Catholic-safe yoga practices?

[PRmerger]

Different context.

Yes! Just like Yoga is a different context.

You can see that context is everything here.

When you look at something with a fundamentalist lens, then it colors your ability to view things reasonably.

Reasonable people understand that context means so much.

In the context of an exercise room, with people who want to stretch and exercise, using poses from an ancient religion, is NOT diabolical.

Context is everything here.

 

[PRmerger]

I suggest you go back and figure out who you’re confusing me with

The BINGOOO was not addressed to you.

This question is addressed to you.

Pretend that Yoga isn’t a thing.

You just object to practices originating from paganism.

Wedding rings originated from pagan worship rituals.

Do you now object to wedding rings?

Yes or no?

If no (and I’m certain that’s the answer. For chances are you at this very moment have a wedding ring on your left hand, or your very close loved ones do, and you have no intention of telling them it’s demonic)…why not?

 

[friardchips]

BINGOOOOOO!!!

Case closed.

The case is closed only when really closed and not when you say it is closed, unless, you are right, which you are not.

You can do the same movements as a Hindu practice, but as long as your intention isn’t to invite demons in, there’s NOTHING WRONG with doing this:

http://yoga-89ff.kxcdn.com/yogabasics2017/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/reverse-warrior1-213x152.jpg

1. The Church has not definitively said that it is okay for Catholics to practice Yoga.

The Church has said it is sacred to use wedding rings as an expression of marital union.

Yes, your argument is over.

1. If a person goes to a Yoga website and starts practicing New Age and Hindu practices of worship then indeed you are doing something wrong, because this is to practice infidelity to the Church, on some level.

Yes, your argument is…over.

And taking a snippet from my posts and placing it out of context into your own narrative is not helpful.

Put it another way:

All things find their place in Christ, if good, through the Church, in Salvation History.

Yes, God is the God of all religions, because, people are ultimately just trying to reach Him, even f they don’t know it, but this does not mean they understand the whole truth, or, that the practices they use to worship their idea of who God is, is a good practice, objectively. Therefore…we know, when something has been tried and tested, known by its fruits, that it is good, and thus, we know it is from God. The Church has not said to Catholics: you cannot use mats to exercise on; it has, however, alerted us to blasphemy.

 

[PRmerger]

The Church has said it is sacred to use wedding rings as an expression of marital union.

So let’s say you’re in dialogue with a fundamentalist Christian who says that wedding rings originated in pagan worship rituals and therefore the Church is endorsing pagan and demonic practices when she says it’s “sacred to use wedding rings”.

What would you say to defend the Church’s endorsement of something which originated in paganism?

 

[friardchips]

So let’s say you’re in dialogue with a fundamentalist Christian who says that wedding rings originated in pagan worship rituals and therefore the Church is endorsing pagan and demonic practices when she says it’s “sacred to use wedding rings”.

What would you say to defend the Church’s endorsement of something which originated in paganism?

I just answered this in the previous post:

All things find their rightful place in Christ.

Some things have been blessed and made sacred, and therefore, have found their rightful place, as defined through the Church.

 

[PRmerger]

I just answered this in the previous post:

All things find their rightful place in Christ.

Some things have been blessed and made sacred, and therefore, have found their rightful place, as defined through the Church.

Excellent.

Now, what process did the CC use to take a pagan practice and make it sacred?

 

[DignumEtJustum]

You just object to practices originating from paganism

??? I’m not going to play your game as this is just going in circles.

First let’s look at what the purpose is of wedding rings, whether used by pagans or Catholics. Was it and is it merely to tell others “this one’s taken?” Quite likely.

Also, the custom of placings one’s hands together during prayer is totally UNIVERSAL and this was most likely handed down to us from our Jewish lineage. Furthermore, many religions contain truth but they also contain untruths. Only the Catholic faith contains the fullness of truth.

Finally, the practices of Yoga are just that and its raison d’etre is for the practicer to take on the positions of the Hindu gods along with any of the spiritual effects on the soul these actions entail. This is the point of Yoga and it cannot be separated with Hinduism for the very fact that it is Hindu worship. Hinduism can be no more separated from Yoga than Satanism from a “Black Mass.” Just knowing Yoga’s source and what the one practicing Yoga is actually doing highlights the practicer’s intent quite well. It’s not something to be toyed with. Get it through your thick head.

 

[christofirst]

The OP asked about “Catholic-safe yoga practice.” I’m assuming this means an interest in more than just stretching. Paulist Father Thomas Ryan (yes, he’s a Catholic priest in good standing) has written much on this topic (yes, with the approval of his order).

christianspracticingyoga.com/tom-ryan/

He produced a DVD called Yoga Prayer, and there is a link to that and his writings at the bottom of the page I linked. I provide this if the OP is really interested. Those who are wary of yoga can ignore this.

 

[PRmerger]

??? I’m not going to play your game as this is just going in circles.

Well, obviously it’s because you would lose.

You can’t object to Yoga “because its origin is in paganism” while also saying wedding rings are perfectly fine, even if….its origin is in paganism.

Suffice it to say that you either have to:

1. stop objecting to Yoga

OR

1. remove that wedding ring from your finger (or from your loved ones’ fingers), stop calling the day after Wednesday “Thursday”, say buh-bye to all your friends named Thor, Diana, Athena, and stop praying in this posture:

https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-60f7f4979f656d16b6c945e93af257ea-c

 

[DignumEtJustum]

Well, obviously it’s because you would lose.

You can’t object to Yoga “because its origin is in paganism” while also saying wedding rings are perfectly fine, even if….its origin is in paganism.

Suffice it to say that you either have to:

1. stop objecting to Yoga

OR

1. remove that wedding ring from your finger (or from your loved ones’ fingers), stop calling the day after Wednesday “Thursday”, say buh-bye to all your friends named Thor, Diana, Athena, and stop praying in this posture:

Before my last post I never even mentioned paganism yet you keep “quoting” me as if I have. On top of that you’re not addressing ANYTHING I’ve actually said but sure do go on posting those irrelevant pictures of what is universally accepted as a posture of prayer.

Where your argument fails:

1. Yoga is an established worship.
2. Wearing a ring is in no way worship.

I can’t lose because you’ve already lost with your continuously flawed argument and by the fact that the Church is against you on this one.

 

[Monica4316]

The type of yoga common today was apparently made as a preparation for Eastern meditation, very different from Christian meditation.

I never felt comfortable with it and I would just do something else. Plus I don’t think certain yoga positions are modest - they just don’t seem right to me.

I don’t think its “fundamentalist” to be skeptical of yoga. I’ve heard priests express concern too.

 

[Bruised_Reed]

Used to be called stretching…

Nope. Yoga poses can result in stretching or the pose adjusted so it becomes stretching. The poses can result in toning but it’s main benefit is healing and repairing the body.

 

[Monica4316]

Excellent.

Now, what process did the CC use to take a pagan practice and make it sacred?

Even if wedding rings were there before Catholicism and later the Church made it sacred (I don’t know the history of wedding rings and when they appeared, before or after Christ) - that doesn’t mean that everything can be blessed in such a way. If there’s something in the practice that is nor in conformity with Catholicism then it can’t be blessed in that form.

 

[friardchips]

??? I’m not going to play your game as this is just going in circles.

Apparently pagans invented the circle, rather than God having created it, according to some here!

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Buddhists use rosary beads and Buddhism predates Christianity.

We better throw away our rosary beads because they’re used in pagan worship.

The postures in yoga are not the postures of pagan gods, I challenge the skeptics here to show me the postures of pagan gods.

The postures create balance, power and stretching, depending on the form you’re using.

There are various styles of yoga.

What Americans do is generally exercise from Hatha Yoga and their focus is on breathing and holding the posture.

I follow the video from Yoga Zone, Power Yoga. Like I said, I’ve been doing it for over 20 years.

Some believe I must be demonically possessed.

youtube.com/watch?v=5PjDIp0cqDo

Jim

 

[friardchips]

Excellent.

You’re welcome. It’s a team effort.

Now, what process did the CC use to take a pagan practice and make it sacred?

Adam and Eve are reported in Scripture, as having been the names of our first ancestors, and when they ate the ‘forbidden fruit’, were promptly chucked out of Eden. Point being, complimentary partners blessed to be together, was a very important concept/reality/natural occurrence rather a long time before the recognized pagan rituals of old, and, as said, other religions and cults held something of the truth, too, just not the whole truth; as another poster rightly said, not all things are pronounced and blessed as good to participate in, by the Church. Pagans, however, did not invent procreation. As far as I am aware, also, participating Catholics get married in a church, with a ring signifying something acutely specific, inclusive of the fact that the marriage is blessed by and in communion with, God.

 

[friardchips]

Thus, your ‘wedding ring’ comparison, PR, is…buh-bye!

 

[Monica4316]

You’re welcome. It’s a team effort.

Adam and Eve are reported in Scripture, as having been the names of our first ancestors, and when they ate the ‘forbidden fruit’, were promptly chucked out of Eden. Point being, complimentary partners blessed to be together, was a very important concept/reality/natural occurrence rather a long time before the recognized pagan rituals of old, and, as said, other religions and cults held something of the truth, too, just not the whole truth; as another poster rightly said, not all things are pronounced and blessed as good to participate in, by the Church. Pagans, however, did not invent procreation. As far as I am aware, also, participating Catholics get married in a church, with a ring signifying something acutely specific, inclusive of the fact that the marriage is blessed by and in communion with, God.

Are you referring to the fact that marriage is in natural law?

My understanding of how hatha yoga came to be was not for exercise but to prepare the mind for meditation… I don’t think the Hindus were just trying to exercise like how we play sports. I think it was for something more such as leading into other forms of yoga, at least that is the conclusion that my research seemed to suggest

 

[friardchips]

Are you referring to the fact that marriage is in natural law?

My understanding of how hatha yoga came to be was not for exercise but to prepare the mind for meditation… I don’t think the Hindus were just trying to exercise like how we play sports. I think it was for something more such as leading into other forms of yoga, at least that is the conclusion that my research seemed to suggest

I am only counter-arguing the wedding ring example-comparison another poster put forward in an already exhausted attempt to reason that Yoga exercises are on spiritually-neutral ground.

 

[DignumEtJustum]

Some believe I must be demonically possessed.

You seem woefully open to it.