Alabama House votes to end yoga ban, but don’t say ‘namaste’
A group of boys stretch with their mothers by following a yoga instructor's moves before taking part in the first CSULB Runs with Vets 5K on the campus in Long Beach, California, on Nov. 9, 2014. (Scott Varley/Digital First Media/Torrance Daily Breeze via Getty Images)
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A decades-old ban on yoga in Alabama public schools could be coming to an end.
The Alabama House of Representatives on Thursday voted 73-25 to approve a bill that would authorize school systems to decide if they want yoga to be allowed in K-12 schools.
The bill by Democratic Rep. Jeremy Gray specifies that the use of chanting, mantras and teaching the greeting “namaste” would be forbidden.
The Alabama Board of Education voted in 1993 to prohibit yoga, hypnosis and meditation in public school classrooms. The ban was pushed by conservative groups.
The bill now moves to the Alabama Senate.