Ban on yoga in Alabama public schools lifted after 27 years

A long-standing ban on yoga in Alabama public schools was lifted on Thursday. Governor Kay Ivey signed legislation that would allow public schools to teach the practice for the first time in 27 years. 

Yoga was banned in Alabama public schools in 1993, when the Alabama Board of Education voted to prohibit hypnosis, meditation and yoga in public schools after conservative groups pushed the ban, according to the Associated Press.  Democratic state Representative Jeremy Gray introduced HB246 in February to in hopes of lifting the yoga ban. Gray, a former cornerback at North Carolina State University, was introduced to yoga through football and said the exercises can provide mental and physical benefits to students, according to the AP.