Michelle Malkin doesn't take kindly to the introduction (at taxpayer's expense) of mandatory yoga for high school seniors:
According to the piece, “Less Homework, More Yoga, From a Principal Who Hates Stress,” the head of Needham High School in the Boston suburbs is pushing “stress reduction” through better stretching and breathing. Principal Paul Richards, who last earned nationwide mockery when he ditched publishing the honor roll, is part-Oprah, part-Deepak Chopra, part-Richard Simmons, and all edu-babble.
Malkin asks:
Why stop at yoga? Tantric chanting, here we come. And, hey, Kabbalah has done wonders for Madonna. Let’s add hypnotism and acupuncture classes while we’re at it. Hot stone massages? Bonsai tree-clipping? No Relaxation Technique Left Behind!
Who pays? Guess.
The Yoga Ed. program, created by Hollywood spouse/socialite Tara Guber, was funded with taxpayer grants from
the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the federal Carol M. White Physical Education Program.
Malkin complains:
. . . Instead of concentrating on the basics and then teaching children to manage and conquer their “stress” through internal discipline, we’re removing every last source of possible damage to their egos.
Math test scores have plummeted. Solution: Remove the U.S. from international competitions.
Students are failing. Solution: Hide the honor rolls so the under-achievers don’t feel bad.
Elementary pupils don’t like drills and spelling tests. Solution: Fuzzy math and inventive spelling.
Families can’t manage their time. Solution: Less homework, more yoga.
She began her piece this way:
The surgeon general really needs to slap a health warning on the New York Times. My blood pressure increases a few points every time I read it.
And concluded with an appropriate bookend:
The only ones who need stress reduction right now are parents fed up with this runaway idiocy. If you think educrats are going to recover their senses any time soon, well, you know, don’t hold your breath.
Click here for the entire article.
Me: There also remains the huge issue of the relationship of yoga to Hinduism. What about the separation of church and state in public schools? As Michelle Malkin says in her article above, there are all kinds of techniques for relaxing available. Why give the nod to yoga? Why not teach Christian meditation techniques? Fat chance.
Another issue is whether Christians should practice yoga at all. While some Christians have attempted to produce "Christian yoga," other Christians warn against practicing yoga at all. For an introductory discussion to the debate, click here.
Subhas R. Tiwari, professor at the Hindu University of America, has famously stated:
The effort to separate yoga from Hinduism must be challenged because it runs counter to the fundamental principles upon which yoga itself is premised, the yamas (restraints) and niyamas (observances). These ethical tenets and religious practices are the first two limbs of the eight-limbed ashtanga yoga system, which also includes asana (postures), pranayama (breath control), pratyahara (sense withdrawal), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and Samadhi (contemplation/self realization). Efforts to separate yoga from its spiritual center reveal ignorance ofthe goal of yoga."
The November-December issue of Sports Spectrum carries a dialog (p. 18; not available online) on Yoga in which one participant contends a person should stay away from yoga completely and another says he does yoga in his home, but would never go to a studio to yoga.
"I don't take yoga classes because, often, it is promoted as a sort of religious experience. The word yoga means 'union with God' or "to yoke" and practitioners often ascribe mystical experiences to it that, frankly, make me uncomfortable. Even the chant, 'Om," is a Hindu sound symbolizing the absolute. And while you may feel like chanting with a bunch of 19-year-old Sylvia Plath fans, and stressed-out middle managers may feel far from absolute, it is enough to scare me off of organized yoga."
I sympathy completely with his point.