In response to yoga being banned from school activities in Alabama because it was deemed “inappropriate,” the president of the Universal Society of Hinduism is calling on the state to end its almost 25-year ban on yoga in public schools.
Rajan Zed, Hindu statesman and Indian American from Nevada, insists that the ban on yoga is “doing a disservice” to the students of Alabama.
“Yoga, although introduced and nourished by Hinduism, was a world heritage and liberation powerhouse to be utilized by all,” said Zed.
Zed also noted that it was “highly insensitive” to list yoga at the top of the list for inappropriate activities.
In 2006, then-State Superintendent Joe Morton warned that teaching yoga could be a violation of Alabama Code.
The 2006 letter said that yoga should “not to be offered during regular school hours or after school hours to public school students on a public school campus in Alabama.”
The 1993 ban prohibits instructors from using “any techniques that involve the induction of hypnotic states, guided imagery, meditation or yoga.”Current State School Superintendent Eric Mackey has said that the document is outdated and that it would not be enforced as long as he held office.
This is not the first time Rajan Zed has spoken out against Alabama’s prohibition against yoga in public schools. In 2016, Zed and other Hindus praised Cullman City Schools after they introduced yoga to their students.
@RealKyleMorris is a Yellowhammer News contributor and also contributes weekly to The Daily Caller
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