Catholic-safe yoga practices?

[PRmerger]

you cannot do “Yoga” without falling into a spiritual trap.

Real yoga includes the spiritual because yoga is a spiritual exercise.

Well, only if you define “real yoga” as including the spiritual (that is, worship of Hindu gods).

What if I defined “real yoga” as stretches exercises with mindfulness.

Then it’s perfectly licit to engage in “real yoga”.

 

[friardchips]

Plank Pose, Yoga for strengthening the core muscles in the stomach.

I missed that.

Another point scored for Team B.

There is a much more beneficial pose with the use of normal exercise, called:

‘The Plank’.

Team A 0 - 2 Team B.

 

[friardchips]

What if I defined “real yoga” as stretches exercises with mindfulness.

One ought not need “mindfulness” as a Catholic. This stems from Buddhism.

“No! No different! Only different in your mind. You must unlearn what you have learned.”

 

[PRmerger]

One ought not need “mindfulness” as a Catholic.

Bah. This is fundamentalist histrionics.

Catholics can, of course, practice mindfulness. What is contemplative prayer if not mindfulness.

 

[phil19034]

Non-Dualism exist in Catholicism as well.

St Francis of Assisi followed non-dualistic theology, meaning that we are not separated from God and creation, but we are connected in God and in nature.

Hence, his poem “Brother Son Sister Moon.”

Also;

“Seeking the face of God in everything, everyone, all the time, and his hand in every happening; This is what it means to be contemplative in the heart of the world. Seeing and adoring the presence of Jesus, especially in the lowly appearance of bread, and in the distressing disguise of the poor.”

Mother Teresa

Jim

St. Francis was speaking metaphorically/symbolically, not literally. The Church examined his theology very thoroughly during his lifetime and determined he was not heretical. The Hindu theology, on the other hand, is heretical.

 

[phil19034]

Well, only if you define “real yoga” as including the spiritual (that is, worship of Hindu gods).

What if I defined “real yoga” as stretches exercises with mindfulness.

Then it’s perfectly licit to engage in “real yoga”.

If they have the religious positions, then is still “real yoga.”

Yoga classes at the local gym typically have all of the religious positions as the yoga classes at the spiritual yoga studios. Just without the candles and the overtly spiritual leader. But all the moves, etc are all the same.

Instead of defend yoga, why not get on board with the Catholic Stretching programs I posted? They provide all advantages of yoga like stretching classes, without the spiritual dangers of yoga.

BESIDES, religious Hindus often feel that yoga classes at the local guy are a type of cultural approbation, which many people on the left feel is wrong today. So why do it?

 

[PRmerger]

If they have the religious positions, even secular yoga is still yoga.

Sure.

Yoga classes at the local gym typically have all of the religious positions as the yoga classes at the spiritual yoga studios.

Ok.

Instead of defend yoga, why not get on board with the Catholic Stretching programs I posted? They provide all advantages of yoga like stretching classes, without the spiritual dangers of yoga.

Because there’s nothing wrong with yoga, as long as one isn’t worshipping Hindu deities when one practices yoga.

I will continue to defend yoga from fanatics who are, ironically, embracing a heresy of superstition, in their attempts to be faithful Catholics.

 

[friardchips]

Bah. This is fundamentalist histrionics.

Catholics can, of course, practice mindfulness.

‘Mindfulness’ does come from Buddhism.

What is contemplative prayer if not mindfulness.

Much, much more.

Mindfulness is more about enabling oneself to feel some level of equalibrium.

Prayer is participating in grace to receive peace from God.

And Our Lady and the saints can communicate calm to the soul yet this is different from playing mind games.

St. Francis was speaking metaphorically/symbolically, not literally. The Church examined his theology very thoroughly during his lifetime and determined he was not heretical. The Hindu theology, on the other hand, is heretical.

St. Francis was indeed orthodox.

Many have taken his words to mean something else but it is true that he was speaking within the Catholic faith.

 

[PRmerger]

‘Mindfulness’ does come from Buddhism.

“Thursday” comes from Thor. Pagan.

I presume, if you’re going to be consistent, that you oppose calling the day before Friday by a name that “comes from” paganism?

 

[PRmerger]

Mindfulness is more about enabling oneself to feel some level of equalibrium.

Prayer is participating in grace to receive peace from God.

And Our Lady and the saints can communicate calm to the soul yet this is different from playing mind games.

All of the above appear to be disjointed, irrelevant sentences.

 

[phil19034]

Sure.

Ok.

Because there’s nothing wrong with yoga, as long as one isn’t worshipping Hindu deities when one practices yoga.

I will continue to defend yoga from fanatics who are, ironically, embracing a heresy of superstition, in their attempts to be faithful Catholics.

So you are calling the Johnnette Benkovic and the Board of Directors at Women of Grace fanatics? womenofgrace.com/en-us/about/default.aspx

Two Bishops are on that board, and Johnnette is a very well respected member of the ETWN community.

And you still didn’t answer my question: why not be open to Catholic Stretching and Exercising programs?

Here is just a small example of what Pope Francis said about Yoga: catholic.org/news/health/story.php?id=59107

 

[friardchips]

“Thursday” comes from Thor. Pagan.

I presume, if you’re going to be consistent, that you oppose calling the day before Friday by a name that “comes from” paganism?

I have the spinning feeling again that one gets after having been involved in an identical line of discussion already as one begins revolving around the same again.

 

[friardchips]

All of the above appear to be disjointed, irrelevant sentences.

In context, they’re not.

Mindfulness is a Buddhist practice whereby one uses physical calming influences.

Whereas, prayer is prayer.

It doesn’t get any simpler than this.

 

[phil19034]

“Thursday” comes from Thor. Pagan.

I presume, if you’re going to be consistent, that you oppose calling the day before Friday by a name that “comes from” paganism?

That’s a ludicrous argument. The 7 days of the week come from God. What we call the names in English (and other local languages) is irrelevant.

It’s like saying Easter is pagan because of the English name, while almost the rest of the Catholic world calls Easter the local language translation of “Passover.”

Thursday in Spanish is: jueves That does NOT come from Thor, it actually comes from Jupiter’s Day. As does the Latin.

In Hebrew, the name of Thursday (written in Latin letters) is “Yom Chamishi” which means Fifth Day.

israelhebrew.com/days-of-the-week-in-hebrew/

In Greek, Thursday is called (in Latin letters) “hemera Dios,” which means Zeus’s Day.

The names of the days of the week are arbitrary and dependent on the local language. As part of Evangelization, the Church NEVER required people to change the names of the days of the week on this native languages. The Church required a conversion of individual peoples, not a conversion and re-write of local language.

This is just one of the reasons why it bothers me when people want to change A.D. to C.E.

God Bless

 

[friardchips]

The Babylonians were the first to use the seven day week. God probably got it from them.

While it is possible for people to think that the earliest written Bible accounts in Genesis were somehow taken from Babylonian history, that is in fact, unlikely, although it could be said that the Babylonians were inspired by the ancient Jews. It is also likely that some truths were widely accepted maybe because someone outside the Jewish religion received some higher inspiration. God rains on both saint and sinner (this is written in the Bible). Both Isaiahs warned the Hebrew people of the dangers of idolatry and so I find it exceedingly doubtful that they would have partaken of Babylonian stories. One of the Isaiahs dates pretty far back. That is not to say that taking an inspired idea from one religion is bad just as long as it is then placed into a truthful, holy context. Which leads us back to the for-Yoga argument. Which falls down because if Yoga remains as Yoga then it has not been replaced and put into a perfected context.

Why do Catholics not go worshipping in Hindu or Buddhist temples, saying all the prayers to the ‘gods’ of those religions?

 

[phil19034]

That’s a ludicrous argument. The 7 days of the week come from God. What we call the names in English (and other local languages) is irrelevant.

It’s like saying Easter is pagan because of the English name, while almost the rest of the Catholic world calls Easter the local language translation of “Passover.”

Thursday in Spanish is: jueves That does NOT come from Thor, it actually comes from Jupiter’s Day. As does the Latin.

In Hebrew, the name of Thursday (written in Latin letters) is “Yom Chamishi” which means Fifth Day.

israelhebrew.com/days-of-the-week-in-hebrew/

In Greek, Thursday is called (in Latin letters) “hemera Dios,” which means Zeus’s Day.

The names of the days of the week are arbitrary and dependent on the local language. As part of Evangelization, the Church NEVER required people to change the names of the days of the week on this native languages. The Church required a conversion of individual peoples, not a conversion and re-write of local language.

This is just one of the reasons why it bothers me when people want to change A.D. to C.E.

God Bless

Today, the days of the week stand for the pplanetary bodies known back then.

Sunday = Sun
Monday = Moon
Tuesday = Mars
Wednesday = Mercury
Thursday = Jupiter
Friday = Venus
Saturday = Saturn

BTW - in modern Icelandic, Galician and Portuguese, the names of the week follow what the Church did in ecclesiastical Latin during the years of Christendom. Which was rename Sunday to “Dominica” rename Saturday “Sabbatum” and rename the rest of the days of the week from 2nd day though 6th day.

Sunday = dominica
Monday = feria secunda
Tuesday = feria tertia
Wednesday = feria quarta
Thursday = feria quinta
Friday = feria sexta
Saturday = sabbatum

But, people didn’t want to give up their local names, which today typically represent the first 6 planets (minus Earth), Sun and Moon. Again, only modern Icelandic, Galician (spoken in Northwest Spain) and Portuguese use derivatives of this ecclesiastical Latin, plus, I believe, there are languages in Eastern Europe using something similar to Icelandic, Galician and Portuguese

God bless

 

[PRmerger]

So you are calling the Johnnette Benkovic and the Board of Directors at Women of Grace fanatics? womenofgrace.com/en-us/about/default.aspx

Two Bishops are on that board, and Johnnette is a very well respected member of the ETWN community.

I’m not going to comment on them. If they post here, then I would certainly be happy to discuss with them.

And you still didn’t answer my question: why not be open to Catholic Stretching and Exercising programs?

I am open to Catholic Stretching and Exercising programs.

I just reject the fundamentalist Either/Or position.

Rather, I accept the very Catholic Both/And.

Yoga AND Catholic Stretching and Exercising.

 

[friardchips]

I am open to Catholic Stretching and Exercising programs.

I just reject the fundamentalist Either/Or position.

Rather, I accept the very Catholic Both/And.

Yoga AND Catholic Stretching and Exercising.

Type something similar to this into your browser: ‘pope say that one cannot seek spiritual answers in yoga’.

This debate has been going on for a-time-and-a-donkey, on CAF, and am therefore surprised that the same arguments, for, are still surfacing.

 

[PRmerger]

Mindfulness is a Buddhist practice whereby one uses physical calming influences.

Whereas, prayer is prayer.

It doesn’t get any simpler than this.

Ah. I see what’s going on now. You’re thinking that there’s some sort of connection with yoga/mindfulness/prayer.

There need not be.

One can certainly practice yoga, with mindfulness, without intending to pray.

Or, one can certainly practice yoga, with mindfulness, while praying…if one prays to Hindu deities, this is wrong. If one prays to God, then this is commendable.

 

[PRmerger]

That’s a ludicrous argument. The 7 days of the week come from God.

Sure. But the naming of them is clearly originating from pagan gods.

What we call the names in English (and other local languages) is irrelevant.

BINGO!!!

And that Yoga originates from Hinduism is…

irrelevant.

Not sure why you have the ability to see that one can use wedding rings, name the days of the week (and months of the year) without worshipping a pagan deity…because you can separate the current use from its origin…while having this weird inability to do the same thing for yoga.

You can say Thursday, without worshipping Thor. Even if it came from Norse mythology.

You can also practice Yoga without worshipping Krishna. Even if it came from Hinduism.