Catholic-safe yoga practices?

[friardchips]

Now the only rule to add, is that Pietra Fitness could be used as an alternative route for every move to do with Yoga.

So, to make things harder for Team B, we can only use Pietra Fitness as a last resort, and if we have to, then we only get half a point instead of a whole point.

If positions can be found to replace Yoga moves, without Pietra Fitness, then it is one whole point for Team B.

If a combination of no more than two moves can be found, then this is half a point for Team B.

If three moves found to one Yoga position then this is only a quarter point for Team B.

(I have a feeling though, that Team B has already won).

In the highly unlikely event that a Yoga move cannot be replaced, then Team A gets a whole point.

Teams can also discuss the best way to amount points. Just for the fun of it.

 

[friardchips]

It is because you have a deeper yearning to play this game. Just give in to the force.

 

[friardchips]

Give…in…to…the…force…:hypno:

 

[friardchips]

That’s demons talking.

That is the first time anyone on CAF has ever referenced Star Wars as being about demons?!

Is the hypno-emoticon also demonic?!

 

[Michael_Mayo]

We also posted the title of these documents a long time ago - from the EWTN link I posted earlier on this thread:

'While the question of yoga has not been definitely answered by the Magisterium, Christians who are considering its use, or the use of any practice derived from non-Christian philosophies or religions, should be familiar with two documents: the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s On Some Aspects of Christian Meditation, and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue’s Jesus Christ, The Bearer of the Water of Life…

They should then scrupulously apply the principle of the necessity for the complete separation of a practice from any religious or philosophical system which is contrary to Catholic teaching or the practice of the faith.’

1. Some physical exercises automatically produce a feeling of quiet and relaxation, pleasing sensations, perhaps even phenomena of light and of warmth, which resemble spiritual well-being. To take such feelings for the authentic consolations of the Holy Spirit would be a totally erroneous way of conceiving the spiritual life. Giving them a symbolic significance typical of the mystical experience, when the moral condition of the person concerned does not correspond to such an experience, would represent a kind of mental schizophrenia which could also lead to psychic disturbance and, at times, to moral deviations.

That does not mean that genuine practices of meditation which come from the Christian East and from the great non-Christian religions, which prove attractive to the man of today who is divided and disoriented, cannot constitute a suitable means of helping the person who prays to come before God with an interior peace, even in the midst of external pressures.

ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDFMED.HTM

 

[Michael_Mayo]

I have a game to play:

Team A: The Yoga Affiliates Vs Team B: Normal Exercise Advocates

Team A is comprised of pro-Yoga members

Team B is comprised of anti-Yoga but pro-normal exercise people

Aim:

Team A places the name and description of a Yoga move (pref. without pictures) and details why it is helpful for the body.

Team B sees if there is anything like that in the normal run of exercises and places an alternative exercise that, while it might not be the same position, works out / helps the same area.

We will then see whether it is ever necessary to carry out a particular exercise by visiting a New Age/ Hindu / Yoga website…

GAME ON?

You mean like this?

Here are the top five health benefits of Shoulder Stand.
It aids digestion. …
It helps relieve swollen legs. …
It helps calm a headache. …
It relaxes the mind. …
It improves circulation to the upper body and brain
https://www.doyouyoga.com/wp-conten...Health-Benefits-Of-Shoulder-Stand-733x440.jpg

 

[PRmerger]

That is the first time anyone on CAF has ever referenced Star Wars as being about demons?!

Is the hypno-emoticon also demonic?!

Possibly–as mikekle commented sarcastically, “Yeah, satan would NEVER desire to deceive the faithful into thinking something evil is actually totally fine and acceptable, Gee what would he get out of that? LOL”

So that’s why you anti-yoga folks have to be very, very scared that all the things you think are “totally fine and acceptable” are actually demonic.

 

[friardchips]

Possibly–as mikekle commented sarcastically, “Yeah, satan would NEVER desire to deceive the faithful into thinking something evil is actually totally fine and acceptable, Gee what would he get out of that? LOL”

So that’s why you anti-yoga folks have to be very, very scared that all the things you think are “totally fine and acceptable” are actually demonic.

If you look up both sides to the argument from the past and also relevant Internet sites from a Catholic viewpoint you will see why (with all due respect).

 

[friardchips]

You mean like this?

Here are the top five health benefits of Shoulder Stand.
It aids digestion. …
It helps relieve swollen legs. …
It helps calm a headache. …
It relaxes the mind. …
It improves circulation to the upper body and brain

Thank you Team A member!

One such exercise, coming under normal exercise, is most similar to the ‘Vertical Leg Crunch’.

As well as no doubt having all the holistic benefits which you have listed, it also works your stomach, which is good, if you ever want to do running, because a stronger stomach helps overall athletic movement.

skimble.com/exercises/814-vertical-leg-crunches-how-to-do-exercise

skimble.com/tracked_workouts/20384241

The second URL links to a position in which one can bend the legs further back and possibly lift higher depending on one’s flexibility.

What say thee?!

 

[friardchips]

What is the Jedi religion’s relationship to Christianity?

Well, Jedi-knights in the films do appear to try mind-warping their opponents, so it is not Christian. And the ‘darkside’ is pretty demonic. There are Christian elements among it all, though, other than the more one-dimensional theme of the film, being 'just-defence, which is what Yoda says at one point, to Luke, when in training on the Dagobah System, in pointing out that a Jedi does not attack. Although, just-defence includes attack, so…but, yes, there is a Christian message, actually, among it all.

 

[Michael_Mayo]

Thank you Team A member!

One such exercise, coming under normal exercise, is most similar to the ‘Vertical Leg Crunch’.

As well as no doubt having all the holistic benefits which you have listed, it also works your stomach, which is good, if you ever want to do running, because a stronger stomach helps overall athletic movement.

skimble.com/exercises/814-vertical-leg-crunches-how-to-do-exercise

skimble.com/tracked_workouts/20384241

The second URL links to a position in which one can bend the legs further back and possibly lift higher depending on one’s flexibility.

What say thee?!

Very similar. How does calling it something else ease your conscience when it is the same?

 

[friardchips]

Would you say that Jediism is permissible for a Catholic?

jedichurch.org/

There are probably people out there who take it all very seriously. I love the films and think there is an element of genius to them but beyond that, it is tongue-in-cheek i.e: - saying to someone, “use the force”, or whatever. Really, it is not so much a ‘Church’ as it is a club for people who take the Star Wars things beyond the norm. They call it a Church, but this is really just people not understanding true definitions. I think it is just people having fun. If you mean, could Catholics belong to another Church, then the answer is fairly obvious. The thing is too, that the whole Jedi thing does probably incorporate aspects of Buddhism - being at one or at least feeling at one with everything. So, your question goes a bit deeper in fact than the Jedi-cause. In fact, some of it, as I said already, does take on board a Christian perspective. And too, Christians can feel very connected to nature, if you look at the lives of the early saints. So, it is not completely separate. Christianity contains the fullness of good. Yet, there can be good things in life which are inspired for the better, which do not come under the banner of Christianity. However, some things don’t fit, as in, if you do one thing, you are contradicting something else.

 

[friardchips]

Very similar. How does calling it something else ease your conscience when it is the same?

So, do you think this warrants a point or half a point to Team B?

It is not exactly the same but as you say is very similar.

My point, is that if one goes to a Yoga site, then one is adopting all Yoga elements if one inspired from such a starting point. Because, when people say, “I am just doing Yoga because of the physical exercises, not the spiritual aspects”, and then I repeatedly ask: “well, why not just do normal exercises then…(which probably have similar effects)…instead of going to a Yoga website.”, there is a sudden blank drawn as there is not a reasonable answer to this except for the fact that people want to do Yoga, specifically. Making the whole premise of Yoga just being about the physical exercises as nothing more than an argument based on thin ice.

As you yourself just admitted, there are apparently holistic benefits. And that indicates something more than just having a good stretch.

If I were to do the exercise from the link, I might feel calm, okay. And one could say, “It brings calm into my mind” etc…, or “The stretching causes the muscles affected by this exercise to relieve some stress and limber me up.” And there is a difference between these two statements because the first seems to indicate something else added onto original physical benefit only whereas the second statement makes it clear that one is feeling calm simply because the body is reacting to a good stretch.

Yoga brings in all these holistic ideas that come from certain philosophies that adopt such systems of knowledge, not only for the body, but the mind etc…

 

[Michael_Mayo]

Yoga provides a flow of stretches rather than isolated non yoga stretches. A non yoga exercise class can still provide the same stretches common to yoga. So I still do not see how that eases four conscience. i though the argument here was not about intention but about the stretches themselves.

 

[abinjoy]

The intent of “Yoga” is for you to contort your body into the shapes of various Hindu gods. If that doesn’t ward you off I doubt much else will.

Not all Yoga poses are meant to worship Hindu gods. Some are

 

[friardchips]

Yoga provides a flow of stretches rather than isolated non yoga stretches. A non yoga exercise class can still provide the same stretches common to yoga. So I still do not see how that eases four conscience. i though the argument here was not about intention but about the stretches themselves.

It incorporates all aspects of the subject because everything matters.

 

[Michael_Mayo]

It incorporates all aspects of the subject because everything matters.

At is the “it” you are referring to?

 

[friardchips]

At is the “it” you are referring to?

The reason for comparing positions. I think this way would answer many questions and is a less-walked and more fun avenue for finding out answers to questions than going over documents which we have cited and argued over on multiple Yoga vs non-Yoga battlegrounds, in the past.

 

[Michael_Mayo]

The reason for comparing positions. I think this way would answer many questions and is a less-walked and more fun avenue for finding out answers to questions than going over documents which we have cited and argued over on multiple Yoga vs non-Yoga battlegrounds, in the past.

It sounds like you are most concerned about the context of the stretches rather than the stretches themselves even though they are otherwise identical to “yoga” stretches.

 

[friardchips]

It sounds like you are most concerned about the context of the stretches rather than the stretches themselves even though they are otherwise identical to “yoga” stretches.

The context of Yoga stretches, yes. It is about taking away the context of the stretches so that one can stretch without conforming to any routine outside of the Christian context i.e:- a Christian can’t be a Hindu and a Christian but a Hindu can be a Hindu and a Christian.