Yoga classes will return to Alabama public schools after a nearly 30-year hiatus but the traditional «namaste» greeting as well as chanting remain forbidden.
Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed legislation this week that reversed a longtime ban on yoga instruction in classrooms amid claims that the practice would introduce Hinduism into public schools. The bill, introduced earlier this year by Democratic Rep. Jeremy Gray, allows K-12 students enrolled in public school to take yoga instruction as an elective. Whether the class is offered would be left up to local boards of education. The legislation, according to the Alabama legislative website, states that «All instruction in yoga shall be limited exclusively to poses, exercises, and stretching techniques.
