The Bishop of Waterford and Lismore has written to schools in the diocese advising that yoga and mindfulness is not suitable for the parish school setting.
Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan says yoga is "not of Christian origin" and is especially not suitable "during religious education time".
In the letter seen by WLR, he quoted Pope Francis in 2015 where he reminded people that "practices like yoga are not capable of opening our hearts up to God".
A copy of the letter that was sent to schools by Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan
Speaking to Damien Tiernan on Deise Today, Waterford yoga teacher Aoife Lacey says she doesn't see any harm in children learning yoga:
"There are various studies from people who have been teaching yoga in schools, and teachers who have seen the benefit, that there's increased concentration, empathy, awareness. It's teaching from a young age to pause. And to maybe have a stronger sense of themselves, bringing themselves to a sense of calm and that filters down into your life. How is that a bad thing?"
She says many of her students come from different religious backgrounds:
"I have people who attend my classes who leave a class and go to Mass, and they feel that it has made their faith even stronger because you can adapt your yoga practice to fit into your belief system. I think that's the wonder of it and that's its flexibility. If you are religious and you want to bring your spiritual practice closer to yourself, the techniques we teach in yoga will give you that. If you don't have religious beliefs; if you're agnostic, atheist, you can still have a deep sense of clam and peace."
