MONTGOMERY – The Alabama House of Representatives passed on Thursday a bill to legalize yoga as a physical education offering at K-12 schools in Alabama.

Sponsored by Rep. Jeremy Gray (D-Opelika), HB 246 passed the House on a vote of 73-25.

Alabama is currently the only state in America that has any kind of ban on yoga, a result of a temporary fervor in the 1990s around the exercise regimen’s connections to foreign cultures.

“I think Alabama will be better for it,” Gray said of the bill’s passage.

A nearly identical bill passed the House in the spring of 2020. The coronavirus pandemic cut the legislative session short before the bill could be taken up by the Senate.

Gray’s bill forbids the inclusion of any chanting, use of mandalas and namaste greetings in yoga classes. Gray said he had purposefully stripped any religious aspect from what would be allowed so the focus would be on the benefits of yoga as exercise.

Observers have noted that many Christian churches offer yoga classes to their parishioners.

In comments to reporters, Gray noted that studies have shown practicing yoga confers significant health benefits. A former college athlete, Gray said he has enjoyed taking part in yoga for the last seven years.

“A lot of young people deal with their temperament, anger; yoga helps with that,” he said in response to a question about how yoga might benefit kids in school.

Gray said many schools have accidentally offered yoga in recent years because they did not know it was banned by state law.

“What shocked me most is that it was only banned in Alabama,” Gray noted.

The yoga bill now heads to the Alabama Senate for consideration.

Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95.