Yoga causes controversy in public schools.

[kitsune]

Some parents say it violates the separation of church and state (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16859368/wid/11915773?GT1=8921)

SAN FRANCISCO - In Tara Guber's ideal world, American children would meditate in the lotus position and chant in Sanskrit before taking stressful standardized tests.

But when she asked a public elementary school in Aspen, Colo., to teach yoga in 2002, Christian fundamentalists and even some secular parents lobbied the school board. They argued that yoga's Hindu roots conflicted with Christian teachings and that using it in school might violate the separation of church and state.

Portrayed as a New Age nut out to brainwash young minds, Guber crafted a new curriculum that eliminated chanting and translated Sanskrit into kid-friendly English. Yogic panting became "bunny breathing," and "meditation" became "time in."

"I stripped every piece of anything that anyone could vaguely construe as spiritual or religious out of the program," Guber said.

Now, more than 100 schools in 26 states have adopted Guber's "Yoga Ed." program and more than 300 physical education instructors have been trained in it.

Countless other public and private schools from California to Massachusetts — including the Aspen school where Guber clashed with parents — are teaching yoga.

Helping kids focus
Teachers say it helps calm students with attention-deficit disorder and may reduce childhood obesity. The federal government gives grants to gym teachers who complete a teacher training course in yoga.

"I see a lot fewer discipline problems," said Ruth Reynolds, principal of Coleman Elementary School in San Rafael. Her observation of the school's six-year-old yoga program is that it helps easily distracted children to focus.

"If you have children with ADD and focusing issues, often it's easy to go from that into a behavior problem," Reynolds said. "Anything you can do to help children focus will improve their behavior."

In 2003, researchers at California State University, Los Angeles, studied test scores at the Accelerated School, a charter school where Guber sits on the board and where students practice yoga almost every day. Researchers found a correlation between yoga and better behavior and grades, and they said young yogis were more fit than the district average from the California Physical Fitness Test.

Guber, married to former Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Peter Guber, embraced yoga after moving to California in the 1970s. Their 13-acre Bel-Air estate includes a clifftop garden leading to a Yoga House retreat.

In 2004, Americans spent almost $3 billion on yoga classes and retreats, books, DVDs, mats, clothing and related items. About 3 million American adults practiced yoga at least twice a week in 2006, more than doubling from 1.3 million in 2001, according to Mediamark Research.

Exercise or religion?
Despite mainstream acceptance, yoga in public schools remains touchy. Critics say even stripped-down "yoga lite" goads young people into exploring other religions and mysticism.

Dave Hunt, who has traveled to India to study yoga's roots and interview gurus, called the practice "a vital part of the largest missionary program in the world" for Hinduism. The Bend, Ore., author of "Yoga and the Body of Christ: What Position Should Christians Hold?" said that, like other religions, the practice has no place in public schools.

"It's pretty simple: Yoga is a religious practice in Hinduism. It's the way to reach enlightenment. To bring it to the west and bill it as a scientific practice for fitness is dishonest," said Hunt, 80.

"I've talked to too many people who got hooked on the spiritual deception of yoga. They come to believe in this and become enamored with Hinduism or eastern mysticism," he said.*

Concerns about yoga's spiritual implications have also fueled a cottage industry of books and videos that offer the purported benefits of yoga — flexibility, strength and weight loss —without mentioning the y-word.

Laurette Willis, 49, wrote an exercise regimen called "PowerMoves Kids Program for Public Schools." The stretching routine includes pauses for children to contemplate character-building quotes from Martin Luther King Jr., Emily Dickinson, Harriet Tubman and William Shakespeare. Willis, who lives near Tahlequah, Okla., also created an exercise regimen called "PraiseMoves: The Christian Alternative to Yoga."

"I'm not here to say that yoga is necessarily bad, but it is counter to what I think the public education system is for: It should have programs without any form of religious overtones whatsoever," Willis said.

The dispute confuses some yogis, particularly Westerners who say they yoga as it's practiced in the United States is primarily about fitness and stress relief.

Baron Baptiste, who owns three studios in the Boston area and practices with his 7-year-old son, loves Guber's program. He said his son takes yoga far less seriously than he does.

"We adults need to be reminded to lighten up, breathe in the joy and have some fun," he said.

*I love how the "problem" with it is that it might encourage students to explore other religions. How incredibly, blatantly stupid. Do these people not listen to themselves when they speak? They should just carry around signs that say, in huge flashing neon letters, "WE DO NOT BELIEVE IN LETTING PEOPLE THINK FOR THEMSELVES"

[Slar]

Bummer. I thought you said Yoda.

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/PF/PF_922130~Yoda-Posters.jpg

[markalot]

*I love how the "problem" with it is that it might encourage students to explore other religions. How incredibly, blatantly stupid. Do these people not listen to themselves when they speak? They should just carry around signs that say, in huge flashing neon letters, "WE DO NOT BELIEVE IN LETTING PEOPLE THINK FOR THEMSELVES"

What's the difference between Yoga and prayer in school?

[dragonflier]

*I love how the "problem" with it is that it might encourage students to explore other religions. How incredibly, blatantly stupid. Do these people not listen to themselves when they speak? They should just carry around signs that say, in huge flashing neon letters, "WE DO NOT BELIEVE IN LETTING PEOPLE THINK FOR THEMSELVES"
I always want to know why "they" are so afraid of their children (or anyone else) learning more about other religions.

It's like they are tacitly admitting that other religions are better than theirs, but hopefully no one will ever find out.

[dragonflier]

What's the difference between Yoga and prayer in school?
Yoga in this context is so watered-down that it's link to a particular religion is tenuous at best.

[Unrequited]

What's the difference between Yoga and prayer in school?

There is none. Get the little fuckers doing laps and situps the way the rest of us did.

[Duemellon]

What's the difference between Yoga and prayer in school?What's the difference between hypnotism & the Holy Spirit?

What's the difference between singing a hymn & the Star Spangled Banner?

What's the difference between reading the Christian Bible or Huck Finn?

What's the difference between getting the Sacrament of Christ & getting crackers with juice from the lunchcounter?

You tell me. They look exactly the same to me.[/sarc]

[1979]

What's the difference between hypnotism & the Holy Spirit?

What's the difference between singing a hymn & the Star Spangled Banner?

What's the difference between reading the Christian Bible or Huck Finn?

What's the difference between getting the Sacrament of Christ & getting crackers with juice from the lunchcounter?

You tell me. They look exactly the same to me.[/color=f5f5ff][/sarc][/color]


Seriously? Yoga is, according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga), one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy. I would think that that would qualify as a religion, which, if taught in school, would violate the separation of church and state.

[gwar469]

why don't they just teach Pilates and remove all possible religious doctrine?

[markalot]

There is none. Get the little fuckers doing laps and situps the way the rest of us did.

So it's OK as long as it's not christianity? Hey, Yoga is one of those new age things so it's all cool and stuff. Your faux-atheism is showing.

[akip]

yoga can easily be taught as a series of stretching, breathing and relaxation exercises that have no significance beyond promoting good health and flexibility.

people are fucking nuts.

[1979]

So it's OK as long as it's not christianity? Hey, Yoga is one of those new age things so it's all cool and stuff. Your faux-atheism is showing.


I don't think he really said anything except to suggest that the kids run laps. I didn't really see him say that yoga was ok...

[motorcitygirl]

Based on the Supreme Court's prior holding that a Christmas tree and nativity scene are considered sufficiently secular symbols so as not to violate Separation of Church and State principles, I would think yoga in schools (as long as it is not taught as Hindu meditation) would be kosher. In this country, yoga has been fairly secularized. It likely speaks more to our obsession with beauty than to anything else.

[akip]

stretching exercises alone are a bloody bore. yoga provides a more appealing routine where the postures flow from one to another and, in the process, bring about a sense of calm. that's all it tends to be in america. whatever it is in india, or at some serious yoga institute, is something that operates on a whole different level which doesn't really have to factor in at all.

[kitsune]

What's the difference between Yoga and prayer in school?
When I do yoga it's purely for physical fitness and relaxation. There are a lot of kinds of yoga and some are more "religious" than others. I took one class that wanted us to chant in Sanskrit, and I think that's just plain stupid if you don't know Sanskrit. If the words mean nothing to you, it's pointless.

But anyway, nearly all the stretching they teach in P.E. class comes from yoga. I, personally, know very few people who practice yoga that have gotten "sucked into" some sort of Hinduism, rather using it to calm their emotions and centre the mind.

[patio]

What's the difference between hypnotism & the Holy Spirit?

What's the difference between singing a hymn & the Star Spangled Banner?

What's the difference between reading the Christian Bible or Huck Finn?

What's the difference between getting the Sacrament of Christ & getting crackers with juice from the lunchcounter?

You tell me. They look exactly the same to me.[/color=f5f5ff][/sarc][/color]

I think it depends on what you definition of religion is. Is a religion just something that has a concept of the sacred and profane or is it less or more stringent than that?

I any case these people dont know what they are talking about. You could just as easily do yoga and think of God if your christian, your body if your athiest, or attaining enightenment if your hindu. Let's say an athiest goes into a catholic church and partakes of the sacrament they aren't going to get automatically converted to Catholocism. If that person is not Catholic and doesn't believe in god there is no sacred nature about the sacrament. The "body and blood" is crackers and cheap wine.

[akip]

purists scare me. they take everything literally. then they get offended if you point out that some christian symbols and rituals were born out of pagan symbols and rituals. hey, it doesn't bother me what their sources are.

[markalot]

Prayer is just a way to relax. You don't have to talk to god if you don't believe, just sit there and relax. Oh, and remember to clasp your hands, it's part of the exercise.

[Unrequited]

So it's OK as long as it's not christianity? Hey, Yoga is one of those new age things so it's all cool and stuff. Your faux-atheism is showing.

I'm agreeing with you. Yoga, in its American form, has been corrupted. It is definitely tied to spirituality.

[akip]

old presbyterian ladies in pink track suits do yoga at retirement communities. you guys should go work for jerry falwell. :p

[patio]

Prayer is just a way to relax. You don't have to talk to god if you don't believe, just sit there and relax. Oh, and remember to clasp your hands, it's part of the exercise.

Yea, if its secular prayer.

[Unrequited]

old presbyterian ladies in pink track suits do yoga at retirement communities. you guys should go work for jerry falwell. :p

You're missing the point here. This actually offends both yoga purists and those who want to separate church/state. To really practice yoga the way it was intended, you need to embrace the spiritual component. Otherwise, you're just embracing another fad.

[akip]

You're missing the point here. This actually offends both yoga purists and those who want to separate church/state. To really practice yoga the way it was intended, you need to embrace the spiritual component. Otherwise, you're just embracing another fad.

as i stated before, purists scare me. everything morphs. gospel is church music, but it became the foundation of rhythm and blues. besides, the fact that aunt ethel can take yoga at a jewish community center doesnt hurt people who practice yoga within a serious religious framework.

[patio]

It also wouldn't hurt anyone if I started burning Christian Bibles. But then we get into value judgements.

[akip]

It also wouldn't hurt anyone if I started burning Christian Bibles. But then we get into value judgements.

but you wouldn't build a public school curriculum around it, now would you. ;)

[dannyboy]

It also wouldn't hurt anyone if I started burning Christian Bibles. But then we get into value judgements.
open burning; think of the environment. ;)

[classicgrrl]

much like the Bible, Yoga is only religion if you use it as such.

I read (past tense) the Bible, front to back, twice; once as a religious text and the other as a story. It was like reading two completely different books.

Yoga really DOES help with strengthening and toning muscles, and can help focus the mind and foster relaxation. Just like meditation can.

I don't give one piece of rat's shit what the purists think, say, or do; Yoga has wonderful physcial benefits and if it helps those with ADD specifically I say do it.

Meditation came from Buddhism (I think) and every time I have EVER gone in for a big test, presentation, or interview I meditate and use mental imagery. It works and I don't give one iota of a damn about it's origins.

part of having free will is the ability to pick and choose what works for oneself and what doesn't. if you aren't stepping on anybody else's toes then fuck the rest of universe...do what you need to do.

stupid religious people trying to get all up into my free will - LEAVE MY FREE WILL ALONE DAMMIT!!!!!





.....ahem......*walks away*

[classicgrrl]

I'm agreeing with you. Yoga, in its American form, has been corrupted. It is definitely tied to spirituality.

since when in hell does spirituality have anything to do with religion or the religious? Most religions that I have looked have absolutely NO spirit in them whatsoever.

[patio]

I wonder if it's this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBHLXOw_s3c) kind of Yoga...

[Marlowe]

the fact that the majority of american children are fat and/or hyperactive means that yoga would be a fantastic practice for them to get into.

if one takes an absolutist position (no pun intended) on church/state, however, then yes it would be logical to oppose this, since there's no question that yoga's roots are religion-based practice.

the better argument, though, is to allow for greater school choice, and parents can send their kids to a religious school, a secular school, a science-theme school, a buddhist school, an agriculture school, etc. if you don't like your kid being threatened by the yoga menace, you send him somewhere that doesn't have it.

[dragonflier]

This "free will" that Classic refers to is spoken of quite often in Christianity, but I don't see it actually used much in practice.

[Duemellon]

I was in my 20's before I knew yoga derived from some religious practices elsewhere. When I did find out it came from a religion, it was still obscure to me.

Idiots.

[Unrequited]

I don't give one piece of rat's shit what the purists think, say, or do; Yoga has wonderful physcial benefits and if it helps those with ADD specifically I say do it.

Uh, you mean the people who started it? You sound like the typical ugly American.

[akip]

Uh, you mean the people who started it? You sound like the typical ugly American.

this is always where territorial battles start distorting things. she's not knocking the original religious basis of yoga, she's knocking the control freaks who are threatened by the creative adaptation of an art form, a religion, whatever it happens to be. muddying the waters is the basis of all innovation---you steal something and change it. i say all power to the thieves if something useful comes out of it.

[Unrequited]

this is always where territorial battles start distorting things. she's not knocking the original religious basis of yoga, she's knocking the control freaks who are threatened by the creative adaptation of an art form, a religion, whatever it happens to be. muddying the waters is the basis of all innovation---you steal something and change it. i say all power to the thieves if something useful comes out of it.

You sound like Madonna. :p

[1979]

much like the Bible, Yoga is only religion if you use it as such.

I read (past tense) the Bible, front to back, twice; once as a religious text and the other as a story. It was like reading two completely different books.

Yoga really DOES help with strengthening and toning muscles, and can help focus the mind and foster relaxation. Just like meditation can.

I don't give one piece of rat's shit what the purists think, say, or do; Yoga has wonderful physcial benefits and if it helps those with ADD specifically I say do it.

Meditation came from Buddhism (I think) and every time I have EVER gone in for a big test, presentation, or interview I meditate and use mental imagery. It works and I don't give one iota of a damn about it's origins.

part of having free will is the ability to pick and choose what works for oneself and what doesn't. if you aren't stepping on anybody else's toes then fuck the rest of universe...do what you need to do.

stupid religious people trying to get all up into my free will - LEAVE MY FREE WILL ALONE DAMMIT!!!!!





.....ahem......*walks away*


Would you then support/allow the teaching of the Bible in a literature class then? Even if it is "story-based"?

[1979]

I was in my 20's before I knew yoga derived from some religious practices elsewhere. When I did find out it came from a religion, it was still obscure to me.

Idiots.


I'm interested - who are the idiots that you are referring to?

[akip]

You sound like Madonna. :p

i sound like any creative person, high or lowbrow. ;)


though i'm thinking of a vh1 clip i just saw of keith richard talking---said he straight-on stole chuck berry, but if you're gonna steal, you might as well steal from the best. :)

[markalot]

I was in my 20's before I knew yoga derived from some religious practices elsewhere. When I did find out it came from a religion, it was still obscure to me.

Idiots.

Right, but you knew prayer had religious significance because you were raised with it.

I support the yoga this instructor was teaching, by the way, but I can also see why some would be concerned. We fight and fight and fight to get religion out of school, but then we're OK with this? We can't even have a silent moment before football games without some wacko getting upset and calling it religion.

[akip]

We can't even have a silent moment before football games without some wacko getting upset and calling it religion.

you're right that this is just as idiotic.

[Unrequited]

I just think stealing someone's spirituality and appropriating for your own means is a bit offensive. I have a friend from India who shakes his head as he watches these folks toddle off to their yoga classes talking on their cell phones, with their mats under their arms, then heading out to the bars after class is over.

[akip]

I just think stealing someone's spirituality and appropriating for your own means is a bit offensive. I have a friend from India who shakes his head as he watches these folks toddle off to their yoga classes talking on their cell phones, with their mats under their arms, then heading out to the bars after class is over.

again, i point to gospel. you saw "ray," right? you can sing like that to worship the lord, or you can dance to it at a night club.

[Unrequited]

again, i point to gospel. you saw "ray," right? you can sing like that to worship the lord, or you can dance to it at a night club.

Well, don't go by a movie, as those are always loosely based in fact. But I understand your old sacred/profane blues/gospel analogy. However, in that case, the folks who originated it were appropriating it. I hardly think a white girl from Princeton doing her yoga in a studio on the upper west side of Manhattan is the same thing.

[Duemellon]

There is none. Get the little fuckers doing laps and situps the way the rest of us did.

I'm agreeing with you. Yoga, in its American form, has been corrupted. It is definitely tied to spirituality.

You're missing the point here. This actually offends both yoga purists and those who want to separate church/state. To really practice yoga the way it was intended, you need to embrace the spiritual component. Otherwise, you're just embracing another fad.

You sound like Madonna.You are the one sounding like the "Ugly American" with absolutist views & declarations that using yoga is a gateway to Hinduism.

The amount of traditions borrowed by Christianity should lead them all to various religions like Judaism, Druidic cults, & other things, but they don't. The amount of religious traditions borrowed by the "secular" US society should've led us to communism, fascism, socialism, & a theocracy by now.

Your fears appear misplaced.

[motorcitygirl]

Would you then support/allow the teaching of the Bible in a literature class then? Even if it is "story-based"?

I'm very pro-separation of church/state. That said, I don't think reading the bible as a historical text, much like the the Illiad or the Odyssey, involves the teaching of religion. When I was in high school (public high school) we read portions of the bible in an English class. It was helpful b/c a lot of the literature we studied contained biblical references. We weren't praying over the bible and our teacher did not represent it to be the word of God. The key is how the teacher treats the subject matter.

[1979]

I'm very pro-separation of church/state. That said, I don't think reading the bible as a historical text, much like the the Illiad or the Odyssey, involves the teaching of religion. When I was in high school (public high school) we read portions of the bible in an English class. It was helpful b/c a lot of the literature we studied contained biblical references. We weren't praying over the bible and our teacher did not represent it to be the word of God. The key is how the teacher treats the subject matter.


Agreed. However, do you think that there wouldn't be an uproar from several others who are just as pro-separation of church and state as you are?


Just a question - feel free to not answer - but when did you go to High School? I was in high school 10 years ago, and I don't think we could get away with some of the choral music we sang in choir anymore these days.

[akip]

Well, don't go by a movie, as those are always loosely based in fact. But I understand your old sacred/profane blues/gospel analogy. However, in that case, the folks who originated it were appropriating it. I hardly think a white girl from Princeton doing her yoga in a studio on the upper west side of Manhattan is the same thing.

it's true that r&b's a more creative conversion of a genre, where yoga's been secularized. that's really about removing elements and not replacing them with anything beyond the pragmatic. but secularized yoga serves such a useful practical function in our fast-paced, commercial world. it might be a shadow of its devotional counterpart, but it's still valuable.

[Unrequited]

it's true that r&b's a more creative conversion of a genre, where yoga's been secularized. that's really about removing elements and not replacing them with anything beyond the pragmatic. but secularized yoga serves such a useful practical function in our fast-paced, commercial world. it might be a shadow of its devotional counterpart, but it's still valuable.

Don't get me wrong, if the Princeton grad wants to attend her yoga class, that's fine with me. After all, in a couple of years, she'll move on to spinning or squash or whatever is fashionable.

I just think, if you are going to have students do it in a public school, you need to educate them about the roots of yoga, which involves a religious aspect, which gets you in to a dicey area in a public school.

[akip]

I just think, if you are going to have students do it in a public school, you need to educate them about the roots of yoga, which involves a religious aspect, which gets you in to a dicey area in a public school.

i'll grant you that would be the intellectually advanced thing to do---provide a deeper context without proselytizing it---but apparently, as the news proves yet again, we haven't managed to evolve that far. :D

[motorcitygirl]

Agreed. However, do you think that there wouldn't be an uproar from several others who are just as pro-separation of church and state as you are?


Just a question - feel free to not answer - but when did you go to High School? I was in high school 10 years ago, and I don't think we could get away with some of the choral music we sang in choir anymore these days.

I graduated high school in 1998. I complained about a lot of stuff while I was there -- like the fact that the christian club hung a crusifix (sp?) in their bulletin case along with quotes from revelations. My Mom had fits every year when the school scheduled parent teacher conferences on Yom Kippur. My friend (a lesbian) complained when her German teacher made her translate from English to German certain passages of the bible supposedly staing homosexuality is a sin (keep in mind this was in a German class -- really no need to be reading the bible in there).

I don't know what kind of Choral music you were singing, but if it was all about Jesus's light and spirit or something like that, then I probably would have felt really uncomfortable singing in that school choir. It seems like there is a sufficient amount of non-religious music/songs one could choose from.

[1979]

I don't know what kind of Choral music you were singing, but if it was all about Jesus's light and spirit or something like that, then I probably would have felt really uncomfortable singing in that school choir. It seems like there is a sufficient amount of non-religious music/songs one could choose from.


The music we sang was religious based, but not modern hymns. Almost all old choral music is religious based, I think, so it was tough to avoid, unless you wanted to sing show tunes. Which I wouldn't want to sing.

[Duemellon]

I just think, if you are going to have students do it in a public school, you need to educate them about the roots of yoga, which involves a religious aspect, which gets you in to a dicey area in a public school.Why do you have to? Why not cease calling it Yoga & get someone to call it a meditative body-mind excerize?

The spirituality of yoga is unnecessary to gain benefits from it. Much like using multiple plates & avoiding pork made a lot of sense back "in the day". Religious based or not, there are some bits of good advice in religious practices that can be taken secularly.

From monogamy reducing unwanted pregnancies & STIs, to the elimnation of vendetta/honor killings (when properly applied). There are/were many useful secular lessons for behavior in pre-modern times that did not require any religious intonations to be helpful.

In fact, the religious connatations appear to be an afterthought in most of those cases.

[dragonflier]

Right, but you knew prayer had religious significance because you were raised with it.

I support the yoga this instructor was teaching, by the way, but I can also see why some would be concerned. We fight and fight and fight to get religion out of school, but then we're OK with this? We can't even have a silent moment before football games without some wacko getting upset and calling it religion.
I've never understood the concept of praying before a football game or any other sporting event.

So, if you or the team you're supporting loses, does that mean that God doesn't like you?

[markalot]

I've never understood the concept of praying before a football game or any other sporting event.

So, if you or the team you're supporting loses, does that mean that God doesn't like you?


Yep. God hates our team. This is why Notre Dame wins all the time .... wait.

[Predot listener]

Forgive me, but I tend to define controversy a little differently than the story's headline writer. The practice is now in more than 100 schools in 26 states, and a few critics object to it (though not enough to actually pursue halting it, as the story reads). For as much as we like to decry the "intolerant Christians" (and I myself am guilty occasionally), it seems like yoga as practiced here has pretty much gone off without riling up much of anyone.

I just don't see the controversy.

[drougan]

Would you then support/allow the teaching of the Bible in a literature class then? Even if it is "story-based"?

We studied the first couple chapters of Genesis in HS, along with the creation/cataclysm myths of several other cultures. Purely from the literary standpoint. I saw zero problem with it.

[Chomp Samba]

Yoga is great. I especiall like it when I get so relaxed, I fall asleep and cut a fart. That's true religion in my book.

[miami2112]

so whats wrong with yogurt in school?

[akip]

so whats wrong with yogurt in school?

communists eat yogurt.

[markalot]

yogurt makes you liberal.

[1979]

We studied the first couple chapters of Genesis in HS, along with the creation/cataclysm myths of several other cultures. Purely from the literary standpoint. I saw zero problem with it.


That amazes me. Not that you don't have a problem with it ( I don't see any problem either ) but the fact that I would think that this would have very little chance of happening in today's high schools. Maybe I am way off, and they still use the Bible as a "textbook" in classes.

[Donyo]

Would you then support/allow the teaching of the Bible in a literature class then? Even if it is "story-based"?

You may want to find a better example to illustrate your point, because some high school lit classes do use the Bible as subject matter.

EDIT: jumped in on this late, but yes, this is still done.

[Slar]

the better argument, though, is to allow for greater school choice, and parents can send their kids to a religious school, a secular school, a science-theme school, a buddhist school, an agriculture school, etc. if you don't like your kid being threatened by the yoga menace, you send him somewhere that doesn't have it.I have always liked this idea. Get the government out of the school and church / state separation becomes a moot point, but I don't know how we could have the transition from the system we have currently.

P.S. Do I have to do everything around here?

http://www.silverlakejellystone.com/yogi01c.jpg

[Shlep]

What's the difference between Yoga and prayer in school?

Pray every day for about 20 minutes, three or four times a week, for about six months while taking care to periodically note any changes in muscle tone or felxibility. Do the same with yoga. You'll get your answer.

I would think yoga in schools (as long as it is not taught as Hindu meditation) would be kosher.

Careful...you have people howling that you're trying to indocrinate their impressionable kids into the Jewish faith. :D

I am inclined to wonder how many of the people raising hell over the whole "yoga" thing actually bothered, for instance, to get more detailed info on the teachers' methodology for teaching yoga, as I am similarly curious if anyone did any cursory research on the propensity or likelihood of people who practice yoga-- something which is widely taught all over the world as a low-impact exercise regimen and which I would think would be wholly demystified in fruity/nutty California-- to become observant Hindus.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess "No."

I also wonder what the response would be from parents who have opted to enroll their kids in Okinawan Karate, Kung Fu, Aikido, or other Asian martial disciplines which have become America's alternative soccer for the kids and which to varying degrees have some underpinning in Bhuddism, Shinto, Taoism, Confucionism, and so on if one were to suggest that they were careleslly exposing their kids to pagan Eastern religions.

[Predot listener]

I am inclined to wonder how many of the people raising hell over the whole "yoga" thing actually bothered, for instance, to get more detailed info on the teachers' methodology for teaching yoga


Who exactly is "raising hell?"

[drougan]

That amazes me. Not that you don't have a problem with it ( I don't see any problem either ) but the fact that I would think that this would have very little chance of happening in today's high schools. Maybe I am way off, and they still use the Bible as a "textbook" in classes.

Granted, I graduated in '97. Things may have changed. We also didn't read from the bible, but a textbook on world literature that included the chapters. That makes a pretty big difference, if you ask me.

[The Hegemo]

When I was in ninth grade at Walnut Hills (in 1987-88), we did a unit on the Bible as literature in English class, and we did read directly from the Bible. I don't remember anyone having a problem with it.

[jcarwash31]

Hehehe.....Guber. Her name. Is. Guber.

[classicgrrl]

Would you then support/allow the teaching of the Bible in a literature class then? Even if it is "story-based"?

yeppers.

reading the bible is a GREAT way to teach critical thinking skills

I am not ugly.
but i am american.

[classicgrrl]

Pray every day for about 20 minutes, three or four times a week, for about six months while taking care to periodically note any changes in muscle tone or felxibility. Do the same with yoga. You'll get your answer.
.

this is pretty damned funny.

[Homsar]

Who exactly is "raising hell?"

I'm just guessing here, but it may be the Christian fundamentalists and secular parents mentioned in the article.

[the happy prole]

Pray every day for about 20 minutes, three or four times a week, for about six months while taking care to periodically note any changes in muscle tone or felxibility. Do the same with yoga. You'll get your answer.

Sure. But now practice yoga with and without the sanskrit chanting and see if you notice a difference. I bet you don't.

I really don't have a problem with what happened. They took the possible religious parts out of the Yoga exercise and it went over gangbusters. The kids are getting the same benefits, the parents don't seem to have a problem with it and everyone's happy. Everyone seems to agree that stretching, breathing and relaxation techniques are good. So let's do that and call it whatever the hell you want if "yoga" has too much religious connotation for you.

Sure there's some parents who aren't happy, and the woman who wrote created "PraiseMoves: The Christian Alternative to Yoga" seems like a bit of a whackjob. But you know, there's nutty people out there. Just seems like people are making too big a deal of this. If stretching and toning and breathing are good, then let's just stretch, tone, and breathe and leave out the rest. Seems a perfectly reasonable compromise to me.

[Predot listener]

I'm just guessing here, but it may be the Christian fundamentalists and secular parents mentioned in the article.


I think the Happy Prole summed it well. The fundamentalists and secular parents expressed their initial objections, which based on previous court rulings, were perfectly reasonable. Once the religious elements were removed, the program has been welcomed in more than 100 classrooms without incident. The only objections are minor, and are not being followed by actions (lawsuits, protests). It seems a rare case of adults behaving reasonably, which is why I find the "controversy" in the headline odd, and a general absence of "hell-raising."

[yoshomon]

I'm just guessing here, but it may be the Christian fundamentalists and secular parents mentioned in the article.

The Christians will be set fire to, just as they burned the heretics of old! The secular parents too will burn in the fires of insurgency as the dark lord ascends to his throne on the fractured corpses of the holy! Thrones for the worthy, graves for the rest!