What kids yoga is and what it's not -- kids yoga and Alabama

Since 1993, kids yoga has been banned from Alabama public schools. You read that right (or maybe it doesn’t surprise you all that much?). There was recently a a bill in the state’s legislature to overturn the ban, making it once again legal to offer kids yoga in Alabama public schools. Republicans in the legislature prevented that bill’s passage, over concern of yoga’s religious roots. Even as a certified kids/youth yoga and mindfulness teacher, I only recently learned all of this -- and it somehow simultaneously shocked and didn’t surprise me.

In the spirit of full transparency, I’ll lay my own cards out on the table; politically and socially speaking, I’m a staunch Progressive Democrat. I could very much write about this issue from a political, and yes partisan, angle. But that’s not what this piece is; I want to come at it from a purely professional and fact-based perspective. I want to be clear about what kids yoga and mindfulness is and what it isn’t, and the implications of that on individuals and communities.

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What kids yoga and mindfulness looks like, feels like, and does in the lives of children

Kids yoga and mindfulness includes poses, movement, simple breathing techniques, songs, games, and simple exercises to instill calm and focus. Much of it calls upon things with which kids are already familiar and are interested in -- such as animals and other elements of the natural world, nursery rhymes, and games like “Simon Says” and “Memory.”

Why? Those are the best vehicles for imparting to children and youth yoga’s values of truthfulness, discernment, thoughtfulness, healthy discipline, social/emotional awareness and kindness (towards oneself and others). I believe that most rational people would agree that those are positive, and even essential, values and skills -- those best learned early in life.

Above and beyond other extracurricular activities that kids/youth can engage in and similarly benefit (I say as someone who was actively engaged in various sports and art forms as a child, tween, and teen), yoga has the advantage of imparting these values in an atmosphere without an unhealthy level of competitiveness. It can also guide young people to integrate all parts of themselves -- mind, body, spirit -- at a young and tender age. That can lead to incredible personal growth and strength of character that can stay with them for a lifetime. That’s the real-life, evidence-based outcome of yoga and mindfulness for kids and youth.

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The religion question

Okay, but is it religiously-based? Could it impact young people’s religious beliefs? I’ll address that as a concern, if it might be one, at face-value. I’ve personally observed many kids yoga classes, and taught yoga for toddlers through those in the teen years -- and never was there anything overtly religious in any of them. Calling upon classical yoga tools and concepts, those connected with religion, would not serve the goal at hand -- again, imparting yoga’s aforementioned values. One simply cannot hold a seven year-old’s attention when talking about esoteric concepts like impermanence or leading complex chanting.

Yet political and social conservatives in Alabama seem to believe that kids yoga could lead young students to convert to Hinduism. Again, considering the secular nature of kids yoga and mindfulness as I know it, at that belief I just scratch my head and wonder how in the world that could even ever happen.

If anything, any exposure to other cultural perspectives and beliefs could build multicultural values -- of curiosity, openness to different ways of seeing the world, of respect for groups of people all over the world. I for one think that those are very good things, and again the earlier in life cultivated the better.

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Yes, those advocating against yoga and mindfulness in public schools have a kernel of truth in their argument -- yoga does have roots in Hindu beliefs, philosophy, and traditions. Yet more accurately and comprehensively, yoga -- in its classical sense -- evolved in the spiritual and religious atmosphere of South Asia in late BCE and early CE (up until the Middle Ages).

That atmosphere included influences from Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and the teachings of various spiritual leaders. Scholars and practitioners such as Patanjali formulated and curated varied perspectives and practices of this heterogeneous spiritual atmosphere towards the goal of detaching from from the noise, trappings, of the outdoor world in order to better understand one's own true essence -- and through that reach a state of bliss. That became classical yoga.

Can it be secular?

Some critics of kids yoga argue that one cannot separate yoga from such esoteric concepts, those that are tied to religion. Ergo, it’s an inherently religious practice. Yet what yoga in twenty-first century Western culture actually is proves that to be false; go to a typical Vinyasa flow class at a gym or at a Core Power Yoga (albeit online these days, due to COVID), and I would bet that you won’t hear the names of Hindu gods or goddesses or any other religious teachings.

Saying that yoga can’t be separated from religion is like saying that it can’t snow in the winter. It does. All the time. Concerning kids yoga, kids yoga and mindfulness based in Christianity exists. Yes, that’s a possible and very real thing in the world -- and if it expands access to the practice, I think it’s great! Yoga can be associated with religion -- any religion -- but it doesn’t have to be.

Some yoga instructors or devoted practitioners could legitimately ask if such hyper-secular yoga is still yoga. They have a reasonable argument, and the Westernization of yoga is problematic in many ways (that’s an even longer essay for another day). Yet personally, my main concern is impact. Yoga has changed, and even saved, many lives -- including my own. That’s not something to brush aside.

If we look to its essence, the word yoga itself means “to yoke” -- to connect all parts of ourselves. When all parts of ourselves are in harmony, we can walk through the world with more harmony, grace, and joy, and walk closer to our potentials. We can get closer to our dreams and make a unique positive difference in the world.

Religion or not, those are incomparable and indispensable benefits. When we prevent children and youth from experiencing those outcomes, we are taking a lot from them -- and they are our future. Let’s lead them with love instead of fear, and then watch them blossom into the amazing humans they’re meant to be.

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