"Yoga causes controversy in public schools"

I find it interesting that they would consider it "a vital part of the largest missionary program in the world."  According to my Philosophy of Eastern Relgions prof, who is a Hindu, you really have to be born into Hinduism, there is no real process for converting to Hinduism.

My Grandmother, who was a practicing Catholic, was very into Yoga and meditation.  She had a Yoga intructor come to her home twice a week and used meditation as a means to help her get through an addiction to a presription drug.

Personally, I think that it is too bad that people get so worked up about things.  However, it is true that the concept of Yoga is an aspect of Hinduism, and you know that if Yoga were an aspect of Christianity and were being done in a public school people would be screaming about that, so I guess it's fair.  That being said, I wouldn't mind if my kid were to do it.

I guess next to go will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day and St. Valentine's Day. Both Catholic saints. Of course Halloween has been argued about as well. Only decorations during winter could be snowflakes and snowmen I guess. Personally, I WANT my kids exposed to a variety of cultures, which includes their religions. We do all this at home, but how sad for so many kids that will never experience the true wonders of the world . . . all the different people living in it . . . because they aren't exposed at home and can't get it at school. I"ve never understood people who think knowledge is dangerous.

My Christian parents were always really anti-yoga... they believed you can't separate the physical exercise or the concept of meditation from the spiritual beliefs behind them. In a way I see their point... I don't really like the idea of stripping the spiritual dimension away from yoga either, though for different reasons. But almost every religion practices meditation of some sort - Christian prayer is meditation - and prayer/meditation has been shown to have real health benefits even beside the physical aspect of yoga poses.

My Christian parents were always really anti-yoga... they believed you can't separate the physical exercise or the concept of meditation from the spiritual beliefs behind them.

I was going to say it, but you said it first. It bears repeating, though. Almost every religion has some form of meditation. You can meditate on anything you want to meditate on. You don't have to "empty your mind" or "breathe out of the top of your head", LOL.

I think it's the epitome of uptight, fearful parents... ugh.  You absolutely CAN do Yoga and not absorb any bit of Hinduism whatsoever - particularly if you're a child.  My boys do Yoga, Tai Chi, Tae Kwon Do and my 2nd grader will begin Tai Ji this spring.  This is all part of their Phys Ed program at school.  It's only a religious influence if it is carried out in other parts of their life - i.e. at home, through religious practice (attending service), through study, etc.  My personal opinion is that spiritual knowledge from varied sources is a wonderful thing to possess.  jmo..

By the same token you can sing one could argue that children could sing Christmas songs without absorbing Christianity, but those are banned in many schools.

Well, there's yoga and then there's yoga, ya know? Most of the yoga practiced here in the states at your corner yoga studio is totally secular, poses and very light non-denominational meditation only. But actually the yogic tradition originally (and in India still) is a spiritual one. But yes, it is correct that Hinduism is not what's conidered a "universal" religion (one that anyone can belong to).  You have to be born a Hindu. That's why Hindus kind of look askance at the Hare Krishnas, because that is a "universal" sect of Hinduism that most Hindus don't accept.
 
Anyway, yoga actually has 8 aths, the physical training being only one of them (hatha yoga). To do hatha yoga with no real thought to the rest is what most Americans do, but it is sort of a way over-simplification of yogic practice.
 
I'm sort of of two minds. My husband practiced Taiji Chuan (Taiqi) for many years and has now begun to practice Wushu (kungfu). But we're also practioners of an eastern religion and it all kind of fits together. His old Taiji school was called the Great River Taoist Center, not the Great River Taiji Center, because Taiji chuan is intimately connected to the practice of Taoism. You can divorce it from that and teach it at the local retirement community, but at a certain point it's not Taiji anymore. Its something else. You cannot really practice Taiji chuan unless you believe in qi. If you don't believe in qi, you've sort of missed the point which is circulating and directing that qi in order to defeat your "opposite" (contrary to what many believe, Taiji chuan is a martial art, it's name translating as "supreme excellent fist").
 
So I sort of feel that way about yoga. I'm sure what they're teaching in schools and I know for certain that what most yoga studios and health clubs teach is pretty much completely secular. But I don't know how I feel about that. It feels icky, to take a 3000-year-old tradition and divorce it totally from its spiritual foundation. I know how it feels to me when I see Zen meditation trumpeted as some kind of secular relaxation technique. It really doesn't feel so great.

It feels icky, to take a 3000-year-old tradition and divorce it totally from its spiritual foundation.

Yeah. I think I know how you feel. I can totally understand that people should be free to worship as they wish. But it seems like people are picking the easiest and most inoffesive parts of religion and discarding the bits that might be more difficult or hard to understand, but ultimately more rewarding. Religion in any form seems to offend people who are often openminded about nearly everything else.

I think the fuss over yoga is probably a backlash of the problems with Christmas and Easter. The public school where I went, and my little sister still goes, actually still sings Christmas songs during the Holiday concert. They also sing Jewish songs, a spanish Christmas song and Pop tunes. I have no problem with bits of religion in schools. That's how we all learn. I've always seen it as sharing culture rather than some sort of indoctrinaion.

My kids go to a Lutheran grade school and I wouldn't care if they did yoga. They learn about other religions during religion class anyway. My 2nd grader know way more about other religions than I did at his age.

But it isn't really about religion. The lady that developed the program changed it so much that it hasn't got any religious elements in it all all. It's the "perception" of religion. Breathing and stretching and focused concentration aren't the sole purvey of Eastern religions any more than chanting is. If so, then you could say rap music is an extension of Buddism. Like I said before, it's as related to religion as the little pink and red hearts pasted all over the windows at school are to Catholicism.

Well, that's why I am of two minds.
 
I am sure what they're teaching at that school is pretty much 100% secular and the people who are raising a stink are probably busy-bodies with nothing better to do and an ax to grind.
 
On the other hand, should yoga be 100% secular? That's a whole other question and that's sort of the tangent I got off upon. Hatha Yoga in this country is just a bunch of stretches and exercises. Hatha Yoga in the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali is not just that. The word yoga means "to yolk" as in connecting yourself to the supereme Godhead. It's not just aerobics, or at least it wasn't until Americans started to do it.

Oh sorry! I went of fon a tangent with Cressida!

I honestly don't think that the yoga the majority of America practices is in any way, shape or form religious. But I guess some people just don't realize that. Maybe they should just call it Pilates or Floor Exercises to shut people up! Worked when they changed "Christmas Plays" to "Holiday Pageants!"

ORIGINAL: jenhuedepohl

Oh sorry! I went of fon a tangent with Cressida!

I honestly don't think that the yoga the majority of America practices is in any way, shape or form religious. But I guess some people just don't realize that. Maybe they should just call it Pilates or Floor Exercises to shut people up! Worked when they changed "Christmas Plays" to "Holiday Pageants!"

 
Same here.  I just always looked at it as a relaxing, stretching, easy on the joints type of thing that's good for you.  I never looked at as any sort of religious practice.
 
Joyce