Banning Yoga in School (audio)

Kyla Calvert, Morning Edition (NPR.org); Wisdom Quarterly

Yoga mudras or hand gestures (mysticalbellydance.net)

 

Chakra (Subtle Energy Center) System (Amy Fox)

During first period at Olivenhain Pioneer Elementary School in Encinitas, California, Kristen McCloskey leads about two dozen third-graders through some familiar yoga poses.

  

"All right, so let's do our opening Sequence A," she says, instructing the kids. "Everyone take a big inhale, lift those arms up. Look up."

 

At the end of the half-hour class, 8-year-old Jacob Hagen says he feels energized and ready for the rest of the day. "Because you get to stretch out, and it's good to be the first class because it wakes you up," he says.

 

Kids in Downward Dog (Kyla Calvert/NPR)

Schools across the country are focusing more on teaching students to make healthy choices; Encinitas Superintendent Tim Baird says yoga is just one element of the district's physical education curriculum.

 

"We also have a nutrition program," he says. "We also have a life-skills program where kids learn about perseverance and responsibility." LISTEN

• Blogging Buddhist Ethics (American Buddhist Perspective)
• The Path of Purification or Visuddhimagga (Buddhaghosa)