A bill to reverse a 28-year ban on yoga instruction in public schools stalled in committee in the Alabama State Legislature last week, but lawmakers are confident that they can garner enough votes to overturn the law.
We continue to receive questions from concerned parents of both public and parochial school children whose schools are introducing yoga and mindfulness into the curriculum in some way. What can they do to counter this worrying trend?
Rajan Zed, a Hindu activist who promotes yoga and Hinduism, issued a statement calling upon Irish Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan to “seriously look” at all the benefits of yoga before banning it from Catholic schools.
Bishop Alphonse Cullinan, the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore in Ireland, has written a letter to all Catholic schools in his diocese to say that yoga and mindfulness are “not suitable for our parish school setting.”
Introducing yoga into public schools isn’t happening without a fight – and Increasing complaints from parents and accusations that schools are endorsing religious practices is beginning to have an effect on programs across the country.