I Got a Yoga Problem

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I’m taking P.E. over the Summer, and one of the exercises we do are Yoga (our Yoga instructor is just a DVD). I know that the theology of Yoga is incompatible with our Faith, but as Michelle Arnold has said, we as Catholics can do the physical parts of Yoga and not the spiritual parts.

I’ve done the best I can to omit what I think is contrary to the Faith. However, I got some questions however.
  1. The instructor says to feel your energy move from your body to the palms of your hand. Is this heretical?
  2. The instructor sometimes says to empty your mind. Is this against our Faith?
Please answer, guys. I don’t want to get possessed.
 
Inquiringperson said:
I’m taking P.E. over the Summer, and one of the exercises we do are Yoga (our Yoga instructor is just a DVD). I know that the theology of Yoga is incompatible with our Faith, but as Michelle Arnold has said, we as Catholics can do the physical parts of Yoga and not the spiritual parts.

I’ve done the best I can to omit what I think is contrary to the Faith. However, I got some questions however.
  1. The instructor says to feel your energy move from your body to the palms of your hand. Is this heretical?
  2. The instructor sometimes says to empty your mind. Is this against our Faith?
Please answer, guys. I don’t want to get possessed.
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It depends on how literally you take the instructions. If you actually, superstitiously believe there is some kind of mystical energy you can transfer within your body, that’s a problem. If you are trying to attain altered states of consciousness through Yoga, that’s a problem. In my opinion, that is.

However, if you are just “imagining” energy you know is not there in order to make and hold the right position, that might be another matter. Also if by “emptying your mind” you just mean relaxing and not over-thinking the movements you are trying to do, that could be fine. Personally, I would ask myself whether what I am trying to do could also be reasonably be expected to be found, in and of itself, in a normal, healthy, wholesomely occidental sort of exercise.
 
These are all simply physical actions.

You can transform any action, thought, pain or emotion by first offering them all up in a short silent prayer to the Sacred heart of Jesus in atonement for His suffering. Hey presto – your problem is solved. (more magic for you!)
 
Inquiringperson said:
I’m taking P.E. over the Summer, and one of the exercises we do are Yoga (our Yoga instructor is just a DVD). I know that the theology of Yoga is incompatible with our Faith, but as Michelle Arnold has said, we as Catholics can do the physical parts of Yoga and not the spiritual parts.

I’ve done the best I can to omit what I think is contrary to the Faith. However, I got some questions however.
  1. The instructor says to feel your energy move from your body to the palms of your hand. Is this heretical?
  2. The instructor sometimes says to empty your mind. Is this against our Faith?
Please answer, guys. I don’t want to get possessed.
Click to expand...
I really think you are over thinking this. Just do the exercises. Try rubbinng your palms together for a couple of minutes, you will feel a tingling sort of feeling, try rubbing your hair etc. I am sure there is some sort of energy created by that action though I am no expert on physics.

I empty my mind and concentrate on my breathing for pain control and for meditation. Nothing wrong with that. I repeat the name of Jesus
 
You don’t have a yoga problem, you have a scrupulosity problem. Please get counseling from your priest.
 
Inquiringperson said:
  1. The instructor sometimes says to empty your mind. Is this against our Faith?
Click to expand...
I just finished The Cloud of Unkowing and a big part of it is to “empty your mind” so it’s definitly not against our faith. No thought can capture God as He truely is so the best way to honor Him is with silence (i.e. no thoughts), or in the words of the Pseudo Dionysius: “With a wise silence we do honor to the inexpressible”. I wouldn’t worry about it, just keep Christ in your heart and you’ll be fine.
 
You’re not scrupulous but wise to seek answers. You would be scrupulous if a sound Catholic spiritual advisor told you there was no problem and yet you still worried and fretted.

There is a danger in completely emptying your mind because something will fill it. The safest way to empty your mind is to focus your attention on Jesus, thinking of him and opening your heart to knowing him better. Then, God will fill your emptiness.

The bigger problem with a watered down yoga is that yoga is a part of Hindu spirituality. Through yoga, Hindus seek, among other things, to release evil energies from their bodies. For non-Hindus to practice its stretches and postures while omitting its spiritual component can be an insult to those for whom it has deep meaning. It would be like a secular group at a recreation center praying the rosary for relaxation but with no thought or understanding of Jesus. Many Catholics would be offended.
 
A lot of the weirder stuff in yoga falls well short of theology. It’s similar to the kung fu in which I used to dabble (I’m more an eclectic kickboxer). We’d talk about things like focusing chi (energy), but that was simply a way of visualizing or conceptualizing things going on with our bodies that we ordinarly couldn’t perceive well enough to control.
 
mrosem said:
You’re not scrupulous but wise to seek answers. You would be scrupulous if a sound Catholic spiritual advisor told you there was no problem and yet you still worried and fretted.

There is a danger in completely emptying your mind because something will fill it. The safest way to empty your mind is to focus your attention on Jesus, thinking of him and opening your heart to knowing him better. Then, God will fill your emptiness.

The bigger problem with a watered down yoga is that yoga is a part of Hindu spirituality. Through yoga, Hindus seek, among other things, to release evil energies from their bodies. For non-Hindus to practice its stretches and postures while omitting its spiritual component can be an insult to those for whom it has deep meaning. It would be like a secular group at a recreation center praying the rosary for relaxation but with no thought or understanding of Jesus. Many Catholics would be offended.
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It is not necessary to practise yoga to be a Hindu and many, many Hindus do not practise yoga so I do not really think our doing yoga exercises would upset Hindus.
 
Aelred_Minor said:
It depends on how literally you take the instructions. If you actually, superstitiously believe there is some kind of mystical energy you can transfer within your body, that’s a problem. If you are trying to attain altered states of consciousness through Yoga, that’s a problem. In my opinion, that is.

However, if you are just “imagining” energy you know is not there in order to make and hold the right position, that might be another matter. Also if by “emptying your mind” you just mean relaxing and not over-thinking the movements you are trying to do, that could be fine. Personally, I would ask myself whether what I am trying to do could also be reasonably be expected to be found, in and of itself, in a normal, healthy, wholesomely occidental sort of exercise.
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If any of these things bring forth God to your consciousness then you have nothing to fear. As someone else down the thread says this could be a scrupulocity (sp?) issue. If you do it for God or with Him in mind you are good
 
J_Peterson said:
I just finished The Cloud of Unkowing and a big part of it is to “empty your mind” so it’s definitly not against our faith. No thought can capture God as He truely is so the best way to honor Him is with silence (i.e. no thoughts), or in the words of the Pseudo Dionysius: “With a wise silence we do honor to the inexpressible”. I wouldn’t worry about it, just keep Christ in your heart and you’ll be fine.
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The Cloud of Unknowing is a very profound book, one which the author was extremely worried would be misinterpreted and rightly so I think. He filled the book with warnings about the false mysticism of so-called advanced techniques and would certainly be horrified if he found that it was ever misused in order to appear to sanitize exactly these sorts of techniques. I’m not saying you are trying to do this, but we are getting into dangerous waters when we start applying The Cloud of Unknowing to originally Hindu practices.
 
ignatius777 said:
If any of these things bring forth God to your consciousness then you have nothing to fear. As someone else down the thread says this could be a scrupulocity (sp?) issue. If you do it for God or with Him in mind you are good
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Bringing to mind some of the things that have been done “for” God down through history and to the present day demonstrates the fault with this kind of logic, though of course we are talking about a very different subject here. It still remains true, though, that if something is wrong doing it for the sake of God does not make it right, at least objectively speaking, and perhaps subjectively as well if we are culpable for the error. If we are trying to please God, we must attempt to do what He sees as right, what is objectively reasonable and good.
 
Aelred_Minor said:
Bringing to mind some of the things that have been done “for” God down through history and to the present day demonstrates the fault with this kind of logic, though of course we are talking about a very different subject here. It still remains true, though, that if something is wrong doing it for the sake of God does not make it right, at least objectively speaking, and perhaps subjectively as well if we are culpable for the error. If we are trying to please God, we must attempt to do what He sees as right, what is objectively reasonable and good.
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Do I REALLY need to clarify that we are talking about Y O G A here and NOT justification for inappropriate actions? REALLY!?
 
ignatius777 said:
Do I REALLY need to clarify that we are talking about Y O G A here and NOT justification for inappropriate actions? REALLY!?
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The subject is some potentially inappropriate instructions (depending on their interpretation) the original poster has been receiving from his/her Yoga instructor.
 
Aelred_Minor said:
The subject is some potentially inappropriate instructions (depending on their interpretation) the original poster has been receiving from his/her Yoga instructor.
Click to expand...
I understand that entirely. The poster is worried about being told to “empty your mind”, so we “empty our mind” to make it open to hear God speaking to us. Or the poster is told to feel the “energy” or whatever it was which is merely our experiencing the Holy Spirit. As Jesus said its not what we put in us that makes us unclean its what comes out of us
 
I’m Catholic and I’ve done (physical) parts of Yoga. If you feel uncomfortable with the spiritual aspects (hindu, I know I am) maybe say a decade of the rosary during yoga? It couldn’t hurt.
 
ignatius777 said:
I understand that entirely. The poster is worried about being told to “empty your mind”, so we “empty our mind” to make it open to hear God speaking to us. Or the poster is told to feel the “energy” or whatever it was which is merely our experiencing the Holy Spirit. As Jesus said its not what we put in us that makes us unclean its what comes out of us
Click to expand...
The Holy Spirit is not a finite energy that we can feel flowing through us much less control, and emptying our minds is not a normal way to encounter God. The OP expressed concern about the possibility of demonic possession. His/her worry about this may be of an unhealthy kind or intensity for all I know, but in and of itself it’s not an irrational concern when one gets involved with forms of esoteric consciousness-changing techniques, particularly those which make us more “open.”
 
Is it harmless to do postures only?
According to Merkle, “The actual physical postures have occult significances and can trigger reactions just as the breathing and mind work do. They are add-ons that increase the effectiveness of the postures, which are technically not just stretching. We have nervous, endocrine, organ, neuro-skeletal and cognitive functions that are very delicate and interconnected. By manipulation of either some kind of occult or unknown power through the use of the will or intellect, or simply the stimulation through targeted exercise, this can and has caused some crisis in people.” When asked why people receive more energy and less fatigue while doing yoga, she responded “Yoga can give energy simply from stretching which increases circulation and muscle tone. But, it also works on the endocrine system. I knew a lady who did “power yoga” at work and stopped sleeping. When I asked what she was doing, she described a posture designed to ignite the pituitary gland through posture and pranayamic breathing which is designed to bring occult power to the gland. There are innumerable cases of people that experience what Easterners call a kundalini awakening – it feels like a fire hydrant of fire ascending the spine – side effects include sleeplessness, dissociation, seeing spirits, extraordinary powers or nervous breakdowns and collapse for years. I was just contacted by a person who is having what is called a kundalini break – (as I just described) This person has a being inside her that keeps pushing the body around, had to quit work and move in with someone. And this person cannot “stay in the body” as he/she describes it. I just referred this person to an exorcist. Just as Ouija is considered a parlor game at first, it can have immense ramifications. Yoga is a direct door to the occult. And the more spiritual or sensitive a person, the more possibility for experiencing things
more strongly. Also, whatever latent psychological weakness is present can be exacerbated. Psychotic breaks are not uncommon.” People who get involved in New Age/occult sometimes need deliverance from evil spirits, according to Fr. Amorth, the Vatican exorcist./QUOTE] annefeaster.accountsupport.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/yogapaper.pdf
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Did Pope John Paul II give warnings about dabbling in Eastern religions?
Yes. On November l6, 2003 Our Sunday Visitor published an article called “Is It Too Much of a Stretch?” by Marianna Bartholomew. Her article gave Vatican warnings about yoga and stated “The Church is calling Catholics to firm up their faith and consider whether New Age influences like those of yoga are subtly eroding their intimacy with God.” She quotes Pope John Paul II when he cautions “those Christians who enthusiastically welcome certain ideas originating in the religious traditions of the Far East” in his book, Crossing the Threshold of Hope./QUOTE]
annefeaster.accountsupport.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/yogapaper.pdf
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Is it harmless to do postures only?
According to Merkle, “The actual physical postures have occult significances and can trigger reactions just as the breathing and mind work do. They are add-ons that increase the effectiveness of the postures, which are technically not just stretching. We have nervous, endocrine, organ, neuro-skeletal and cognitive functions that are very delicate and interconnected. By manipulation of either some kind of occult or unknown power through the use of the will or intellect, or simply the stimulation through targeted exercise, this can and has caused some crisis in people.” When asked why people receive more energy and less fatigue while doing yoga, she responded “Yoga can give energy simply from stretching which increases circulation and muscle tone. But, it also works on the endocrine system. I knew a lady who did “power yoga” at work and stopped sleeping. When I asked what she was doing, she described a posture designed to ignite the pituitary gland through posture and pranayamic breathing which is designed to bring occult power to the gland. There are innumerable cases of people that experience what Easterners call a kundalini awakening – it feels like a fire hydrant of fire ascending the spine – side effects include sleeplessness, dissociation, seeing spirits, extraordinary powers or nervous breakdowns and collapse for years. I was just contacted by a person who is having what is called a kundalini break – (as I just described) This person has a being inside her that keeps pushing the body around, had to quit work and move in with someone. And this person cannot “stay in the body” as he/she describes it. I just referred this person to an exorcist. Just as Ouija is considered a parlor game at first, it can have immense ramifications. Yoga is a direct door to the occult. And the more spiritual or sensitive a person, the more possibility for experiencing things
more strongly. Also, whatever latent psychological weakness is present can be exacerbated. Psychotic breaks are not uncommon.” People who get involved in New Age/occult sometimes need deliverance from evil spirits, according to Fr. Amorth, the Vatican exorcist
Click to expand...
Did Pope John Paul II give warnings about dabbling in Eastern religions?
Yes. On November l6, 2003 Our Sunday Visitor published an article called “Is It Too Much of a Stretch?” by Marianna Bartholomew. Her article gave Vatican warnings about yoga and stated “The Church is calling Catholics to firm up their faith and consider whether New Age influences like those of yoga are subtly eroding their intimacy with God.” She quotes Pope John Paul II when he cautions “those Christians who enthusiastically welcome certain ideas originating in the religious traditions of the Far East” in his book, Crossing the Threshold of Hope.
Click to expand...
annefeaster.accountsupport.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/yogapaper.pdf
 
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