A US court has rejected a petition by several parents in a Southern California school district demanding an end to yoga teaching in the area schools on the grounds that it was really an indoctrination programme that sought to promote Hindu religious beliefs. Dismissing the petition, San Diego Superior Court Judge John Meyer ruled that the yoga programme of Encinitas Union School District does not endorse any religion.
The ruling implies that the area schools can continue to teach yoga as part of a health-and-exercise curriculum, but the attorney for parents who filed the petition said the decision might be appealed. The superintendent of the school district welcomed the ruling, commenting yoga is “21st century P.E. (physical education)” and one that has yielded “amazing” health benefits.
In what is believed to be the first school district in the US to have full-time yoga teachers in all its schools, the programme is being funded by the KP Jois Foundation, a non-profit group which has provided a grant of $533,720 for three years to promote Asthanga yoga in the area schools.
“It’s almost like a trial by Wikipedia, which isn’t what this court does,” said Meyer, while pronouncing his order. While yoga may be a religious practice, it was no so in the manner in which it was being taught in the nine campus of Encinitas, he said, noting the school district has stripped classes of all cultural references, including the Sanskrit language. The lotus position, for instance, had been renamed the “crisscross applesauce” pose.
The yoga classes, of 30 minutes’ duration twice a week, are offered to some 5,600 students. It consists of stretching and breathing exercises to help students remain active while learning basic relaxation techniques.
About 30 families said their children would not participate in the yoga classes, which were introduced in 2011 at one campus and later expanded to others.