Parents Sue School For Making Children ‘Religious Guinea Pigs’ — By Teaching Them Yoga

Originally posted by YouSir
reply to post by Kali74

 

Ummm...You really need to get out more.....Yoga...IS...a spiritual practice...NOT...a stretching exercise. Yoga can bring about psychological and physical reactions that unless a master is present and the student guided throughout the process, can be very detrimental to the uninitiated. There are very powerful energies at play here, not to mention gaining access to and interference with the autonomic nervous system....(heart rate, breathing, endocrine production etc). You can unintentionally access and unsynchronize these delicate systems.

Here are some...VERY... good books on this And I would be very wary of practicing anything in them without a Yogi...This is extremely serious stuff......

1. Light on Yoga.....B.K.S. Iyengar
2. The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga.....Swami Vishnudevananda
3. Kripalu Yoga (Meditation in motion) Books 1 and 2.....Yogi Amrit Desai
And the very serious
4. The Serpent Power...Sir John Woodroffe.

Yoga is not a thing to be taken lightly, westernized versions of this tradition have relegated it to mere stretching exercises when it is anything but that.

I cant stress enough how powerful these form meditations are...I would certainly not choose to casually allow children to participate in something as profound as yoga....

Before you comment back to me about this.....please research and educate yourself...

With great reward comes great risk...

YouSir

Oh brother. Let me tell you - I took yoga at my gym, and one day while I was doing the downward dog position, I was really wishing I hadn't had that bean and cheese breakfast burrito that morning, while my butt was up in the air. Let me just say it wasn't my Kundalini I was worried about.

I did yoga class at my gym for over a year - no yogi. Nothing profound happened, except I got a little more limber and a little more toned.

Remember, if you ever bend over to pick something up, you've done yoga. How profound is that?

reply to post by ToneDeaf


Actually the research supports his views as well. Authoritative parenting has been shown to produce the most well balanced children. This style is characterized by giving children more control over their actions and choices while still having set boundaries. In the end it helps produce children who are more self-reliant and mature. On the flip side of this an old professor of mine just published a paper that's gaining some attention that shows children of helicopter parents are more likely to suffer from depression. Children with authoritarian parents also tend to have lower social competence as they are used to have their parents making all of their decisions for them.

Originally posted by Kali74
reply to post by YouSir

 

That is what you believe, why do I need to research your beliefs? If I wanted to engage in the spiritual aspect of Yoga I wouldn't attend yoga classes at my local gym, I would go to a guru. If I want to simply do an exercise medically proven to be great for your lungs and muscles I will go to my gym.

Ummm.......THAT is what I...KNOW...How you can have the psuedonym...Kali...and...NOT...know anything about even the slightest tradition of your chosen name is beyond me...

You just stated how much you...embrace ignorance...and not...deny...it.

I provided you with some valuable information and you chose to respond with this ignorant diatribe about "belief" Like I stated....you really need to get out more.

I also stated that you can...unintentionally...access and unbalance your autonomic nervous system with your..."stretching"..."breathing"...if you wish to proceed then by all means have at it...

May you live in the bliss of your self imposed ignorance which in every definition I've ever heard is simply...stupidity...

You sow what you reap...

YouSir

reply to post by YouSir


So, if I eat wine and crackers while watching "The Walking Dead" on Sunday night, am I participating in a meaningful Catholic Communion ritual? Or am I just snacking while watching a zombie TV show?

reply to post by kaylaluv
Ummm...Kayla, Luv...by all means proceed with your bad self....I wouldn't want to stand in the way of your journey. You've obviously got all the knowledge and tools you need to make proclamations about what you've never bothered to comprehend....Gotta luv that...

It's especially entertaining to read for all the world to see that you preference a...mind wide shut...perspective on response before thought....You go on with your bad self though, your obviously some sort of authority on yoga...

mind if I...NOT...call you Yogini?

YouSir

How have we gone so backward culturally in this nation? Over 40 years ago I had an aunt, a very devout Roman Catholic, who taught yoga in Florida to her elderly retired peers, of any religious persuasion. They didn't quit attending their Church or Temple By The Sea. And they didn't poo on the side of the road or become bisexual, as one poster predicted!

And, yes, I guess if some people witnessed the stretching exercises my son had to do to practice for track, they would swear the coach was Satan and call in an exorcist, that or he was a secret Chinese Communist state circus contortionist coach.

Of course, 50 years ago I heard the elderly Irish priest proclaim from the pulpit that "the Jews killed Christ!" Glad to find out from a previous poster that it was teachers who indoctrinated others to kill Christ.

Originally posted by kaylaluv
reply to post by YouSir

 

So, if I eat wine and crackers while watching "The Walking Dead" on Sunday night, am I participating in a meaningful Catholic Communion ritual? Or am I just snacking while watching a zombie TV show?

Ummm....No, although it's obviously an attempt for you to explore communion with the flesh eating zombies...perhaps there's a Freudian connection there that you might wish to explore further...Perhaps an underlying compulsion rooted in a cannibalistic sub personality that only finds expression when you actually perform these rituals.....Who coulda known?

I do think that recognition of these unexplored traits is certainly the first step to some sort of...resolution.
I leave it up to you to determine what exactly gets resolved...

YouSir

reply to post by YouSir


What I KNOW is that spiritual and religious concepts often form as a means of explaining something you don't have the tools to actually look at. Stretching your muscles releases endorphins, proper breathing regulates your heart and blood flow... it feels good, so good that it makes you feel peaceful and calm maybe even contemplative, I can see why a philosophy, or religion would incorporate such a thing.

As for the spirituality of Hinduism, I like it but it only has as much power as I allow it. To say I know nothing of it because I won't engage your nonsense is the true ignorance here. I like Kali, I don't worship her nor do I fear her. She is a very powerful Goddess yet my affinity for her, my daily invoking of her name (by posting) do nothing... there's no darkness around me, no death or destruction.

Originally posted by YouSir

Originally posted by kaylaluv
reply to post by YouSir

 

So, if I eat wine and crackers while watching "The Walking Dead" on Sunday night, am I participating in a meaningful Catholic Communion ritual? Or am I just snacking while watching a zombie TV show?

Ummm....No, although it's obviously an attempt for you to explore communion with the flesh eating zombies...perhaps there's a Freudian connection there that you might wish to explore further...Perhaps an underlying compulsion rooted in a cannibalistic sub personality that only finds expression when you actually perform these rituals.....Who coulda known?

Ummmm... nah, I'm just snackin' But, sometimes I sit cross-legged on the floor while having my wine and crackers. So I guess I'm performing yoga AND communion. Talk about confusing the Gods!

Originally posted by Kali74
reply to post by YouSir

 

What I KNOW is that spiritual and religious concepts often form as a means of explaining something you don't have the tools to actually look at. Stretching your muscles releases endorphins, proper breathing regulates your heart and blood flow... it feels good, so good that it makes you feel peaceful and calm maybe even contemplative, I can see why a philosophy, or religion would incorporate such a thing.

As for the spirituality of Hinduism, I like it but it only has as much power as I allow it. To say I know nothing of it because I won't engage your nonsense is the true ignorance here. I like Kali, I don't worship her nor do I fear her. She is a very powerful Goddess yet my affinity for her, my daily invoking of her name (by posting) do nothing... there's no darkness around me, no death or destruction.

Ummm.....Sooooo...If I balance this post of your's with your previous statements in your own thread....You believe both A and B.

A. Yoga is only a set of stretching and breathing exercises designed to tone the bod...
B. Yoga is both a spiritual and religious pursuit with powerful consequenses...even Goddess...like

Oh wait...there's a C and D there as well...

C. You believe that Kali...your..."Goddess of Death" is in fact just that, yet somehow you remain inviolate of any of her talents...
D. You live in some other world...seperated from the rest of us where Wars and rumours of wars and "collateral damage from drone strike" and antibiotic resistent bacteria and polluted oceans/land and rampant commercialism and greed and starvation and zero active solutions and on and on and on. Yet...somehow you remain inviolate.....seperated from all that darkness and death and destruction...

It must be nice to be so insulated...so compartmentalized...yet somehow I find that you disqualify your original post with the one above.................ahhh...cake and eat it...I get it now.

YouSir

Originally posted by luciddream
reply to post by CaptainOblivious

 

Did you know the number "0" Zero, is an Indian practice?

Please stop using the # 0 and invoking Indian Mathematical demon.

Your logic is absurd.
The number "zero" is just that...a number. You only change the meaning of it if you are using it to invoke a spirit...the number "zero" alone invokes nothing.

Furthermore, I agree that stretching is good, but if so, why not just friggin stretch without calling it Yoga!?

By calling it Yoga...it immediately becomes religious in nature, period. One cannot be a Christian and meditate using another religions "stretching exercises" which are used to reach a higher religious level of spirituality.

Boiled down to its most basic principles...Yoga began to allow humans to achieve spiritual closeness to a Hindu God. Ive read the ten commandments and I think two of them would be broken if a devout Christian practiced Yoga.

Could anyone here show any reliable proof that Yoga is best for stretching?? Is it better than bending down and touching your toes? Better than sitting Indian style and stretching forward? Why do kids even need to stretch in school? Are they going to get Rhumetoid Arthritis if they dont or something??

Pfft...on one hand you whine that the "bible thumpers" push their beliefs onto everyone and out the other side you do the exa t same thing. How smarmy of you all to be all knowing and tell people of other beliefs that they are being stupid for following their religion as taught.

Fact is...you can believe whatever you want in this country. Some may not agree, but no matter what religion you follow I believe judging others is frowned upon. However, the religion of "you are stupid" is gaining traction here at ATS and you should be ashamed of yourselves...in my opinion.

reply to post by CaptainOblivious


It sounds like your are just pissed off because Yoga has a connection to non christian religion. Its called Yoga because the form is different from normal exercise(who knows what background that came from eh?). There are Scientific studies looking to the better physical development thru Yoga.

There are many various aspect of Yoga, Spiritual, Mental, Sexual and many more less famous ones... most people do the Physical and some do the Mental

If we can not name anything, we should call Karate, "kick punch kick punch", Muy Thai, "Tigger Uppercut"...

I think you might be part of "they are going to convert us to non christian religion thru Yoga" crew. Well good luck living in a non christian earth in the near future.... *bubble broken*

reply to post by YouSir


No, I live in reality where humans are responsible for death and destruction, where Kali can be just a name and yoga is an exercise that people can choose to be religious/spiritual or not.

Originally posted by iwilliam
Your assessment is incorrect, because yoga is a part of Indian spiritual practice.

However, on that note:

1- Some martial arts could be considered just as much a part of Asian spiritual practice as yoga is, to Indian spiritual practice. But I doubt some of these same parents would freak out about kung fu classes....

2- The practice of "hatha" yoga (the type they are most likely practicing) is an element of Indian spiritual practice because of the indian / asian belief that the body and mind connect to the spirit through spiritual life energies flowing through the body called "prana" (india) or "chi" (asia.) If you don't believe in these bodily energies, I don't see why this should be anything blasphemous, or sinful. These practices are done because it is thought that bodily health is important to spiritual health-- simple as that. So really, anything that increases physical health would help with prana / chi.

3- We're talking about stretching and breathing here. Not prayers to some hindu god. How very ridiculous....

4- I hope this means this school will also be cancelling any pledge of allegiance, as this mentions "god" which might infringe on someone else' religion or lack of one.....

5- Did I mention how stupid this is?

edit on 23-2-2013 by iwilliam because: (no reason given)

Exactly. And how is it violating anyone's religious freedom if it's an optional class? Man, those zealots are pissing me off.

reply to post by iwilliam


This.

I'm an actual real-life yoga teacher, and I've taught yoga to small school kids in Chicago. I can attest that there is nothing religious about your basic yoga practice. Even if one were to go all in for the full, 8 limbs of yoga (as set forth over two-thousand years ago in Patanjali's "Yoga Sutras") there is still nothing religious about it.

The *full* yoga (breathing, moral codes, posture practice, meditation) are a cultural behavioral code (have compassion, don't steal, that sort of stuff) all geared so that one's body and mind are prepared to accept *whatever* "god" one believes in, or for that matter, no god at all. It just calms you the f$ck down, inside and out. And it works every time.

To the extent that culturally some hindu gods/parables/writings may be incorporated into a full yoga practice (many poses are "dedicated" to hindu gods) I look on them as parables or examples, much like one might find in the Bible or even Aesops fables.

Also, again FWIW, I've never been proselytized by anyone for any religion in my 10 years of practice and study of yoga.

My .02, but I kind of know what I'm talking about.

Originally posted by CaptainOblivious
to a Hindu God. Ive read the ten commandments and I think two of them would be broken if a devout Christian practiced Yoga.

Could anyone here show any reliable proof that Yoga is best for stretching?? Is it better than bending down and touching your toes? Better than sitting Indian style and stretching forward?

Both of those ARE yoga positions. What's your point?

Yoga for back pain: Hastapadasan or Forward Bending

Rashmi says, "Stand straight, as you exhale, bend forward and down. Hold the position for a few breaths and relax the head and neck."

This is a simple yoga pose that you can practice even at work. The breathing can de-stress, while the yoga pose can ease the tension from your neck while relieving you from lower back pain.

Yoga for back pain: Shashank Asan or Child's Pose

Rashmi says, "Sitting in Vajrasan, place your head forward towards the floor and stretch your hands out in front of you. This relaxes the abdominal muscles and provides relief to the lower back."

This involves sitting crossed leg on the floor; this posture is great to stretch the core muscles including your lower back.

articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com...

reply to post by Kali74


I'm certainly not the violent type myself, but if these backwoods piles of human waste died via cancer of the eye of the grease fire I would not shed a tear. At least then the community could grow.

Originally posted by luciddream
reply to post by CaptainOblivious

 

It sounds like your are just pissed off because Yoga has a connection to non christian religion. Its called Yoga because the form is different from normal exercise(who knows what background that came from eh?). There are Scientific studies looking to the better physical development thru Yoga.

There are many various aspect of Yoga, Spiritual, Mental, Sexual and many more less famous ones... most people do the Physical and some do the Mental

If we can not name anything, we should call Karate, "kick punch kick punch", Muy Thai, "Tigger Uppercut"...

I think you might be part of "they are going to convert us to non christian religion thru Yoga" crew. Well good luck living in a non christian earth in the near future.... *bubble broken*

You are a legend in your own mind dude. Im merely being arbitrary...I subscribe to the religion of common sense and Liberty. Having said that, no person or group of people has any right to call anyones religious beliefs stupid. Just because YOU dont follow the same principles doesnt make those principles any less relevent.

I see the class was optional, so I suppose suing IS a bit much but hey....Liberals started it by removing xmas trees from government offices and Happy Holidays have replaced Merry Christmas....where were you all then??

reply to post by kaylaluv

and one day while I was doing the downward dog position, I was really wishing I hadn't had that bean and cheese breakfast burrito that morning

heh heh I had to laugh at this post. Yes it is certainly not advisable to do any postures right after eating or drinking. Oh the poor souls who have yoga gymn class right after lunch. I would hope that the gymn (or is it yoga) teachers would foresee this problem.

Originally posted by YouSir
reply to post by Kali74

 

Ummm...You really need to get out more.....Yoga...IS...a spiritual practice...NOT...a stretching exercise. Yoga can bring about psychological and physical reactions that unless a master is present and the student guided throughout the process, can be very detrimental to the uninitiated. There are very powerful energies at play here, not to mention gaining access to and interference with the autonomic nervous system....(heart rate, breathing, endocrine production etc). You can unintentionally access and unsynchronize these delicate systems.

Here are some...VERY... good books on this And I would be very wary of practicing anything in them without a Yogi...This is extremely serious stuff......

1. Light on Yoga.....B.K.S. Iyengar
2. The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga.....Swami Vishnudevananda
3. Kripalu Yoga (Meditation in motion) Books 1 and 2.....Yogi Amrit Desai
And the very serious
4. The Serpent Power...Sir John Woodroffe.

Yoga is not a thing to be taken lightly, westernized versions of this tradition have relegated it to mere stretching exercises when it is anything but that.

I cant stress enough how powerful these form meditations are...I would certainly not choose to casually allow children to participate in something as profound as yoga....

Before you comment back to me about this.....please research and educate yourself...

With great reward comes great risk...

YouSir

i think you're ignoring the fact that hatha yoga as practiced in the west is mostly far removed from the yoga as it really is. it IS beneficial to the mind and body as any stretching would be. it does effect the endocrine system but in a positive way. for the vast millions it is not dangerous. an odd exception would exist but that same person could have their kundalini aroused from a car accident or fall and is extremely rare.
postures would need to be held for a time approaching an hour or hours at a time to require guidance from a highly experienced guru/teacher. westeners would not have the patience.
yes, there are practices published such as "light on yoga" and "the serpent power" but the breathing practices in them require dedicated practice for many months before danger might occur. toxic blood release is one of them; hence the need for a guru.
however the tiny exposure to pranayama/breathing technique in majority of western classes would be harmless.

only an ignorant person would ban mild yoga classes from a prison or school curriculum. as the french found out years ago exercise before study improved the students marks/abilities. and in prison it could only calm the inmates.
but ignorance is bliss with many christian fundamentalists.