MASSENA — Debate over the high school's suspended classroom yoga program is putting the town on the map.

The story has gained attention across the globe, from Syracuse to New Delhi, India.

After the program was presented last month at a Massena Central School District Board of Education meeting, outraged parents complained, saying yoga is Hindu indoctrination and violates separation of church and state.

"At this point in the school year, with the planning we haven't really done much and we wouldn't have anyway" because things are so busy, said Spanish teacher Kerry A. Perretta, one of the program's creators.

No meetings have been held with the district's administration, Mrs. Perretta said. Nor has the high school received any phone calls from concerned parents since the Board of Education meeting.

Even so, it seems the publicity is disconcerting.

"I feel like it's been in the paper so much, I don't want to talk about it," Mrs. Perretta said. She said she is afraid of the spin community members might put on the issue.

Yoga is beginning to appear in public schools more frequently, both as exercise and stress relief. It is used in more than 100 schools in 26 states, according to Board of Education President Julie L. Reagan.

This is not the first time a classroom-yoga program has caused controversy.

In 2002, a public elementary school in Aspen, Colo., tried to start one. Parents complained, citing the same reasons as those in Massena. There, administrators and parents compromised, changing terms like "meditation" and "yogic panting" to "time in" and "bunny breathing," and the program was implemented.

Changes like those would not be enough for the Rev. Colin J. Lucid of Calvary Baptist Church. He was one of the program's most vocal opponents at the meeting.

"It's still yoga," he said. "You can't change the name."

The Rev. Mr. Lucid suggested that breathing exercises unrelated to yoga could be implemented with the same results. That would save students from the religious confusion that would come from being taught Hindu rituals, he said.

"I can understand people are fearful of something they don't understand," said Dayna A. Macy, communications director of the San Francisco-based Yoga Journal. "I think if people educated themselves, they would find that this is extremely helpful for both body and soul."

Mrs. Reagan remains committed to the new program, though the school board decided to put it on hold until more information could be presented to parents.

At 6:30 p.m. Oct. 14, Mrs. Perretta and special-education teacher Martha C. Duchscherer, the program's other creator, will demonstrate their yoga techniques to the board, using its members as guinea pigs. The women each assert that yoga is not a religious rite.

"People can often get confused between spirituality and religion," Ms. Macy said. "Speaking from personal experience, I find yoga a deeply spiritual experience but not a religious one."