Practicing yoga in public schools has been banned in Alabama since 1993 as part of a prohibition on “the use of hypnosis and dissociative mental states.”
That may soon come to an end. A bill sponsored by State Rep. Jeremy Gray to permit the teaching of yoga just passed the House 73-25.
There’s just one catch: The bill includes two wild restrictions:
All poses, exercises, and stretching techniques shall have exclusively English descriptive names.
Chanting, mantras, mudras, use of mandalas, and namaste greetings shall be expressly prohibited.
You can’t say “Om.” You can’t say “Namaste.” Basically, yoga is fine, but don’t make it too brown.