Yoga classes bending Calif. parents out of shape

A child poses during a yoga education for kids class at a yoga and health charity festival in Santa Monica, Calif., April 17, 2004. / Getty Images

ENCINITAS, Calif. A group of parents is bent out of shape by free yoga classes at schools in this San Diego County beachside community, fearing they are indoctrinating youngsters in eastern religion.

"There's a deep concern that the Encinitas Union School District is using taxpayer resources to promote Ashtanga yoga and Hinduism, a religion system of beliefs and practices," the parents' attorney, Dean Broyles, told the North County Times.

In an Oct. 12 email to district Superintendent Tim Baird, Broyles called the yoga program unconstitutional and said he may take unspecified legal action unless the classes stop.

The lessons are funded by a $533,000, three-year grant from the Jois Foundation, a nonprofit group that promotes Asthanga yoga. Some schools began classes last month and others will begin holding them in January.

The classes involve traditional eastern breathing techniques and poses. The district chooses teachers and sets the curriculum while the foundation trains the teachers.

The district has removed any religious content from the twice-weekly classes, Baird said.

"I think that they really would like to think that, but I don't think that, in actuality, it has been done," said Mary Eady, who removed her son from the classes. "There's really a lot of unease among a lot of parents."

The superintendent said only a few parents have pulled their children from the yoga classes and he did not expect district trustees to cancel the program.

"Our goal is that kids get a really healthy workout, that they get a chance to relax and reduce stress and yoga's perfect for that," Baird said.

"Yoga is a worldwide exercise regime utilized by people of many different faiths," he said. "Yoga is part of our mainstream culture."

Jois Foundation Director Eugene Ruffin denied the group is religious and said the board of directors includes people from various faiths.

"These therapies are headed toward trying to find solutions for some of the stress that these children find themselves in," he said. "We're trying to solve problems."

[yogalign]

There is a big blindspot in this controversy over whether or not yoga should be offered in our schools. Are Yoga poses safe? I have been treating injured yogis for years because many yoga poses require one to keep the knees straight while bending over which can lead to over-stretched ligaments in the sacral low back region. Also headstands, backbends, and plow pose put a lot of pressure on the spine. I have practiced yoga forty years and practiced as a license massage therapist for twenty -five years. I adapted the way I do yoga over 20 years ago and created something called YogAlign which supports joint function and stabilization and works with using core muscles to create good posture. Many yoga poses came from contortionists, military drills and gymnastics and they have not been bio-mechanically tested. Ashtanga yoga is one of the most intense forms of yoga and for that reason alone, people should be aware that the poses require one to do extreme flexion and hyperextension of the joints. Children already have loose ligaments and extreme stretching may not be best for them in the long and short term. Although I agree we need better breathing habits, stress relief etc. this can happen with walking, singing, dancing and doing simple core movements. go to www.yogainjuries.com to learn more.

[AOCGUY]

missybear says:Instead of funding Yoga classes how about clothes, school supplies, FOOD!!!?? Are you so blind that you can't see the suffering that is going on in this country or just refuse to recognize it.

It was a grant to fund yoga classes you moron.

[FormerUSMCSergeant]

A group of parents is bent out of shape by free yoga classes at schools in this San Diego County beachside community, fearing they are indoctrinating youngsters in eastern religion.
---
10 to 1 these parents are Christian fundamentalists who see no problem with turning our public schoold into dogma centers.....

[TitBits]

I being a Hindu did not have an issue attending a catholic convent school in Mumbai run by Irish Missionaries. Hindus embraced all religions and India is one place where many religions live in harmony. And by the way, for those of you ignorant, Hinduism is a holistic philosophy and has integrated many aspects Grammar, Language=Sanskrit, Marriage, sex=Kamasutra, medicine = Ayurveda, art of warfare (Kshatriyas), principles of healthy living that includes Yoga... So stop cribbing ...

[lloydbest1]

""There's a deep concern that the Encinitas Union School District is using taxpayer resources to promote Ashtanga yoga and Hinduism, a religion system of beliefs and practices," the parents' attorney, Dean Broyles [said]...."
I have to wonder if he or the parents he represents are as exercised over the "Bible Banners" controversy at Kountze High School in Hardin County, Texas or at Judge Steven Thomas' decision to allow their display even though the high school is a publicly (read "taxpayer") funded institution and the banners are an obvious attempt to indoctrinate the audience in western Christianity?
Granted the cheerleaders are mostly preaching to the choir but still.....

[lgbpop]

Better yoga than the cult of Islam.

[VA_Jill]

I am sick to death of fundamentalists trying to dictate what our children are taught. If you don't like it, take the kids out of the class! Or better yet, send them to one of your bible-thumping "academies" where they can be taught that the world is 6000 years old and Jesus rode a dinosaur. Leave the rest of the kids alone.

Yoga may have roots in India, but it's not "teaching Eastern faiths". I've been doing yoga for years and it is very beneficial both for slowing yourself down and reducing stress, and for stretching. it's the only therapy that helped after I suffered a high hamstring tear. I am living proof that it will not make you a Hindu or anything else you aren't.

[fittinguy]

People always fear what they do not understand. Clearly these parents need to be educated right along side their children.

[amba2011]

I am one of the conservative freaks of which you speak. I believe the concern with yoga is that it has its roots in Eastern Religion and that it "can" focus on looking within yourself for peace, enlightenment and the purpose of life and such. We should not be looking inside ourselves for these things because there is no good within us, we are all sinful beings; we should be looking to God for peace. That being said I also think that yoga can be practiced purely as exercise and/or stress relief. I believe there is no wrong in this. If parents do not want their children practicing yoga they have the right to excuse their children from it.The problem I see here is the lawyers...this is just another way for them to ring money out of people

[wolfmagic2012]

You and other religions like yours which proclaim theirs is the only way to salvation or whatever is what is causing a great deal of the evil on this planet. I pity your ignorance.

[enlightenu]

Miss, I like your comment because in a nutshell it really defines the level of silliness intrinsic in christianity.

[missybear]

We have kids in our town who don't have enough to eat and some are living in tents in local parks. A few groups (churches) are sponsoring these kids by sending food home with them on Fridays just to get them through the weekend. Maybe they wouldn't feel the stress of hunger if we initiated Yoga classes for them instead.
This country has it's priorities so screwed up.
Instead of funding Yoga classes how about clothes, school supplies, FOOD!!!?? Are you so blind that you can't see the suffering that is going on in this country or just refuse to recognize it.

[displeased2]

It's not the school's duty to be a charity and feed the homeless. The school is adding another exercise regime to it's physical education program, exposing students to other sources of activity. Education is their priority. Feeding the homeless can be yours, if you choose so.

[lloydbest1]

"Instead of funding Yoga classes how about clothes, school supplies, FOOD!!!??"
Before the GOP fell under the spell of extreme right wing hucksterism, we had a well run federally funded school lunch program that provided impoverished kids with at least one reasonably nutritious meal per day. That all went away with the Reagan onslaught. But your point is well taken.
We need to be mindful that the energy taken in (food) is of as high a quality as the energy put out (Yoga, exercise).