Catholic-safe yoga practices?

[PRmerger]

What have you deduced here, is that your intention - which excludes wishing to worship false idols - automatically rids the practice of any danger.

Yes!

That’s exactly what you should be telling fundamentalist Protestants who accuse you of worshipping a false idol when you do this:

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So if you can see that this behavior is NOT WORSHIP, if the person is…er…NOT WORSHIPPING MARY,

then you can see that this is NOT WORSHIP, if the person is…not intending to worship a hindu deity.

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[friardchips]

Yes!

That’s exactly what you should be telling fundamentalist Protestants who accuse you of worshipping a false idol when you do this:

PRM, You haven’t answered my post.

praying while knelt at a statue of Mary is a Catholic (Christian) practice and so it is totally irrelevant to this discussion <<

Not answering a post in entirety is in effect not answering at all.

 

[Michael_Mayo]

To take a well-known saying and to change it in order to fit the context:

Do you do Yoga when you pray or pray when you do Yoga?

Sometimes I do yoga when I pray but I always pray when I do yoga.

 

[friardchips]

Sometimes I do yoga when I pray but I always pray when I do yoga.

 

[friardchips]

For me to respond, I’ll have to use a different activity to express my concern:

Let’s take ballet.

If one is praying whilst doing ballet then it is the same as offering up one’s day with all its parts, to God.

Prayer, as in, one’s whole mind and heart being focused on God, only, rather than participating in an activity whilst, also, having one’s mind and heart on God, is a different scenario.

So, praying while one does ballet, is understandable - as a kind of offering - but to do ballet when one is praying, as in, spending-time-with-God-alone, type-praying, which requires the disposition of the person to be as concentrated on God as best as possible, without distractions coming from one’s own body, would seem to be counter-intuitive.

 

[friardchips]

Edited.

 

[friardchips]

Sometimes I do yoga when I pray but I always pray when I do yoga.

Sorry, I shouldn’t have laughed along. I meant to convey lightheartedness along with your post. But it could be taken that I was taking the subject lightly.

 

[Michael_Mayo]

For me to respond, I’ll have to use a different activity to express my concern:

Let’s take ballet.

If one is praying whilst doing ballet then it is the same as offering up one’s day with all its parts, to God.

Prayer, as in, one’s whole mind and heart being focused on God, only, rather than participating in an activity whilst, also, having one’s mind and heart on God, is a different scenario.

So, praying while one does ballet, is understandable - as a kind of offering - but to do ballet when one is praying, as in, spending-time-with-God-alone, type-praying, which requires the disposition of the person to be as concentrated on God as best as possible, without distractions coming from one’s own body, would seem to be counter-intuitive.

The purpose of the stretches is to get out the kinks, release the tension so that one can more adequately concentrate on God. While it can be the body at prayer it is also a preliminary to deeper prayer while the body is then able to be forgotten.

 

[friardchips]

The purpose of the stretches is to get out the kinks, release the tension so that one can more adequately concentrate on God. While it can be the body at prayer it is also a preliminary to deeper prayer while the body is then able to be forgotten.

Can’t say that the same couldn’t be achieved by simply sitting still in the quiet, but thanks for sharing the information, nonetheless. If you spent time at a Trappist Monastery out in the middle of somewhere probably not on the map, you would likely find that the silence and atmosphere itself, would be enough to calm you (IMO).

 

[Michael_Mayo]

Can’t say that the same couldn’t be achieved by simply sitting still in the quiet, but thanks for sharing the information, nonetheless. If you spent time at a Trappist Monastery out in the middle of somewhere probably not on the map, you would likely find that the silence and atmosphere itself, would be enough to calm you (IMO).

Been there many times and I always find the long walks helpful as well. But what about the rest of our lives when we are not in retreat? I am not saying we all need yoga but I am saying it is very helpful, at least some stretching. It can be integrated into a good Christian prayer life.

 

[friardchips]

Been there many times and I always find the long walks helpful as well. But what about the rest of our lives when we are not in retreat? I am not saying we all need yoga but I am saying it is very helpful, at least some stretching. It can be integrated into a good Christian prayer life.

Cool! They must have been really helpful experiences.

I do some regular exercise and generally stick to that - the Team B stuff!

If you do Yoga then that is between yourself and God - I have said that before. I have my opinions about the practice, and am simply debating the other side of the argument in the hope that at the very least, by bringing the other side into it, people might be a bit more careful than not having thought about the dangers, at all.

I don’t think physical exercises are a far stretch p) from the weightier Hindu stuff and so I definitely think that caution ought to be applied. It is as if some people too easily adopt a “hey, yeah, do it, doesn’t matter”, attitude to everything, and I don’t think that is very helpful to others, even if such people go for things anyway, themselves.

 

[PRmerger]

Indeed.

While searching for something else I found a previous discourse I’d had with friardchips which I’d forgotten about…and I recalled how straining at gnats is indeed a common thread for him.

 

[friardchips]

Someone becomes more of an authority on something by virtue of being immersed and culturally invested in it. You are likely more of an authority on Catholicism than someone who has had minimal exposure to it, and you would probably look at them funny if they said they were practicing Catholicism just by drinking a glass of wine. The same is true for yoga.

Or praying the Rosary?

What is the relevance of this question?

 

[friardchips]

The lack of derivation for Yoga, other than it is part of the Hindu religion, is not a plus-side to the pro-Yoga-for-Catholics argument; rather, it is, the opposite.

Every argument for Yoga has been countered successfully and the only reason this thread is still in progress is because some posters don’t apparently understand the reasoning put before them.

So, yes, circles feature prominently.

 

[Michael_Mayo]

Cool! They must have been really helpful experiences.

I do some regular exercise and generally stick to that - the Team B stuff!

If you do Yoga then that is between yourself and God - I have said that before. I have my opinions about the practice, and am simply debating the other side of the argument in the hope that at the very least, by bringing the other side into it, people might be a bit more careful than not having thought about the dangers, at all.

I don’t think physical exercises are a far stretch p) from the weightier Hindu stuff and so I definitely think that caution ought to be applied. It is as if some people too easily adopt a “hey, yeah, do it, doesn’t matter”, attitude to everything, and I don’t think that is very helpful to others, even if such people go for things anyway, themselves.

Best moment was out in the woods listening to it snow.

Dangers? There are dangers every where, including scrupulosity and superstition.

Worshipping false gods? We need to be far more concerned with materialism than Ganesh or Shiva or some gods we never even heard of.

How about Tai Chi? I like that better than yoga, especially first thing in the morning, slow and easy

 

[Michael_Mayo]

What is the relevance of this question?

Does praying the rosary mean someone is practicing Catholicism?

 

[Michael_Mayo]

The lack of derivation for Yoga, other than it is part of the Hindu religion, is not a plus-side to the pro-Yoga-for-Catholics argument; rather, it is, the opposite.

Every argument for Yoga has been countered successfully and the only reason this thread is still in progress is because some posters don’t apparently understand the reasoning put before them.

So, yes, circles feature prominently.

If you are going to condemn hatha yoga (Asanas) because it is yoga, then you must also condemn the restraints (Yamasi) and observances (Niyamas). Look them up. They include honesty, truth, nonviolence, etc. also Karma Yoga — selfless service to others without attachment to the results.

 

[friardchips]

Best moment was out in the woods listening to it snow.

Sounds healthy.

How about Tai Chi? I like that better than yoga, especially first thing in the morning, slow and easy

I will try and look out an article I have written in a magazine where the people who do such martial arts speak about the negative spiritual influences.

 

[friardchips]

If you are going to condemn hatha yoga (Asanas) because it is yoga, then you must also condemn the restraints (Yamasi) and observances (Niyamas). Look them up. They include honesty, truth, nonviolence, etc. also Karma Yoga — selfless service to others without attachment to the results.

Nonviolence is all occasions is not a Christian understanding.

Neither is ‘Karma’.

 

[friardchips]

Does praying the rosary mean someone is practicing Catholicism?

Of course.