Yoga teaches us to cure what
need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured.
B.K.S. Iyengar
It might not be too surprising that a school district in
California is one of the first ones to implement yoga as a form of exercise and
physical education as a part of its curriculum.
There are other school districts around the country that hold yoga classes
as part of their extracurricular activities.
However, it is the school district in Encinitas, California that is
coming under fire for its program. While
the school district maintains that the yoga classes are part of a general
wellness program, critics (including some parents) see it as an interjection of
religion into schools.
In the interest of disclosure, I am a fan of yoga and on
occasion, have participated in Bikram Yoga – the variety done in a very hot
room. I’m familiar, if not competent, with
the moves and poses done in a typical yoga class and, insofar as my experiences
are normal, know the extent to which such a class would be or could be
construed as religious. Yoga originated
as part of a spiritual exercise designed to highlight the importance of
aligning the mind, body and spirit towards a unified purpose and transcend what
the person, alone, can achieve. It stems
from Hinduism and emerged a couple of hundred years prior to the life of
Jesus. While the practice arose out of a
spiritual context, the modern “wellness” movement does not play that angle up
too much as its participants vary in their religious affiliation. However, one could say that the particular
religion is not important because yoga can be used to highlight any religious
training that seeks to unite the earthly with the divine. In short, in my limited experience, there
does not seem to be a concerted effort to push one faith over another in the
course of a typical yoga class.
With that said, our attention returns to California. The Encinitas United School District Superintendent
Timothy Baird answered charges of the appropriateness of yoga, saying, “It’s
physical. It’s strength-building. It increases flexibility but also deals with
stress reduction and focusing.” In
short, the school district is seeing the practice more from a point of physical
and mental amelioration. One of the
district’s yoga teachers emphasized that her and others like her work hard to
keep the language and the direction of the class ecumenical. However, some parents are not convinced and
have pulled their students out of the class.
They object to certain postures and phrasing that would elicit questions
that run contrary to their faith.
Based on my previous experiences, classes such as these
cater their presentation of yoga to be applicable to any personal
conviction. Indeed, all faiths have, as
a component of its practice, a meditation-like function and insofar as that is
true, students and adults of all faiths can apply the meaning they wish. Parents should see this not as
indoctrination, which is not the intention of the class but rather a search for
well-being and right mindfulness on the part of the student. Some school officials are seeing some benefit
from students able to work stress out of the goal-oriented and success-oriented
model of public schools.
On the whole, if we can encourage greater physical fitness
and a greater mental awareness, away from the hectic, pell-mell environment
that competitive education can sometimes engender, I say let’s have it. The religious concerns and the threats of
lawsuits based on the establishment clause of the First Amendment are
capricious. I understand the concerns of
interjecting religion into a school curriculum and the dangers it poses. While there are many who practice the art of
yoga as a religious devotion throughout the world, many more do so simply as a
way to better tap into what they are capable of if they venture beyond
themselves.
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