Alabama Will Now Allow Yoga In Its Public Schools (But Students Can't Say 'Namaste')

[underpants]

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/21/999020140/its-now-legal-to-practice-yoga-in-alabamas-public-schools

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has signed a bill to allow public schools to offer yoga, ending a ban that stood for nearly 30 years. Christian conservatives who back the ban said yoga would open the door for people to be converted to Hinduism.

The new law allows yoga to be offered as an elective for grades K-12. While it erases a ban that, over the years, some schools had not realized existed, it also imposes restrictions on how yoga should be taught. Students won't be allowed to say, "Namaste," for instance. Meditation is not allowed.

"Chanting, mantras, mudras, use of mandalas, induction of hypnotic states, guided imagery, and namaste greetings shall be expressly prohibited," the bill states. It also requires English names be used for all poses and exercises. And before any students try a tree pose, they'll need a parent's permission slip.

According to veteran statehouse reporter Brian Lyman of the Montgomery Advertiser, the yoga ban's demise represents the end of "one of the stupidest moral panics in Alabama history, which is really saying a lot."

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Well, describing just how it should be practiced is way up there, too.

[underpants]

4. Wait a minute there Rusty, you got a permission slip from ya folks?

Wow.

[Chautauquas]

2. If I didn't know better

I might just come to the conclusion that people in the US are a bunch of insane assholes.

[underpants]

3. 🙏

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

5. After class: "Thanks for the Yogurt, y'all, No Mo' Steak."

What would be the "English" names for poses like "Tree" and "Downward Facing Dog"?

[underpants]

7. This is Al Abama!

Even if they already have English word names you come up with something more English wordy there mister!!! 😡

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

13. Ok, then, "Down'rd facin' dawg".

[underpants]

15. That's better.

Roll Tide.

[Iggo]

9. After class: "You leaving now?" "Nah, I'ma stay."

[SheltieLover]

6. They afraid rednecks will go all peaceful?

Can't have that, since qgop is rooted in hatred. Sickening.

[underpants]

8. That could be a real....

Hold it, what the f was I so pissed about? Moment

[Iggo]

10. Bet they can say "Amen" all day though, huh.

Religion is stupid.

[underpants]

11. Oh THAT religious freedom

Sure. That’s the right kind.

[Aristus]

12. No 'Namaste', or......kids go to jail?

Yeah, I don't think they gave it that much thought.

Can't say a certain word, but you can own all the guns you want.

Ladies and gentleman: red-state America......

[underpants]

14. Take a guess. Take a wild guess.

The pro-yoga legislation was opposed by conservative groups, including former state Chief Justice Roy Moore's Foundation for Moral Law, and the Alabama chapter of the Eagle Forum, a conservative group that was founded by activist Phyllis Schlafly in 1972.

"Yoga is a practice of Hindu religion," the Eagle Forum of Alabama said in an email that urged maintaining the ban. It added, "Religious practice in the school's constitutes a violation of the establishment clause of the 1st Amendment as public schools cannot promote the practice or ideology of religion."

The group also alleges that each yoga pose was designed not as an exercise but to "be an offering of worship" to Hindu gods.

[Vinca]

16. Guess the governor has never heard of freedom on speech.

[Tree Lady]

17. Do they even know what it means?

It means I bow to the divine in you, I heard it means The god in me bows to the god in you.

I see that as a gift we give to each other of seeing the good in each other.

[underpants]

20. Here's what I found

The genesis of the Alabama name is believed to have come from a fusion of two Choctaw words, Alba and Amo. Alba means "vegetation," while Amo refers to "gatherer." The name "vegetation gatherers" would fit the Alabama Indians who cleared the land for farming.

[sanatanadharma]

26. Namaste is a greeting of absolute equality

Can't have any of that all-people-are-equal thinking-behavior.

[Progressive Jones]

18. Praise Jeebus !!! nt

[bahboo]

19. well, back in the day....

I along with friends, would have worn namaste t-shirts to class and have it play out.

[Mad_Machine76]

21. If you ever want confirmation about what right-wingers REALLY mean by demanding "religious freedom"

This is it here. For THEM, NOT everybody else.

[Towlie]

22. The word sounds like when you're asked if you're going to leave and you answer "Nah m' stay."

 
←

The school kids could have a ball with that.

Click the speaker icon here to listen to the pronunciation.

[EYESORE 9001]

23. Years ago, I came across a religious tract

insisting that kundalini yoga was absolutely satanic.

[underpants]

24. 😆 Google's people also ask

[Ka-Dinh Oy]

25. When they say that all poses must have English names

are they talking about proper English or that backwood slang?

[underpants]

27. Got a list for ya here 😆

https://mpora.com/yoga-and-pilates/15-brutally-honest-names-for-yoga-poses/

[Ka-Dinh Oy]

28. OMG!!! That's so funny.

The "Dogs got worms again" was my favorite.

[underpants]

29. I know. I was laughing out loud.

Day Drinker. Thank F that’s over.

I was looking for something else and just found that.

[mopinko]

30. there's a charter school in chi called namaste.

if i had a kid that age, i would send them there.