University of North Carolina Press Debating Yoga and Mindfulness in Public Schools: Reforming Secular Education or Reestablishing Religion?

Review Brown discusses yoga and meditation in US public schools, but in the process, she reveals so much more. She covers the origins of yoga and mindfulness, discusses how those have evolved and were introduced to public schools in the United States, and the lawsuits against them. . . . Because of its wide-ranging coverage, Brown's book has much to offer for scholars in a number of fields.--Religious Studies ReviewIn this provocative new book . . . Brown argues that a new concerted effort to reestablish religion in public schools comes not from Catholics or evangelicals, but from advocates of yoga and mindfulness. . . . Brown has written an important work of publicly engaged scholarship that documents how some advocates of mindfulness and yoga are using schools to disseminate religious traditions.--Reading ReligionBrown has extensively researched all facets of this topic and lays the evidence out for readers in a manner that is clear and easy to follow.--International Journal of Christianity & EducationPivotal and revealing. . . . Brown is insistent on the importance of empirical findings and her descriptions of yoga and mindfulness are all evidence-based and factual.-- Oxford University Press Journals: Journal of Church and StateWhat's the harm in having kids do mindfulness meditation or sun salutations in homeroom? . . . . Like many of us, Brown believed that these were secular applications until she examined the historical and religious context for herself. This book is a thorough history of mindfulness and yoga in public schools, related court cases, and legal analysis that led Brown to advocate an opt-in model as a way to maintain the separation of church and state.--Tricycle Product Description Yoga and mindfulness activities, with roots in Asian traditions such as Hinduism or Buddhism, have been brought into growing numbers of public schools since the 1970s. While they are commonly assumed to be secular educational tools, Candy Gunther Brown asks whether religion is truly left out of the equation in the context of public-school curricula. An expert witness in four legal challenges, Brown scrutinized unpublished trial records, informant interviews, and legal precedents, as well as insider documents, some revealing promoters of ""Vedic victory"" or ""stealth Buddhism"" for public-school kids. The legal challenges are fruitful cases for Brown's analysis of the concepts of religious and secular.While notions of what makes something religious or secular are crucial to those who study religion, they have special significance in the realm of public and legal norms. They affect how people experience their lives, raise their children, and navigate educational systems. The question of religion in public education, Brown shows, is no longer a matter of jurisprudence focused largely on establishment of a Protestant Bible or nonsectarian prayer. Instead, it now reflects an increasingly diverse American religious landscape. Reconceptualizing secularization as transparency and religious voluntarism, Brown argues for an opt-in model for public-school programs. About the Author Candy Gunther Brown, professor of religious studies at Indiana University, is the author of several books including The Word in the World and The Healing Gods.