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Schools turning on to yoga, but some call it foreign religion
NorthJersey.com ^ | 01.29.07 | RACHEL KONRAD

Posted on 01/30/2007 10:42:21 PM PST by Coleus

alt
AP
arrowTara Gruber and staff demonstrating a schoolteachers' instruction session. Teachers claim yoga helps students with attention-deficit disorder and may help lower childhood obesity.

SAN FRANCISCO -- In Tara Guber's ideal world, American children would meditate in the lotus position and chant in Sanskrit before taking stressful standardized tests.  But when she asked a public elementary school in Aspen, Colo., to teach yoga in 2002, Christian fundamentalists and even some secular parents lobbied the school board. They argued that yoga's Hindu roots conflicted with Christian teachings and that using it in school might violate the separation of church and state. Portrayed as a New Age nut out to brainwash young minds, Guber crafted a curriculum that eliminated chanting and translated Sanskrit into simple English. Yogic panting became "bunny breathing," and "meditation" became "time in."

"I stripped every piece of anything that anyone could vaguely construe as spiritual or religious out of the program," Guber said.  Now, more than 100 schools in 26 states have adopted Guber's "Yoga Ed." program and more than 300 physical education instructors have been trained in it. Countless other public and private schools from California to Massachusetts -- including the Aspen school where Guber clashed with parents -- are teaching yoga.

Teachers say it helps calm students with attention-deficit disorder and may reduce childhood obesity. The federal government gives grants to gym teachers who complete a teacher training course in yoga. "I see a lot fewer discipline problems," said Ruth Reynolds, an elementary school principal in San Rafael, Calif. Her observation of the school's six-year-old yoga program is that it helps easily distracted children to focus.  "If you have children with ADD and focusing issues, often it's easy to go from that into a behavior problem. Anything you can do to help children focus will improve their behavior." In 2003, researchers at California State University, Los Angeles, studied test scores at the Accelerated School, a charter school where Guber serves on the board and where students practice yoga almost daily. They found a correlation between yoga and better behavior and grades, and they said young yogis were more fit than the district average from the state's physical fitness test.

Guber, married to former Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Peter Guber, embraced yoga after moving to California in the 1970s. Their 13-acre Bel-Air estate includes a cliff-top garden leading to a Yoga House retreat. In 2004, Americans spent almost $3 billion on yoga classes and retreats, books, DVDs, mats, clothing and related items. About 3 million American adults practiced yoga at least twice a week in 2006, more than doubling from 1.3 million in 2001, according to Mediamark Research. Despite mainstream acceptance, yoga in public schools remains touchy. Critics say even stripped-down "yoga lite" goads young people into exploring other religions and mysticism. Dave Hunt, who has traveled to India to study yoga's roots and interview gurus, called the practice "a vital part of the largest missionary program in the world" for Hinduism. The Bend, Ore., author of "Yoga and the Body of Christ: What Position Should Christians Hold?" said that, like other religions, the practice has no place in public schools.

"It's pretty simple: Yoga is a religious practice in Hinduism. It's the way to reach enlightenment. To bring it to the West and bill it as a scientific practice for fitness is dishonest," said Hunt, 80. "I've talked to too many people who got hooked on the spiritual deception of yoga. They come to believe in this and become enamored with Hinduism or eastern mysticism," he said. Concerns about yoga's spiritual implications have also fueled a cottage industry of books and videos that offer the purported benefits of yoga -- flexibility, strength and weight loss -- without mentioning the y-word. Laurette Willis, 49, wrote an exercise regimen called "PowerMoves Kids Program for Public Schools." The stretching routine includes pauses for children to contemplate character-building quotes from Martin Luther King Jr., Emily Dickinson, Harriet Tubman and William Shakespeare. She also created an exercise regimen, "PraiseMoves: The Christian Alternative to Yoga."

"I'm not here to say that yoga is necessarily bad, but it is counter to what I think the public education system is for: It should have programs without any form of religious overtones whatsoever," Willis said. The dispute confuses some yogis, particularly Westerners who say yoga as it's practiced in the United States is primarily about fitness and stress relief. Baron Baptiste, who owns three studios in the Boston area and practices with his 7-year-old son, loves Guber's program. He said his son takes yoga far less seriously than he does. "We adults need to be reminded to lighten up, breathe in the joy and have some fun," he said.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: chamberpot; guru; hinduism; india; kettleblack; mantra; meditation; newage; pagan; paganism; po; publicschools; yoga
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To: Coleus

Whut in the name of lordy god frick is "foreign religion"?


61 posted on 01/31/2007 2:02:03 AM PST by saalebhosdike (Your mother was a macaca, and your father smelt of elderberries...)
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To: TigersEye

Many believe that Buddah and Jesus are incarnations of god, or Krishna. I am not trying to be heretical or offensive - just saying that there is commonality between the great religions of the world.


62 posted on 01/31/2007 3:40:54 AM PST by generalhammond
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To: B-Chan
...muddled suburban syncretics of the "I'm not religious, I'm spiritual" type -- the kind of well-meaning hippies that attempt to homebrew their own religion by mixing bits of Buddhism, Hinduism, Sufism, Kabbalic Judaism, and Christianity with a lot of high-fiber trail mix and a massive bong hit or two.

LOL
Great synopsis.
Great quote!

63 posted on 01/31/2007 4:24:04 AM PST by XR7
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To: generalhammond
I am not trying to be heretical or offensive - just saying that there is commonality between the great religions of the world.

A true heretic would entertain the notion that he is divine. That belief might not get one crucified anymore, but it isn't exactly a popular idea either.

64 posted on 01/31/2007 4:32:17 AM PST by ARridgerunner
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To: kinoxi

It would likely cut down on bullying quite a bit.


65 posted on 01/31/2007 4:38:08 AM PST by misterrob (Jack Bauer/Chuck Norris 2008)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

"Eastern mysticism tells you to empty the mind. Christianity tells you to fill it."

satan looks to enter the empty mind. Beware.


66 posted on 01/31/2007 5:11:32 AM PST by George from New England
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To: TigersEye; HiTech RedNeck
HiTech RedNeck: Eastern mysticism tells you to empty the mind.
TigersEye: Horse crap!

You're right. Eastern Mysticism tells you to fill your mind with horse crap.

Thank you for the correction.

67 posted on 01/31/2007 5:28:19 AM PST by P-Marlowe (What happened to my tagline?)
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To: TigersEye
Ego chatters endlessly on...

This line of yours couldn't ring any louder above here! Lol!

68 posted on 01/31/2007 5:59:02 AM PST by CarrotAndStick (The articles posted by me needn't necessarily reflect my opinion.)
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To: kinoxi
Teachers say it helps calm students with attention-deficit disorder

All it really does is teach them the discipline to sit quietly, which is a very valuable skill.

Of course, you can do exactly the same thing by making a kid sit quietly in church, once or twice a week. But that isn't as exotic as having a starry-eyed hippie do it.
69 posted on 01/31/2007 6:49:49 AM PST by horse_doc
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To: P-Marlowe; TigersEye; HiTech RedNeck
You know, just you don't have to feel so threatened. Eastern Mysticism simply tells you to calm / quiet the mind; so that you can hear God.

But, ofcourse none of that would make sense to you.

70 posted on 01/31/2007 6:50:00 AM PST by USMMA_83 (Tantra is my fetish ;))
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To: P-Marlowe
Eastern Mysticism tells you to fill your mind with horse crap.

Such as?

71 posted on 01/31/2007 7:55:42 AM PST by ARridgerunner
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To: Coleus

Yoga as a religion?

Geeze where to they find these people?!

You can teach Yoga without the alleged religious overtones.

being more bendy and flexible is not religious. It is just fun and useful.


72 posted on 01/31/2007 8:48:53 AM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: familyop

Oh, no. They'd get hurt. Can't have that you know. We'd rather raise a bunch of sissies and girlymen.


73 posted on 01/31/2007 9:51:42 AM PST by Marysecretary (GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL.)
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To: familyop
I agree with you. Kids are filled with yang energy and it needs an outlet. They don't really need to devote much time to practices designed to cultivate chi or prana.

Of course, the more external martial arts are okay inasmuch as they provide an outlet for youthful energy and also teach discipline, self control,l and respect.

74 posted on 01/31/2007 9:53:51 AM PST by isrul
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To: Coleus
"I'm not here to say that yoga is necessarily bad, but it is counter to what I think the public education system is for: It should have programs without any form of religious overtones whatsoever," Willis said.

And there is the rub. Is this even possible.

75 posted on 01/31/2007 10:12:32 AM PST by Zack Nguyen
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To: generalhammond

generalhammond writes:
"Many believe that Buddah and Jesus are incarnations of god, or Krishna. I am not trying to be heretical or offensive - just saying that there is commonality between the great religions of the world."

Nevadan responds:

Can you elaborate on what these commonalities are?


76 posted on 01/31/2007 12:22:12 PM PST by Nevadan
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To: isrul
If you've ever done yoga, you'd understand that it's one of the most difficult forms of exercise.
77 posted on 01/31/2007 12:58:38 PM PST by USMMA_83 (Tantra is my fetish ;))
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To: generalhammond
Many believe that Buddah and Jesus are incarnations of god, or Krishna.

Not many Buddhists believe that. Perhaps a few small spinoff sects of Theraveda Buddhism.

78 posted on 01/31/2007 1:36:12 PM PST by TigersEye (Ego chatters endlessly on. Mind speaks in great silence.)
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To: P-Marlowe
You're right. Eastern Mysticism tells you to fill your mind with horse crap. Thank you for the correction.

I guess you've had your fill!?! LOL

79 posted on 01/31/2007 1:38:17 PM PST by TigersEye (Ego chatters endlessly on. Mind speaks in great silence.)
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To: USMMA_83
You know, just you don't have to feel so threatened. Eastern Mysticism simply tells you to calm / quiet the mind; so that you can hear God. But, ofcourse none of that would make sense to you.

It is truly amazing how many people are absolutely terrified of sitting calmly and looking at their own mind without distraction. But it is by far the more common condition in human existence. The problem isn't that the mind is empty or devoid of content that scares them it is just the opposite. What is scary is that the mind is so vast that it contains everything and sitting quietly in meditation reveals that unlimited openness.

80 posted on 01/31/2007 1:58:58 PM PST by TigersEye (Ego chatters endlessly on. Mind speaks in great silence.)
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