ADVANCE FOR SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2016 – In this Monday, May 2, 2016, photo, Nivin Maybon leads his classmates in morning yoga in Red Feather Lakes Elementary School in the northern Colorado mountain community of Red Feather Lakes. For the 150 students whose rural schools are tucked among the mountain forests west of Fort Collins, Colo., grade levels are combined into a handful of classrooms. (Valerie Mosley/The Coloradoan via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — A bill that would allow yoga in public schools may have a chance to be passed by the Alabama House of Representatives next week.

On Tuesday, the House will hear HB235, a bill that would allow yoga to be practiced in Alabama public schools. If the bill passes with a two-thirds majority, it will then go to the Senate for further deliberation.

Yoga has been banned by the Alabama State Department of Education since 1993, being listed on a list of “inappropriate activities” not allowed in schools. At the time, politicians noted how yoga is connected with Hinduism and, therefore, was a religious activity.

Rep. Jeremy Gray, D-Opelika, is the main sponsor of the bill. Last year, he had introduced another bill, HB449, to bring yoga into the schools, but it never made it to the House floor.

Gray, a former cornerback for North Carolina State University, has practiced yoga for years and this time around, spoke with many yoga instructors and people who practice the exercise for their support.

“I think that’s what is different is last time, I just dropped the bill there,” Gray said. “Now, with all the news articles, I think it’s had a better growing with time.”

Although yoga does have its roots in Hinduism, others have pointed to the health benefits it can have without the religious component. One study at Johns Hopkins University found that during an eight-week yoga program, participants who were legally blind had reduced levels of stress and slept better.

Since the last bill died in the House, attention has been brought to the fact that yoga is not allowed in Alabama schools. Last August, Hindu religious statesman Rajan Zed issued a statement saying that the state was doing a disservice to its students by not allowing the practice.

“Various public universities of Alabama had been offering yoga in some form to their students and some Alabama churches had also reportedly offered/announced yoga programs,” Zed said. “If yoga was rewarding for the students of Alabama public universities, why Alabama was keeping it away from its K-12 public school students.”

Gray said he has not encountered much opposition to the bill.

“Most of my colleagues have come to me and say they can support this bill,” Gray said. “I don’t think there will be a lot of people against this bill.”

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However, some have expressed their concern with allowing yoga in schools. Clete Hux, executive director of the Apologetics Research Center, said that by its very nature, yoga is closely tied with Hinduism in ways that cannot be unraveled.

“When people talk about separating the practice of yoga from belief, there is no such thing as yoga. There is no yoga without Hinduism and there is no Hinduism without yoga.”

Hux pointed to how yoga is a Sanskirt word for “union” and that the practice is about joining the mind with a sense of communion with a higher power. Hux also pointed to how different poses symbolize different aspects of Hindu theology.

Ultimately, he said that if one religious practice was allowed, others should be allowed.

“The bottom line is this: if you allow one religious practice, then you open the door for any religious practice,” he said.

However, Gray disagreed that yoga was a solely religious exercise and that many people who practice it, himself included, are not Hindu.

“I don’t entertain the religious aspect of it because that’s not true,” he said. “That’s what people use to discredit it. “If that’s true, why isn’t Hinduism the leading religion in America.”

Gray is confident he has the votes to send the bill to the Senate.

“You never know what is going to happen, but from what I can gauge, they will be on board,” he said.

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