Thursday, March 7, 2013

Is yoga secular or religious?

Thats the conundrum at the heart of a new legal battle in Encinitas, California over the teaching of yoga in public schools.

In a lawsuit filed last month, a couple with two children in the Encinitas schools charge that the district is unconstitutionally promoting religion by giving yoga classes twice a week to students during the school day.

School officials insist that the yoga classes are for physical fitness and have nothing to do with religion or religious indoctrination.

The outcome of case could impact hundreds of other public schools nationwide that incorporate yoga postures and breathing exercises into their wellness and fitness programs.

Because yoga is used to describe a bewildering variety of classes and programs that dot the American landscape, from retreat centers and ashrams to shopping malls and gyms, its easy to forget that yoga originated in ancient India as a school of Hindu philosophy.

Many yoga practitioners embrace the religious roots and spiritual meaning of yoga while many others view yoga largely as a healthy exercise and stress reduction regimen.

Public schools, of course, adopt the healthy exercise definition in order to comply with the First Amendments prohibition of school promotion or endorsement of religion. Thats why yoga programs adopted by schools all claim to be secular, although they negotiate the traditional religious framework in a variety of ways.

On one end of the spectrum, a program offered to schools called Grounded retains Sanskrit terms such as asanas (poses) and doesnt shy away from referencing the Chakra System, the seven major energy centers in the body as understood in many Eastern religious traditions.

Original post:
Battling over yoga in public schools