From NPR...
[W]hen Mary Eady visited one of the yoga classes at her son's school last year, she saw much more than a fitness program. "They were being taught to thank the sun for their lives and the warmth that it brought, the life that it brought to the earth and they were told to do that right before they did their sun salutation exercises," she says. Those looked like religious teachings to her, so she opted to keep her son out of the classes.
The more Eady reads about the Jois Foundation and its founders' beliefs in the spiritual benefits of Ashtanga yoga, the more she's convinced that the poses and meditation can't be separated from their Hindu roots. "It's stated in the curriculum that it's meant to shape the way that they view the world, it's meant to shape the way that they make life decisions," Eady says. "It's meant to shape the way that they regulate their emotions and the way that they view themselves."
Critics of the yoga class launched an online petition that garnered about 260 signatures as of Friday, about 50 of them voluntarily identifying themselves as parents in the district. Another online petition, in support of the class, had more than 2,700 signatures, which are anonymous to those who don't sign.
Eady and the other parents working with Broyles want the classes made completely voluntary and moved to before or after the school day.
1 comment:
I watched the video and have given it a minute of thought. I am familiar with the feelings of the people who took their kids out of the class. As someone who knows many "evangelical" Christians,I assume that some of them would have done the same.
My "simple" explanation is that parents are very afraid that their kids are going to turn to other sources rather than to Jesus if they are introduced to various ways of seeking peace and serenity.
I'm not shaking my head like you are, but I am... well, I guess I am, because it "is" getting to be too much!
I LOVE the sun and nature. When I'm absorbed in it, I thank God for it. If my kids were still young and in such a class, I'd simply just tell them to thank God for those things (sun, etc.) as I do with all situations in which they are blessed. Then I'd tell them to have fun and show me the moves. :)
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