Remember my mention of conflict over secular yoga in the classroom? While I can’t speak to whether or not the yoga used with these students has religious roots, I can identify with the observation by teachers that students were calmer and using breathing exercises on their own during tests. Regardless of whether people support the use of yoga when identified as yoga, there is a clear need for quiet reflection, stillness, stretching, and breathing in the classroom. Kindergarteners should not report feeling stressed. Neither should the fourth and fifth graders in my room. Obviously this points to even larger systematic concerns in how we’re teaching our kids in high-pressure environments, but at least the non-religious elements of yoga help to alleviate some of the stress.
oliviaobryon
Writer. Teacher. Occasional Traveler.
oliviaobryon 
I don’t practice yoga, I know almost nothing about it, and I also don’t know how it’s being presented in this setting. I suspect, however, these people (the plaintiffs) are knee-jerking to what they *think* it is, rather than what it actually is.
Agreed. It sounds like the school system went out of their way to rename poses, (lotus became criss cross apple sauce…), but I’m sure there might have been some minor remnants of yoga’s other roots left behind. Today the court ruled it wasn’t being taught in a religious manner, good news for me even if I keep calling it something else…