Bonus Sample: What Will Yoga Do to Our Children?

Conspirituality

Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, Julian Walker

Spirituality, Social Sciences, Religion & Spirituality, Science, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.2 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 7 June 2021

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

News from Alabama: after a 23-year ban on yoga in schools, generated by a Republican moral panic, Governor Kay Ivey signs a bill that lets kids do yoga again, but with some restrictions:“All instruction in yoga shall be limited exclusively to poses, exercises, and stretching techniques. All poses shall be limited exclusively to sitting, standing, reclining, twisting, and balancing. All poses, exercises, and stretching techniques shall have exclusively English descriptive names. Chanting, mantras, mudras, use of mandalas, induction of hypnotic states, guided imagery, and namaste greetings shall be expressly prohibited.”Those who promote yoga as a universal good will welcome this Indian art form being made more accessible for children in a State with terrible educational markers. Hindu nationalists, on the other hand, may be outraged at a secularized version of yoga, stripped not only of references to Hinduism, but of signs of any type of Indian spirituality. And a lot of white yoga progressives will look at this policy—mostly from the urban North— and worry about authenticity and appropriation.How will the children feel?In considering who wins and loses with this new development, Matthew reviews recent U.S. yoga-war history: battles between the Hindu American Foundation and Yoga Journal, the rise of Christian non-yoga-yoga “Praise Moves”, and Encinitas Union School District got sued for allegedly violating the Establishment Clause by contracting devotees of Pattabhi Jois to teach the kids yoga.It’s not a stretch to see an overlap between this theme and the medical-moral panic over vaccines. In both cases, the focus is on the imagined corruption of children, whether by poison, politics, or inner quiet.Show NotesAlabama lifts three-decade-old ban on yoga in public schools—with a catch.New study ranks Alabama as 43rd for student achievement, grade of D+12 Reasons Why Yoga is NOT Good for ChristiansHindu Group Stirs Debate in Fight for Soul of YogaHindu American Foundation: Hindu Roots of YogaShukla’s letter: Is Hindu a bad word? -- -- --Support us on PatreonPre-order Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat: America | Canada Follow us on Instagram | Twitter: Derek | Matthew | JulianOriginal music by EarthRise SoundSystem Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a Glassbox Media Podcast.
0:08.5	Hello, Matthew here from the Conspirituality Podcast team.
0:12.5	The following is a sample of the bonus episode we produce every week for our Patreon subscribers.
0:18.8	You can support our work and have full access to bonus episodes and other premium content
0:23.7	by subscribing for as little as $5 a month at patreon.com slash Conspirituality.
0:31.1	Thanks for listening and your support which keeps us ad-free and editorially independent.
0:54.2	What will yoga do to our children?
1:06.9	An interesting story came across the Transome last week. The headline and slate was
1:12.7	Alabama lifts three decade old ban on yoga in public schools with a catch.
1:20.3	So, after a 23 year ban on the teaching of yoga in the public schools of Alabama,
1:26.8	new legislation is opening the doors again and it's undoing according to the report quote,
1:34.4	a 1993 Alabama Board of Education move to prohibit the practice of yoga as well as meditation
1:42.0	in the state schools. A push that was fueled by what the Montgomery advertiser described as
1:49.2	a moral panic among the state's right wing conservative set.
1:55.2	Okay, so they're lifting this ban on yoga but they've imposed some conditions and
2:02.3	here's from the text of the bill. All instruction in yoga shall be limited exclusively
2:09.3	to poses exercises and stretching techniques. All poses shall be limited exclusively to sitting,
2:17.8	standing, reclining, twisting and balancing. All poses exercises and stretching techniques
2:24.6	shall have exclusively English descriptive names. Chanting, mantras, mudras, use of mandalas,
2:34.6	induction of hypnotic states, guided imagery and namaste greetings shall be expressly prohibited.
2:43.5	So, on one hand, this story is about a red state with some of the lowest educational achievement
2:51.3	ratings in the country loosening up, seeing the light, allowing kids to do some damn yoga,
	...

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