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Can Yoga Cause Conflict?
By Christina | September 30, 2008
I suppose it shouldn’t, but it does. What’s that? The fact that yoga in schools has triggered controversy. It’s not the stretch or the relaxation techniques that have some parents up in arms. No, it’s the fact that some people view a correlation between yoga and religion. They feel it violates the boundaries between church and state.
This all started when two high school teachers started using yoga to assist students with stress before exams. They felt the program was so successful, they were even developing a district-wide program. Those intentions have now been put on hold after parents and others in the community complained students were being indoctrinated in Hindu rites. Being a yoga instructor myself I can tell you, yoga is not Hindu. It is also not Judaism, not Catholicism, it is not any religion. Yoga predates Hinduism in fact and the philosophies behind it are about caring for the self, caring for others, learning to release stress, how to breathe well and work the physical body.
Unfortuntely, the conflict has happened because, in my opinion, they do not understand yoga and that which is unknown causes fear: “We are not opposed to the benefits. We can understand the benefits. We are opposed to the philosophy behind it and that has its ties in Hinduism and the way they were presenting it,” said the Rev. Colin Lucid of Calvary Baptist Church in Massena.
The school board insists they have no hidden agenda and that the teachers were just being proactive in their search for methods to help the students relax and perform better.
A hundred schools in 26 states use yoga in the classroom to relieve stress, Reagan said. Federal funds and grants are available to educators seeking yoga certification, she said. According to a statement on the Web site of the American Yoga Association, yoga is not a religion, although its practice has been adopted by Hinduism, as well as other world religions.
The parents who disagree with the program feel their children may become confused and this may actually cause them more stress instread of relieve it. They feel it should be an after school program instead of an in-class activity.
For now it seems like yoga in the class may soon be a thing of the past.
