Yoga in Schools

It is harmful

Screenshot Children being forced to engage with racist colonial extraction and abuse of Indigenous children. The term “downward dog” is actually a racist colonizer term, calling the Hindus who invented yoga “dogs”. The correct authentic term for this pose is “mountain”.

*Trigger Warning* white supremacy, imperialism, cultural appropriation, genocide, racism, patriarchy, harm to children, Hinduphobia

In November 2019, one of my Indigenous matriarch friends reached out to me in concern because her children’s school was engaging in cultural appropriation of both her own culture and Hindu culture.

If I remember correctly, the school had a teacher who was bringing eagle feathers to the classroom. This is a desecration of the sacred Indigenous eagles and also illegal for non-Indigenous peoples to do. Yes, that’s right. It’s illegal for anyone who is not Indigenous in the US to be in possession of an eagle feather. It is very serious because it causes harm to the endangered species and makes it that much harder for Indigenous peoples’ to engage in their own spiritual practices and culture.

Meanwhile, the teachers were also teaching “yoga” in the school. My matriarch friend wanted to talk to her child’s teacher about both harms and wondered if I could write a letter about the cultural appropriation of yoga she could bring to the conversation.

This is that letter I wrote for her child’s school and all schools, with some edits and additions:

To western schools…