Can Yoga be good?

[aimee]

jrabs:

Ya know, I wonder this too. Why can’t it just be for stretching???

I think it can…I’ve read the posts of the others here and think Yoga can be used for exercise. Now as with anything…one must use caution. If you think about it…exercises…ie …running…weights…gym… can become excessive and take on a fervor…so as to take place of religion.

As for me…I’m not sure I’ll do it yet but it warrents further investigation.

As to the link to conspircy site…come on now…well meaning I’m sure but there are way too many of those sites about every thing…

 

[thechrismyster]

nkelly:

See conspiracyarchive.com/NewAge/Alice_Bailey.htm
at the section called ‘Luciferic Initiation’.

I don’t know if i trust a website that covers the illuminati, vril society, bohemian grove, masonic demonology, hollywood 9/11 conspiracy, new world order, delphi conspiracy, invisible hovercraft, UFO and alien demon links, addresses fairies and elves, masonic ritual murder, the rothchilds, new world orders, FEMA having a NWO dictatorship…
they’re one step away from bigfoot and raising atlantis. noe THERE is a decent conspiracy, bigfoot, that is.

 

[Joel_Ruiz-Dana]

My problem with those Christians who strongly object to the practice of all forms of yoga, even if it’s just for exercise, is that I’ve NEVER heard the objections come from the lips/pen of a Christian who is ethnically Indian. I’ve met several Indian priests in my lifetime, and whenever I do so, I always ask them about yoga and some of the charismatic Christians objections to it, and they usually laugh it off and tell me that such fears are an entirely American/European Christian phenomena and would be laughed at by people from their country.

 

[CatholicSam]

Joel Ruiz-Dana:

My problem with those Christians who strongly object to the practice of all forms of yoga, even if it’s just for exercise, is that I’ve NEVER heard the objections come from the lips/pen of a Christian who is ethnically Indian. I’ve met several Indian priests in my lifetime, and whenever I do so, I always ask them about yoga and some of the charismatic Christians objections to it, and they usually laugh it off and tell me that such fears are an entirely American/European Christian phenomena and would be laughed at by people from their country.

Well, I also hear that many American priests laugh at the idea of using natural family planning We need to pray for our priests!

 

[daeve]

I’ve taken Yoga and none of those classes were about anything other than exercise. I did find Yoga to be a little hard on the knees. If the class you’ve tried stresses mysticism or new age or whatever, look for a different class. The classes I took were at the Y, and the same teacher taught at the community college too. The Y is supposed to be a Christian organization. If you’re uncomfortable with the focus of the class, you could mention it to the program director. Others may feel that way too, and the director might want to address the question.

I like Tai Chi, which is offered through the school district’s adult education program, as well as in the wellness program at several of the hospitals. Most of these classes are during the day, when I’m at work, and most of them are for beginners. I’ve taken the one evening class around here 3 times, but there’s no follow up class. The Tai Chi center has classes on Sunday mornings, but I have a previous committment then. Deb

 

[empacae]

Maybe have a parish yoga class.
Change the chants up in mid stretch to something like
“Mu-cho Sanct-us De-o…Day-B-Say-Day-B-Say-Day-B-Say-Dayyyyyyy-O!” heh heh

emp

 

[MarthaMartha]

aimee:

I was attracted to it for the health aspect and since its not jumping around etc…I thought of doing it…I have arthritis and other health concerns…
Are you framilier with Rodney Yee’s power yoga tapes? I wish someone would take a look at them and let me know what they think.
He was on Oprah.

Me too – I took power yoga at work some years ago for arthritis and fitness reasons. The teacher (who prefaced each class with 15 minutes of ab work!) taught it as physical and not spiritual exercise. So does Rodney Yee. I recommend starting with his beginner tapes. Good luck!

 

[Morning_Glory]

**Why not buy a Yoga CD, and play it on Mute? Then put on your favorite calming music and stretch away?

Buy one from someone like Denise Austin, who is not a yogi, and you won’t have to worry about funding something you do not feel comfortable about.**

 

[Dubervilles]

You can always tape or TIVO “Inhale” on regular TV (I think it’s on Oxygen). I have participated in the Les Mills Body Flow class at my gym and I found it to be something which made me feel “closer” to God than farther away…to me something that strenghens your body to give great glory to god and respects your body as the temple that it is–is generally a good thing. The relaxation period for Body Flow is more about letting go of tensions in the body, relaxing, feeling the energy of your breath go in and out. They do say Namusdae at the end however it’s optional and no one “has to” say it.
Anyways I don’t think that Yoga is harmful in most general classes. (although I have heard of some cult-like groups of Yoga)
Use your judgement…from the class you described I don’t really see a problem except for saying the Namusdae at the end…
Feeling “one” with nature and “one” with the Creator are good things aren’t they?

 

[BlindSheep]

Oh boy a lot of these warnings seem more like xenophobia than anything else. Foreign languages? India? God Forbid. Did you know that paisley print fabric is foreign and contains demons? Yoga is a wonderful form of exercise - tones the muscles and (name removed by moderator)roves circulation along with the stretching. There is absolutely no reason you have to get involved with eastern religion - a lot of yoga classes do include this stuff; people are desparate for something “spiritual” but have an aversion to the True Church, so they fall for this stuff - it’s “cool” and “pc”. Find a different class, or do it at home.

 

[Margaret_G]

aimee:

.I have arthritis and other health concerns…
.

Just a quick FYI; Cod Liver oil is very helpful for arthritis. It comes in gel caps so you don’t have to taste it.

 

[mikew262]

JGheen:

Thanks again for the (name removed by moderator)ut. I’m glad to hear others have reservations about yoga - it means I’m not totally crazy.

Good Grief! There is nothing evil about yoga.

 

[m134e5]

JGheen:

Do you think a Catholic can participate in Yoga with a clear conscience? Or is it a slippery slope that we must avoid in order to “avoid the near occasion of evil”?

I’ve participated in a couple classes at my gym and love the stretching and calming aspects. When they say silly new-age things like “imagine you are one with nature”, I silently say a small prayer to God thanking Him for nature. When they say, “imagine you are one with your Creator” I again say a silent prayer to my Creator based on my own beliefs.

However, I do feel a bit guilty that I am tacitly participating in eastern mysticism. And there are a couple parts I’m uncomfortable with - specifically at the end of class when the instructor touches each person’s forehead to let the “life force” in and we have to say “na-moose-day” (I solute you) to her.

Is it okay to practice yoga stretches at home, where I will obviously skip the odes to a “life force” and all the other silly stuff? Or am I putting myself on shaky ground? I also participate in Pilates and like it a lot, but sometimes I just need/want to stretch - and yoga is the easiest way to get a good stretching workout.

I do not want to provide scandal to other Catholics by my actions. My Catholic girlfriends all do yoga and think there is nothing wrong with it - as long as you pray to God in your head and not the “life force”. However, I don’t want to judge myself based on others actions. That is definitely a slippery slope! What do you think?

With so many exercize techniques that do not look near as ridiculous as Yoga (and this is coming from someone who used to practice it- even today I laugh inside when I remember myself basically trying to turn myself inside out), and so many meditation practices that are tried and true- within the boundaries of orthodox Catholicism- why do anything else? If you want some kind of powerful meditation, read the writings of the Spanish mystics- I have yet to find anything more powerful. If you want to exercize, buy an aerobics tape.

 

[m134e5]

mikew262:

Good Grief! There is nothing evil about yoga.

It encourages you to channel energy and hints at being able to control external forces. If you just do it to relax and calm your mind and body, there is nothing wrong with it (though those Yogis drive me nuts- they twist their bodies in shapes that would break me, and any other normal person, in half, and they smile and carry on a conversation while they’re doing it like they aren’t doing anything at all). It borders on new age practices, and I believe is a gateway into eastern religions and possibly even the occult. It was for me, so I speak from personal experience.

 

[mikew262]

m134e5:

It encourages you to channel energy and hints at being able to control external forces. If you just do it to relax and calm your mind and body, there is nothing wrong with it (though those Yogis drive me nuts- they twist their bodies in shapes that would break me, and any other normal person, in half, and they smile and carry on a conversation while they’re doing it like they aren’t doing anything at all). It borders on new age practices, and I believe is a gateway into eastern religions and possibly even the occult. It was for me, so I speak from personal experience.

I believe the majority of folks strictly use it to relax and calm the mind and body. I haven’t tried yoga, but my wife and daughter have, as well as Tai Chi.

I think some folks are paronoid of anything that isn’t the “norm” and/or it’s something they don’t understand. The result is that they automatically catalog it as “evil”.

 

[Flopfoot]

If it was merely a matter of being a ‘near occasion of sin’ (which was being discussed earlier in the thread) then I don’t think that it would be generally sinful - like Jimmy Akin explains, if you have a reason for doing something which may tempt to sin (eg, for exercise and relaxation) and the temptation to sin is not that great (as the OP said, he has a strong faith) then it is okay to enter into that situation. You sorta have to compare the temptation vs the rewards.

However, from what I have read here and around, yoga is not merely a temptation to sin or a near occasion of sin. It sounds objectively sinful as you are actually participating in the mystical practice just by going to the classes (apparently the postures used are evil symbols and the words you say have already been explained on this thread to be wrong).

But I’m not sure about this, don’t know much about the sources. Maybe (if you really want to do yoga) you should get a clarification about this, maybe ask about it in AAA or from some other source you trust. Until and unless you’re reasonably sure that it’s not objectively sinful, then don’t do it, because it seems likely that it actually is sinful.

 

[m134e5]

mikew262:

I believe the majority of folks strictly use it to relax and calm the mind and body. I haven’t tried yoga, but my wife and daughter have, as well as Tai Chi.

I think some folks are paronoid of anything that isn’t the “norm” and/or it’s something they don’t understand. The result is that they automatically catalog it as “evil”.

Probably- and just that by itself is fine. But yoga has sort of a lifestyle to it that makes embracing eastern religions easier. It just opens doors to things that unless you’re really strong in your faith, can get you into trouble.

 

[Liberalsaved]

It’s exercises. If you refrain from everything that might have a tiny negative involved, you don’t get to do anything.

 

[BlindSheep]

Flopfoot:

If it was merely a matter of being a ‘near occasion of sin’ (which was being discussed earlier in the thread) then I don’t think that it would be generally sinful - like Jimmy Akin explains, if you have a reason for doing something which may tempt to sin (eg, for exercise and relaxation) and the temptation to sin is not that great (as the OP said, he has a strong faith) then it is okay to enter into that situation. You sorta have to compare the temptation vs the rewards.

However, from what I have read here and around, yoga is not merely a temptation to sin or a near occasion of sin. It sounds objectively sinful as you are actually participating in the mystical practice just by going to the classes (apparently the postures used are evil symbols and the words you say have already been explained on this thread to be wrong).
But I’m not sure about this, don’t know much about the sources. Maybe (if you really want to do yoga) you should get a clarification about this, maybe ask about it in AAA or from some other source you trust. Until and unless you’re reasonably sure that it’s not objectively sinful, then don’t do it, because it seems likely that it actually is sinful.

Well, I did yoga for years, and I know a little bit about it - the words and other religious/mystical things are part of “yoga” as a spiritual path, but not part of “hatha yoga” as a set of physical exercises. They are used together, but don’t have to be. The postures are not “evil symbols” - they are mostly named after/inspired by nature and are “tried and true” and very beneficial physically. You don’t have to “throw tha baby out with the bathwater” - Catholics have always been good about taking the good from a culture and leaving the bad. Certainly, talk about “the god in me/god in you” is bad, and meditating on “nothing” is a dangerous practice, but these are a different category of “yoga” from the stretches. Things are not sinful just because they have been used alongside, or as part of, a pagan religion - by this argument, Easter eggs, Christmas trees, and incense are evil. The physical exercises (“Hatha Yoga”) are not being done (or even originally intended) to worship a pagan god. I would be as wary about calling things sinful without good reason as I would about excusing sin - we aren’t supposed to be pharisees, or burden each other beyond what the Church teaches - and the Church has not taught yoga is sinful, that I know of - and there are many other examples of pagan practices being “baptised” by the Church and purified of their evil aspects; of the partial truth that pagan cultures had being brought to its fulfillment by the Church.

 

[brandy101]

Yoga, in part helped bring me back to the Church after years of lapse!

How so? While I loved the physical stretching and mind-calming effects I had in classes, I always felt out of sorts when it came to chanting or meditation.

Until I prayed about it, and did some reading.

Via my research and my continued workouts I became more sensitive to my physical and spiritual needs. Then, I was able to re-organize my own personal mind-body-spirit connection, I have reconnected with my local parish and have rededicated myself to the Church.

I do the Rodney Yee “Power Yoga” videos (and some other secular videos) that Aimee has mentioned in this thread, and at the end, during the ambient music, I silently say a decade of the rosary, sometimes more. The Rosary is a beautiful and highly-effective for me as far as calming the mind and nourishing my soul.

I also make a verbal dedication to Jesus for every workout I undertake, whether it be yoga or running on the treadmill, and then I thank Him after I’m finished with my cool-down, for allowing me to be safe and keep my body healthy.

There is a neat dvd by Fr. Thomas Ryan called “Yoga Prayer” in which he gives a nice presentation to his own practice of yoga and how he utilizes it to give glory to God each day. However, as far as an actual yoga routine, I’d say his routines are fairly advanced for a beginner (ie - don’t try to keep up with his choreography unless you are quite limber!)