get stressed and need a way to release the tension, says psychiatrist Glenn Kashurba.
"Everyone knows when you exercise you feel better emotionally," says Kashurba. "Biochemically, you release a lot of hormones when you exercise that actually allow you to feel better."

Researchers from Harvard Medical School asked one group of high school students how they felt after a semester-long yoga class. Many of the students who were interviewed enjoyed it and reported being less stressed and having greater control over their negative emotions. Some students also reported having greater respect for their bodies and improved self-image.

Another qualitative study published in The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research suggests students who take yoga experience positive changes in their moods and attitudes. The students in this study also reported improvement in their posture, were more relaxed after classes and saw an increase in energy.
"We want them to develop a habit of physical activity and to actually enjoy it," Kashurba says. "It's more important that kids learn, 'Hey, this can be fun.'"

[candreco]

People are ridiculous. Sure, yoga can be religious, and has religious roots. I've seen Christian yoga where you "open your heart to God", "reach to Heaven" and the guided meditation at the end is a prayer. I've seen yoga that pulled in the Eastern nature-based tenets. I've seen yoga that is all about fitness, flexibility and balance with no religious undertones. People overthink this stuff.

[cleo29]

People are thinking too hard and are just plain argumentative. There is always something that they need to bitch about. ugh

[CurlyQ284]

I thought it was a stretch of an argument but I'm not religious so I didn't know if that made me biased.

I've never heard of Christian yoga. That's interesting.

[wambam]

Several of the pseudo-fundie blogs I read are VERY against yoga for this reason. I think it's a stretch. People are just looking for ways that they can be "persecuted" and can therefore be martyrs for their pseudo-fundieness.

[candreco]

Aug 22, 2013 7:43:01 GMT -5 @beagle said:

Didn't frkls go to Christian Yoga?

I think it was Christian Zumba

[speckledfrog]

The issue isn't that it's too religious, it's that it's the wrong religion.

[Ohhmm(bligo)]

The elementary I was working in last year (and the one Kristen went to) did a yoga unit. There were absolutely no religious, or even cultural, connotations at all.
And the kids were calmer the rest of the day.
But OH NO, quit indoctrinating our kids! Quit forcing religion down their throat! And PUT PRAYER BACK IN SCHOOLS!

[CurlyQ284]

Aug 22, 2013 7:47:15 GMT -5 speckledfrog said:

The issue isn't that it's too religious, it's that it's the wrong religion.

Oh of course. It reminded me of when I lived in Memphis and the city was fighting this guy to turn his Buddha statue around so it faced the house instead of the street or something because it was offensive. Oh but that giant eyesore statue of liberty knockoff holding the 10 commandments and a giant cross...that's totally fine.

[Deleted]

Aug 22, 2013 7:47:40 GMT -5 Lucy Honeychurch said:

Even prayer is a form of meditation. People are insane.

Neurologically it does the same for your brain even.

Science!!

[SugarKane]

When I told my normally very sane MIL that I was thinking of signing DD1 up for yoga, she broke down in tears and said "but yoga is a gateway to Buddhism"

[jane6672]

Fact: when I started practicing yoga, I was unable to prevent myself from converting to Hinduism.

[livinitup]

I'm not surprised that they could find 250 people who knew nothing about yoga to sign a petition against it.

[wambam]

Aug 22, 2013 8:10:25 GMT -5 frkls said:

Aug 22, 2013 7:45:09 GMT -5 @beagle said:

See, I think that's weirder.  Christian yoga, I get. Christian zumba?  did they dance to Christian rock? 
     

i've done both. LOL!  christian yoga was just regular yoga poses with christian names...like the fruits of the spirit flow and all that.  christian zumba was just dance aerobics to worship music and christian rock.  it was fun but that was the class where the instructor told me that my layers of sports bras were not effective enough and i was too embarrassed to ever go back.  eta: i went to that one because it was free

i've heard that about yoga being too religious.  thats not new.  some people still consider it to be new agey 

Was she concerned about modesty or your well being? That seems like such an awkward situation. 

[wambam]

Aug 22, 2013 8:16:43 GMT -5 frkls said:

Aug 22, 2013 8:14:09 GMT -5 wambam said:

Was she concerned about modesty or your well being? That seems like such an awkward situation. 

she didnt say.  she pulled me aside after class to tell me that i neededto wear a sports bra to class.  i pulled over the collar of my tshirt and showed her all 3 straps 

I would've given her the awkward turtle and left. Who says that to a stranger?

[BAMFMrsB]

Aug 22, 2013 7:37:58 GMT -5 @beagle said:

People can really find ANYTHING to complain about, can't they.

Word. I cannot believe some people.

My kid does yoga at daycare. I think its awesome. He'll drop in to downward dog at the most random moments. Super cute.

[Deleted]

My favorite yoga teaching story related to this was when a mother came up to me (I was teaching 5-8yr olds) and asked if it was true yoga people worshipped the earth. I had to explain that it had its foundations in Hinduism thousands of years ago but the physical benefits and play were what we focused on. She asked if I meditated to the earth. (...? I still don't get that one). I told her I walked the kids through relaxation visualizations at the end but they were strictly secular and voluntary.

It was so hard to keep a straight face when talking to her.

[Deleted]

Aug 22, 2013 8:57:03 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

Oh Jesus.  Krishna

FTFY

[iamgrace]

Yoga is concerning to my mother, too.

I wish there was a kid's yoga class up here.

[sillygoosegirl]

Aug 22, 2013 7:47:15 GMT -5 speckledfrog said:

The issue isn't that it's too religious, it's that it's the wrong religion.

Yep. I can totally see people taking objection to yoga at the public school I attended. But reading Bible stories in literature class was considered okay, because it's literature.

Although actually, maybe it would have been okay... Since most of them insisted that Eastern religions aren't really religions at all.

[snickers]

People really need to stop finding things to bitch and whine about. Let the kids do yoga.

[textbookcase]

I read this as "Yoda too religious for schools" and wondered when Yoda found Jesus.

My BIL was very concerned about my yoga practice. "Well..whatever. Just make sure you aren't saying 'Namaste'"

[mrsukyankee]

Perhaps they don't know that you CAN'T convert to Hinduism. You have to be born into it. So said my Hindu husband to me. And perhaps they ought to also look at all the studies which show that meditation is one of the best things for kids to develop their frontal lobe connections and is KNOWN for helping people with ADD and low-level Autism.