Yoga taught in a San Diego County school system is not a gateway to Hinduism and doesn't violate the religious rights of students or their parents, a California appeals court ruled. "While the practice of yoga may be religious in some contexts, yoga classes as taught in the district are, as the trial court determined, 'devoid of any religious, mystical, or spiritual trappings,'" the court wrote in a 3-0 opinion.

"No other court in the past 50 years has allowed public school officials to lead children in formal religious rituals like the Hindu liturgy of praying to, bowing to and worshipping the sun god," attorney Dean Broyles said in a statement.

Paul V. Carelli IV, a lawyer for the district, said there were no rituals occurring in the classroom and no one was worshipping the sun or leading Hindu rites. The district said the practice is taught in a secular way to promote strength, flexibility and balance.

A three-year grant from the K.P. Jois Foundation, a nonprofit group that promotes Ashtanga yoga, provides twice-weekly, 30-minute classes to the district's 5,600 students.

By Premji