'Yoga lite' stretches into public schools - CNN.com

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http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/01/29/yoga.in.schools.ap/index.html

'Yoga lite' stretches into public schools - CNN.com

January 29, 2007

 

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- 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, Colorado, 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 new curriculum that eliminated

chanting and translated Sanskrit into kid-friendly

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, principal of Coleman Elementary School in

San Rafael, California. 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, " Reynolds said. " 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 sits on the board

and where students practice yoga almost every day.

Researchers found a correlation between yoga and

better behavior and grades, and they said young yogis

were more fit than the district average from the

California 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 clifftop 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, Oregon, 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. Willis, who lives near Tahlequah,

Oklahoma, also created an exercise regimen called

" 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 that 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.