What Alabama’s Yoga Controversy Gets Wrong (And Right)
Alabama state representative Jeremy Gray recently introduced a bill that would overturn the 28-year ban on yoga in the state’s public schools. The current prohibition on yoga instruction in public schools defines yoga as a “method of religious training” out of step with the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, which prohibits the government from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.” Gray’s bill would allow yoga instruction in schools, but as a nod to the First Amendment, that instruction would focus on the strength- and flexibility-building aspects of yoga practice, as well as mindfulness and meditation, all of which Gray contends could be tremendously beneficial to students. Any mention of yoga’s roots in Hinduism or the Sanskrit names of the poses would be left out.
Gray’s conservative colleagues have argued that this concession doesn’t go far enough. Even without any mention of Hinduism or Sanskrit language, they make the case that the inclusion of mindfulness and meditation in public school yoga classes would count as religious practice. On the other hand, it’s not hard to surmise that the bill’s wording, even without removing mindfulness and meditation as conservatives would prefer, amounts to a whitewashing of yoga’s origins. Refusal to acknowledge yoga as part of Hinduism- of which most…