HB246 Summary

• Local boards of education may offer yoga instruction to students in grades K-12 as an optional elective activity with alternative activities available for students who opt out.

• Yoga instruction must be limited exclusively to poses, exercises, and stretching techniques using only sitting, standing, reclining, twisting, and balancing positions with exclusively English descriptive names.

• Chanting, mantras, mudras, mandalas, hypnosis, guided imagery, and namaste greetings are expressly prohibited in yoga instruction.

• Parents or legal guardians must sign and return a written statement acknowledging that yoga is part of the Hinduism religion and giving permission for their child to participate.

• School personnel are prohibited from using hypnosis, dissociative mental states, guided imagery, meditation, or Eastern philosophy and religious training that combines meditation with physical exercises.