By: Corey Leivermann Darren Lapic

 Meditation or Yoga is a practice used by many Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam religions.  According to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi- meditation is used to find inner peace, help with stress and good for your health.  Many Buddhist monks used Meditation as a form of mind training.  It has been described as a discipline for focusing and connecting mind, body and spirit, and has found adoptees among other religions as well as the non-religious.

 As of late, Meditation in schools has been a huge controversy and here are both sides of the story.  According to many articles, some people are for Meditation in schools because Meditation is a good for your health and has a significant positive affect on young children.  Other articles we read told us that Meditation is used for a religious purpose and it should stay like that and keep separated from the educational system.

Benefits of Meditation in Schools -According to the David Lynch Foundation, Students participating in Meditation score higher on tests, and have higher graduation rates compared to students in control groups. -Meditating students also show reduced stress levels, anxiety, depression, violence, and substance abuse. -Here’s the theory behind meditation in schools- if kids know how to relax and focus their minds, they wont lash out or react with anger. -According to researchers in Madison, bringing meditation to a younger age group will benefit the most.

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Benefits from Meditation Reasons why Meditation is beneficial for you young students to learn. - Meditation teaches students the essential life skills. - Meditation empowers students. - Meditation gives students a greater insight on life. - Affective way to manage stress - It has been shown to help boost learning and test performances. - Fewer arguments and fights among students. - Increased self-esteem and self- awareness. - Class time is more effectively used.  Yoga group’s foundation is focused on educating the “whole child” and has a particular powerful impact in underserved communities.  When inserting yoga into a classroom it has shown to increase the attention span of the students.  Also teachers have been known to see a change in students reactive behavior to creative solutions.

Against Meditation -According to Dean Broyles Chief Counsel of the Escondido-Based National Center for Law and Policy, students doing meditation looked like religious teachings. -Another parent from Encinitas, California had her daughter being taught yoga in a class one day. She says the more she reads about the Jois Foundation and its founders' beliefs in the spiritual benefits of Ashtanga yoga. The more she's convinced that the poses and meditation can't be separated from their Hindu roots. -K.P. Jois Foundation is supported by a wellness program to promote yoga practices.

Against Meditation According to Amy Taylor, she gives us 5 reasons why Meditation in schools is to religious. 1) Yoga is infused with sacredness 2) Yoga teachers tend to be spiritual people 3) Yoga runs parallel to some streams of Eastern Religions (such as Buddhism, Hinduism) 4) Yoga is much more than stretching 5) Yoga is only the beginning. - Another article states that Yoga in classrooms are “inherently and pervasively religious.

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BENEFITS FOR MEDITATION AGAINST MEDITATION  Reduces stress levels and anxiety.  Meditation is good for students health.  Helps Students to Relax.  Helps students do better in school.  Yoga leads to less violence.  Yoga in schools is teaching students of Hindu or Buddhist Religions.  Yoga is much more than stretching, it is a religious affiliation with Eastern Religions.  Meditation is used for spiritual benefits rather then health benefits.

Lisa Ann Williamson, “Yoga in Public Schools”, Fall 2012 ( ) Katherine Stewart, “Protesting Yoga in Schools, But Welcoming Bible Study”, February 18, 2013 ( _bible_study/( _bible_study/) Sarah Grieco, Elena Gomez and Melissa Pamer, “Lawsuit filed to End School yoga Program, Claiming it is a Religious Practice”, February 21, 2013 ( html( html) Amy Taylor, “5 Reasons Why Yoga Might Be Too Religious for School”, February 23, 2013 ( Kyla Calvert, Promoting Hinduism? Parents Demand Removal Of School Yoga Class”, January 9, 2013 ( yoga-class( yoga-class) David Lynch, “Changing Lives With Meditation” July 20, 2012 ( Najib Razak, “Hindu leader lauds setting up of Putrajaya temple” January 23, 2013 ( ANI, “California school in Yoga programme promoting Hinduism lawsuit” February 22, 2013 ( promoting-Hinduism-lawsuit.html( promoting-Hinduism-lawsuit.html)