A 2007 report from an elementary school in Aspen, Colorado has a pretty bad controversy regarding religion and exercise. The type of exercise here is Yoga.
In 2004, $3B were spent on Yoga classes in the United States, and by 2006, more than 3 million adults were involved in Yoga. But the problem here is that Yoga has a religious roots, Hindu.
This one school in Aspen included Yoga as part of the curriculum; "Yoga Ed." That has since followed on to various schools, public or private. One of the conflicts dictate that since Christianity shouldn't be part of the regular school curriculum, should Yoga be also disallowed since it is technically a religious practice in Hinduism?
The Yoga Ed program has helped kids focus better in school, seemed to improve behavioural skills, and as a result it has helped grades. Not only that, but young yogis averaged better fitness than non yogis.
So what do you think? Which one are you? Should public education only have programs without any form of religious overtones whatsoever, or should we stick with the trend that Westerners only mostly see Yoga as primarily about fitness and stress relief?
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16859368/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/t/yoga-causes-controversy-public-schools/
